Learning CNC maching

[Weston Bye]

Joe,
A little clarification is in order here. You credit me with setting up the CNC build classes that were held at the Digital Machinist CNC Workshops a few years ago. Sorry to say, that was not so. George Bulliss and Ron Ginger deserve credit for the class. Though present at the workshops, I was behind the times and only later worked up my own (inferior? no ballscrews) version of a bench top CNC.

[DICKEYBIRD]

Hi oldjim, old Milton here. I think you mentioned you have 2D CAD skills? Take a look at Ace Converter (free) http://www.dakeng.com/ace.html. You can draw up a simple something you might want to make, save it as a .dxf & load it into Ace for the conversion to G-Code. The site also has a lot of info that helps with the learning curve.

Download Mach3, (free trial) load your G-Code & watch the code run onscreen. Ace is more of a router program but it's a good (& free) way to get started in the world of 3-axis CNC.

The expense issue may not be a problem for you & if so you'd be better off going with one of the commercial products mentioned earlier. Me, I had to start with free stuff and go from there.

Good luck to you!