I wanted to document how I did the artwork and toolpaths for the MAKE thing I make on the Shapeoko CNC router at BAMspace recently…
I started with my old MAKE design in Inkscape and set it to the size I wanted. I also placed it on the canvas as if it were on the piece of stock, knowing that the lower left corner would be the home position on the CNC router.
After I saved out my SVG file, I loaded it into MakerCam. Now, you can go to www.makercam.com and use that, or you can load up the SWF, and save it locally to run on your own machine. (Flash is required either way. I guess the source code is also available, but you probably need Adobe’s Flash development tools to do anything with it.)
If you’re using Inkscape, you need to set the prefs to 90ppi instead of 72ppi before you open your SVG file. Oh, make sure you check out the MakerCam tutorial, help, and about pages.
In MakerCam I created two profiles, one to cut the inside pieces, and one to cut the outside of the entire piece.
These setting worked fairly well. I wouldn’t up the feedrate or the step down on our machine if using 1/2″ HDPE. This job definitely took a while to run…
Once I had the toolpaths all set in MakerCam I exported the G-Code into a single file, and then loaded that file into OpenSCAM to run a simulation. (Looks like OpenSCAM recently rebranded as CAMotics… guess I should grab the latest version!) Running the simulation allows you to see the toolpaths and check how many passes it will take to cut through the material. I guess you could also use math, but sometimes I prefer visualizations…
That’s pretty much my workflow for 2.5D toolpaths; create art in Inkscape, load it into MakerCam and generate G-Code, load G-Code into OpenSCAM (CAMotics) and see how it looks.