Giving Kiri:Moto a second chance

CAD/CAM Software Tips
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A couple of years ago I gave Kiri:Moto a try. Somehow I did not fall in love with it. So I’ve used Fusion 360 for complex models and LaserWeb for 2.5D milling.

Last week I read a post @ https://forum.makerforums.info/ and gave Kiri a second chance. What I like about it:

  • STL files can be imported
  • Tabs can easily be placed
  • A small set of milling operations is available (really straightforward)
  • You can also generate dogbones :upside_down_face:

And the best thing: Steward from https://forum.grid.space/ is very responsive and fixes bugs instantly. :sunglasses:

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It’s great to see Kiri:Moto continuing to exist as another option. I played with it a bit when it first started to support CNC stuff, but I haven’t looked at it recently. I should give it another go.

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Awesome recommendation Kurt, I just gave it a shot today.

I am mostly looking for something as a simple SVG-to-Gcode for my sister to use, but is still full featured. Kiri:Moto seems to tick a lot of the boxes. It has a ton of features but still feels simple enough.

Make sure to select (Right hand menu) Output > Depth First to prevent it from making a ton of Z moves for the router (which are slow).

There were a few tricks specifically for SVG import I wanted to document for others. I also put a comment on the GridSpace forums so these might get ironed out and no longer be needed once they fix them.

There is no GUI method to control the thickness of the SVG that you import. After some digging I found that you can add an attribute to the <svg> tag of your svg file “data-km-extrude” which sets the extrude thickness, in mm. You can just stick it in with a text editor, like below. Change 100 to whatever you want.

<svg
    data-km-extrude="100"
    ... rest of the stuff that was there

Also, I had my file get imported inside-out. The areas that were supposed to be filled were empty and vice-versa. This is easily fixed by opening it in inkscape and selecting Path > Reverse. The change is invisible in Inkscape. Then it imports fine into Kiri:Moto.

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