I know this question has been asked hundred times. I spent the last two days on Google trying to find information about the software and drivers to run a CNC mill such as openbuilds mini mill and with the information I have found I find it to be about as clear as mud. With my extensive background in electronics manufacturing and other manufacturing, building the machine is the easy part. Can someone please point me in the right direction as to controlling machine when I'm done building it. I am looking to use OpenBuilds X Pro V3 and looking for advice or instructions on how to use this, what software to use, I see the recommendations on the webpage for the X Pro V3 but have questions about how to tie altogether to make a functioning machine. Thanks for your help.
Hey man, I know it's frustrating. I've been working almost a year now to get ready to run my cnc. STILL working on getting it to work correctly. You are correct. There is no good source that ties everything together. The learning curve on this stuff is insane. Here's my setup that I'm using. I design or create something using Vcarve. I believe you can also use Sketchup. Since you are using the XPro, you have to send GRBL code. Mach3 will NOT WORK with the xpro. Once you've created something in vcarve or Sketchup, you export the gcode. Then you have to send the gcode to the Xpro so it knows what to carve. I use Universal G-Code Sender to do this. It's a pretty basic program that runs off Java, but it does well. Hope this helps some!
Cad software to design part. Cam software to generate toolpath gcode to cut part. Or CAD/CAM software to do both. Control software to feed the toolpath file code to a compatible hardware machine controller. Hardware machine controller to accept gcode instructions and output pulses to motor drivers(among a few other things). Machine controller may or may not have built in motor drivers. Motor drivers to convert low power pulses from controller into high to run motors. That's the basic gist.
Design item in Fusion 360 - Free for Hobbyist. Prepare tool path in Fusion 360 Post Process gcode file in Fusion 360 - Use this post processor: GitHub - Strooom/GRBL-Post-Processor: Start GRBL Panel to control machine and load gcode file into: Home · gerritv/Grbl-Panel Wiki · GitHub That's it.
