Sketchup Software Question

X-Carve
1

Okay so i’ve just got my order in. I’m a complete beginner, I’ve played around with easel and love it, it just doesn’t have all the features i’d like. I’d like to hear some recommendations to the CAM software I should use?

What softwares are usable with the grbl shield?

The current cad software I am using is Sketchup and I really enjoy it, is there any cam program that works well with sketchup? Should I switch to auto cad or something?

If I did use different software, what else will I need? Cad > cam > g code sender?

2

Checkout this video from Vectric for their VCarve Sketchup import. You can download a demo if you want to try it on your files.

You can get a big discount on VCarve if you purchase it with your X-Carve. Contact our customer success team if you want to add it to the order.

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3

Do you know what the discount amount is?

4

The discount for Vcarve is $174. The discount for Aspire is $200. We are only allowed to offer these discounts with a machine purchase.

Both have free upgrades for any new versions for one year after the purchase.

5

Does the discount apply to Vcarve Desktop as well? Or just pro?

6

Q1 - Is the discount only available when placed with the order of a new machine? Or can we order the software after we have been using the machine for a bit?

Q2 - Is the discount available when ordering the X-Carve upgrade for Shapeoko 2?

7

@MasonRichardson We only carry the pro version right now.

@AllenMassey
Q1 - You must buy it with the machine. If your order has not shipped yet, you can contact Customer Success about modifying your order.
Q2 - It is built into our X-Carve configurator page. You can add it to a configuration that is a Shapeoko upgrade.

Most of the restrictions we have are based on our agreement with Vectric.

8

Sketchucam is a free extension for SketchUp which converts your drawing into g-code suitable for GRBL. A quick search should come up with some youtube videos.

I haven’t used the extension much, but SketchUp is the software I use to design parts for 3D printing. The parts are exported as an STL and converted to g-code with other software. The g-code is then streamed to the 3D printer using a server called Octoprint.

Hoping to achieve the same workflow with the X-Carve.

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