Ski Builders Forum

richie wrote:How do you plan to allow for users that want to use this commercially?

Someone else pointed out that I haven't been clear enough on this. The answer is simple: party on. Free for personal and commercial use.

A more detailed answer:

Use of the G-Code programs this spits out carries no restrictions at all. You don't even have to credit me. In this sense MonkeyCAM is analogous to a compiler. People build large, amazingly profitable businesses all the time using C++ compilers but they don't pay anything (modulo a one-time purchase in _some_ cases) to the maker of the compiler, or necessarily credit them. Of course, the guys who build gcc love a little credit now and then.

Use of the source code for MonkeyCAM is subject to the license included at the github repo, and other software developers will understand what that entails in depth. The high-level answer is that it's free to use, with minor restrictions around copyrights and patents, even if you want to build and then sell software which incorporates it.

I've added the final program, which is the one I use to cut trenches into the core blank along the effective edge to allow me to insert a 2cm ash stringer plus a piece of ptex sidewall material.

You can see a simple 3d visualization here: http://www.happymonkeysnowboards.com/Mo ... iewer.html You can rotate, pan, and zoom with your mouse to get a feel for the programs. The programs are grouped and stacked in related groups: base & spacers vs. things cut from the bottom vs. things cut from the top. Again, use a browser made this decade: Chrome or Firefox. (IE should be able to render this starting with Windows 8.1, but I'll believe it when I see it.)

With that all of the original ski/board programs are essentially ported. Minor tweaks here and there, but nothing major. I'm gonna start focusing on a UI to make this stuff actually useful for others.

Great work on this project Mike.

I don't know if I should start a new thread but I'd love to see if we (the skibuilders community) can come up with a CNC edge bender tool too (+software)

I have a rather precise idea on a concept, both for the physical part and the way to go from CAD to CAM... I think I sould try to write it down and see what other members have to say about it.

Ben

Something I've thought about for a long long time, but for the number of skis I make (2-3 per year max), I just can't justify it over my tile nippers. Would be a fun engineering challenge, for sure (but I have enough of those)

Great idea Ben! I know a few people have worked on this, but your right, it is something we should try and crack.

Buuk did it.

Maybe we could ask Sean from Donek Snowboards if he's willing to share how his edge bender works.

Yes indeed, but (and I totally understand it) he never shared details about his machine and software. What I'm proposing is to work on a totally open source hardware + software combo.
If Buuk decides he wants to share part of his work or contribute in the process I'm sure I won't be the only one who will appreciate it but I totally get why he'd want to keep the hard work he put into it for himself.

Start a new thread Ben and we'll happen upon a working solution.

Endre has one also, and wagner.

Twizz you built a whole CNC router for your 2-3 pairs a year!!!

I’ve been working on MonkeyCAM off and on over the past year, though I haven’t updated here very much. I didn’t update because I haven’t really worked on it quite as much as I would have liked because, well, I’ve just been busy with work and other things in life. The effort does continue, though! I made two boards using only the current version of MonkeyCAM last season and it went very smoothly

The current overview and status is always here: https://github.com/mikemag/MonkeyCAM

Today I added a Mac binary which you can download and play with if you’d like. It’s still command-line only, so you have to look at the G-code output in something like Mach 3. But if you’d like, and you’re on a Mac, you can play with it. The current release with download links can always be found here: https://github.com/mikemag/MonkeyCAM/releases

I’ll be working on documentation next because I have little doubt that discovering what each of the parameters does will be extremely difficult. I’ll also be working on a Windows build (https://github.com/mikemag/MonkeyCAM/issues/4).

I’ll get back to working on a UI for it sometime. I’ve never been a UI developer, and I’m less motivated to make that part work but I know I have to. There’s actually source for a basic prototype now, but it’s not usable by anyone else.

Current open issues are here: https://github.com/mikemag/MonkeyCAM/issues. If you have any problems with it at all I’d encourage you to open up an issue for me. It will be very easy to track.

Love to use the windows version

Well, at long last, the Windows version is available: https://github.com/mikemag/MonkeyCAM/re ... tag/v4.0.2

Docs coming soon, hopefully this weekend. It's not at all clear what all the parameters in the board and machine defs do, I know. I'll start by documenting what's there and how to generate programs for simple boards and skis.

All of the programs it generates are intended to be used together, in a specific sequence, and that'll be fine if you want to work exactly like I do. But a lot of you won't, of course, and that's just fine. After I document the basics, I'll branch out into explaining how to use this to get you individually useful programs; things like a simple profiling program without having to care about the shape for those of you who just really need a profile, etc.