Running Nomad with spindle off for drag knife

How To
1

I have decided to buy a drag knife, and thanks to @WillAdams I found this one, which seems perfect for the Nomad:

Before I shell out I wanted to make sure the Nomad can be run with the spindle off. My plan is to use Carbide Create to make the paths, and then I assume I’ll need to modify the G-Code somehow. I know how to get the g-code out of the EGC files that CC makes.
My questions are:

  1. can I do this? And if so, how? Just stick an M5 in the code after the tool probing cycle or something?
  2. in Carbide Create, which type of toolpath would work best for a drag knife? V-carve or profile?

Thanks for any help!

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2

The spindle should be controlled by G-code commands.

I would hope that the drag knife CAM Program would not put in the spindle start commands — worst case is you’d edit any such out.

Details on G-code here: http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/G-Code

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3

I’m hoping to just use Carbide Create, since the website for that drag knife explicitly states that you should:

“Create your CAD/CAM file (G-Code) using the same software and methods used to create standard 2-D cut files.”

So I suppose the thing to do is edit out any M3 or M4 commands in the g-code, and go from there. Just wanted to confirm that the Nomad can actually run programs without the spindle turning. Like there’s nothing hard coded in there that will prevent this from working.

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4

So… How did it go? And do you have any pics?

5

I ordered it and have it, but life got in the way, the project I planned to use it for got cancelled, and now the drag knife is patiently waiting in my drawer. As soon as I use it I’ll post about my experience. For what it’s worth, it’s a cool looking little thing.