CNC Links and Resources

On this page we provide some places to go if you want to learn more about CNC. Included are drawing-to-g-code converters, books on CNC and links to other sites of interest to people learning and using CNC.

CNC Projects

CLICK HERE to go to a page showing projects built on Sherline CNC machines. Send us your project photos to add to this page.

EMC Downloads

∙ www.sherline.com/emc—Mirrors Linux download page. The version we used prior to January, 2005 is 2.18 of Linux Redhat 6.2, which is the 3rd one in the list. The first one on the list is the most current Debian version.

∙ www.sherline.com/emc/ud—Updates, issues and software notes for Sherline EMC users. Includes patch to add Undo/Redo function to versions 4.18 through 4.36 of EMC and fixes to older versions of EMC.

Learn to understand and write your own G-code

∙ Read Joe Martin's instructions on CNC and G-code: www.sherline.com/CNCinstructions.htm.

∙ Read what the Linux online manual has to say about G-code: http://linuxCNC.org/handbook/gcode/g-code.html

∙ David Hayden has written a book called "7 Steps to CNC Programming." See www.haydenpub.com/7steps. There are also many other books from simple to advanced on computer aided manufacturing (CAM) and g-code in book stores and libraries.

Here are a few free or low cost programs that are out there:

∙ AutoEditCNC—A free g-code editor, backplotter and calculator for Windows®.
Web address: http://www.betatechnical.com/autonc.htm [ download ]

∙ ACE Converter by DAK Engineering—An open-source (free) .dxf to g-code converter. (Many drawing programs including AutoCad® can save vector art in the .dxf format.)
Web address: http://www.dakeng.com/ace.html [ instructions ]

∙ MeshCAM—A free .stl to g-code converter. (Stereo lithography files have the .stl extension. It is a common 3D format.)
Web address: http://grzsoftware.com

∙ Code Shark by Soft Squad Software—A fully capable CNC g-code editor with backplot and calculators. A free 30-day trial is provided, a lifetime license is $29.00.
Web address: http://www.softsquad.com/products.htm

∙ DeskEngrave—A free engraving program that works in Windows® and converts text to .dxf format and can output g-code. This can then be copied into EMC and run. Web address: www.deskam.com/download.html

∙ Freemill—A free post processor program that works in Windows® and will generate toolpaths using input from many 3d object formats (STL and Rhino to name a few) Web address: http://www.mecsoft.com/

∙ Links to free or free trial CAD/CAM software—See http://www.freebyte.com/cad/cadcam.htm#about for a good page explaining the features of a number of free or inexpensive CAD/CAM programs.

CNC Machine Enclosures

IM Services, distributor of VectorCad and VectorCam software offers a nice sheet metal and plexiglas enclosure that is sized for Sherline machines. See their web page at www.cadcamcadcam.com/ for more information. The individual panels ship flat to take up less space and keep costs down but are easily assembled with screws and bolts provided.

A number of companies offer CNC (Computer Numeric Controlled) Lathes and Mills based on Sherline equipment. For a complete listing and links directly to some of the companies, click on the highlighted words above to jump to the "CNC Dealers" section of this site.

  CNC book for beginners—Easy CNC by David Benson is directed toward the home shop machinist just getting started in CNC. It will help a user find simple, inexpensive drawing programs, create a tool path and translate it into the g-code needed to tell the CNC machine how to make the part. It covers things like bitmap drawing programs, engraving, carving, computer aided drafting (CAD) and machining parts. Purchase directly from the publisher, Square 1 Electronics at http://www.cncintro.com or call (208) 664-4115. Price is $34.95.

Make your own automatic tool changer! Joe Vicars displayed the prototype of his automatic tool changer for the Sherline mill at the 2003 NAMES show. There is also a photo of it on page 71 of the August 2003 issue of The Home Shop Machinist magazine. Though CNC is not necessary to make it, because some parts are repeated up to 12 times it would be handy. It can also be used on a manual machine, but would be a really cool addition to a CNC machine. Joe now has plans available so you can make this tool changer. See his web site at  www.homeshopaccessories.com for more details on the changer and for how to order the plans.

