I thought I’d be able to breeze right into this stuff, but here I am wondering what the heck I have gotten into! My Pro table shipped today, Razorweld 45 arrived last week, and the THC and torch mount are still in purgatory right now. So, I downloaded SheetCAM and LibreCAD today in hopes to learn something. Instead I think I am about to go to sleep more confused than I was before. These two programs were chosen because a good friend has a CF and runs the same software, so I figured I at least have a guy I can call when I am ready to give up on it all!
That said, I am in the sign business, and have been using Flexi software for years to do vinyl cutting and printing in that side of things…so I figured the new software I downloaded tonight would be totally second nature. Wrong! I honestly think I am going to be better off continuing to work with what I know to draw up files, then export them as a dxf or a pdf, and open them up in SheetCAM and tweak as needed from there.
At any rate, y’all better get yourselves ready to answer all the new guy questions again, because here I come!
welcome!!! we use our software for our vinyl plotters constantly… export as a svg into sheetcam and create g codes.
when i do mechanical parts i use a cad program.
work with what you know learn what you have to you will have a better experience!
Welcome to the machine
Agree with @Phillipw, work with what you know. Personally, I have tried Fusion 360, LibreCAD, SolidEdge and FreeCAD. I had some trouble with LibreCAD.
You will be able to branch out as you find projects that are too complicated/technical for the vinyl plotter software. There is a bit of a learning curve but the ace in the hole for you is that you do have a friend that can show you the ways of LibreCAD. YouTube can be another good friend as you learn late at night when your “friend” thinks sleep is more important than helping you fit text to a curve.
Spot on! You’re going to be dealing with a ton of new things to learn & deal with, no point in adding a 3D CAD program to the mix when you’re doing 2D sign work. Using what you know will let you take the design work off your worry list and just focus on the cutting.