Open Source CAM software

pawanmj · Apr 19, 2016

Is there any opensource CAM software for 3-axis machining?

ewlsey · Apr 19, 2016

There are some. But, you can get some really good non-open source software for free these days.

andrewmawson · Apr 19, 2016

Fusion 360

Atomkinder · Apr 19, 2016

pawanmj said:
Is there any opensource CAM software for 3-axis machining?

You could try Openscad. It's a bit rough as I remember it but that was a few years ago.

andrewmawson said:
Fusion 360

Fusion 360 is not open source.

RTM · Apr 21, 2016

pawanmj said:
Is there any opensource CAM software for 3-axis machining?

They all tend to die right as they are picking up (a little) bit of steam. HeeksCAD (sp?) was still around last time I checked and there is a guy from the "professional" CAM industry that was interested and making some contributions with something he made open source. Been a while since I looked.

Qwan · Apr 22, 2016

Atomkinder said:
You could try Openscad. It's a bit rough as I remember it but that was a few years ago.

Fusion 360 is not open source.

I think andrewmawson was replying in reference to the previous post saying there are free closed sourced solutions available.

Nicolas · Apr 23, 2016

http://cnc-toolkit.com/

g-coder05 · May 2, 2016

Fingercam!!!!

m98custom1212 · May 2, 2016

g-coder05 said:
Fingercam!!!!

Philippines??? Thought you was in china?

Atomkinder · May 3, 2016

Qwan said:
I think andrewmawson was replying in reference to the previous post saying there are free closed sourced solutions available.

But the OP didn't specify free (and Fusion is only free for certain types of users).

m98custom1212 said:
Philippines??? Thought you was in china?

Vacation?

g-coder05 · May 4, 2016

Philippines??? Thought you was in china?/QUOTE]

Two years of that place nearly drove me insane. not the Chinese people but the foreigners that think they are Chinese.

Milland · May 4, 2016

g-coder05 said:
Philippines??? Thought you was in china?/QUOTE]

Two years of that place nearly drove me insane. not the Chinese people but the foreigners that think they are Chinese.

Click to expand...

If you ever feel like writing up some of your experiences in China and posting them, I'd be very interested to read them. I've never worked outside the US (well, a tiny bit in Germany), so getting an idea of what it's like would doubtless be eye-opening.

robwhi · May 4, 2016

Freecad is open source

The Cam is I think still early stages

CAM project - FreeCAD Documentation

g-coder05 · May 4, 2016

If you ever feel like writing up some of your experiences in China and posting them, I'd be very interested to read them. I've never worked outside the US (well, a tiny bit in Germany), so getting an idea of what it's like would doubtless be eye-opening./QUOTE]

Ive been building a website about it. When I finish it I will put a link in the general forum. It will be a real eye opener for those who have never worked outside of their home country.

pawanmj · May 9, 2016

Thanks to all for your suggestions. After a thorough search I found that there is no great open source CAM software out there. PYCAM is the best available but processes only STL files.

The reason I am looking for opensource CAM codes is because I want to write an automatic code for recognising machinable features (like pockets etc) from a CAD model. Based on these features the code will automatically give an approximate machine hours required and hence will generate a price quote.

ANy help in finding CAD feature recognition codes?

avongil · May 10, 2016

Just about every cam product has feature recognition and it will spit out a program for you with time estimates. I tried linux cnc a bunch of years ago. Its way cheaper to spend the $5K on real software. You cannot beat Mastercam for writing addons. You can just download the development kit and start programing c-hooks. This is not needed in your application. You just use feature recognition. Mastercam does it in 2d and in 3D so depending on what exactly you have in mind you can use that software package. Try anything, they just about all do feature recognition to some degree.

AG

Qwan · May 16, 2016

Atomkinder said:
But the OP didn't specify free (and Fusion is only free for certain types of users).

FYI-
By definition open source is free; sort of. Any software produced under the widely accepted GPL can be sold for profit, such as a customized distribution or bundle, but the GPL'd software itself has to be offered freely available.

There are some proprietary open source situations (I think Apple is one of them) but GPL purists deny those to the bitter end, lol.

Atomkinder · May 16, 2016

Qwan said:
FYI-
By definition open source is free; sort of. Any software produced under the widely accepted GPL can be sold for profit, such as a customized distribution or bundle, but the GPL'd software itself has to be offered freely available.

There are some proprietary open source situations (I think Apple is one of them) but GPL purists deny those to the bitter end, lol.

You took that exactly counter to what I meant.

The OP wasn't looking for FREE specifically, they were looking for OPEN SOURCE specifically. Free does not equal open source.

SRDC · May 17, 2016

I tried linux cnc a bunch of years ago. Its way cheaper to spend the $5K on real software

LinuxCNC is a real-time machine control based around a modified linux kernel and run on standard or industrial computer components ... it is not CAM, although there are a few 'canned cycle' features that you can use - but so do most controllers. It was actually developed by NIST as a 'standard' controller.

Open source is sorta bleak right now. Most of them do NOT do 3D well. PyCAM is probably closest, but frustratingly buggy and temperamental. FreeCAD's PATH module looks promising, but is very young and only partially functional right now.

If you want a low-cost (non open-source) CAM that invites plug-ins and scripts, and has a very active / supportive community, you can try CamBam. For the price point ($150?) it is very capable 2D and reasonably capable 3D, and is fairly easy to extend the functionality of in Python or C.

fsfarimani · Jan 23, 2019

There are actually plenty of Free and Open Source options available. I have tried to list what I have found here in this Reddit post:

Free and Open source CAM/CNC software : CNC

Open Source CAM software

Plastic

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Titanium

Cast Iron

Cast Iron

Cast Iron

Titanium

Stainless

Titanium

Titanium

Diamond

Aluminum

Titanium

Plastic

Aluminum

Cast Iron

Titanium

Aluminum

Plastic

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