Software for CNC milling. What is involved? | Forum

You will need 3 kinds of software for CNC; CAD, CAM and a Gcode sender. 
The CAD (Computer Aided design) software creates the 2D or 3D models you wish to manufacture.

CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) software tells the machine how to produce a product by generating tool paths and setting the speeds and depths at which the machine will cut. You can also select different tool paths to suit your models. 
After the tool paths have been configured, You can generate the Gcode which contains the instructions that the CNC controller understands to run the machine. A Gcode sender is required to pass these instructions to the CNC controller to control the CNC machine.

Our recommendations for CAD/CAM packages are:

-Fusion360

-FreeCAD

-Vectric Software

-Solid Works - Requires SolidCam Plugin.

Our recommendations for the Gcode senders are:

-Universal Gcode Sender (UGS) - For GRBL

-GRBL Panel - For GRBL-SourceRabbit- For GRBL

-Mach3 - For Mach3 controllers

-DruffelCNC - For Mach3 Controllers.

Please let me know if you require more information. 

Kind regards

Tawanda

Maker Store Team