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Even creating the bootable USB media to install from was a major hassle compared to the simple "dd" I am used to.Īnd that's how I ended up here, and why I'm going to give LinuxCNC a go.
Mach3 cnc software alternative windows 7#
I had already repeatedly cursed Microsoft while installing Windows 7 on the CNC control computer it's been more than a decade since I last had to do this and my god what a pain in the *** it is to get Windows running smoothly - it took me the best part of a day to get it sorted.
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In fact, I felt stupid having even considered using Mach3, when there is a high quality open source Linux based alternative available - an environment I feel much more at home in than the closed world of Windows. This ridiculous behaviour, and the comments on that video, made me completely re-evaluate my CNC software plans. I started trawling the web for an explanation, and eventually think I figured it out: you are not allowed to even mention "Physics Anonymous" on the machsupport forum, because he has posted I had mentioned in my post that two of the screen sets I had taken some inspiration from were "SwissU" and "Physics Anonymous" - could it be some bizarre copyright complaint? But my screenset really looks nothing like either of them "inspiration" really was just that, not a "copy paste" job. Then I looked at the ban notification again - there was a comment, two words: "Physics Anonymous". I couldn't believe it, what had I done wrong!? I looked at a cached copy of my post (which had been deleted) and could see nothing which might upset anyone. Waking up today I thought I'd check if I had any responses (doubting very much that there would be any reaction of any kind), only to find that my account had been permanently banned. And that's when the whole can of worms spilled out into my lap. After two days of pushing pixels in InkScape I felt like I had something I'd be happy to show, and posted a couple of renders in the machsupport forum to ask for feedback. My next plan was to fit a dedicated computer with a 10" XGA touch screen, running Mach3 since that's what came with the machine, but I was rather underwhelmed by the designs of the available screen sets - particularly the lack of a clean touch-friendly XGA screen set - so I set about designing my own. The machine is now fully assembled, hooked up to power and coolant, and I've run a few test programs to make sure it all still works as it should. This is now the only boat I know of with a CNC machine on board Needless to say, I'm careful to keep rails and screws well greased I'd rather deal with cleaning off chips than rust, and these routers are certainly not built for a marine environment. But just as I was beginning to explore the wonders of CNC routing my life was turned upside down I lost my home and my job, and ended up taking on the restoration and conversion of a 100-year old barge into a place to live - which, perhaps predictably, turned into a bit of a marathon project.įour years on and I've finally come to the point where I can start moving in, and of course one of the first items to come out of storage was my X4-800L router - in fact I had planned a dedicated space for it from the beginning. This arrived after the usual customs delays etc, and having read many horror stories I was pleasantly surprised to find that my machine was damn near flawless very smooth on all axes, with no obvious manufacturing or assembly issues. So although the X4-800L was just outside my £2k budget I scraped together the extra cash and ordered the machine.
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Specifically, I knew wanted to be able to make front-panels, switch/fuse boards, signs and PCBs but the throat on the "mini mill" was too shallow for this. None of the other machines apart from the "mini mill" could be used to build other machines with, and the "mini mill" felt too limited in envelope. My thinking was that a sturdy set of XYZ axes with decent precision might allow me to add on both a laser and an extruder should I want to - or indeed to mill out the parts for a dedicated 3D printer or laser cutter. I looked at laser cutters, 3D printers, "mini mills" and CNC routers, and eventually decided on an OmioCNC X4-800L (the model with linear guides). A few years ago I had made my mind up to buy some kind of CNC machine for my workshop, and thought very long and hard on what would deliver the biggest bang for my rather limited buck.