5-axis CNC gcode generator for PocketNC

This is a set of CADQuery based operations for turning operations on the PocketNC 5-axis CNC machine.

See examples/ for example notebooks.

DANGER DANGER DANGER

This library contains very unproven methods for controlling machinery that use sharp spinning blades to cut metal and other materials.

If you decide to use this library, you use it at your own risk.

Safety

• Never run generated GCODE on a physical machine without appropriate enclosure/personal protective equipment
• Always triple-check gcode behavior using a simulator (for PocketNC, this is https://sim.pocketnc.com/)
• Run the cut files without any stock loaded first, to ensure no unexpected behavior / crashing occurs.

Installation

This toolset uses jupyter-cadquery as an environment for visualizing and tweaking cut operations before export. Installation has been tested only on linux and may require tweaks for other OSes

Installation instructions are similar to the jupyter-cadquery instructions, but including this repo as a package:

conda create -n jcq22 -c conda-forge -c cadquery python=3.8 cadquery
conda activate jcq22
pip install jupyter-cadquery==2.2.1 matplotlib

# To install mainline version
pip install cad_5axis

# For development
conda install conda-build 
conda develop /path/to/this/repository

Usage

Browse in jupyter lab to the examples/ folders and click around for various usage examples.

Every notebook should start by setting up the environment and importing the modules like so:

from cad_5axis.jcqsetup import op, tool, post
op.setDefaultTool(tool.ENDMILL_0125in)

The meat of the notebook defines constants, creates a list of sequential cutting operations, and then calls post.render(...) to get gcode, a solid representing the result of the operations applied to cylindrical stock, and a jupyter-cadquery PartGroup which can be shown in the lab sidecar by invoking it:

# Example threaded shaft for dremel chuck
STOCK_LEN = 30
STOCK_DIA = 10
THREAD_DIA = .275 * 25.4
THREAD_PITCH = 40 / 25.4
BORE_DIA = 4

P_TOP = STOCK_LEN+1
P_MID = STOCK_LEN/2
P_BOT = 0

ops = [
    op.Facing(STOCK_DIA, (THREAD_DIA+0.003), P_TOP, P_MID),
    op.Threading(THREAD_DIA, P_TOP, P_MID + 5, THREAD_PITCH),
    op.Bore(P_TOP, P_MID - 5, BORE_DIA),
]

gcode, solid, pg = post.render(STOCK_DIA, STOCK_LEN, ops)
pg

Finally, call post.export(...) to write a *.nc containing gcode and *.stl file for visualization. The last argument is a base filename for the written files:

post.export(gcode, solid, "dremel_chuck_adapter")

The outputs of export can be imported into the PocketNC simulator and run to verify expected behavior.