Now available for download: Paper Tools Mach 4 Plugin

[brettbond]

I wrote about this project last April:

Mach4 Plugin: Try out my visual CNC plugin and give feedback?

Hi, would you be willing to try out a plugin I wrote for Mach 4? It’s called Paper Tools. You place a drawing on your work piece and my software generates gcode based on recognized handwritten or printed text and targets You can see a video here: [Paper Tools Bowtie] What you’ll need You’ll need to attach a webcam to your router facing downward toward the work surface. You need Mach 4. It should take about 15 minutes to get up and running. If you can print out a PDF on a standard…

And now I’m ready to have a few more people try out the software which you can download from www.papertools.ai.

Here’s a quick video to give you an idea of how with just a piece of paper, you can create holes in your material right where you show the video camera:

Using the Bore Paper Tool

You can print out paper tools, or even just write directly on your material. The vision software recognizes your handwriting, navigates your Avid machine to determine the exact position of the visual targets and generates GCode for Slots, Bores, Pockets, Drills. You can also bring your own GCode to work with any CAD model you make.

Some “Paper Tools” I’ve created include a bowtie template, a hole saw kit, and coming soon a lettering cut-out and engraving package. Next up: a full interface to design Paper Tools in Fusion360 and place them directly on your material.

Lemme know what you think!!