I also understand that. It’s not like I’d hold you guys accountable, if I stray too far from the side walk.
I maybe phrased that weirdly. I meant the MeshCAM TurboCNC post-processor that a user here and somewhere else on the web pointed out to work with Marlin.
Really what other options do you know of that run natively on macOS?
I didn’t ask for that and it wasn’t offered. I merely asked if any of the existing post-processors work with Marlin, and the answer was maybe Grbl - which I doubt - and that I should consider using Grbl board instead.
About post-processors in general, they are basically only doing some structuring and text formatting, except maybe the Fusion one, which also seems to regulate z-axis speed, right?
The CAM software generates strategic toolpaths, which are basically polylines (lists of 3D points), and the post-processor takes that information and converts it to the right formatting?
Yes, I can confirm that it does.
I really appreciate you guys’ patience and willingness to discuss all of this!
Kiri:moto with Onshape should be a wonderful pair that I am fairly certain a few users around here run. I was pretty sure Esltcam worked fine under wine but I have no experience with that, if it didn’t work for you that is a bummer, but I think a few people around here could help with that.
Cam outputs raw coordinates and speed. Your firmware (grbl or marlin) will make sure not to exceed any axes max speed. The post processor is just a translator. In the most basic form it adds a move command before the coordinates (eg G0, G01, G28 vs $H). Some machines require one axis commands per line, others can handle multiple. Some machines want line numbers, some choke on them, how comments are handled, etc. Simple stuff like that, no math or anything that I can think of.
Why “Kiri:moto with Onshape”? I don’t really need another CAD app. I’m satisfied with Rhino. I’d rather have a stand-alone CAM solution. Also Onshape seems to be basically the same as Fusion360, which already is my last resort.
At second glance, Kiri:moto seems interesting. I’ve explored it a little, however it doesn’t seem to have a Marlin post-processor by default either? It’s very customizable though.
I installed all the required dependencies into the wine bottle, like .NET and what not. It still didn’t work. Some other users have reported this, and only the 32-bit version seems work under Linux.
It would be ridiculous for me to virtualize a Linux distro, only to sub-virtualise EstlCam.
I’ve seen the laser option, but it doesn’t seem to have a Marlin post-processor either?
Isn’t that Grbl only? I believe to have read that somewhere and think that’s what’s used as a CAM sollution inside FreeCAD.
Too many hoops to jump through in my opinion.
Btw, there really is no reason why something like EstlCam couldn’t be ported to macOS and Linux. It seems to be written in C# (.NET) and that’s largely cross-platform nowadays.
Curious why f360 is your last resort? I initially was scared of it not being fos abs cloud based, but it has fulfilled a lot of my obscure needs. There are not as many folks here using it, but there are plenty of resources to get you going with it.
As mentioned before, I use Rhino and Blender for CAD and 3D modelling. Fusion360 is thus overkill and I don’t like it, because it’s slow, web-based, and somewhat extortion-ware. It’s a last resort as CAM solution, if I don’t find I viable alternative.
I believe Rhino has a few free CAM plug-ins that you could try. May have similar PP issues that you’ll have to work through but at least the software will be familiar. I haven’t used Rhino in years so I can’t tell you if they will work but I think it’s worth a shot for your situation.
Note that I haven’t seen too many Rhino users on the forum so you’ll be pretty much on your own on the CAM side of things.
Looks like Blender also has a CAM plug-in but same goes for that one regarding PP and forum support.
Yes, the ones I know are for the Windows version of Rhino only and really expensive.
You probably mean that I’ll be alone on the CAD side of things, since Rhino is primarily a CAD application.
I’ve seen that. It’s called Blender CAM, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be actively developed any more. It also seems a little cumbersome to use for beginners.
One big take away from this thread is that the mpcnc seems to work best with Marlin, but each and every CAM software doesn’t really support it straight out of the box - , except maybe the Windows-only EstlCAM -, because it’s primarily meant for 3D printing. A custom post-processor is thus necessary that might or might not available or easy to code.
