plasma cad

[routercnc]

Hi Jamied,

You mentioned that you are looking for 'easy to use CAD that will work well with Mach3'. In case you weren't aware there are 2 in-between steps from CAD to Mach3 - Toolpath creation, and Gcode creation

Your workflow is:
1. CAD - groups of lines, shapes, text etc.
2. Toolpaths - select these lines and tell the s/ware width of cutter, rates etc, whether to cut on the outside, inside, on, pockets etc.
3. Gcode - a list of commands which are required to produce the above toolpaths, e.g. start here, move here, start spindle, lower cutter, go here, go there, lift up etc.
4. Postprocessor (Mach3) - takes these commands and moves the plasma head to cut the bits out

CAMBAM will do 1 (limited extent), 2 and 3. Standalone CAD will probably be better at 1, but not provide 2 or 3. If you go for standalone CAD package (with a view to creating the toolpaths and gcode in some other software), look for 'dxf' export capability. I would avoid LazyCam for 2 and 3, as it is a bit messy to use, and I believe development stopped long ago.

[jamied]

yea thanks for the info , I have been spolt with my mill as I use featurecam and that dose the lot for me but im looking for the same type of thing but more plasma based (as the version of featurecam i have dose not do plasma) with nesting and as you say the toolpaths for inside and outside cuts etc ,
as you can see its all a learning curve !!