Okay here we go again. I am 72 years young and was looking for a retirement hobby. I purchased the 30X30 longmill almost a year ago. Although I’ve worked as a machinist for 54 years I thought the transition would be a snap. I was obviously wrong. I’ve only run the machine a dozen times but have crashed it 3 times without understanding why. Because I will be running in my garage without an internet connection I chose the free version of CARBIDE create. I want to make game boards and simple engraving for my kids and grandkids. I’m also a member of a military service club and was hoping to make crib boards with their hat badges engraved into it. I was hoping I could download workable templates onto my computer then transfer them to a memory stick to use on my machines computer. So… is there anyone out there that runs carbide create and could help me with issues and problems I’m having with this program. Also I was hoping someone could give me a web site I could go for useable templates to practice with.
Hello @Papa, I wish I could help with Carbide Create but I’m a Vectric user. I was able to find some cribbage boards on a website I use to get free vector files. Carbide should be able to open or import them.
CribbageBoardLayouts.dxf (414.9 KB)
CribbageTemplate.dxf (46.6 KB)
CribbageBoard.dxf (53.5 KB)
Hey, Thank you Michael.
Carbide Create is Great. It’s the only tool I use.
Hey @Papa . I’m no expert but have the same mill and use carbide create (free version). What I’ve found is that the gcode sender has had the largest impact on success. I started out with UGS but found that it would randomly crash on really long cuts. I switched to CNCjs and had much better luck. I also found the interface easier to understand than UGS. At that time gsender was very new and not very fully featured yet.
Getting back into CNC after a hiatus (we moved and are renovating) I had another look at software options and settled on keeping Carbide Create and trying gsender. So far the results have been very positive. I like the ‘outline tool’ in gsender so I can left the z axis above the clamps and visually check to see if there is going to be any clearance issues. Between scrutinizing the simulated toolpaths in Carbide Create and using this outline tool I’ve been able to confidently avoid any… surprises.
Maybe some of that helps. If you’ve got specific questions I’m happy to discuss further!
In an effort to provide a working example here is a Carbide Create V6 file which I adjusted from the third DXF that was linked above. I’ve got two toolpaths in there (one to drill out all the peg holes, the other to cut the outside. It’s setup for 3/4" stock (I was imagining a 1x6). I haven’t cut this file but it should be safe to try out. All you should have to do is open it and export the G Code. Both toolpaths are for a 1/8 flat cutter.
CribBoard.c2d (820.2 KB)
Just so everyone knows. The latest version (V7) of Carbide Create will no longer generate Gcode as a separate file; the Gcode is contained within the .c2d file and only usable by the latest version of Carbide Motion, which will not work with machines not made by Carbide3d. The older version (V6 and below) of Carbide Create is still available and does generate Gcode files.
That is the reason I left C/C and starting to learn Vetric. Starting with the ‘Cut2D’. Will work my way up to the ‘VCarve’ Version as finances get better.