MachinistBlog.com » CAD/CAM http://www.machinistblog.com Plans, projects and how-to's for home machinists Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:37:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Casting Lots of Small Parts http://www.machinistblog.com/casting-small-parts/ http://www.machinistblog.com/casting-small-parts/#comments Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:43:12 +0000 RobertG http://www.machinistblog.com/?p=5760 I spend about half of my time writing CAM software, and the other half doing product development for a bunch of companies.  Usually my prototypes are one-off, sometimes I have to make lots of them.  I happen to be in the middle of just such a project- I need to make about 50 of these:

Continue reading Casting Lots of Small Parts

]]> http://www.machinistblog.com/casting-small-parts/feed/ 0 CAM program D2NC’s new features http://www.machinistblog.com/cam-program-d2ncs-new-features/ http://www.machinistblog.com/cam-program-d2ncs-new-features/#comments Thu, 05 May 2011 21:31:48 +0000 Rob http://www.machinistblog.com/?p=5218

This is a very quick introduction to D2NC, the CAM program I use to convert DXF files into G-code for my mini-mill.  It also does conversational CNC programing and it has a “Shape Description Language” for creating shapes and tool paths.  D2NC only costs $79, which seems pretty inexpensive for a good

Continue reading CAM program D2NC’s new features

]]> http://www.machinistblog.com/cam-program-d2ncs-new-features/feed/ 0 StickFont – Free software for engraving http://www.machinistblog.com/stickfont-free-software-for-engraving/ http://www.machinistblog.com/stickfont-free-software-for-engraving/#comments Sat, 23 Apr 2011 13:47:57 +0000 Rob http://www.machinistblog.com/?p=5140 StickFont v1.1 is a free Windows program you can use to create single-stroke text for engraving.  It’s very similar to another free program we’ve written about called DeskEngrave.  Both programs will take a line of text and generate the g-code you’ll need to engrave it using a CNC mill, router or similar machine.

Continue reading StickFont – Free software for engraving

]]> http://www.machinistblog.com/stickfont-free-software-for-engraving/feed/ 1 Wanted: A review of Draftsight, a new free 2D CAD program http://www.machinistblog.com/wanted-a-review-of-draftsight-a-new-free-2d-cad-program/ http://www.machinistblog.com/wanted-a-review-of-draftsight-a-new-free-2d-cad-program/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:24:09 +0000 Rob http://www.machinistblog.com/?p=3682 Would anyone like to volunteer to write a review of a new free 2D CAD program called Draftsight?  It looks intriguing but I don’t have time to write one myself.  I’m also not a very experienced CAD user and I would like to hear the opinion of someone who is.

I did take a quick

Continue reading Wanted: A review of Draftsight, a new free 2D CAD program

]]> http://www.machinistblog.com/wanted-a-review-of-draftsight-a-new-free-2d-cad-program/feed/ 17 DeskEngrave http://www.machinistblog.com/deskengrave/ http://www.machinistblog.com/deskengrave/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 15:48:49 +0000 Rob http://www.machinistblog.com/?p=3258 Use a negative radius to put text on the inside of a circle. Use a positive radius to put it around the outside.

DeskEngrave is a free Windows program that makes it easy to add engraving to your parts if you have a CNC mill, router or similar machine.  It will create text using

Continue reading DeskEngrave

]]> http://www.machinistblog.com/deskengrave/feed/ 5 Review: DeltaCAD http://www.machinistblog.com/review-deltacad/ http://www.machinistblog.com/review-deltacad/#comments Sat, 17 Apr 2010 15:15:38 +0000 Rob http://www.machinistblog.com/?p=2762

This is a quick review of DeltaCAD, an inexpensive and easy-to-use 2D CAD program with a short learning curve.  I highly recommend it, unless you need to design and draw complex parts or make 3D drawings.  If you’ve been looking for a simple CAD program then invest a few minutes and take

Continue reading Review: DeltaCAD

]]> http://www.machinistblog.com/review-deltacad/feed/ 0