Laser engraving

[wm460]

Whats a cad got to do with Laser engraving?

cad
A rogue, or bounder. A cad is a man who is aware of the codes of conduct which seperate a gentleman from a ruffian, but finds himself unable to quite live up to them. Cads are quite capable of disguising themselves as good chaps for some time, only revealing their true nature in circumstances of particular stress or temptation. Others embrace their caddishness whole-heartedly and delight in behaving in a manner which is, to be quite frank, not cricket.

 

[bellringer]

George, the easiest route to CAD is as follows:

If you're only interested in 2D, as Alex says its easier, download Inkscape for free. You'll find its just like drawing.

If 3D is your bag, download Sketchup for free. It's a LOT harder to wrap your head around.

Now that you've got the software, go to Google and search either 'Inkscape tutorial' or 'Sketchup tutorial'. Have a few days available to trawl through all of the stuff you'll find!

I manged to get The full auto desk package for free as I am a student I would of been £4,500 if I had to buy it

 

[clumsysod]

Getting the package is not the problem, learning how to use it is my nemisis.
Mark CAD computer aided design I think.
What I need is to send text direct to board somehow ideally through a paint programme.
I have seen somewhere that claims to do such a thing but have slept since then and can't rmember where.

 

[trapper]

Well idealy you need something like corel draw or Artcam feeding via mach3 as your g code provider driving the steppers...... what im trying to build should in theory allow script to be engraved even on clips or around the pen inkscape should be able to do this but either way i agree its learning how to use the programmes thats the brain nummer