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Flatcam

This document provides installation instructions for FlatCAM, a program for preparing CNC jobs for making printed circuit boards (PCBs) on a CNC router. It can convert Gerber files from PCB CAD programs into G-Code for routing PCB isolation. Separate instructions are provided for installing FlatCAM on Windows, Linux, and MacOS systems.

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karthik
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
346 views

Flatcam

This document provides installation instructions for FlatCAM, a program for preparing CNC jobs for making printed circuit boards (PCBs) on a CNC router. It can convert Gerber files from PCB CAD programs into G-Code for routing PCB isolation. Separate instructions are provided for installing FlatCAM on Windows, Linux, and MacOS systems.

Uploaded by

karthik
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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FlatCAM BETA (c) 2019 - by Marius Stanciu

Based on FlatCAM:
2D Computer-Aided PCB Manufacturing by (c) 2014-2016 Juan Pablo Caram
=====================================================================

FlatCAM is a program for preparing CNC jobs for making PCBs on a CNC router.
Among other things, it can take a Gerber file generated by your favorite PCB
CAD program, and create G-Code for Isolation routing.

=====================================================================

-------------------------- Installation instructions ----------------

Works with Python version 3.5 or greater and PyQt5.


More on the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVvP2SYRpx-
AQgNlfoxw93tXUXon7G94_

You can contact me on my email address found in the app in:


Menu -> Help -> About FlatCAM -> Programmers -> Marius Stanciu

- Make sure that your OS is up-to-date


- Download sources from: https://bitbucket.org/jpcgt/flatcam/downloads/
- Unzip them on a HDD location that your user has permissions for.

1.Windows

- download the provided installer (for your OS flavor 64bit or 32bit) from:
https://bitbucket.org/jpcgt/flatcam/downloads/
- execute the installer and install the program. It is recommended to install as a
Local User.

or from sources:
- download the sources from the same location
- unzip them on a safe location on your HDD that your user has permissions for
- install WinPython e.g WinPython 3.8 downloaded from here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/winpython/files/WinPython_3.8/
Use one of the versions (64bit or 32it) that are compatible with your OS.
To save space use one of the versions that have the smaller size (they offer 2
versions: one with size of few hundred MB and one smaller with size of few tens of
MB)

- add Python folder and Python\Scripts folder to your Windows Path


(https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/office/developer/sharepoint-
2010/ee537574(v%3Doffice.14))
- verify that the pip package can be run by opening Command Prompt(Admin) and
running the command:
```
pip -V
```

- look in the requirements.txt file (found in the sources folder) and install all
the dependencies using the pip package.
The required wheels can be downloaded either from:
https://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/
or
https://pypi.org/

You can download all the required wheels files into a folder (e.g D:\my_folder) and
install them from Command Prompt like this:
```
cd D:\my_folder
```

and for each wheel file (*.whl) run:


```
D:\my_folder\> pip install --upgrade package_from_requirements.whl
```

Run FlatCAM beta from the installation folder (e.g D:\FlatCAM_beta) in the Command
Prompt with the following command:
cd D:\FlatCAM_beta
python FlatCAM.py

2.Linux

- make sure that Python 3.8 is installed on your OS and that the command: python3
-V confirm it
- verify that the pip package is installed for your Python installation (e.g 3.8)
by running the command:
```
pip3 -V
```

If it is not installed, install it. In Ubuntu-like OS's it is done like this:


```
sudo apt-get install python3-pip
```
or:
```
sudo apt-get install python3.8-pip
```
- verify that the file setup_ubuntu.sh has Linux line-endings (LF) and that it is
executable (chmod +x setup_ubuntu.sh)
- run the file setup_ubuntu.sh and install all the dependencies with the command:
```
./setup_ubuntu.sh
```
- if the previous command is successful and has no errors, run FlatCAM with the
command: python3 FlatCAM.py

- Alternatively you can install it on Ubuntu with:


```
# Optional if depencencies are missing
make install_dependencies

# Install for the current user only (using the folder in its place)
make install

# System-wide instalation
sudo make install
```

3.MacOS

Instructions from here:


https://gist.github.com/natevw/3e6fc929aff358b38c0a#gistcomment-3111878
- create a folder to hold the sources somewhere on your HDD:
mkdir FlatCAM

- unzip in this folder the sources downloaded from


https://bitbucket.org/jpcgt/flatcam/downloads/
Using commands (e.g using the sources for FlatCAM beta 8.991):
cd ~/FlatCAM
wget https://bitbucket.org/jpcgt/flatcam/downloads/FlatCAM_beta_8.991_sources.zip
unzip FlatCAM_beta_8.991_sources.zip
cd FlatCAM_beta_8.991_sources

- check if Homebrew is installed:


xcode-select --install
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

- install dependencies:
brew install pyqt
python3 -m ensurepip
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

- run FlatCAM
python3 FlatCAM.py

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