Again, I apologize if this has been answered, I searched the forums and could only find fleeting reference to it.
I am in the process of printing my parts, my kit is ordered from V1 and I expect to pick up the Dewalt 660 router.
I am well versed in Linux, I have a couple of 3-D printers (Tevo Tornadoes). I am a qualified Toolmaker by trade. I have earned a living a design engineer using CAD (very comfortable with Fusion 360) and have some exposure to CAM.
Looking through the software I would like to run Fusion as the CAD/CAM part and use LinuxCNC as the machine interface. Is this a bad idea? - What are the gotchas with using LinuxCNC - I like the look of Mach3 but am not sure that I want to invest in it yet.
I was planning on getting my MPCNC running with Repetier host first, as that’s what is shown in the instructions.
Thoughts, or comments, is there a reason I shouldn’t do this?
Having used LinuxCNC on my last few machines I would say it is very useful. And stop there.
I wanted to use it this time also but want to use the ramps boards and drivers. LinuxCNC only supports parallel output, although I did find someone working on an add on that would support usb.
Personally I only wanted to use my mpcnc as a router and maybe a laser. I own a 3d printer so I dont need things like hot end temp and I am really not worried about tethering a computer as I have a few old towers lying around from the LinuxCNC days.
Marlin is a fantastic thing when it comes to the 3dprint world and can be used for the CNC world quite successfully. I had problems reconciling my work flow from before so I have shifted to GRBLMega5x and a gcode sender. I have made it work with UGS and I use CamBam for drawing and cam generation. Additionally it has an add on that controls the machine so I have an all in one option. I am learning fusion but find it to be overkill for most things I do.
Fact is that i think if i ever build another big machine I will still use the mega setup with passthrough to bigger drivers.
I think it is a fantastic piece of software. I am not a huge Linux guy so getting all the stuff to work took me a while. Program installation in linux is why windows is winning.
I seriously considered using it and building a custom interface for the parallel port but looking at the signal pin availability the arduino gave me way more options especially with the five motors.
I am very comfortable with Linux (my laptop runs Linux) so getting it set up shouldn’t be an issue. The parallel situation might be problematic. I am going to try and get it working with Repetier Host first. Once I know it all works then I will probably work on LinuxCNC, I was a bit surprised when I checked their forums that there wasn’t much reference to MPCNC.
I definitely look at this type of thing as a fun adventure and that is all part of the reason for building it to be honest.
I originally started out using Marlin and the LCD panel, which was good while I was getting to learn the basics of CNC, and I was coming from relateable 3D printing experience which also used Marlin. From there I moved onto GRBL because I desired for more CNC oriented interface options and features.
GRBL was great for a while, I could set custom coordinate systems that were different from my machine coordinates (machine origin vs. stock origin) and I enjoyed using CNC.js and bCNC.
When I built my plasma LR I had to switch to something a little more supported for the torch height controller. It takes a bit to set it up LinuxCNC and I feel like while it is a superior motion planner (for one being real-time instead of buffer driven like Marlin and GRBL), it is not for everyone and I probably wouldn’t recommend starting out with it. Most folks here use Marlin or GRBL, and its a good start to get rolling. If you feel like you want more fancy features then you can make the switch.
At this point I don’t want to use anything but LinuxCNC. My MPCNC still has GRBL, but I’m thinking about converting it. Somehow use the same stepper drivers and breakout boards for both machines, just switch out a DB37 cable in the back of the cabinet?? The realtime capability does it for me
I agree that probably linuxcnc is level up in comparison with marlin, grbl and smoothie. But as for me i don’t see obvious reasons to invest into additional pc and special control board to upgrade mpcnc from marlin to linuxcnc
Thanks Bryan, this is exactly the kind of discussion I was looking for. I am confident that I can get LinuxCNC up and running but I don’t want to over-complicate the system before I have it working. I am going to follow the instructions, get the thing working and then look at “bells and whistles”. From what I have seen, and read, I think LinuxCNC will be my final destination. - I have a couple of 3D printers using the Marlin firmware so it is very familiar to me however, I quickly switched to Octoprint using a raspberry Pi as that is by far a better solution for printing. I run both my printers from one Pi using two instances of Octoprint, they work perfectly and everything is accessible remotely including cameras.
As for computers, I have hardware that can easily be re-purposed for this project so I am not worried about that. I have ordered the Rambo board so I will need to read up on the interface to make sure I have the right cables and equipment.
In the meantime, my two printers are working overtime to get all the parts printed.
Sounds like a good plan. Also, CNCjs supports Marlin now so that’s cool. I use Jeffeb’s V1pi image on a Pi3 to serve up the CNCjs app, works great.
