current state of Cad/Cam software 2022, what works LinuxCNC etc

most of the stuff I am doing is 3d milling and turning, no 2d cutting atm

smc.collins wrote:

I need a high quality, useable piece of software, I would love to use Freecad, I'd even donate to it's development, but it is not software that is anywhere near professional grade.
 

I lead the development on the FreeCAD path workbench.  I'd like to mature it faster but, alas, only so many hours in the day. I'm not a professional machinist or engineer so everything I know is self-taught or learned from smarter folks in the community.

When FreeCAD finally matures to "professional grade", it'll still be free and it won't need your donation.  With all due respect, we could use you now.  A monetary donation would be great but we really need professionals USING it, warts and all.  That's what pushes it forward.  We need experts helping us develop it. Not necessarily coding but involved in the development process. Otherwise all the development is pushed forward by hobbyists.

Also, maturing FreeCAD and other FOSS CAM applications is the best way to keep the commercial ones from pulling the shenanigans you described.  A good open-source competitor would be good for them!

if what you say is true, then you need to bring in the link branch, the face naming issues are a absolute nightmare to work around.

I'd more than happily get involved, but my problem is that i don't have years, I need software now.


that said, if you are seeking community engagement, I am happy to do that.

From a novice standpoint Deskproto  looks really good. The important part for me was it works in Linux (I hate the other OS) which most of the big wigs don't do. I plan to purchase it in the future providing the price point stays affordable.

Just my two cents.

Sliptonic,
Just wanted to thank you for the path workbench. I've yet to get my machine working so I haven't cut anything with the generated code but everthing looks good in simulation.

Yep. Toponaming is the stated goal for the next version. My understanding is that merging has to be done in stages and an interim daily build will be created for each stage. When it's stable, it'll become part of master. It's just a monster to merge.

It would be cool if we could find a better way for LinuxCNC developers and Path Developers to collaborate. Likewise LCNC and Path powerusers.

just make the break and be over with it, i get the idea they are trying to incrementally change, but just pull in the damn branch amd get on the diffs and bug fixes.

see if you find a few guys willing to work full time on freecad, and then lets do a funding drive

Umm. You do realize that RealThunder's changes fundamentally alter the basic structure of a FreeCAD project file right? They change the foundational separation of of GUI and application. Once you go down that path, you can't go back. I know (and trust) most of the core developers of FreeCAD. They aren't going slow because they're too conservative. They're doing it to avoid breaking everybody's models.. Permanently. Even RealThunder agrees that this has to be done carefully and incrementally.
But if you know better how to get the good parts of the RT's branch merged, why aren't you helping?

sometimes, growth, requires pain and suffering, the models will break eventually anyway, just get it over with