Probing and Software

[jim_stadtlander]

I have finally bought a used 'bot......Yeah!!! And have been playing around with all it's abilities. Still so much to learn. What I am needing to do is alot of probing for my current work. I did not get any software with the bot except the Control box software, SB3.

I have been able to probe with out troubles and cut the pieces . What I need to do is probe a piece and bring it to a software that will let me create toolpaths for the roughing out passes and a final cut pass. Possibly other tweaks to it? ( like making better toolpaths?) I eventually want to run an indexer for fully sculpted pieces. I am not too concerned with doing modeling on the computer, at least at this time. It would be nice, but the price is too high for starting off.

Questions are-- what software would you guys recommend for the toolpaths/tweaking(after probing) at an affordable price? There is Partworks, but is that overkill for now? An old post was talking about Meshcam?? Are there others? Are any of these a good software that can be used in conjunction with probing and/or with an indexer?

Thanks to this forum, I have already learned so much, but so much more to go!........Jim

[Brady Watson]

Jim,
PartWorks3D or Cut3D will import probe files directly. It will allow you to scale the part up or down and create roughing and finishing toolpaths at an affordable price. You cannot modify the geometry of the probed file in either program.

The best program for importing, modifying, cleaning up and toolpathing your probed model is ArtCAM. Some think that the program is expensive, and the price is hard to justify...but I can attest to the fact that it is worth every penny & that once you do have it, you will make more money with it due to the fact that you can design and cut just about anything you need to using a 3 axis router - and even 4th axis stuff as well.

-B