viewing Gcode files before printing

So, after hand editing my G-code files to do multiple prints, I realized I needed some way to check the G-codes before printing.

Turns out the process is called G-code Backplotting, and there's lots of relatively expensive CAM software out there to do it.

However, I did find an open source view which worked first try - EMC2. Popped in the CD I'd made a while ago, ran EMC2, and loaded the Gcode file. Presto - I can see the entire Gcode file, not just a layer at a time. Good for checking big files.

Anyone else have any other good Gcode backplotters or viewers to share?

Wade

Nice.
Are your rafts really that sparse?

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Silly me, the lines are just the extruder path.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Yes, but it would be a trivial thing to compute a tool head size based on the feedrate and plastic flowrate. You could even get crazy and try and work out the densities and height and width ratios, if you had a lot of spare time.

All I really intended was to check my overall placement of the parts. It's surprisingly easy to mix up the coordinate systems when entering them by hand.

It would be great if we could incorporate this sort of thing into the build process automatically. A lot of my stupid user type errors could be avoided with a quick visual check of the output before I start running my extruder into immovable objects.

Something to look into I suppose.

Wade