Sheetcam Trial

[Elenor Waas]

Ihave fairly recently purchased a chinese cnc plama cutter running a starfire SF-2410QG controller and a Huayuan 110A power source. The machine came with starcam software which is extremely basic and not very user-friendly. Is it possible to use Sheetcam with my machine and if it is, what are the steps I need to take in order to get it to run? I have downloaded a trial version of Sheetcam. I would like to ensure that it will work with my machine before I purchase a copy.

from what i understand the evaluation limit has to do with the lines of gcode, is there any sort of trial that can be obtained? once again, my searches came up empty on that front as well.

any help that could be rendered on either the post processor issue or the eval limit issue would be greatly appreciated.

You get that error if you try to generate too much code with the demo version of SheetCam. I have sent you a 30 day license off-list.

By the way there are lot of tutorials on YouTube. If you search for SheetCam you will find quite a few videos.

I am new to Sheetcam as well as to this forum.

We have Sheetcam at work, where I have just started using it at the beginning of the year.

I am an autocad 2d/3d and inventor draughtsman of about 35 years drawing office and manufacturing experience.

I am starting to have a few questions which I need to ask, but only have sheetcam loaded at work, not here at home.

Is there such a thing as a 30 day trial version or a students version that I can load at home, to practice on?

Before I post the question I should give some background on my workflow. I use a windows PC and Inkscape or Fusion 360 to generate SVG and DXF files. I often use a windows (trial) version of Sheetcam to test the files and make sure the files will cut properly. Then I transfer the DXF or SVG files to my linux PC and open them in Sheetcam for plasma cutting.

Thanks in advance,

I have two questions, the last (I believe) is simply a corollary of the first; first, when I run an evaluation on a single part, I get a message in red that reads: Evaluation limit reached. Below that another: Post processing failed. I was happy to see it said processing - not processor failed.

The second question, in my view is related to the evaluation failure. The cross hairs, track around the cut path (all green w/red directional arrows) then stops approximately three quarters of the way. Perhaps the part overloads the evaluation function.

Les Hi I too am running into the eval limit and honestly before I buy a license i want to see at least how well the software works. Or should I say how well I work with the software. Is it possible for you to send me the 30 trial also? and will i need to reinstall sheetcam to use it?

Good morning Admin staff, I managed to load a couple of programs onto sheetcam and the post processor worked, but when I tried to load a larger file, it gave me an evaluation limit error in red. We purchased our table with controller brand new through a company in Hereford UK with sheetcam already loaded onto the controller. Is there anyway you can help me

Thank you for trying that but it didnt come out as expected. I tried a donut, the outer size 100mm and the inner 50mm centralized. No sizes were correct and it was off centre too. Ill attach the 2 files from the different softwares to compare.

Gcode.zip (744 Bytes)

Perfect, I think thats done the trick. I just have to run some further tests now. Is there anyway of purchasing a month trial? Im hoping its going to superceed the software I have the now moving forward.

I've been exploring fusion 360 for about a month and knew that it can not only create 3d objects but can also create toolpaths for cnc mill and plasma cutter. previous year i've made a cnc plasma cutter using telwin plasma 45 and planet cnc usb controller. i was cutting with the Sheetcam's trial version. but now i want to move to fusion 360 for cutting. the problem is none of the post processor can generate the gcode for the usb cnc controller. they have M51/M50 or something else but what i need is M03/M05 and thc in the post processor. if anyone have made their own post processor plz help.

You need to download a cam software. Import the stl file into that software. And it will creat the code. I recommend CAMBAM software. There is a free or trial version of this. See the link below. There are videos that show you how to use the software.

Aspire brings together all of the 2D & 2.5D tools and functionality available in Cut2D and VCarve with added 3D design tools enabling you to create 3D relief models and machine them with 3D machining strategies.

