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« on: February 20, 2010, 06:01:46 AM »
Hi,
if you only need a 2,5D CAM then i can recommend SheetCAM.
I also use it in combination with Alibre Design and Mach3, and i appreciate it every time i use it.
Workflow is as follows:
1.) Design your model in Alibre.
2.) Denerate a Alibre Drawing of the part you would mill.
I use a special drawing template for SheetCAM which has several additional layers with different colors.
Usually you need only front view in your drawing.
3.) Consider the steps how you would mill the part and move the appropriate drawing lines into an separate layer,
if necessary draw additional lines (additional lines for milling offset aren't necessary, this can be done in SheetCAM, even for single lines).
4.) Export the file as a DXF (AutoCAD 2000 format).
5.) Import the dxf file in SheetCAM.
6.) Generate the milling operations (notice that the used layers of the Alibre drawing appear in SheetCAM).
If you have switched ON the autoload function in SheetCAM then if you alter something in Alibre and export the DXF again SheetCAM takes notice of the new DXF file and asks you automatically if you want to reload the file. The mill operations in SheetCAM you made before keep alive.
All in all the workflow is not far away of the fully integrated CAM solutions of the CAD.
Regards, Peter