I didn't want to show anything off too soon, but as a freelance CAD/CAM monkey this 'recession' has left me with some time on my hands and this is the result..
(Please note the path and the simulation are not related. The screenshot was taken when the tool was in keyboard control mode.)
It's very much a work in progress, but at the moment I have rudimentary support for;
STL files
All kinds of cutters; end mills, drills, ball nose, bull nose and all kinds of tapered & chamfered variants
Raster path generation
Post processing
Holder collision checking
Stock definition
Simulation (there's a minor bug visible in the image above shown as dark lines)
At the moment it's a command line tool written in C/C++ and I'm now working on a front end. It might be out of fashion these days but it's going to be written in MFC. Sorry if that offends the non-Windows users but this gives me the best chance of moving forward in a timely manner. As it's only the front end that's Windows specific I can envisage doing a wxGadgets version in the future if the demand is there. (I didn't want to learn wxGadgets now when I could be spending dev time on the program itself).
I have access to a modern machine shop (several actually) with inspection facilities, so I'll be running my own test pieces before this is let into the wild.
This base version will be free but I hope to provide an advanced version to try and make some return on my invested time. As well as the features above, the free version will hopefully include area clearance and z-level path generation too (I've yet to code and prove my algorithms for these strategies).
I can't promise if or when this will see the light of day, I'm posting here because I'm excited by how well my proof-of-concept code has worked so far. If I get hit by a load of CAD work tomorrow that'll be the priority once again.
So, why me? Why now? And what qualifies me to be creating software like this? Well.. (warning, lengthy life story follows, feel free to skip!).
I started machining 22 years ago when apprenticeship training still meant 4 years hands-on and worked all kinds of manual and CNC machinery. I spent the next 7/8 years on a massive CNC Horizontal Borer (the company is part of the Rolls-Royce group). I moved into aerospace machining & quality assurance (oh, the grief and the paperwork!) then quickly into 3D CAD/CAM. After 10 years of that I moved on to push myself into 'other areas'. Whilst Machining has been my career, computer programming has always been a strong pull. My first piece of CAM software was a university project back in '96 for which I was offered a place on a research degree working on CNC controllers -- unfortunately I'd just got married and our first child was on the way. For the last 10 years my programming has been in game development and associated tools but I'm just not really in the mind set of a game-player these days. I am however, in the mind set of an experienced CAD/CAM/CNC Engineer
Looks the biz. I'm not into Cad, but wish I was right now. I've been given two iges files and asked to make a mould. Who can give me a tool path for my mill?
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3D CAM Project
