AutoCad 2007

[Robin Hewitt]

I actually use a macro that I wrote which exports g-code from within AutoCAD.

Well done, most impressed. I baulked at working from within AutoCAD and took a different tack. I read a .dxf file and a .txt file that defines the missing parameters. I drive the mill directly, no G-code at all.

I looked at polylines, figured out how one magic number could define an arc but never wrote the interpreter. I just explode them before I export.

I found the trickiest bit was where the tool was too big to fit in all the little nooks and crannies, meaning I had to discard lots of entities. I did it, nearly, but should a pocket have a constriction below tool diameter I only get half of it. I found picking up on a sub-pocket surprisingly tricky, too easy to get phantoms. Remembering that a subsequent tool might have to do waste removal only on the uncut section was beyond me.