Hi all!
Thank you Hauke. I was often getting frustrated with Luban, thinking “there must be some better way” but stumbling on configuration issues with various slicers.
Used your config file and they work great. Actually my SM2 350 now feels like a biker on steroids.
Used the little guy there as a test bench. It has lots of overhang at various angles so I was tempted to use the advanced support paint options of Prusa but for the sake of comparison, I used the same parameters in both programs.
My oh my! What a difference!
Luban announced a 5:10 hours printing time and we all know how optimistic it usually is. 10-20% overtime is the norm. Well so it was.
Prusa gave 3:40 and did it in 3:47.
Both gave more or less the same length of fiber.
The algorithms are definitely different as witnessed by the long strokes of Luban and the short nervous moves of Prusa (I even got afraid something got wrong but no).
So, one more move away from Luban after already switching to Lightburn. Now I just need something OK for the CNC. I tried Carbide Create, it’s nice and simple but try carving some complex motive and you’ll quickly meet its limitations. Tried Freecad but the learning curve is too steep for my already busy brain: it’s already difficult to draw any stuff (for this I usually use MoI - it’s worth all of the price it costs) but once done you must still fight with the gcode as it is quite non-SM friendly. My goal is just to make my ideas (and my son’s) into real stuff - not to learn another job.
So thanks again as Prusa with your config files just did that: easy and fast idea to print process.
And if someone hears about a good CNC software… I’ll check Easel. Read some good stuff about it.
Keep on making. Keep safe and healthy. Never leave your dreams and ideas too long in the dark drawer.
I would not full-heartedly recommend Fusion 360, but as of now I found it the best I could find (admittedly not having looked too much around). It has a steep learning curve, and is very unintuitive to me in many regards, but the power it has is remarkable. With some tutorials and a few evenings of fumbling around I finally mastered it to that degree that I created models with it successfully and milled with SM2. I wrote down my starting points here: Learning to mill: Random chinese dragon bas relief
For CNC on Snapmaker I havent found anything that comes close to Fusion 360. It has to be something that outputs Marlin GCODE (I am not into converters) and that limits choice. SOLIDWORKS would probably be great but I have no access to a license at a sensible price - you might if you are in the US.
But it’s hard, lots of new concepts, huge choice of options so if you go that way be prepared to watch loads of tutorials. good thing, there are loads.
I also use Fusion 360 for all my 3D print models so once you master it you have great workflow. For 3D print it’s model in Fusion, output directly to Cura or Prusa, feed directly to OctoPrint and I dont need to get up out of my chair.
Easel is great. It has really good simulation that really shows you what it’s going to do.
But it’s basically just for sign-making and v-carving. Works great for logos.
I actually use it in combination with Fusion for some things. I need to do a quick tutorial because there are a couple non-intuitive things to get gcode to SM.
Fusion 360 has a steep learning curve but there’s a lot of smart stuff it does without you even knowing it. Once you get a hang of it it’s great. Just takes time and mistakes.
For creating simple 3d designs I still like Tinkercad. Really easy interface and you can learn it quick.
Like all the others can recommend Fusion360 for CNC. Oonce you’ve struggled through it once, it becomes relatively simple to do things again. You don’t have to use it for the designs themselves btw. Although you definitely can. (Personally I use OpenSCAD for designing as I have a software background and it comes more natural to me)
Fusion is not very well suited for V-carving and doing stuff with inlays etc. but that’s were Carbide Create, Aspire vcarve, Easel etc probably work better.
Thanks people for all your feedback.
I had a go at Fusion360 but the cloud-based stuff rubs against my grain. Beyond knowing the huge ecological cost of any cloud based solution, there’s just the fact that my end-of-the-line, last-house-on-the-road, shaky internet doesn’t agree. Yes. There are still such places in Western Europe and 4G doesn’t come for free.
Long story short, I like my stuff simple and local and I’m ready to pay a reasonable price for well made software. This is where Luban comes short. It could be the LibreOffice of makers. It is just a proprietary (yeah. I know. The code is now available) solution that is getting worse (see last opus).
Beware of the man with a few tools. He certainly knows how to use them.
