Thread: Greolt's Laser Build

Oh and it is free, you just have to register which is pretty painless

I used to use ProgeCad but now use DraftSight.

I find the interface a bit easier.
Download DraftSight - Dassault Systèmes

Cheers,

Peter.

I'm with Peter on this one.

Used to use Progecad but have changed over to DraftSight.

As far as I know the laser controller I referred to will only directly print/cut from Autocad. Don't know if that means it will work with Progecad.

Documentation and info is a bit light.

Greg

Personally using ProgeCAD professional with my work and since its so similar to Autocad very easy for someone with Autocad knowledge to pick up. Anyway since its so similar to Autocad i would think that interfacing with the laser driver may be possible. I know epilog has some documentation that references progecad and autocad together but gather you wont know till you try.

Daniel

Hmm, looks like DraftSight will work with Ubuntu, I will have to check it out, never heard of it but will give it a go !

I know ProgeCAD will output legacy AutoCAD formats (2000) so works with most CAM software, never had any problems myself.

I will give DraftSight a go, personally I find AutoCAD/ProgeCAD to be a PITA to use but they serve a purpose.

Cheers.

Russell.

Hello Greg
Your laser build looks great.
I have a Universal CO2 laser, 600 x 300mm bed and about 200mm Z depth. This is an American machine and the laser tubes are enclosed. This one is 25 watts and has been running for fourteen years with only a slight loss of pwer. (About 24 watts now). Focussing is critical with the laser as the energy density is diminished as you go above or below the focal point. I run CorelDraw and Casmate direct to the machine as the printer driver sorts out vectors and raster for you. We may be able to look at that printer driver to see if it can be used to drive your machine.
Good luck with the build
Regards Len

Thanks Len

14 years!! That's impressive. I doubt my glass tube will last a quarter of that.

Greg

Originally Posted by epineh

Hi Greg, dunno if you are interested but ProgeCAD is free and exactly the same as AutoCAD, including all the quirky snaps and annoying traits. I use it for DXF's sometimes if they are a little more complex than simple box's/outlines etc...

Cheers.

Russell.

Russel,

While ProgeCAD "looks" exactly the same as AutoCAD, it's not exactly the same. Some of the commands don't create entities the same way for one thing. I think internally it's quite a bit different.

But, more importantly in this case I think, is that macros or plugins for AutoCAD will not work in ProgeCAD. The free version doesn't support VBA macros at all I don't think (at least the last time I tried it) and the paid version is different enough that any add on for AutoCAD would require a re-write.

Greg, thanks for always leading us along the cutting edge.

Ger21

Welcome to our Aussie based forum.

Greg

Thanks, Greg.
Glad to be here.

After what feels like forever, I finally got the frame ready to paint.

Welded a million brackets and fixing points on.

Greg

Shaping up nicely. Must be the weekend for it as I had some welding done today.

It is all the preparatory work in the stand and machine peripherals that takes the time and very wise to get it out of the way first.

I guess it is a good idea to get the laser behind covers before you do any testing.

Can't wait to see how it turns out

120m/min with Nema 17 motors, definitely something I would have had to have seen to believe.

it is indeed going well! I get the feeling this is going to look (and most importantly work) like a pro unit when it is finished!