Getting the Chinese 3040 CNC up and running

[sgraber]

Well, I decided to get the 3040 finally running as I really need it for some upcoming projects.  John and I got the machine setup for LinuxCNC last year and I ran it through its paces with some supplied gcode that came with LinuxCNC and it appears to run well.  Now I'm investigating CAM software solutions for it.  Do any of you have suggestions for CAM?  I know we've got a Shapeoko @ the Hive and that uses Easel.  However, Easel doesn't work with this CNC as it is not grbl-based.  Do you have any suggestions?  I know Fusion360 has CAM built-in and I'm just now starting to watch some videos on its usage.  Any suggestions?

[jimustanguitar]

I wonder if this has been discussed on the FB group? You're a member already, right?

www.facebook.com/groups/888394261237059/

[sgraber]

Nov 6, 2017 14:33:06 GMT -5 jimustanguitar said:

I wonder if this has been discussed on the FB group? You're a member already, right?

www.facebook.com/groups/888394261237059/

Yep, I'm a member of this group.  I would imagine the laser cutting group probably uses different CAM than one for a CNC mill.    I just found a FB group dedicated to the 6040/3040/3020 CNC's so I'm checking there too.

[jimustanguitar]

Riiight.... Not the laser, the CNC. My bad.

This group: www.facebook.com/groups/898580550253085


I almost bought one of those the other week. A guy posted one on Craigslist for $300, so I emailed him in the first 10 minutes or so to ask a few questions. He replied to say he'd write a full response later, and then never did. When I pinged him later he said it was already sold :/ I wish there was a way to flag bad sellers on CL.

[sgraber]

So far people are telling me to use either Fusion360 or HMS for Inventor (since that's what I use for CAD). os1r1s (aka Sonny from MRRF) recommended CamBam at one point.