Cutting Helical Gears—A 4th axis on your CNC machine makes it possible to cut helical gears. Joe Martin has developed a simple Microsoft Excel® program to help with the calculations when cutting helical gears. Entering your known data in the pink cells will automatically recalculate the results of the orange cells to give you the other data you need for your particular gear. To view and use this program you will need to have Microsoft Excel installed on your computer. CLICK HERE to view or save the program. If you are just learning about helical gears, it can be helpful to click on the cells and read the formulas involved to understand what he is doing and why. Understanding the formulas will require some knowledge of how Excel formulas are written. To view the formulas you will first need to "unprotect" the work sheet by going to the menu bar at the top and selecting "Tools>Protection>Unprotect." Then, when you click on an orange cell, you can view the formula Joe developed to make the calculation in the window above the worksheet. When you are done, be sure to protect the worksheet again so the formulas can't be accidentally changed. To see the actual physical setup for cutting a helical gear, see Project #5 on the CNC PROJECTS page.

Bill Krobetzcy and his future son-in-law Jeremy have taken Joe's program one step further. Their version, which you can download if you CLICK HERE allows you to enter the known data like Joe's program but adds a button you can click on that will actually write the G-code to produce the gear too. Very slick! Again, it will require that you have Microsoft Excel, and it may ask you to set your macro security level to "Medium" or lower if you now have it set on "High." (To do so, go to Tools>Options>Security>and click on the "Macro Security" box.) The G-code file will be saved as a .txt file in a separate Notepad window. Bill says he will be working on a Visual Basic version of the program for those who don't have Excel.

  Need three dimensional artwork to cut on your CNC system? You can buy files from www.3dclipart.net in .stl format. By running them through a free .stl-to-g-code utility like FreeMill, which is provided on the CD that comes with your system you can create the g-code to run these files. Files cost between $10 and $25. On their site you can click on the rotating cube to download free viewing software to look at each example in 3D. There are hundreds of files and the library is growing all the time.

A company offering a wealth of information on CNC and motion control can be found at http://www.simplestep.com. They are called Magna Associates, Inc. They offer an extensive "links" section to take you even further on your quest for information about CNC.

  Another source for CNC products and services is Axis Unlimited Inc. at http://members.spree.com/jerry/. They offer some interesting products and also provide a list of links to other CNC resources. You can also reach them in San Antonio, Texas by e-mail at axis.unlimited@juno.com.

Anyone interested in learning about CNC machining might find a new book by David Hayden interesting. It is called 7 Easy Steps to CNC Programming. You may find out more about the book by clicking on the underlined title to visit Mr. Hayden's web site. Mr. Hayden taught himself NC machining over 20 years ago while working as a lathe operator. Since that time he has attended hundreds of hours of training courses and has also developed his own course in CNC programming. The cost of the book is $39.95 plus $3.50 shipping and handling. (E-mail: 7steps@haydenpub.com)

Another book that comes highly recommend is the CNC Programming Handbook, 2nd Ed. by Peter Smid. It runs $69.95 and can be purchased from a number of sources including Travers Tool and Industial Press to name a few. To see Industrial Press's page on the book go to http://www.industrialpress.com/item.asp?BookID=157. At 600 pages it's pretty detailed, but that works out to less than 12 cents a page so how can you lose?

 This link to CNC information comes from Robert Adams. He offers a tutorial on using a CAD program to help create a tool path at http://stcnc.tripod.com/tutorial/. There are also links to software for the home shop machinist to convert a .dxf CAD drawing to a G-Code program. The whole package of software programming tools can be purchased for $29.95. The home page is at http://STcnc.tripod.com/. Bob's address or telephone are on his webpage. (Rev. 5/12/05)

Here's an interesting site with lots of handy software for the shop that has one major attraction...IT'S ALL FREE! Marvin Klotz has put up a page called "Home Shop Freeware - Tools for People Who Build Things" that includes a wealth of programs at http://www.geocities.com/mklotz.geo for your use. It's worth looking over the list to see if there is anything that could help you solve a problem. I'll bet you find something you'll download. It's cool stuff and the price is right.

Frederik Rombach has come up with a neat little program that will help you calculate spindle speed/FPM for a number of material and cutter size combinations for the lathe, mill and drill press. CLICK HERE to download his small (348 kb) .exe program. Select the material from the top menu and enter the known values of cutter size and so on in the boxes. It's as easy as that. This program will run on any Windows-based computer with a Windows 98 or newer OS.

