i had the idea to use my Lego Mindstorm electronics to make a CNC foam cutter. i've read about and seen a video of a working cnc router entirely made out of legos. it only could cut foam because the motors are not stepper motors and legos don't like to be put under a lot of stress. so, i want to make a hot wire foam cutter which is easy, and then make it so that the table can be slid around by the mindstorm parts. my problem is, i do not no how to get CAD files onto the NXT (mindstorm controller). i know it's do able with autocad but i don't know how. any body know? i currently can use google sketchup and prodesktop 8. i'm better at using pro desktop so i'd rather use it.

I googled " Lego cnc nxt gcode" and got this http://us.mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/...5-420b6c2fe8a5

Seems that so long as you can output gcode, which sketchup can do with plugins. You should be able to accomplish this.

I'm not familiar with the nxt system but i think google is going to get you answers a lot faster. Cool project post some pics when you get it going.

that was a smart thing to search, i don't know anything about code and so i didn't know what to look for. how do i make sketchup make gcode? this is what i had found before: http://thenxtstep.blogspot.com/2011/...d-printer.html definitely watch the video, it has the greatest reveal ever!

I am using sketchucam from the PhlatBoyz forum. it looks like they have a beta for 3d cutting as well but i have no experience with that. simply draw your parts out and run the Cut tool and it will generate the Gcode for your. really simple to run. Give it a shot and if you have problems with the plugin let me know, the plugin works for Sketchup 8 but needs some tweaking.

There is quite the alphabet soup of acronyms that really confused the heck out of me at first. Now that i have learned a few of them it makes it easier to search for information.

awesome, i'll download what's needed and draw a circle to see how stuff works. i definitely have to make the cutter part now, i have no excuse not to make this machine, i have every single part.

how do i get gcode into my nxt?

how do i do a revolve in sketchup? after a week of classes for pro desktop i'm already better at using it then sketchup which i've used for 3 months! i can't find anything free to make gcode from pro desktop. please help!

From SketchUp for Dummies by Aidan Chopra
(see attachments)

-Steve

huh! thanks!