software chain ? and is cad necessary

[mrputz1]

Perhaps i have put the cart b/4 the horse. I am in the process of building a wood router . At this point i am getting frustrated with what do do regarding software . It appears that 2d cut and mach 3 are very good choices. I would like to scan parts for model airplanes from existing plans and convert the images to vector DXF files . can some tell me does every scanned drawing have to be cleaned up in a cad program b/4 a usable G code can be produced by 2d cut . I don't want do become a cad user if its not necessary . CNC appears to be a great way to produce parts accurately but i need some guidance .

[Rcnewcomb]

Yes, scanned images will have to be cleaned up first in a program such as Cut2D.
Cut2D will then generate the toolpaths and save them as G code for use by Mach3.

[mrputz1]

Buy clean up do you mean retracing the entire scan or just removing un-wanted lines such as part nbrs or un necessary lines .

[mrputz1]

I live in saratoga and would like to get together with you some time for perhaps a detailed discussion if you had the time

[Adrian]

Buy clean up do you mean retracing the entire scan or just removing un-wanted lines such as part nbrs or un necessary lines .

A bitmap can't be machined directly. It needs to be converted to vectors either by using the automatic built-in trace function or by drawing over the top of the bitmap manually using the vector drawing tools. When using the built-in trace function it's rare to get usable vectors straight away so time would need to be spend tidying them up. You don't need a CAD program for that. The Vectric programs (apart from Cut3D and PhotoVCarve) have all the tools you need.

If you could source the plans in a vector format already (DXF, EPS, AI, Sketchup, some types of PDF etc) then you could avoid that step.

[Mike-S]

This is an auto trace of some plans. Note the double lines as the S/W traces BOTH sides of a line. The "good" rib (3rd from left) is a hand trace of the plans.

[GeneMpls]

Buying a used older copy of Corel draw is probably the cheapest way to work with vectors after scanning and can send files
to whatever prog you want to use to generate toolpaths. Gene

[Rcnewcomb]

I live in saratoga and would like to get together with you some time for perhaps a detailed discussion if you had the time

Send me an email
randall @ 222artisans dot com

[Rcnewcomb]

email received and reply sent.