The Machinist's Friend® is a valuable utility program for machine shop owners, machinists, CNC programmers, metalworkers, students, engineers, or anyone else who needs to solve trigonometry calculations. Also a great utility tool for CAD or CAD/CAM users. This user friendly program is not only quick and easy to learn and use, but it aids machinists and other users who need accurate calculations of measurements for making machined parts. This is a program written by a machinist for machinists and is a must have for your electronic reference library.

(The above is quoted from their web site, 6/03. The site gives lots of examples and screen shots of how the program solves various problems like speeds/feed rates, bolt circles and chord lengths.)

Sherline uses high quality stepper motors from Minebea Corp. (NMB), but there are other sources. If you are putting together your own system and are looking for motors with lots of torque (up to 260 oz in), planetary gears or even built-in drivers, take a look at LIN Engineering's page at www.linengineering.com>products>stepper motors (NEMA 23 size).

CAD/CAM Programs

Learning to use any CAD/CAM program from scratch can be a daunting learning curve, as most of them are highly capable, multi-featured programs. However, for complicated 2D, 2.5D and 3D projects, they can make it possible to produce parts that could not be made any other way as effectively. Once your projects become too complicated for you to be able to write the G-code for them directly in text mode, you will need to think about how you will take your work to the next level. These programs can help take the idea in your head to a drawing on the screen to the G-code needed to create the part with CNC. Most of the professional level programs are too expensive to be practical to consider for use with a small CNC system, but some people buying the machines may already have the programs available to them where they work. If you use a program not mentioned here and are happy with it, send information on it to craig@sherline.com and we will list it. Programs below are listed in alphabetical order.

Alibre®--is a full featured 3D parametric solid modeling CAD program comparable to ProEngineer, SolidWorks, SolidEdge or Autodesk Inventor. It is available in several levels of sophistication and is priced competitively with other consumer level programs, which means it is far less expensive than most shop or industrial level programs that probably have a lot of features you don't need for home shop use anyway. Alibre can be downloaded and tried out for 1 full year, with tutorials. For more info visit http://www.alibre.com/. Figure on spending about $600-700* for Alibre (CAD) and $1000 for a program like VisualMill Basic(CAM) for 3-axis applications, but this combination will give you capabilities you could pay thousands more for in other programs while getting nothing more you need. See more on VisualMill below. *Price as of 6/06.

ArtCam Jewelsmith®--Designed primarily for jewelers, this is a professional level program that can output G-code to various posts. At $7500 it is not inexpensive, but it depends on what your time is worth and how much business you intend to generate as a jeweler using CNC. Perhaps this program might be worth a look.

AutoCad®--by AutoDesk is the industry standard for professional shop drawings. AutoCad drawings can be saved in .dxf format which can be translated to G-code using various free utilities available above on this page for download. Again, a full version of AutoCad is not cheap, but the Lite version will probably work just fine for home users and is less expensive than the full version.

BobCad/Cam®--A consumer priced software that now includes a postprocessor for EMC, this is a popular and well-thought out alternative to expensive shop level CAD/CAM programs. Prices start at about $1295.00 (Sale price $995.00) for Hobby Pro Basic 2D version and go up to $5370.00 list (Sale price $2995.00) for the professional level 3D version with all the extra modules. A number of Sherline users are already using BobCAD and getting good results. Their web site offers free demo versions for download if you want to try it out.

DeskART and DeskKAM--There are programs that will translate the dark/light scale of a photo into assumed heights (darker is deeper) and create a 3D g-code program to reproduce the contours. One called DeskART will import a BMP, GIF, JPEG, WMF or TIFF image and convert it into a DXF Surface Mesh of 3D faces or write it directly into machinable G-code. See www.deskcam.com/deskart.html. They offer a free 30-day trial version of this software. DeskKAM also offers several other types of programs for engraving. Prices are listed at www.deskam.com/products.htm.

Dolphin CAD/CAM--Dolphin CAD/CAM is a recognized world leader in CAD creation as well as CNC machining. It is used around the world ranging from simple hobbyist users to some of the world’s largest manufacturers. Hobbyist packages start at only $195.00 and the larger packages range all the way up including the most complex 3D machining. We are proud to offer the EMC post processor for your Sherline CNC Machine. Feel free to visit the website, and download a free demo at http://www.hobbycadcam.com/. Also, you may contact at 717-505-8638. (Copy provided by Rodney Hill at Dolphin)

MasterCam®--by CNC Software Inc. is professional shop level software. Though costly (from about $1500 for a basic turning program up to $12,000 for a 3-axis milling version), it quickly pays for itself in time saved in the professional machine shop environment. GibbsCam, SurfCam and a number of other software packages fall in this category, but typically cost many times more than an entire Sherline mill CNC system. If you already have software like this available to you in your shop, you are way ahead of the game when it comes to running a Sherline system. If you have a full, authorized version of MasterCam, they do now offer a postprocessor for EMC.

