It supports lots of machine types as-is and it can be extended to support most other
MeshCAM has a built-in post processor to transform the gcode to work with your machine. Users have come up with incredible uses for this feature to make parts that would be almost impossible with a traditional CAD program. You can open any image file (JPG, BMP, or PNG) in MeshCAM and the image will be converted to a 3D surface that can be machined directly. Sometimes you don’t even have a CAD program. Sometimes you need a part that cannot be designed with a traditional CAD program. If your CAD file can generate an STL file, it’ll work. If you just want to make 2D parts without using a 3D CAD program, you can load 2D DXF files (in R12 format) and extrude them to a 3D part. MeshCAM works with almost every 3D CAD program by opening the two most common 3D file formats, STL and DXF. Save gcode that works on your CNC machineĭon’t let the simplicity fool you, MeshCAM has lots of flexibility and options for advanced machining.Build an efficient toolpath with minimal input.Load a file from almost any CAD program.MeshCAM is made for people who just want to make parts now. You don’t want to become an expert on CAM software, you want parts today. I’m setting the origin of my machine on top of the workpeace.You have a simple goal, to take a CAD file and get your mill to cut it. Then you will see the Snap going up (same in thomas picture) and milling the stock downwards layer by layer back to the set origin of your machine.Īlternatively I used to construct my pads downwards from the origin plane. 15mm ABOVE the origin in freecad and calculate a milling path from it, you have to set your machine origin on the lower side of your workpiece. It’s worth a look if you want to get deeper into understanding the proper gcode for cnc milling.įreecad will use the origin plane as origin for the path calculated in gcode. In addition, the circle movements G2 and G3 are processed faulty.īrent pointed me to the fact, that SM adopted the marlin language for their controller. In addition, the changes made according to the template doesn’t seem to be extensive. REMEMBER to span an additional wastable wasteboard below the workpiece, as long as you don’t want to add four 0,5mm blind holes to your “good” I share your interpretation.
I wouldn’t set the speedrates for the dive into the material higher. The downstep on the Z axis with 13mm was a bit deep. The ones above used for testing with a 4,5 mm drill in 12mm multiplex worked acceptable.
The speed settings (F…) are roughly guessed, as I didn’t calculate the proper feed and cut rates as I should. I used it to test drilling 4 mounting holes with the proper grid of the good “wasteboard”. Nevertheless, in the end the output of your postprocessed gcode should look something like this handcoded testing script with an additional header: After double checking and carefully copying the relevant file (snapmaker_freecad_post.py) again, freecad finally “accepted” the new postprocessor. But, I had similar error messages at first. Either that could lead to the observed “random” movement or a simple variance in the origins.Īs long, as I use a Linux, I don’t know exactly, where to replace the faulty file. For my understanding: You generated gcode with another postprocessor and tried it on your SM (2?) - according to the chosen postprocessor, the “dialect” of the generated gcode doesn’t have to (proably won’t) fit the dialect of the controller used in the SM.