My MiniGcode creator software

[JohnHaine]

I've used Excel quite a lot for generating g-code for odd shapes like cams of various types, though not VBA. The problem with VBA is you need Excel so of course it's not compatible with Linux for those using LinuxCNC. I recently wrote a wizard to generate code for knurling using the rotary axis on my CNC mill - initially I did this in Excel but then moved to Python which I found very easy to use (though it doesn't have any graphics). You could consider Python as for example the Thonny IDE for Python is cross platform - I run it on both the PC and a Raspberry Pi - and it's free. I believe that there are extensive graphics libraries available for Python too.

[routercnc]

Hi John,
OK that is good to know. I had a look at Python today, as well as C++ and C#, and as with all things they seem to be best suited for certain applications. MS Visual Studio Code supports most of them, but the GUI looked well supported for C#. I think Python is easier to get started with but I think a GUI is important for this tool so if I go that way I am leaning towards C# as it seems to be the right starting point for this sort of thing (I think), apologies Linux users if I get that far :(

I did get a request on the YouTube channel for yet another standalone system / approach. And there was I thinking I would just finish this in Excel VBA and let others use it !

Plan for now is get it running safely in Excel VBA, share it out and see where to go from there . . .

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions on coding approaches, I'm not an expert on coding but seem to get things to work in the end.