Does anyone have any recommendations on design software to work with the plasma table? I’d like to get a class on the table itself, but figure I could start with working up some designs at home first.
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Everyone will tell you to use Fusion360 with the added/imported materials info and other add-ons from the plasma cutter wiki, because it makes the material selected pick its own speeds, torch heights, etc., “automagically”. But theoretically you could use any CAD/CAM program that will output LinuxCNC acceptable G-code. (Choose HTML or PDF and then look at “G-code Quick Reference (here in HTML)” and everything in the “G-code Programming” sections, too many to link.) In the Plasma Cutter file system, there are usually a lot of abandoned G-code programs (most were generated by Fusion360) to study as examples.
I do not like the policies of Autodesk, and I am not interested in subscriptions, license keys, SaaS, etc., so I do not use any of their products. They may sometimes be free (gratis), but they are never free (libre). I do all of my designing in FreeCAD (available for Windows, Mac, and Linux), and I am working on enabling similar wiki entries and automatic features as in Fusion360, they’re just not ready yet. FreeCAD does work after a little manual text editing, though.
If you have questions, I can usually be found at the Electronics Meetup, any Sunday 3-5pm, or various labs/classrooms on Saturday/Sunday afternoons/evenings. I have been promising a FreeCAD course (probably over several sessions), but I’m waiting to get a round tuit.
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Also, depending on what you are wanting to make CAD may not be the best choice for design work. CAD software of some sort will be the best option for designing many parts and will be necessary to generate the G-code, but if you are trying to make an art piece art software may be better suited for the design process. Inkscape is a good free application for making and editing vector graphics (svgs) more focused on art and graphic design. If you do the bulk of the design in inkscape (and make sure your design is monochrome) you can then import the SVG into CAD software and generate the g-code from it without needing to make many changes. Also with inkscape you can import an image or a scan of a hand drawn piece and generate an SVG from it, although the process of converting to svg can be a bit finicky.
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