Software Alternatives & Reviews

LinuxCNC (the Enhanced Machine Control) VS Mach3

Compare LinuxCNC (the Enhanced Machine Control) VS Mach3 and see what are their differences

LinuxCNC (the Enhanced Machine Control) logo LinuxCNC (the Enhanced Machine Control)

LinuxCNC: an open source CNC machine controller. It can drive milling machines, lathes, 3d printers, laser cutters, plasma cutters, robot arms, hexapods, and more.

Mach3 logo Mach3

Mach3 is very popular among the Hobby CNC community.
  • LinuxCNC (the Enhanced Machine Control) Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-21
  • Mach3 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-16

LinuxCNC (the Enhanced Machine Control) videos

LinuxCNC for the bare bones beginner - Part 1

Mach3 videos

Gillette Mach3 3D Razor Review — average guy tested #APPROVED

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to LinuxCNC (the Enhanced Machine Control) and Mach3)
3D
48 48%
52% 52
Architecture
49 49%
51% 51
CAD
45 45%
55% 55
Tool
51 51%
49% 49

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, LinuxCNC (the Enhanced Machine Control) seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 5 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

LinuxCNC (the Enhanced Machine Control) mentions (5)

  • Can anybody recommend a good CNC conversion kit?
    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
  • CNC build
    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
  • Questions from someone looking to build a desktop mill
    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
  • Help with old ISA Cards and CNC machines
    This system is so old, I would recommend looking into converting to LinuxCNC https://linuxcnc.org/. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Mach 3… do you enjoy success with it?
    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

Mach3 mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Mach3 yet. Tracking of Mach3 recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing LinuxCNC (the Enhanced Machine Control) and Mach3, you can also consider the following products

Vectric Aspire - The complete software solution for CNC Routing,

PyCAM - PyCAM is a toolpath generator for 3-axis CNC machining.

Mastercam - Mastercam's Dynamic Milling is a game changer for us.

Edgecam - The industry standard CAD neutral Production CAM system

CamBam - CamBam CNC software, best value for money, feature rich, CNC Software for G-Code generation on CNC Routers, CNC Mills, Homemade CNC machines, for 2D pocketing, 2D profiling, Text Engraving, Photo Engraving and 3D carving.

Blender CAM - Blender CAM is an open source solution for artistic CAM - Computer aided machining - a g-code...