[cad-linux] Re: Is there a linux/opensource CAD to CAM (gcode) translator?
- From: Ray Henry <rehenry@xxxxxx>
- To: cad-linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 19:02:56 -0600
On Sunday 12 January 2003 01:40 pm, you wrote:
> I'd be happy to send out my code when it's more or less working, but
> it's not quite there yet, and I imagine could use alot of improvement.
That sounds good to me. Send it as soon as you have something you want
me to look at.
> I didn't mean to bang on EMC, I just didn't remember it having a
> CAD/CAM app.
No problem with criticism. It doesn't have a cad/cam app. Most of the
hobby level folk use some combination of Rhino, Vector, BobCad, or
Dolphin. But these have to run under an MS-OS and then the code passed
to the Linux machine running the EMC.
> There was an openGL gcode dry-run previewer which I
> thought was pretty good.
Remember the link to this or a few search words? I wrote the tickle
dryrun that is a part of the EMC release itself but it requires a running
EMC.
> The control I've got is a dedicated DOS
> machine with a 100MHz Pentium and an interface card that does things
> like control coolant and tool changes. I spent alot of time five years
> ago tearing out the PDP-11 (!) and it's three wirewrapped
> analog/digital interface boards (!@#$#) in that machine and adapting it
> for PC controls.
Almost sounds like a K&T.
> Nowadays, for a machine like mine, limited by its
> stepper resolution and maximum feedrates, EMC would probably perform
> as well. I think my only concern about EMC was its output pulse timing
> and maximum step rate, which seemed inadequate to take advantage of
> modern microstepping motor drivers.
The EMC will outperform most any low-cost setup if it is running servos.
I hear about stepper frequencies in the 30-50 KHz range but software
stepper rate generation sucks up a lot of processor. There are a couple
of interesting stepper rate generators in hardware that have been or are
being mated to the EMC.
> Since those drivers run about 500
> to 1000 bucks a pop, minus power supply and everything else, they're
> sort of out of the enthusiast range anyway. Maybe it would be fun to
> build one...
www.geckodrive.com have several inexpensive 10 microstep drivers and
several servo drivers that take step and direction signals.
Ray
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