We will begin selling/distributing estlcam software latter this week.
$40 introductory pricing.
Yes there are free options, but many of them require an internet connection or crash with complex operations. EstlCam is rock solid and doesn’t need an internet connection to cut.
please try the trial version for free before paying because there are no refunds.
we do not have any plans. The maslow cnc market is a pretty small niche. I do not think there would be enough demand to hire a software coder (brainpower costs $$$) to create something custom.
just trying to help the community by getting the software 33% off. Profit of a few dollars isnt’ really motivating factor.
Oh no, I wasn’t implying that. Because of your post I downloaded Estlcam and I am checking it out. There is a mechanism in the software to add a custom setup for gcode processing, I believe they call it a “CNC program”. I think there are multiple people that frequent this board that know and could provide the needed parameters for the Maslow and that would make Estlcam an incredibly useful addition to our toolbox for Maslow! To simply add another machine profile shouldn’t cost anything, it is a function of the software. I am likely going to buy a copy of Estlcam, it looks like it is going solve several problems for me. I am currently working on some trophy plaques and need to do small engraving. Getting cam software to have the flexibility for small engraving is really tough, I have spent many hours in recent days trying to find a workaround. The only sure way I know to do it, is purchasing a full blown version of AutoCAD so I can convert text to polylines so the follow path process can be used. It looks like Estlcam is going to solve this problem for me, I plan to test a cut file tonight. But, currently there is not a profile for the Maslow in EstlCAM, but I am certain there are many folks on this board smarter than me that could do it easily. @MeticulousMaynard is one person that comes to mind.
I’m really glad you posted this and are offering it which brought EstlCAM to our (or at least my) attention!
estlcam is really powerful and not overly complex… I use it now to make gcode. I’ve not tried to cut anything on a maslow with it, but I think it would work out of the box. Only downside to estlcam is the lack of undo feature.
I just took a look at EstlCAM myself, but I haven’t gone ahead and downloaded the trial version to play with. I’m out on a business trip right now so I don’t have access to my normal computer and my Maslow. When I get back, I could take a closer look.
I’ve been considering something like EstlCAM or V-Carve pro for engraving projects. Fusion works pretty well, but it has some limitations, especially when you get into text. I feel like it also takes quite a bit of time to translate an illustrator file into Fusion and get G-code. I was just playing around with V-carve today for work and it seems like it would have a much more streamlined workflow.
If it outputs code that would work with GRBL machines, the Maslow should be able to work with those. There would be certain limitations, such as supported G-codes and complex 3D movements. What does the machine setup look like is EstlCAM? I may be able to work with it if I have some pictures of the interface.
I will try to post something in that regard but I’m under the gun on these trophies right now, the event is this weekend. I was able generate g-code (.nc) that seems to display properly in ground control. I have no idea what will happen if I run the file, I don’t know what the z axis will do etc. Wow, well I feel stupid, I could just look at the g-code! It was after midnight last night when I was able to generate g-code in EstlCAM and the last thought I had was “well I guess I will just have to test it”, but then I just realized, duh, lol.
My recommendation, let’s see if we can make EstlCAM work, at $40 vs $700 for V-Carve it’s worth the cost to try!
Could you post the G-code file? I could parse through it to make sure it looks right.
Totally agree on the price-point difference. The only reason I’m looking at V-carve right now is that I already have it on my work laptop. Otherwise, I’d totally be going for the cheaper program.
grbl should work, but it would be good to have a ‘maslow’ option just to make
people know that they are doing the right thing, even if it were identical to
grbl
and long term, maslow can do tool changes which grbl doesn’t do well, so there
are advantages to a maslow specific output.
That is a good point, I have been saving tool changes as different nc files and ensuring that the home location does not change in ground control to achieve multiple tool jobs.
I agree with @dlang here, having a specific post would make it easier for users to figure out which post to use. Also, it eliminates any potential issues that may come up from code that wasn’t intended for the machine. I was merely suggesting GRBL because it makes a great starting point.
So, looking though the code, I can see some minor problems. First of which being that there is no command in the startup block for units. I’m assuming that the program is in inches from looking at the coordinates it’s feeding, so there should really be a G20 in the first real lines of the code. I don’t think that should be a show-stopper, but it could cause weird behavior from the machine if the user left Ground Control set in millimeters. Best practices says that the units should be specified in the startup block to avoid that problem.
Also, that’s a huge nc file. If you look at the code, it looks like it’s all G01 (straight line increments) commands that are all (again, assuming on units) 0.0004" (0.01mm) apart from each other. It may not be a problem, but I have a hunch that the program will run slow on the machine since it can only trickle so many commands to the Arduino at once. You may be able to change the resolution so it’s not quite so fine, which should help slim down the code.
So in conclusion, it looks like it should be able to run on the machine, but maybe not as well as it could.
So I’m cutting a file as I type this. I’m learning little bits at a time. I wanted to use a three mm fluted bit but that just isn’t realistic. I have a veining bit so I am running that. It ran really slow at first and have been increasing the ipm of the bit. It is running a lot of gcode however for the very fine engraving I am trying to do the speed seems good, especially when I switch to the mahogany.
I could not find a way to add the G20 code but there are huge warnings in the software to make sure the unit settings match those of the machine. I’m trying to be cautiously optimistic but I think I’m going to be using this software a lot, and will be able to do things I probably could not have done without it. I am sure the process will be faster and easier than what I have been doing.
