Quote Originally Posted by Sebastian Finke View Post
I do a ton of CNC programming, from 2,5 axis to 5 axis. I use Creo Parametric, PowerMill, EZ-Cam and VisualMill. I would look into VisualMill if I were you, although cost might be an issue. Anything specific you need to know?
Thanks, Sebastian. It's fascinating to think of some of the other design "doors" that will be opened by jumping in to CNC. It's a little intimidating to think, however, that most of the CNC machines that I can afford (including the one I purchased, and even the X-Carve) are definitely not "run straight out of the box" like the FF is. Software seems a lot more complex as well. That being said, I downloaded trial versions of Fusion 360 as well as Meshcam. Fusion 360 made my eyes glaze over and gave me a headache after 30 minutes of playing with a couple of imported STLs. Meshcam is nice in that it essentially has an "idiot" option for people like me. Input your stock and tool size and it will pretty much do everything else automatically for you. Once you get the hang of things there are also manual control/design options. Not bad, but also a $250 price tag for the luxury.

One other thing I'm still trying to understand about CNC has to do with "roughing" and "finishing" settings/tools. I'm to understand this enables you to use a bigger tool at the beginning to take out lots of material faster and then the finishing tool and settings are used for the finer detail. So how is this accomplished? Does the machine basically pause and retract at some point so you can change out your tool?