Slashdot Mirror

Opensource Flash:

http://www.makercam.com/

Hosted by the guy who created the Shapeoko:

http://www.shapeoko.com/

I've been trying to work up a list for use w/ a Shapeoko here:

http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/Advanced_Software

Still haven't found a suitable package (for my needs) --- all-too many of them can't do real curves / arcs and fake them w/ polylines --- so I've been hand-coding G-code.

I'd be glad of additional apps/packages or information.

w/ the CNC milling machine I've just gotten together ( http://www.shapeoko.com/ ) and added a drive shaft upgrade to --- still need to finish documenting that on the wiki.

The Twike ( http://www.twike.com/ ) is essentially an enclosed electric three-wheeled cycle, I think I'll be able to bring it in a bit under the ~$20,000 it'd cost to import one.

Adding 3D printing functionality to the ShapeOko would certainly make the manufacture a bit more flexible.

William

Why not directly create the mold w/ a CNC mill like a Shapeoko?

http://www.shapeoko.com/

Opensource, inexpensive buy-in (a bit more than $300 to start), lots of documented upgrades (working on a driveshaft, double Makerslide X-axis and 1 meter Y-axis for mine).

All you need is a dust collector to keep things clean.

Two sides to this:

Ages ago, I remember reading in Readers Digest a story about a gentleman and his wife who adopted one of the Thalidomide babies and created a more manageable motorized device for the young man to control so as to have some mobility --- I've always wondered if any of those mechanisms were used in later devices.

There are now devices for CNC milling dental crowns while one waits in a dentist's office:

http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1196&p=9543&hilit=dentist#p9543

He can build it, then use it to build more things:

http://www.shapeoko.com/