This is am instructional video to guide you through all of the steps to making your first successful engraving using a Sainsmart CNC Machine.Link to wiki for. The gMOP3D version 0.0.1 software is a Manipulator or Industrial Robots MOtion Path 3D simulation and animation system base on gnu. This software only do ari thmetic and calculating the path. It depends the OpenSCAD environment for simuation and animation of motion. You can use it simulating X Y Z coordinate CNC with out G code.
So you’ve followed our Fusion 360 Guide to Roughing & Finishing Passes, have your tool paths made up and now might be asking yourself, what now? Well we are here to help! The general progression for creating something on your CNC is to go from modeling in CAD software to generating toolpaths in CAM software and from there you take the file to another piece of software that can send the toolpaths to your CNC. This guide will cover the latter, showing you how to take the roughing and finishing passes from the prior guide and putting them to practice.
The items you may need:
1. Understanding The differences & Utility of Work Coordinates
CNC’s use a Cartesian coordinate system, where any location can be pinpointed with any combination of three numbers, representing the X, Y and Z axis. This is usually displayed as (X,Y,Z) with numbers substituted in depending on the location of the end mill.
Homed Coordinate System
To help you visualize, the following image is a coordinate system visualized like you would see on a chess board. Movements to the left represent movement on the X axis, and movement down to the Y axis. The blue circle represents the Homing Location where it is traditionally located in the top right corner. If you have endstops, such as those that are standard on the PROver, then whenever you home, this is essentially a map of what your machine sees as the bed, only much, much bigger and with more precision. While there are some ways to use this, such as repeatable operations using jigs or clamps in a stationary location, largely this is not nearly as useful as the alternative we will use today.
Work Coordinate System
The home location always stays the same, but the Work Origin can be set anywhere you want. In the illustration to the left, you see a depiction of the results of me moving my end mill from home to the bottom left corner of my stock material and “zero-out” my X and Y axis. (4,4) becomes (0,0) and the coordinate map changes to reflect that. Zeroing-out is usually one of the last things you do before telling your machine to start, and it is worth remembering as you go along that the CNC doesn’t forget this new Origin (0,0) until you set a new one yourself or power off the machine.
Genmitsu Cnc 3018-pro Software
2. Putting Theory into Practice with Candle
Continuing with the project from the previous guide, we have a model with a lot of curves that, in order to machine it efficiently, requires two different bits: One 2-flute flat head end mill for the roughing passes, and a 2-flute ball nose end mill for the finishing pass. In preparation, you should have two seperate .nc files exported from fusion, named accordingly for each operation.
Setup & Roughing Pass
1.With your CNC powered on and plugged in, load up Candle (Download Here for windows, Here for Mac) and connect to your CNC if it does not do so automatically.
2.Secure your stock material to the bed and use the jog arrows (as seen to the below) to bring the center of the end mill directly over the bottom left corner on the X, Y Axis. Position it as best as you can and then press the key to zero-out the X and Y Axis. You will see 2 out of 3 of the work coordinates turn to become 0.
3.Now you need to zero-out the Z axis in order to have your work coordinates completely set. There are two ways to do this:
- If you have the 3018 Pro, or another CNC that does not have a Z-Probe, then you will need a piece of scrap paper, the thinner the better but not crumpled (this is important). Bring the end mill close to, but not touching the material and set your steps in the Jog menu to “.1”. Taking a small torn off bit of paper, place it between the end mill and the stock material and use one hand to continually move the paper back and forth, while using the other hand to lower the Z axis until you feel the paper snagging against the end mill. At this point you can say it’s good enough, or further dial in the settings by bringing steps to “.01” and continuing to raise/lower the bit until satisfied. Once it is in position, select the button to zero out the Z axis.
- If you have the PROver or have modified your 3018 Pro to allow for a Z-probe, simply set up the Z probe (download video instructions & code here), and place it between end mill and stock material, and press the button .
