[texhax] OT: has anyone looked at interfacing CNC mills w/ TeX?

[Reinhard Kotucha]

On 2013-02-04 at 14:24:33 -0500, William Adams wrote:

 > I know, this intersects w/ the world of fantasy and Dr. Knuth's San
 > Francisco presentation, but it's where I'm at.
 > 
 > I'd like to find a way to preview CNC projects w/in TeX
 > environments. The easiest way would be if there was a gcode2pdf
 > converter --- I did find gcode2eps:
 > 
 > http://code.google.com/p/gcode2eps/
 > 
 > but that will involve converting the eps to display somehow (I
 > really miss my NeXT Cube and Display PostScript). I'm also not
 > having any luck getting that compiled....

  http://gerbv.geda-project.org/

supports Gerber RS-274X files, Excellon drill files, but not the older
RS-274D standard.  I'm using Gerbv only as a preview tool, but it can
also export to PDF and PostScript.

 > Another option would be converting Asymptote or METAPOST to
 > g-code. There are options for this, but AFAICT, all of them
 > ``cheat'' by creating a polyline instead of approximating a Bézier
 > curve as arcs (I'd love to be wrong on this).

All these old file formats assume pen plotters and approximate arcs by
polylines.  But what's even worse is how solid polygones are
described.  The thinner the pen, the larger the file.

Regards,
  Reinhard

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Reinhard Kotucha                                      Phone: +49-511-3373112
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