Hi,

Techsoft 2d Design seems not to be able to control your machine directly. It just creates the design and according to their homepage may also be able to create the CNC program. But the machine itself however needs to be controlled by something like Mach3.

So the first step would be to check whether 2d Design can actually create CNC Programs for Mach3 or not (it seems to be mainly aimed at plotters and laser machines but not CNC mills):
  • If yes you basically just need to save your project as cnc program with this software and then open the cnc program with Mach3.
  • If not you'll have to export your design as .dxf drawing and use a different CAM Program to create the CNC files for your machine.


The CNC milling process is generally very different from what you may be used from printing and usually involves 3 steps:

  • Design (CAD Program)
  • Creating the CNC program (CAM Program)
  • Controlling the machine (Control Software)

Each step is usually done by a different program.

However: there is a good reason why you should prefer CAD programs over software that is mainly used for print or desktop artwork. The latter are often very lax when it comes to open or intersecting shapes - and this will cause a lot of problems in the following CAM process.

Christian