


Your time investment learning the software is lost if you make a bad choice and wind up switching packages.įor those reasons, we include a section of “Almost Free” software that we think might be better than the free software. Remember these packages take time to learn. And sometimes free has sneaky hidden costs. We spend so much time fighting with the free software that in the end, had we spent just a little bit on paid software, we might have come out a lot better. Other times free makes us choose vastly inferior solutions.

Sometimes free is totally awesome and there are no strings attached. You’ll be spending more hours in front of your CAD and CAM Software than you will in front of your CNC Machine, so choose it carefully. You may have heard the expression, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” This may seem an odd way to get started, but I need to ask the question in all seriousness. For more on how these various packages work, check our CNC Router Software article. The Control Software is self-explanatory, but the other three programs are what’s needed to produce the g-code files that control your CNC Machine’s motions. We can make it simple using our G-Wizard Feeds and Speeds Calculator and cut out a big piece of your learning curve.
