If computer graphics is of interest, BRL-CAD (https://brlcad.org) is very welcoming to new contributors and has lots of projects you could take on. Source: about 1 year ago

Mike Muuss[0] approves of this message. 0: https://brlcad.org/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago

Join an open source community that is welcoming to newcomers (e.g., BRL-CAD, Haiku OS, OSGeo, ..) and work on a little bit of code every day. It can be a simple feature, specific bug, or something new you want to achieve. Many open source groups are very welcoming to newcomers if you do the work and ask smart questions. Source: about 1 year ago

You could also try out free AutoCAD alternatives like libreCAD (2D), or brlCAD (2D&3D, I believe). Source: about 1 year ago

So, uh ... Learning curve. If you want anything and everything under the sun, go with BRL-CAD. It was designed for ballistics testing and simulation, but it can do pretty much anything. The learning curve for BRL-CAD is immense. Otherwise, I recommend OpenSCAD. Source: over 1 year ago

For a hobby machine, DIY might be the way to go. I did my sharp knee mill over several years. Ball screws from Rockford ball screws, were not cheap, but work well. Servo motors and gecko motor controllers from automationtechnologiesinc.com. Scales for feed back from dropros. Controller card from mesanet.com. All controlled with linuxcnc.org and a usb controller from vistacnc.com. Milled motor mounts for the... Source: over 1 year ago

I'm building a DIY-ish 3d printer, I know the Duet 3D boards can run spindles. https://www.machsupport.com/software/mach3/ Or Http://linuxcnc.org/ can run stepper driver boards with a spare desktop. Source: over 1 year ago

Good questions, I may be able to help with some of them but I know there are plenty of more experienced mill owners: 1. This is usually done manually or with indexing pins. If you look at the nomad flip jig you can see some techniques for physically re-aligning the part. Since you have skills in that area, a software solution could help, but I’m not aware of anything off the shelf in the hobby space. It could be... Source: almost 2 years ago

This system is so old, I would recommend looking into converting to LinuxCNC https://linuxcnc.org/. Source: over 2 years ago

If you are basically just a CNC operator they will take about the same amount of time to learn how to run them. LinuxCNC however may take a little more time configuring the system depending on features. You will definitely learn a bit more about how your machine operates configuring LinuxCNC since you have to compute a few settings based on your screw pitches and latency jitter of your PC. The calculators and... Source: over 2 years ago