Hello all! I am totally new to the world of machining / CNC, but have a use case for diving in! I am eyeing a Shapeoko 3 xxl for my projects, and intend on ordering in the next couple of months. In the meantime, I am reading as much as I can - And would like to pick a software to start learning! I have done light 3D modeling just for planning woodworking projects in Sketchup, but that is the extent of my experience.
If you would be so kind, I would like to list my use cases (so far!), and get your opinion on what CAD/CAM you would recommend? As a note, a friend of mine sold his CNC machine, and has Vectric Aspire 8.5 that he would sell me for $500 - So lets set $500-700 as the theoretical limit… I am hesitant to buy software 4 years old (and haven’t researched if the license is even transferable!), but that option is on the table!
Milling basic wooden and acrylic parts for a business venture. These are just parts for picture hanging kits and kitchen gadget kits, which are strictly 2D - Cutting out the parts, and adding the bolt holes, essentially. I imagine Carbide Create is just fine for this, but it just didn’t feel right… After modeling in Sketchup, I felt that I just couldn’t get the parts to sit accurately, and I couldn’t figure out roughing tool passes to speed up the process. Speed is important, so tool changes to use the right part for the right pass is nice.
Working with bitmaps to create 3D artwork panels. My wife is an artist, and we are keen on creating 3D versions of her artwork to paint on as wall installations. Teaching her to model in 3D is probably out of the question, but tweaking something that pops out of a grayscale-to-3D process is probably feasible. Powerful tools for this are important. She mostly paints now, so tutorials on creating appropriate grayscales for importing is a must as well!
Design and cutting of wall panels / cabinet doors / picture frames. Mostly as gifts and for projects around the house.
Being able to create a model and “slice” it into plywood panels for creation of parametric furniture / wall displays. I’ve attached a picture of what I am talking about in the form of a pretty swanky bench.
I am OK with using various programs for a workflow, but the variety of options and price points make it hard to figure out where to leap in! Thank you all very much for your time, opinions. and providing so much interesting reading!
Which package you use depends on how you wish to work.
Since you’re already using SketchUp, one of the CAM options suited for it might be the right choice — you can export as an STL and then use pretty much an 3D CAM too — MeshCAM is a typical choice. There’s a list of further options at: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Commercial_Software
For pixel images, there are a lot of options — MeshCAM has some facility for this, so might be suited for one-stop shopping
For the slicing thing, I believe Autodesk Fusion 360 has an option for that, but there is an opensource option, see:
If you were willing to invest time to learn Fusion360, you would probably not regret it, it’s the go-to CAD/CAM package for many of us, but you will have to sell your soul to Autodesk be aware of the licensing model, which goes from free for hobbyist, to a grey area for (very) small businesses, to a paid subscription (seems to be arond $500 a year).
Given the sum of usecases you describe, if it were me I would grab that Aspire license for $500, which would give you more than enough features and ease of use to be up and running quickly, and never have to worry about outgrowing its capabilities. Vectric products are really top notch in my opinion. For your usecases, you could use VCarve Pro instead of Aspire, but a license for VCarve Pro will cost you more than the $500.
I have found with software there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ program.
If you can get Aspire 8.5 for $500 - go for it! I did the same with Aspire 9.0 - cost me $1000 though. If is great at a lot of things, I find it excels at the ‘arty’ types of projects, any signs or V-carving, it is great for nesting (efficiently organising shapes into a piece of material) panels, cabinet doors, clocks etc. it has an excellent image tracing tool, it’s a really well rounded piece of software. My fiance has no experience in drawing and picked it up fairly quickly, at least for simpler projects.
If you want to create chairs like your image, the best software I have used for something like that is Fusion360 with the ‘slicer’ addon (which is free) as has been mentioned fusion360 has just changed its licensing model, but its free for hobbyists, so i’d give it a try and see what you think. the learning curve is far steeper than Aspire, but the software is a lot more traditional style cam, and allows you a lot of control.
I use these two sets of software for about 95% of my jobs. no requirement for drawing software or anything else. They are my goto.
As Will has mentioned, Carbide3D are currently offering a Carbide Create Pro year subscription for free, they have made some huge improvements recently and it’s starting to become a real contender. I enjoy supporting them and using the software, but I’ve paid the money for Aspire and it is extremely refined and suits my workflow, so I will stick with it
