Where to go on Mac?

I'm having a bit of trouble find out where to start making things on the Mac..like what software is good for making models and things to load up with the host software -_-

Hi,

In the same boat myself! Just starting out with RepRap (half way through with my build) and will be mainly using Mac's to control. So far I'm planning on using the following:

3D design - Google Sketchup (requires su2stl.rb plugin to export to .stl) or OpenSCAD (both free and compatible with Mac).
Gcode - Repsnapper or ReplicatorG

Unfortunately I can't give you much more advice than that at the moment as I'm only up to the point of building my electronics! However once I have had more chance to research I will place a post on my Blog (signature) with step by step guide to using the Mac with the RepRap.

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[indieflows.blogspot.com]
[www.emakershop.com]

I use a Mac for printing but I don't design with it since I use Solidworks which only runs in Windows. So I run it under WIndows through VMWare. Those are good design sw to atart with.

As far as printing, the easiest way is to use Skeinforge to generate g-code and then Pronterface (part of Kliment's Printrun) as a host software for printer control and printing. Both run under Python which comes with the Mac OS. You should install Psyco to speed it up by as much as 2x.

I did manage to get Sketchup to output STL files that load some form of 3d object into ReplicatorG and another plugin that outputs gcode for actual cutting (but this is outside the scope right now)...

Yea im afraid i can't really do anything right now except look for info since I'm waiting on the rest of the electronics for my machine -_-

my machine is a zenToolworks 7x7 printer model w/ their driver board, which i will add a sanguinololu type clone, i have an extruder built but untested
so now on my break I'm looking for what software to use

Replicatorg works pretty well if you use either the Sprinter or Teacup firmware. The only bug I've encountered is that you can't control the extruder motor with Replicatorg's control panel: [replicatorg.lighthouseapp.com]

Another thing is that you'll have to use the regular Skeinforge itself with Replicatorg, since it doesn't support SFACT (a slightly simpler and more abstracted version of Skeinforge). You also won't be able to use versions of Skeinforge beyond 40 until Replicatorg is recompiled to include them. I'm currently working on doing that myself and hopefully I should be able to contribute to the project to improve the speed at which new Skeinforge builds are included.

how easy (if at all possible to say its easy) is it to go from printing to milling with either of those firmwares?