Hi, I got the cnc bug about 3yrs ago, bought plans and built a router that does work, I also purchased the Mach program, now what? I gave up in frustration, today I decided to dig it out and try again. My problem as a newbie is where do I go from here, I would like to draw simple aluminum parts for my other hobbies, convert to g code and run them. Do I lay out a chunk of cash for a cad-cam program and try to learn it? I am retired so learning something new is not as easy as it used to be, are there any free programs or low cost ones that would work for me?
Any help or direction would be appreciated.
Thanks
Terry

Hi Terry,

have a look at CAMBAM its free to very low cost and is very good for generating g-code.

http://www.cambam.info/downloads/

Graham

Thanks Graham, will  have a look.
Terry

I also use CamBam, and recommend it. In addition, there is a free CAD design program out there.

DraftSight. It is free, and very powerful. It is produced by Dassault Systemes of France, the parent company of SolidWorks. There are over 40 videos on YouTube, demonstrating various features. It is a 2D CAD program, and can output the correct format for CamBam to read in, and generate Gcode. They would like users to step up to SolidWorks eventually. 

The demo of CutViewer is good for 30 days. Another superb tool. You can watch your finished program machine a virtual solid.

Thanks for the help, I have just been playing with cambam and I think it is starting to make sense to this fuzzy old brain. Appreciate the help.
Terry

Hi Terry,

I started out with GSimple http://www.gsimple.eu/

It is pretty basic, easy to learn and again it is free.

Tweakie.