- DOES CAMBAM WORK WITH XCARVE SOFTWARE
- DOES CAMBAM WORK WITH XCARVE PC
- DOES CAMBAM WORK WITH XCARVE WINDOWS
DOES CAMBAM WORK WITH XCARVE PC
Personally, I would use the Mac to do all the CAD/CAM, then use a cheap PC to run the CNC machine.
DOES CAMBAM WORK WITH XCARVE WINDOWS
I haven't been able to find anything like these programs that runs on Mac, so you may have to run Mach3 or EMC in Windows using Boot Camp or a virtual machine such as VMware or Parallels.
DOES CAMBAM WORK WITH XCARVE SOFTWARE
CAD/CAM will get you as far as designing your parts and producing the g-code, but if you also want to run the CNC machine with your Mac, you will need a piece of software similar to Mach3 or EMC to run the g-code. There are a few CAM plugins for SketchUp as well, but I've never used them, so I can't vouch for them. Here is a list of a few: I've also read good things about punchCAD: Of course, there is always SketchUp if you are in a pinch. There are several CAD/CAM programs out there for MacOS. I ended up not even using those little pins they showed in the instructions cause they got so close to the edge of the little case I was afraid of shorting something.YOUR CNC SOFTWARE COMPATIBLE WITH MAC? Current Solution I swore up and down that I had it right, but I'd shifted everything to the left one pin and having a bunch of trouble. It might be hard to see in the pictures, but the pins from left to right should be: What I think ended up crying all those arduinos was a short from the power supply / case. I had goofed up my automatic spindle control because I soldered and unsoldered the pin too many times, so I ended up ruining the little hole. I don't think you have that high a chance of burning out the GShield with bad soldering. Maybe I'll replace the mechanical ones with magnetic reeds or something.
At the end of it all, I ended up removing the limit switches on mine, just too much extra clutter for what I considered too little utility (I broke three limit switches trying to get it working, and when using easel you manually home to the material anyhow). I had to go through a fairly tedious troubleshooting process (over a week, and going through three arduinos) to finally get my xcarve to finally work. You may have either mis-wired the header at the G-shield or you have some other loose connection somewhere. If nothing happens when you pinch the wires If you still have no love from the switch, odds are it's broken. The black wire should be at the hinge point, the red/white wire should be in the middle. If not, double check the wiring on the switch. Run the Home operation again but this time actuate the switch with your finger. Don't solder them until you know it's working right. Alternate between pinching/letting go until the homing process moves to the next axis.Ĭonnect the wires to the switch. Let the wires go and the carriage moves up again. When you do, the Z axis should stop and then back off. Don't let the Z axis get all the way up, pinch the wires together right away. With your fingers ready to pinch the wires together, and your other hand ready to switch the machine off in case it doesn't work, hit the "home" button. If you're using UGS or some other G-Code sender, type $H into the command line but don't hit enter yet. If you're using Easel, hit "Carve" and walk through until you get to the "home" button. This will give you time to shut the machine down in case the switches don't work.
Put the spindle generally in the center of the work area. You'll need to be able to pinch the wires together but they shouldn't be touching until you want them to.īefore switching the machine on, manually wind the Z axis down as far as you can get it without the V wheels falling off the makerslide.
I recommend using crimp connectors because it makes troubleshooting so much easier. Here's something you can try:īefore you get started, if you've soldered the switches, unsolder them so that you can work with bare wire ends.