Anyone use cabinet design software that they like? Im kinda looking for free of inexpensive. I only need to do one set of cabinet for my miter station. I’d like one that generates svg’s that I can send to the CNC machine. Im thinking if I cannot find one I might try freecad. Any thoughts?
thanks,
Tracy
@beerbarrel Do you have any cad/cam software now? You can create cabinet vectors in pretty much any of them.
As an aside, you cannot send svg files to the CNC machine. You will create toolpaths from svg files in the cam software and then output gcode files that you send to the CNC.
Sorry, wrong terminology I selected. I do have a Shapeoko 3 right now. My Altmill will be here thursday. The first job that I am going to do is build a miter station. Ill let the Altmill cut the parts. I do have Vectric Vcarve, carbide create, freecad, Fusion 360. I was thinking that there may be cabinet cad software that will make the job easier. Creating the toolpaths is no issue. I more thinking about creating the SVG files.
@beerbarrel No worries. VCarve is more than capable of cutting the cabinet parts. It will not actually design a cabinet, though. Unless you are doing something out of the ordinary, you can determine the sizes of the various parts - front, back, top, bottom and gables and then simply draw rectangles at those dimensions. You will create profile toolpaths to cut them out and you’re off. If you don’t want butt joints and want to go with rabbets, dados, etc, that is also very simple in vcarve.
In vcarve, you will not create svg files. You will create vectors and save them as crv files. You will use those same vectors to create toolpaths and save those toolpaths as gcode files.
I have had vectric since I bought the Shapeoko but I never used it because I found Carbide Create easier to use even though I know VCarve is more powerful. I also bought the “Learn your CNC” vectric course that I never completed. I guess I need to sit down and study up. I guess Im hunting the easy way out! Thanks for the response…
I guess I need to look at Youtube university before I ask questions…it seems to be full of videos on how to do cabinets in Vcarve…lol
@beerbarrel I have never used carbide create, but there are others here who have, so they will be in a better position to advise you on that.
As for tutorials and lessons, you already have an excellent resource in learn your cnc. As for youtube, I highly recommend Mark Lindsay CNC. He has a series on vcarve for beginners.
There are cabinet making applications out there. I don’t know of any that are free. For what you are doing IMHO, they are overkill.
try easel cabinet maker, https://easel.inventables.com/
it’s free with all features for a month, after that free version has some limitations but it’s still more than usable.
I did my whole kitchen with free version, main limit is for number of cabinets per project but there is no limits on number of projects so you can easily split it in several parts
once you have them designed, easel can run it directly on your cnc
awesome…thanks for the link
You’ve gotten some good advice and VCarve is more than capable of doing what you want.
I just wanted to mention that since my VCarve no longer gets updates and I dislike Windows I’ve recently switched to FreeCAD. I’m still in the learning stages but I think it’s much improved since the last time I tried it.
It reached version 1.0.0 last fall. If your not aware with semantic versioning switching from 0.x.x to 1.x.x signifies that you believe your project has reached an acceptable level of stability and quality. They didn’t rush it, if I remember correctly the project was started in 2002 and didn’t reach 1.0.0 until 2024.
Between remounting my LongMill, upgrading to the SLB and switching CAD/CAM it’s almost like starting my CNC journey over but it’s going well so far.
I agree. My VCarve no longer gets updates either and I doubt I will buy any. My problem is sitting down and taking the time to learn the software. I also have the latest version of Freecad but I have only scratch the surface with it. I was learning F360 and got pretty far but they limit the free version too much in my opinion. I have designed stuff with it and 3D printed it. Im not running any kind of business I just like to make stuff for family and friends. I guess its what I do for retirement. I do enjoy it though. I have built cabinets the normal way I just thought it would be fun to lay them out using software and let the machine cut them. I could probably do them much quicker the old fashioned way but I just wnat to see what I can do with the CNC machine.