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Author Topic: What economical progam do I need to do this ?  (Read 1888 times)

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What economical progam do I need to do this ?
« on: September 08, 2017, 09:32:27 AM »
I am a Total Newbie.. so bear that in mind as I'm not too au fait with the nomenclature and terminologies..Now tell me what is the most economical but effective program to convert text (any font) to G-Code please? and is there also an economical way of converting jpg or tiff to G-Code ?

I have the complete Adobe suite in my MacPro and also Microsoft Office..AND Parallels Desktop so I can run PC programs in the Mac; plan is to not overload the PC and keep it completely clean except for Mach3, that the only program on it except for Windoze XP resident ones..

My intention is to just do engraving on 16 and 19mm copper discs and some very light milling of small shapes in 1/16" aluminium Just the outline shape of 1/16” x 1-5/16 x 2-3/16” Plate
The engraving on the copper discs is using an outlined version of Apple Chancery Italic (Postcript Font)
The machine is set-up in Metric but interestingly my new vernier gauge has Metric, Imperial thousandths AND imperial Fractions in increments up to 1/64.. Handy..
« Last Edit: September 08, 2017, 09:39:56 AM by basilhenriques »
Re: What economical progam do I need to do this ?
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2017, 09:48:50 AM »
I use CamBam running on the machine along side Mach 3 with no problems. CamBam impressed me enough to buy a second copy which also runs on the PC control of the big machine at work. The advantage of having both programs on the machine is quick changes and reposting to Mach 3. Forty free sessions before you buy, a fabulously helpful user forum and lots of scripts and plugins, plus a useable CAD functionality. What's not to love?

I've done plenty of G-code programming, life is too short not to use a CAM program today.