From: Arthur Torrey <arthur_torrey@comcast.net>
To: libreplanet-discuss <libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org>
Subject: RE : Ideas to promote making and using free hardware designs (was Re: FSF continuously harms Free Hardware)
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2022 20:05:18 -0500 (EST) [thread overview]
Message-ID: <1373508721.1305537.1642727119011@connect.xfinity.com> (raw)
An excellent post by Paul Fernhout, but I see one really HUGE problem, namely that I don't know of ANY Free Software tool or tool-chain that can get a person from 'beer-mat' to 'g-code' (For those not familiar with the CNC world, g-code is the 'assembly language' of the CNC manufacturing world...
I am a member of the Artisan's Asylum maker-space (formerly in Somerville, MA, temporarily shut down while moving to Allston) and would dearly love to be able to make the hardware that I can draw and design in LibreCAD (2D) or possibly FreeCAD, gCAD3D or some other Free Software 3D CAD package, but I have not been able to find any way to get from those packages to g-code that I can feed to our CNC machines.
Instead I have to use Proprietary CAD packages (some of which have limited 'Free as in Beer' offerings) to make proprietary format files in order to generate (proprietary) tool-paths to feed to a (proprietary) pre-processor that turns them into machine appropriate g-code.... (Ironically, at least one of the machines I'm running that g-code on is using LinuxCNC as a controller). I haven't even found a path that would let me move a design from a Free CAD package into one of the proprietary packages to do the tool-path steps.
For electronics stuff, KiCAD is amazingly good, I've heard professional board designers say that it can go head to head against the $10K / seat commercial programs. I haven't done anything in the 3D printing world, but I've heard there are some packages that are at least competent for that. However there is NOTHING I've been able to find that is capable of even basic CNC machining g-code, let alone anything close to modern High Speed Machining (as done by things like HSM-Works)
As such, Paul's proposals for OSCOMAK and other shared collections of design data seem like they would be of little use if there is no way to get the collected data into a new design that can be manufactured....
I've been urging the FSF to put CAD onto the 'high priority' list for years, but so far no luck...
ART
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Arthur Torrey - <arthur_torrey@comcast.net>
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next reply other threads:[~2022-01-21 1:07 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 7+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2022-01-21 1:05 Arthur Torrey [this message]
2022-01-21 5:21 ` RE : Ideas to promote making and using free hardware designs (was Re: FSF continuously harms Free Hardware) Jean Louis
2022-01-21 9:20 ` Paul Sutton via libreplanet-discuss
2022-01-21 10:49 ` Jacob Hrbek
2022-01-21 15:54 ` Jean Louis
[not found] <mailman.43264.1642778007.18146.libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org>
2022-01-24 5:20 ` Dr Andrew A. Adams
2022-01-24 7:10 ` Jean Louis
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