Aspire provides a powerful but intuitive software solution for creating and cutting parts on a CNC router. In addition to the 2D design and toolpath calculation tools Aspire adds 3D design tools which enable you to create your own 3D relief models and machine them with 3D machining strategies.

The software has a comprehensive set of drawing tools to let you easily create vectors from scratch or add to imported data. These include options for creating standard shapes (circle, ellipse, rectangle, polygon and star) along with line, curve and arc drawing tools.

There is also a powerful tool to create vector textures for panels and backgrounds. These tools can be controlled using typed input to create exact sized objects or can be used dynamically with the mouse to sketch your artwork. The tools also take advantage of the 'snapping' to let you use points on existing objects to 'snap' onto when you are drawing vectors.

With the ability to import bitmaps into the software, you can further edit imported images using the 'Edit Picture' tool, this allows you to adjust the visual properties of a selected bitmap, enabling you to adjust the contrast, brightness and gamma of any selected image.

Borders of different sizes and radii can also be added to bitmaps for aesthetic purposes. Bitmaps can also be made black and white. The software also has the ability to crop images to any given vector allowing you to remove parts of the image you are not interested in.

Image tracing also known as vectorization allows you to take an imported image such as a scanned drawing, graphic design or photo and to convert colors in that to vector outlines. These outlines can then be used as part of your design to create toolpaths or to generate 3D shapes using the modeling tools.

The 'advanced text' tools let you access true type or open type fonts on your PC to create text outlines for your design. In addition, the software comes with a selection of specialist single stroke / stick engraving fonts for efficient machining when making things like badges or small signs.

There are also editing tools for fitting text to a curve and interactive text arcing and spacing (kerning) where the text maintains formatting, allowing you to easily make edits after the text has been created. This text can be dragged dynamically along a curve so you can perfect the placement of your text.

Data can be imported from a huge range of other design programs using a variety of industry standard file formats. These include DXF, EPS, AI, SVG and SKP (SketchUp) as well as PDF files. Once imported, the program has a wide range of tools to make working with this data as efficient as possible.

A very important set of tools are those used to identify duplicate vectors and identify and re-join open vectors. These tools can save an great deal of time when working with poor quality data to get it ready to machine. As well as importing vectors from other programs the software also offers the ability to export your data in either DXF, EPS or AI file formats. This feature is very important if you need to share data with a customer in order that they can use it to plan a layout or installation.

The dimensioning tools allows you to create a variety of different types of measurements on your drawing. These can be oriented in any direction or fixed horizontally or vertically. There are also options to add angular and arc dimensions. You can control the text height, font number of decimal places and position for each one.

Dimensions can be snapped to vectors, guidelines and the corners or mid-points of each side of your work area. As well as importing vectors from other programs the software also offers the ability to export your data in either DXF, EPS or AI file formats. This feature is very important if you need to share data with a customer in order that they can use it to plan a layout or installation.

Whether your design vectors have been created in the software or imported you have a large choice of editing options to prepare your part for toolpath creation or modeling. Vectors can be easily scaled, moved, mirrored, distorted, grouped, welded, trimmed, filleted, extended, offset, smoothed and joined together.

As with the drawing tools you either have precise control over the editing values adjust the vectors very accurately or can use the mouse to dynamically make adjustments until your layout looks correct.

In addition to the editing tools the software also has tools to let you layout parts either in a rectangular array to create a grid of objects or in a circular array to create symmetrical layouts around a centre point. When laying out a grid you can adjust mirroring options and shift alternate rows and columns to make more complex layout patterns.

The layers are a very efficient way to keep your 2D data organized, one of the main uses is to allow you to temporarily hide data you were not currently working with. Layers could also be used to group vectors you might be using to model related shapes in a 3D design to make it simpler to work on a small part at a time.

The ability to associate toolpaths with specific layers and types of data means you can create toolpath templates which can be assigned to other parts that share the same layer structure. This is particularly powerful for applications like cabinet making where different designs can be automatically machined once a template has been set-up.

3a8082e126