I am a new owner of an A350. Actually took delivery of it almost a year ago but job overload and some family medical issues have kept me from really trying to do much with it until now.
Trying to use it for CNC for what seems like should be an exceptionally simple and easy task:
creating a flat plastic ring, approximately 191.5mm outside diameter and 170mm inside diameter, out of flat 1/4 inch black Lexan sheet, as a spacer to fit around a speaker grille. No other details. Basically just cut a flat donut out of a sheet of flat plastic.
This seems like it should be easy but I seem to be beating my head against the wall with Luban.
I have lots of technical interests and aptitudes, people usually ask me to help them figure things out, so this canât just be me.
I want to make this simple part without having to become a CAD design guru up front, so I tried to look into simple CAD tools and techniques. Iâll get deeper into CAD at some later point when I need more capability.
Settled on Inventablesâ Easel CAD to start.
Made the dimensional file, of diameters and thickness.
Used Easelâs function to export to a .ZIP, which, after being exported as a zip, then unzipped, is supposed to, and seems to, include an .SVG version of the design.
So then I open Luban. I bring the .SVG into Luban.
The 2d depiction of the part that I drew in Easel (with a 7mm thickness) shows up on the screen in Luban.
I set the work dimensions and try to generate gcode but I end up dead-ended. I pick âvectorâ and then try to go to âGenerate G code and Previewâ but the âGenerate G code and Previewâ is greyed out, and, when I hover he cursor over it, it shows a circle with a slash through it.
I have read and re-read this until I want to scream
That set of âinstructionsâ says to watch this video, for how to generate the G code
I have watched, and re-watched, that video until I want to scream and throw things.
That video is TERRIBLE. Spiffy, yes. Instructional, NO.
it whips through some version of the software that is from over a year ago, and doesnât match the user interface in my (updated, current) Luban, and is all about pulling up someone elseâs design, and it blazes through things so fast that itâs really impossible to follow, let alone absorb and comprehend.
Again, that video is TERRIBLE. Itâs marketing puff, not instructions. Especially not instructions for anyone who is entirely new to trying to do CNC work of their own designs. It may make sense if you already know how to do it, but is completely ridiculous for someone new trying to learn how to do it. And it doesnât bear much resemblance to the screens I am seeing in the Luban which I have recently updated.
The A350 seems like a very well thought through machine. I am eager to learn to use it, for all of its functions, and I have a range of interests for which I can see my using it for many things.
Luban CNC, especially without better instructions, seems like complete and total crippleware for CNC. Itâs sending me into some kind of dead end, where I canât generate gcode from a very simple .SVG, and with the total shortage of step-by-step instructions, I canât even tell what kind of dead-end I am in, or what I could or should do or try differently, to get out of this dead end.
Iâve scoured Youtube but not found anything that gives me any sense of why I am hitting the dead-end that I am.
Thanks in advance for suggestions