Alibre CAM

[mattyfatbags]

Alibre CAM

I bought Alibre specifically for one line of work we do that parametric design is great for. It saves oodles of time on the design end. However, on the manufacturing end it's still a fairly manual process to go from design to CNC parts. I'd really like to find a more automated process to go from design to CNC layouts. Sheet layout leaves much to be desired. After a brief review of Visual Mill, my guess is that this won't do the trick either.

Are there any wood workers / cabinet makers using Alibre and a CNC that have an automated system working for them? Kelsey??

 

[indesign]

If all else fails do what many do.

http://www.sheetlayout.com

put a www. and a .com to anything and there it is. :lol:

BTW: it is Alibre integrated too!

 

[mattyfatbags]

Kelsey Woodworks,
What is your manufacturing system? What CAM program do you use and how do you integrate Alibre into your CAM program?

 

[skeller]

mattyfatbags have you found a solution?

We are re-visiting Alibre for cabinet making. I am confident in its capabilities for the 3d modeling and assemblies but getting the data to the CNC machine is another story.

From what I can tell Cutlist only does the sheet layout as basic 2D rectangles. What we need are the 3d surface features like, dados, holes, cut-outs, etc. It also appears that Cutlist is optimized for saw cuts not CNC cuts (i.e. all cut lines are lines up through the entire length of the board.)

We currently have Pattern Systems but are not entirely thrilled with it. It's built on Acad so it's not a true 3d modeling package. Basically 2D with isometric views.

What I think is really needed is a way to optimize the individual 3d panels into a new 3d part that can be machined with Alibre CAM. Or, easily create (just a few clicks for a complete job) layered DXF files from all parts in an assembly and import them into CADCODE.

If you come across a solution please let me know. We are very interested in moving our cabinet design process into the 21st century.

-Steve