[simpits-tech] From idea to CNC - what software is used

[Gene Buckle]

On Sat, 29 Jan 2011, Alex Wiebe wrote:

>> I've never heard of CutList before - does it best-fit your parts into
>> pre-defined sheet sizes in order to give you your material requirements?
>
> Yes and spit out a bill of materials. The problems are a) it appears
> to only use square bounding boxes for the parts and b) outputs a jpeg
> or gif - not a drawing in Sketchup.
>
Ahh, ok.  Useless then. :)

>> The process I use involves creating the flat parts in AutoCAD, then
>> bringing them into Inventor in order to verify fit, then from there I
>> "panelize" the parts to fit on a 4x8 sheet of material.  That step is done
>> in AutoCAD as well.  From there I use VCarve Pro to create the tool paths
>> for the ShopBot.
>
> Do you have a link for Inventor? Is it an AutoCAD plugin? or stand
> alone product?
>
It's a stand-alone product.  Not cheap either.

>> You can use the free version of TurboCAD to draw your flat patterns & for
>> the panelize process.
>
> Will look into that - thanks.
>
You might be best served by using TurboCAD to create your flat part 
drawings and then use Cut2D by Vectric to create the tool paths.  You can 
download a trial edition of Cut2D to see how it works - they've also got
training videos that show how it's used.

g.



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