CAM Toolchains

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A RepRap CAM toolchain consists of all the software elements needed to create printed 3d models from CAD models to firmware. To help visualize this for new users, consider the flow chart below:

CAM toolchain
File:Tool chain.odg

A hypothetical software/CAM process for a new design would be:

(1) Design a new 3D model in a CAD package  (ex: openscad, FreeCAD, ProEngineer, SolidWorks)
(2) Export the design's geometry to a .stl file
(3) Generate motion paths & extruder commands in GCODE format by means of a "slicing" program (ex: skeinforge, repsnapper, SFACT)
(4) Use a host software package to communicate the GCODE to the printer  (ex: pronterface, repsnapper, replicatorG)
(5) Determine how your printer reacts to the GCODE by configuring the firmware for your printer controller (ex. FiveD, Sprinter, Teacup, Marlin, or your very own!)

The lists below contain various toolchain components available and provides a comparison of their features, compatible components and how to get them.

It should be noted that a comparison of CAD modeling programs is outside of the scope of this article. CAM toolchains are generally CAD program agnostic because they can accept standard STL models as input which almost all CAD programs can export directly or through plugins. See Useful Sotware Packages for a list of various CAD related software


Working Configurations

There are a number of working configurations for RepRap. Please do yours up in a new wiki page, and then add the text

[[Category:Working Configuration]]

to that page to add it to the existing list.

Firmware

Here is a brief list of firmware that appears to be available for repraps:

For more details, see List of Firmware and Comparison of Firmware

RepRap Drivers

Driver Author(s) Compatible firmware(s) Manual movement? Manual extruder control? Manual stepper disable? Manual heated build platform control? Live GCode terminal? SD card upload? GCode input? Step-NC input? Integrated GCode compiler? Documentation Download
EMCRepRap EMC and RepRap.org Linux PC true false false wiki page wiki page
RepRap Host Software RepRap.org 5D GCode Interpreter, FiveD on Arduino, more? true true false true false true false true install guide, user manual dev
RepSnapper Kulitorum 5D GCode Interpreter, 3D GCode Interpreter true true true

use a Custom Button

true

use a Custom Button

true true false true install guide, user manual windows, osx, src
ReplicatorG RRRF Makerbot, 5D true true true true false true true false true install guide, user manual stable
send.py (bundled with SkeinForge) Brendan Erwin and John Gilmore 5D GCode Interpreter, 3D GCode Interpreter false false false false false false true false false user manual builds
GCode-utils Ralith 5D GCode Interpreter?, 3D GCode Interpreter? true true true false false Website src, linux binaries
Repetier-Host repetier Repetier-Firmware, Sprinter, ... true true true true true false true User manual Windows


Note: some drivers such as the RepRap Host Software are listed here and under GCode compilers as they serve both functions however for comparison purposes their features have been split into the relevant tables.

GCode, Etc. Compilers

Compiler Author(s) Compatible firmware features STL input? Multiple STL input? Step-NC input? RFO input? GCode output? Step-NC output? RFO output? Compilation Speed Documentation Download
Reprap host software RepRap.org 5D true true false true true false true average install guide, user manual dev
RepSnapper Kulitorum 5D, 3D true true false true false fast install guide, user manual windows, linux (dev)
SkeinForge Enrique 5D, 3D true false false true false false average manual latest builds
Netfabb Engine Netfabb true very fast latest release
SuperSkein MaskedRetriever true true fast src, downloads
printrun AKA Pronterface Kliment true [[1]]
Slic3r alexj 5D, 3D true false false false true false false fast manual latest builds

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