Finishing Pass
By using the work Coordinate system, you do yourself a lot of favors in regard to changing end mills for different operations. The machine remembers the new (0,0) you set earlier so you can safely (using the jog arrows in Candle) move the spindle away from the project to change out your end mill. Don’t worry about wherever you move it to, or moving it back for that matter. The CNC will do it for you when you start the finishing pass. All you have to do before starting is to zero-out the Z-axis again, just as you did in step 3.
How did we do?
Related Articles
Writing G codes for manufacturing components from your design can be very time-consuming and may consume a lot of resources from your workforce. CNC router software is basically designed to generate G codes based on your design. You can also expect design optimization for particular manufacturing technique from the software. Following is the list of few of the best picked CNC router software.
Related:
EnRoute
EnRoute is a CAD/CAM sign making and digital finishing software solution. The software is paid software with the basic version offering features for design, toolpathing, 3D surfacing, Nesting, and production. The long list of features include a complete set of 2D CAD and editing tools, interlocking components creator, 3D relief surface cutting, carve into the surface, true shape nesting with 3 nesting engines, nest near obstructions, and save and reuse toolpaths for fast workflow.
Genmitsu Cnc 3018-pro Mac Download Software Full
CNC Machine
ConstruCAM 3D works with only one unitary data file- click and go. The software provides an interface for most of the standard formats, thus data can be adopted from AutoCad, coreIDRAW, and ADOBE Illustrator. The software has a long list of features including construction aids, editing, layer technique, tool administration, lines, cubic splines and complex pre-defined elements. The software has integrated “Relief” module to convert 2D or .stl file into 3D file.
Mozaik CNC
The CNC router software from Mozaik will take you from design to fully developed machine ready G-code with ease. Few of the features from the long list of this software offers are huge pre-defined parts giving you almost all the parts ready for drag-and-drop, intelligent joinery, intelligent algorithms to get optimized nesting, and the ability to control localized nesting. The software is available with a price tag.
LinuxCNC
LinuxCNC is the software designed specifically for Linux platform for controlling CNC operations. The software can be used to drive milling machines, lathes, 3d printers, and laser and plasma cutters. The software accepts G-code as input and drives CNC Machine in response. You can select your preferred GUI from a variety of GUIs. The software supports rigid tapping, cutter compensation, and many other advanced control features. This software is an open source CNC controller.
CAMotics for Mac
Camotics is the CNC router software basically designed for Mac platform users. Camotics is open source software which simulates 3 axis CNC milling or engraving. Being able to simulate is the critical part of creating CNC tool-paths, and programming without simulating is just like cutting without taking measurements. With Camotics you can preview your cutting operation before you actually start the operation. This allows you to improve your design or optimize manufacturing process before the actual manufacturing begins.
Easy CNC for Windows
Easy CNC is the CNC router software basically designed for Windows platform users. Few of the features that this software offer includes full implementation in C++, compiling and loading with Arduino IDE, Doxygen documentation, G-code interpreter, High modularity with object oriented programming, and firmware support for RAMPS 14.
Best CNC Router Software – GRZ CNC Software
GRZ CNC Software is the most popular software in the CNC router software category. The goal of development of this software is getting direct G codes ready for machining from your designs. Meshcam supports almost all the 3D drawing formats, plus it supports reading from a .dwg format to feature designs from drawings. The software also has an automatic toolpath wizard to get you machined workpiece without implementing time and knowledge for the manufacturing process.
How to install CNC Router Software?
Many of the CNC router software listed above offer a setup file, allowing an easy installation of the software. Few of the software in this category are portable, giving you access from anywhere with just one requirement of bootable USB device. CNC router software is basically designed for getting simulation before running actual machining process to get an idea of the performance and let you optimize the process before actually starting the process.
While some software in this category offers free service for the basic need of getting simulation, the number of features gets limited for the free version. If you are looking for fully featured software with advanced features like automatic G-code generator and optimization, the paid ones are for you. Each software offering some unique feature over others, it’s the question of personal preferences for selecting one of the best software listed here.