Hi guys. I have something that might be a bit of an unusual request. A bit of background: I'm a mechanical engineer, and in my spare time, I design and build a lot of mechanical things. I also design and build things for a lot of people in different hobbyist communities. At this point, I have my own thermoformer, resin caster, sand blaster, lathe and two CNC Mills.
This project concerns the CNC mills. Whenever I need something vacuum formed or cast with high precision (~.002" dimensional tolerances usually), I use the CNC to create the negative/positive/molds. With most parts, this is fine because my main mill can handle a lot of wide things that aren't too tall. However, if the parts are particularly tall, they won't fit, and I need to use the other mill. The issue is that this mill is a hobby mill, and only works with proprietary software. That means that I can't directly import most of the files I use - I have to recreate them in some choppy, weak, 32 bit software.
What I would really love to have is a file converter that can take my G-code programs (simple RTF documents with a series of commands that tell a computer controlled machine what to do) and change them into the hobbyist machine files. Now, I have no idea what is inside those files. This could quite potentially be impossible.
I would be very happy to send donation credits along to anyone who could help me with this task.
Some particulars:
It's a Carvewright system. No, I would not buy this thing again if I were in the same situation. But it fills a need, just in an inconvenient way. The cost of getting a new machine that can fill that need and selling this one would be far too great.
Here's the website for the system:
http://www.carvewrig.../2010CWweb/index.phpFair warning, that site has an annoying video that auto-plays when you visit the site, and google has it listed as an attack page. Navigate to it at your own risk.
I can generate the carvewright files and send them along to whomever to work with. The g-code can be any setup really. I'll probably just stick with whatever SolidCAM outputs by default, so I don't have to write a new PPL.
Obviously, this is a project that will be much easier for someone with experience in g-code and/or machining. I work a lot (70-80 hour weeks), so I may not be available to help things along very much. Should you need an example of a file doing a particular thing (as is often the case with machine program outputs), I will generate that as soon as possible and get it to you.
When I asked mouser about this, he mentioned that if the utility is something with limited scope (as I suspect this is), it may not get done at all. If that is that case,
I am willing to hire someone to code this for me. Message me for more details and we can discuss rates.
