Hi Pete,

> I'm beginning to get the picture. I believe that most Cad software does exactly
> what you explained.

Yup! Although there are some programs that do combined CAD + CAM.


> Produce the model or design then the CAM software converts this to codes so
> the EMC in this case can read to make the piece. or something like that???

Yup, that is exactly right - the EMC itself cannot directly take surface data. Instead it takes instructions on how to move its cutting tools ("toolpaths").

The CAM software reads in your model surface data and analyzes it and outputs instructions on how to move a cutting tool to produce that shape.


A couple CAM programs you might check out are:

MeshCAM : http://grzsoftware.com/std.php (pretty inexpensive, looks like it might be pretty easy to use).

and

FreeMill: http://www.mecsoft.com/Mec/Products/FreeMill.shtml (A free version of their VisualMill program)


I think that you should be able to use both of these together with MoI. After you create your design in MoI, you save it out to the .stl file format. Both of these programs can take in data in that format.

- Michael