Hi,

New to all of this. Considering a phlatprinter but I'm struggling with the different formats and the different CAD programs. Right now I'm looking at Sketchup and 123D for design. I'm planning on doing foamie aircraft, but I want to have it either laser cut or CNC'd.

So here's my question, what are the typical file formats that laser and CNC need or can use and do the two CAD tools I mentioned have the ability to export or convert files as needed? Also, is there anything to be mindful of when laying out designs with respect to laser vs CNC?

Thanks for the help!

 

I went through the same sort of process last fall when I was looking to purchase a machine. I went with the Phlatprinter 3 for a couple of reasons.

1. Great machine, great price point
2. Tremendous customer service
3. Unmatched forum support
4. Complete product with supporting parts from one source.
5. Multiple software CAD applications can be run on the machine.
6. Software support is nearly impossible to beat if you are using the Planet -CNC system.
7. Phlatboyz LLC, Mark & Trish are really stand-up folks.

You won't be disappointed by this machine!

I have been using Sketchup and Phlatscript to generate code for my projects. The phlatboyz tutorials and some forum support was all I needed. From no previous CNC experience to building my own designs was a very short time. I think it was maybe two weeks and a couple of trial and error's before I was pretty comfortable using this system. You can check out some of my stuff at http://www.ssfoamies.com if you like.

 

While I totally agree with dugd1013, and rcav8r, I don't think they quite answered the questions that you've asked.

All CNC machines, be it laser, plasma, router or whatever, use something that is called g-code. It comes in files with the extensions of .nc, .cnc and many others but inside it the files are all the same. You can read them on any word program like notepad and so forth to get an idea how they look like inside. There are many of them posted in this forum. Look at the airplane section. Most of us post a plan for a plane, mostly a SU file, with a .cnc file attached to it.

As to generating this g-code file, we have a plugin for SU that will generate the code. Look for the SketchUCam section for it. This plugin works only in SU, as far as I know. I don't think that there is a plugin for the other program that you've mentioned.

As for laser vs cnc. Laser cutters are cnc machines. It's just one of the various ways to cut a material with the aid of a computer. The PP uses a router, which is the less expensive way. A laser is a bit more complicated and more expensive. Look for the post of, i think it was 'tweety', on this subject in the forum. Search for 'laser'.

BTW, welcome to the board. Hang out here for a while and you'll get the bug bad. You've been warned.

 

I just found 123D and now playing with it, you can save STL or DXF files. You would then have your cam program generate toolpaths (g-code) from the files.

If you send your dxf file out to have it cut, check with your cutter to see what version they perfer. There are plug-ins for sketchup to save dxf and stl file formats. I have had good luck loading sketchup stl and dxf file into VcarvePro.

Most hobby lasers that I have seen use coral draw or any other type of paint program. It all depends on the controller card. The two most popular cards are DSP and RetinaEngrave. Both can do raster and cutting. Some people with laser's also use Mach3 to control their laser wich would take g-code generated by a cam program. You would have to check with your laser cutter to find which file types they perfer.

Both programs you are looking at can output the correct file format to a cam program for cuting on a cnc router. Or just use the built in cam plug ins for sketchup that you find here to generate your cut file. (and save the cost of a cam program)

Just read the posts about a laser head for the MK3, After spending many hours on the buildlog site, I think it would be a very nice option, Co2 tubes have dropped in price. Might have to give a second look to the hybrid Mk3 I have been working on for way too long for an added option.


Design wise one thing to consider if cutting on a cnc router type machine is the bit diamater you are using. Little difficult to cut out a rectangle that is .125 wide when you only have .250 diamater bits.

 

Great info. Thanks. I'll follow up on the threads mentioned.

 

What's a cam program?

 

Thanks for all the replies guys! I'll be looking into this over the next month or so and I'll probably have more questions!