]so, been playing with some free software.

Inkscape with gcodetools can do pathcutting and V-Carving.

I surfaced a spoilboard (did I say that already ? ) and recut the EMC demo





that turned out pretty good.

I worked out how to do V-Carving with inkscape, and cut a Pet Cross, with the name MAX on it. The biggest problem I had, was figuring out where to position the pre made cross, to get the carving in the correct place. It ended up being low of center, but the carving itself was quite neat. It did look very 'machine cut' though, and I do prefer the hand carved look. I'll have to change the wording in my sales pitch !



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then I tried a tile pattern on a scrap of MDF. It was about an hour to cut, and I noticed it start cutting deeper in the lower left corner. I suspected the Z motor coupling, so marked it, and marked the top motor shaft corispondingly. Sure enough, the coupling was slipping. I tightened it up and continued cutting, which seemed fine to the end.



<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid121.photobucket.co m%2Falbums%2Fo238%2FRichAAC-UK%2FMOV00016.mp4">

the end result was pretty good for a test. I used just plain path cutting. I think V-Carving would have been better.




I need to start tidying up the wiring, and locktighting the nuts and bolts. The odd one is coming loose already !.

This is the machine as it stands today.



I had to switch off, and do some paying work, so no more playing for a bit :(

Thanks for looking
Rich[