RhinoCAM--RhinoCAM by MecSoft is a popular program among home users and professionals alike. It retails for about $999.00 for the basic version plus another $999.00 for the 4th axis module. The full-on Pro version lists for $3999.00. A postprocessor for EMC is available. Now also available is a program called RhinoArt that can convert bitmap raster images into g-code. It would be useful to modelers, sign makers and jewelers to name just a few. It retails for and introductory price of about $499.00 at this time (8/06).

SolidWorks® and SolidEdge®--Two competing 3D solid modeling programs, these seem to set the standards for the industry when it comes to three dimensional design. Both can save 3D work as an .stl file that can be translated into G-code using a free utility provided by Sherline. Keep in mind that a free utility is not going to be as sophisticated in writing G-code for you as a full-featured CAM program, but it will get you a tool path and you can take it from there.

Synergy--A full trial version of this 3D solid modeling CAD/CAM software is included on each computer and Linux/EMC backup CD now distributed by Sherline. It runs under Linux right on your Sherline computer so no file transfers are necessary from computer to computer. A Windows® version is also available and files can be transferred cross-platform. Contact the manufacturer www.webersys.com for a key to unlock the software for a free 30-day trial. The 2D CAD portion is yours to keep for free. Prices on the other modules are competitive with VectorXT and similar consumer-level CAD/CAM programs at about $1200 for the full 3D solid modeling version and less for wireframe or 2D versions.

VCarve Pro 4--Several carving and routing programs for cutting and engraving 3D relief are offered relief by www.vectric.com. Prices start at $149.00 and a customer testimonial we received says VCarve Pro 4 is very intuitive and easy to learn.

Vector XT-- For information on a Windows-based CAD/CAM system that is reasonably priced and easy to learn yet offers far more sophistication than the free CAM programs without the high cost of the big names, check out VECTORCAM. Check to see if there are any discounts available for Sherline machine owners. See their site at www.imsrv.com or call 248/486-3600, Fax: 248/486-3698 or e-mail: imserv@vectorcam.com. They also offer a very reasonably priced 3D modeling software called StlWork.

VisualMill and VisualTurn--CAM software by Mecsoft Corporation for mill and lathe. VisualMill Basic runs about $1000 for the 3-axis version or $2000 for a 4-axis version. The full Version of VisualMill costs about $4000.00. VisualTurn for the lathe costs about $1250.00 as of June, 2006. Both programs now have a postprocessor specifically for EMC. See http://www.mecsoft.com/Mec/Store/store.shtml for more information. Both VisualMill Demo and VisualTurn Demo tryout editions can be downloaded and tried out with tutorials for as long as someone needs to learn how to use them. To download Demo versions visit: http://www.mecsoft.com/Mec/Downloads/downloads.shtml 

Other Helpful CNC and EMC Information and Groups

Stepper motors—Unipolar or Bipolar...what does it mean? See http://eio.com/jasstep.htm#types for a good explanation of the difference.

Need a quick way to do trig calculations? See http://www.pagetutor.com/trigcalc/trig.html. Just fill in the sides or angles you know and it does the rest.

See http://www.frappr.com/emctheenhancedmachinecontroller for a group that specializes in various uses of the EMC for all kinds of applications, not just Sherline related. There is a map showing the location of each member of the group around the world, and some have posted photos of the machines they control using EMC. One of the users who let us know about it also says, "That's just a map of users. There are two lists on SourceForge (where the EMC is kept). Those are emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net, and emc-developers@lists.sourceforge.net. emc-users is for general questions about EMC, configuration, setup, etc. The developer list is more for bug reports, feature requests, and other general discussion related to development of EMC. As far as I know, you don't have to sign up with sourceforge to send to the lists, but you do need to if you want to be on the mailing list. The archives are searchable by anybody. There's also a pretty active IRC channel on freenode called #emc. There is usually someone there who is knowledgeable about the inner workings of EMC."

Need a larger new or used CNC machine? See CNC Machine, a resource for new and used large CNC machines and information on CNC machine manufacturers.