[cad-linux] linux cadcam

Hi,
Sorry for this post being so rambling....
I use Linux and Mac OS X.  Windows only sees the light of day on my 
machine through Wine.

I use wine to run Autocad2000, vectorcam, and Rhino3d sp2, only when I 
have to. Otherwise, I try to run opensource programs such as Varkon, 
BRLCAD, Qcad, Emc2/Axis, apt360/sketch, and HeeksCAD.

My interest is centered around cadcam and generating code for CNC 
machines to produce parts.  I have seen a lot of activity in that area 
lately.  Here is a good url to a page with a lot of great links for CAM 
(computer aided manufacturing):

http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Cam

Here at home,  I run linux boxes and have a need for creating G-code for 
CNC machines in my garage.  I have found a path that works for me.  I 
use a lot of small applications to do the things that I need. Linux is 
great for stringing together small tools to make a bigger tool box. 

I didn't use to care for Qcad, but have since learned to use it for 
simple 2D geometry that I can save as a DXF file and manufacture in my 
garage.

I use apt360 when I need to mill out a part (I wrote a simple dxf to 
apt360 converter to get geometry into apt quickly):

http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?AptProgrammingForEMC
https://sourceforge.net/projects/aptos/

Dan Heeks is working on a very nice Opencascade based application that 
he calls HeeksCAD:

http://code.google.com/p/heekscad/

I am beta testing the cnc sister program to this:

http://code.google.com/p/heekscnc/

Dan also set up some GPL libraries for adaptive roughing of STL files to 
make them accessible and machinable via python scripts:

http://code.google.com/p/libactp/

I actually used this for some parts at work.


I had a few jobs come up at work that required that we engrave geometry 
onto cones, using our 3 axis mill.  I didn't have the wherewithall to 
program anything like that myself, so I hired Eric Wilhelm to write a 
nice application that he called 'conewrap' in perl. It works great.  Now 
we have another tool in our toobox.



Now for the commercial part of my post---------------------------

If one is interested in a full featured CADCAM for linux on a large 
budget, check out Unigraphics NX:

http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/

At my day job, I do design, shop floor drawings, and a little bit of CNC 
programming. There we tried out Unigraphics NX cad/cam on Suse linux.  I 
have no experience with Solid Works or Pro/E, but I imagine that it has 
some similarities. It has a very full featured CAM/machining 
application. It was very impressive, but very expensive.  In the end, we 
didn't purchase it.

Dan

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