Hello,

I am currently working on a group project which has the goal to develop a cnc-controlled cutter for carbon fibre. Since noone in our group has any experience in this matter I'd like to present our current level of knowledge in order to get feedback where we might run into problems and what we can do to avoid that.

The setup we are planning to use:
The hardware will be bought from a supplier which constructed it after our inquiry. This leaves the control of the machine to us.
The hardware we will use to control the cutter is the triple beast found here: http://benezan-electronics.de/shop/p...58bf069d89ae0a
The corresponding software is mach3.


Tasks we are still unsure about:
-generate g-code out of a .cax-file to cut a 2dimensional shape.
-control the cutter with software and hardware
-We plan to use a rotatory wedge-shaped blade to cut the carbon fibre.

As a postprocessor we found a program which changes a .cax-file in g-code. It is not the best way and we probably need to modify the generated g-code a lot. Which postprocessors on the market provide the same result and are easier to modify? Is it possible to change the g-code via a program written with vba and is the required amount of time to do so worth it?

In theory controlling the cutter once everything is properly wired should be easy. Is there a problem we're missing?

The wedge-shaped blade requires us to modify the postion of the blade with an additional motor for example when it has to cut curves. As far as we know this can be solved by compensation tools available in the g-code. When cutting corners the machine needs to reset the blade. How can this be achieved?

Even though english is not my first language and i probably havent covered all necessary points to evaluate our situation I'd very much appreciate any feedback you can give us.

Thanks very much in advance.