Electrical Musings

I started back into my work on Python CNC as the Bozeman Makerspace has a Shapeoko that my son wants to learn to use. I looked at a bunch of software packages and feel there is a need for a simple SVG based drawing program that has direct g-code output.  Sure you can use a plugin in Inkscape and there is  jscut but I want something that is a little parametric.  I imagine a program with a list of shapes on the right where you can link a milling function to each with a graphical display of the tool paths on the right. This is based on my own process and the tools I used to mill on my Bridgeport CNC.  I started with a CAD drawing and then built code from the drawing with my own Python objects.  Then after outputing the g-code I would import it into NCplot to verify the tool paths.  Then off to EMC2, now known as LinuxCNC, to run in air first and then on a test piece. For the Shapeoko the process is similar: SVG in Inkscape Load it in jscut Output the g-code Load it in GRBL

There was a time when CAD and CAM software was simply not available for anyone without paying a substantial sum of money.  The version of AutoCAD 10 (which came on 10 floppies) that I used for a year at MFJ Enterprises to do product documentation cost almost $1000. Even low quality programs cost upwards of $99 or more.  However, in the past few years there have been many new free versions of software available that are high and even professional quality. Sketchup Arguably the first really free CAD software that was good quality was Sketchup . Sketchup was written by a company called  @Last Software which sold the software for $495.  The company wrote a plug-in for Google Earth and soon afterward Google bought the company.  In 2006 at Google Developer Day the developers of Sketchup were there presenting the software and giving away free Sketchup socks.   An important feature of Sketchup is that users can write short snippets of code in Ruby to configure or extend the application