Official Luthiers Forum!

I am looking into buying a table top cnc machine to make electric bodies and necks as well as some acoustic parts such as bridges, necks, etc. I am completely new to the world of cnc and CAD/CAM software. I am curious what the members of this forum use as their CAD/CAM software? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Richard

I use Autocad for 2D simply because I have been using it for a hundred years. For 3D I use RhinoCad. For CAM I use CamBam, which is really easy for 2D+ but a challenge for 3D. The router uses Mach3.

This topic comes up from time to time and here's a few threads where things have been discussed:

viewtopic.php?f=10106&t=41333

viewtopic.php?f=10106&t=41049

viewtopic.php?f=10106&t=36348

As to machine control, Mach 3 is pretty much the industry standard but it also is garbage. It is possible to get a lot of work done with it and I've been using it for over 3 years now but switching to something more reliable is high on my priority list. If they could work the bugs out of Mach 3 it would be really good stuff. Unfortunately they're full speed ahead on Mach 4 and from what I've heard from an alpha tester, the first releases won't even have all the functionality of Mach 3 and the major shortcomings, i.e. the CV mode trajectory planner, won't be touched for quite a while (like years).

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Andy what do you think of WIN CNC? We use V-Carve Pro, Rhino 5.0, MadCam & WIN CNC

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
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The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

I don't have any personal experience with WinCNC but I've never really heard anyone complain about it which is a good thing. I have to think that since many entry level industrial machines use it that it's got to be a step or two better than Mach (which isn't that difficult )

If I recall correctly, CaMaster used to allow Mach 3 as an option a few years ago but don't anymore. It's almost certain they did so because with WinCNC they have far fewer support issues.

I'm personally transitioning my machine to KmotionCNC as soon as I can free up enough time to make the switch. Like WinCNC, it's a combo hardware/software solution but WinCNC is a turnkey system on your machine. I'm going to need to brush up on my C coding chops just to get it running!

For a beginner hobbyist, I think it's worth looking into LinuxCNC. It's a software only solution but it really sounds like it's a lot more stable than Mach 3 and they've just done a serious upgrade to the trajectory planner.

To summarize though, definitely sleep well knowing that you have WinCNC on your machine...but please report back if you think otherwise or have any issues

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Andy no issues with WIN CNC. It works fine. Using MadCam inside Rhino makes it easy for me. No coding

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

You're a credit to the institution of concision, Andy.



I looked into this one, as well, and it looks to be head and shoulders above even what can be achieved with Mach and a hardware board (like the SmoothStepper). Just their description of their trajectory planner in the manual is extremely telling. In turn-key stepper controller land, I don't think you could really do better except on cost. I've also heard very good things about their support, which is a big deal with a turn-key system.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I use SolidWorks for CAD. It's probably overkill if you're just doing 2D stuff, but great for doing 3D (which is where I live).

I use VisualMill / VisualCam, by MecSoft for programming the cutter paths. Not bad overall.

ShopSabre 3636 CNC. Muy Grooviando!


Cheers,

Jeff Kosmoski
http://www.Kozmguitars.com

Jeff, ShopSabre uses WinCNC doesn't it?

Roger that.

certainly true. one could be a pioneer and dive into the open source cnc community, but pioneers also take the arrows too.

I still use BobCAD for my CNC work, but on my job I use Creo 2.0. Hands down the best software I've ever used or been exposed to. Still stuck in Mach land though. Wish I had MasterCam too.
After learning Creo, I'm totally spoiled.

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