gcodesim

GCode simulator

This tool is designed to simulate GCode exported from Eagle pcb-gcode plugin to simulate PCB milling.

Have a look at http://gergap.de/gcode-simulator.html for more information.

Requirements

This is a pure C program, so all you need is GCC. No dependencies to any library. For building I use CMake, but gcc -O2 -o gcodesim *.c would also do it.

• GCC
• CMake

Building

Run "cmake && make" or use the provided ./build.sh script.

Usage

• Create your board design using Autodesk Eagle (or the old Cadsoft version).
• Export GCode using the Eagle plugin pcb-gcode (http://www.pcbgcode.org)
  • Enable "Nc File Comment Machine Settings" in the GCode Options tab.
• Use gcodesim to simulate the code

Example: Simulation

This assumes you've created a PCB of size 30x30mm. The tool information is stored inside the GCode comments. So these setting will be read from gcodesim automatically.

Lets further assume you've exported the bottom outline and bottom drills and you want to simulate both.

./gcodesim -m -W 30 -H 30 demo.bot.etch.gcode demo.bot.drill.gcode

This will create the file workpart.pgm which can be viewed in most graphics viewers/editors like e.g. KDE Gwenview or Gimp. You can also easily convert it on console using Image Magick: convert workpart.pgm workpart.png

Example: Rewriting GCode

Lets assume the first try didn't work as expected and you want to try it again, but this time at an offset X=-35mm. You can rewrite the GCode applying the given offset.

./gcodesim -m -W 30 -H 30 -x-35 -O etch.gcode demo.bot.etch.gcode
./gcodesim -m -W 30 -H 30 -x-35 -O dril.gcode demo.bot.dril.gcode

Now simulate again the result on a wider board:

./gcodesim -m -W 70 -H 30 etch.gcode drill.gcode

Custom tools

If you have GCode without the tool headers you can use the provided functions in main.c create_etch_tool and create_drill_tool to create the tools necessary in main(). Then use the -t <num> commandline option to select the tool you want to use for the given file.

Commandline arguments

Use -h to show the built-in help:

$ ./gcodesim -h
GCodesim Copyright (C) 2017 Gerhard Gappmeier
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.

Usage: ./bld/gcodesim [options] file...
Options:
  -h: Shows this help
  -v: Verbose output
  -r: Specifies size of one voxel in mm (default=0.1mm)
  -W: Specifies PCB width in mm (default=100mm)
  -H: Specifies PCB height in mm (default=80mm)
  -r: Specifies size of one voxel in mm (default=0.1mm)
  -t: Specifies tool index to use (if no tool selection is in the Gcode)
  -o: Specifies output filname, to rewrite the given GCode files
  -x: Applies given offset in mm at X axis
  -y: Applies given offset in mm at Y axis
  -z: Applies given offset in mm at Z axis
  -m: PCBGcode mirror compensation. Makes the coordinates positive by adding the PCB width.
Example: ./gcodesim -W 30 -m -x-5 -o drill.gcode ~/eagle/isp_adapter/isp_adapter.bot.drill.gcode

Notes on Windows Target

This tool was developed for Linux but can be compiled also for Windows using Mingw compiler. This is tested also on Linux and cross-compiling for Windows.

# produce 64bit binaries for Windows using x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc on Linux
./build.sh -t mingw64
# produce 32bit binaries for Windows using i686-w64-mingw32-gcc on Linux
./build.sh -t mingw32

For compiling a Windows .exe one needs to install the Mingw compiler and optionally wine for test execution. The resulting binaries can be copied to Windows and should work there. If you don't have wine disable tests by using the option -T.

In theory it should also work with Mingw on Windows, but I've no Windows, so this isn't tested. In this case it should work also without a CMake toolchain file (no cross-compilation).

# build natively on Windows using Mingw
export CC=/path/to/gcc
./build.sh

Requirements for building on Windows:

• MinGW compiler for Windows
• CMake for Windows
• Git Bash for Windows for execution of build.sh

Another solution would be to use the new Linux subsystem on Windows 10.