PyCAM

PyCAM is an application created to help you generate toolpaths that can be used by 3-Axis milling machines which rely on computer numeric control scripts. It supports the SVG and DXF file formats for 2.5D milling, and the STL for 3D.

PyCAM leaves all the hard work to the machines and allows you to focus on important details by offering a comprehensive GUI. The application is comprised of two windows, one main and one for the model preview. The first has a tabbed structure and allows you to quickly access model characteristics, tools, processes and bounds configuration.

The visualization window enables you to view the model along with all its details. When working with a full 3D object, you can use your mouse to rotate the object, change perspective and zoom in and out as much as you want.

Initially, the controls are a bit tricky but after a few minutes of use you get the hang of them. In case you don’t want to waste any time with manually rotating from one side to another, the PyCAM visualization tool offers you buttons that quickly switch from back to front, left to right and top to bottom views or any which way you want.

Before you can generate the toolpath with PyCAM, you need to perform a certain amount of configuration steps. Since the interface is tabbed and everything is placed in a logical sequence, you are able to fix the model dimensions and position it, define the bounding box along with a first task and generate the toolpath in a simple manner.

From the moment you load the file to exporting the code, you can scale the model by a predefined value, swap axes and define the cutter’s shape and dimensions.

With the above to consider and much more to discover, it’s safe to say that if you’re looking for an efficient way of generating toolpaths for milling machines starting from an already created model, then you can certainly use PyCAM.