I know you can get a free trial of fusion 360. I don’t want to pay monthly to use. Is there another option?
I understand fire control is necessary to operate/cut the crossfire, but which cad/cam program is available for purchase without subscription fees, easy to use, and most recommended?
Freecad for 3D CAD (free)
Inkscape for 2D design (free)
Affinity Designer for 2D design ($25 on special)
Lots & lots of 2 and 3D paid options.
Sheetcam for toolpathing (generating the GCode from your design) $150
Sheetcam is worth every penny. A steal at $150.
What do you use to design, sheet cam is only used for the cut path right?
If you go to Langmuir Systems store you can purchase it from them for $140.
Correct. I Use affinity designer. It’s made for art stuff, but with the right settings you can use it for accurate drawings like it’s a CAD. I have a couples videos on a you tube channel. Link is in my profile.
I will check out your video today, everything I’m reading about Fusion is giving me mixed messages hobbiest profile with limited access, internet access for operating,
I’m looking for good alternate combos maybe Inkscape and sheet cam.
Depending on what you’re going to design whether its more artsy stuff or more accurate stuff would decide if fusion is for you or not. If you’re looking to make parts like gussets,brackets, mounts stuff like that fusion would be a good choice. Even with the hobbiest version it has all the features plus more that are necessary also you do have to be connected to the internet but it works offline for 2 weeks before needing to connect.
If its more artsy stuff inkscape or affinity along with sheetcam would be your best choice to save a lot of headaches.
Biggest problem with fusion and new users is they will download this complex design load it into fusion and not have a clue what there doing and blame it on fusion being terrible. There definitely is a learning curve with fusion but there’s also a learning curve with any other program as well just have to decide what your going to do most and choose.
So with your experience on Fusion, can you just keep renewing the free hobbiest version?
I am basically going to be making artsy stuff with the occasional bracket, tool.
You can renew fusion annually for “hobby” use. Keep in mind that with nearly every update, fusion is taking away features from the free version to lure you into a subscription.
Affinity would probably be a good choice for you then.
You can keep renewing the hobby version yearly and as for features they remove I haven’t been affected by anything that has been removed at all. The biggest thing with there updates is moving or renaming features that takes a few minutes to find and get used to.
I’m not sure how it works with our Crossfires (I have a legacy) but I have created G code with Inkscape. Before I bought the CF I was curious about CNC so I bought a small engraver and used Inkscape to design and create the G code. Might be worth a look. I have constant fits with Fusion but I don’t use it enough to be any good with it.
inkscape will not generate gcode for the crossfires.
so far only Fusion360 and the Sheetcam are set to generate gcode for the crossfires, once you download and install the source code from Langmuir
The tutorial has a different file than is current. I changed computers and I’m struggling to get the file into Fusion. Can you tell me the new file name and where to install it?
I do not know fusion…but if you go to the Langmuir site they have a section under support…
https://www.langmuirsystems.com/software/fusion