Not to mention the github repo for the CAM software is currently empty except for a readme and license.[1]

I would love to see a functional open source CAM software that would compete with basic tiers of Mastercam/Fusion360/etc. I think it would be of huge benefit to the manufacturing industry, education and hobbyists. There are a lot of machinists/CNC programmers very worried about Autodesk's dominance over the field and the consequences of further consolidation and crapification. Many machinists are currently learning hard lessons about SaaS.

Unfortunately in my observations (as a user and CAM software purchaser, not a CAM dev) writing toolpathing engines seems to be a Hard Problem with most of the expertise concentrated within entrenched companies. There are a few smaller companies developing CAM software but most seem to build either on one of a couple licensed CAM engines or very old legacy software from back before the big players dominated the field. Lots of the functional requirements for a CAM system have been stable for years (decades even), so a casual observer would think it is ripe for an open source alternative. However I haven't yet seen an open source alternative that could plausibly compete or even achieve feature parity with any of the commercial CAM software I use.

Best of luck to the PolarCam dev. I don't have high expectations given the magnitude of the task and the hobbyist nature of the associated hardware, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

[1] https://github.com/kadirilkimen/PolarCam

Hi, of course I am not saying that I will develop a complete software package. I am a single guy who loves to work on these stuff. The repository is empty, Because I have no work on it yet. I developed several 2d and 3d toolpath generators for specific purposes for private companies. Always suffered from cam softwares and since I have enough background on the toolpath generating, I decided to work on it. We'll see in time. Most of strong open source projects started as individual initiatives. Someone failed but another one got inspired and started a better project that succeeded. So it could be me or someone else.The key is to have a powerful open source CAM software.

I appreciate the reply. How did you get a background in toolpath generation? I am curious because I have a background in both software dev and machining, but haven't combined them much. Was this something you became familiar with in school or only when working at those companies? Any resources you would recommend?

How did I get a background in toolpath generation. I don't like talking about myself in public. You have my website. If you really want to know more about these, please contact me. I happily answer your questions.

About recommendation; Toolpath generation is based on 2d and 3d geometry math. Simply dive into 2D and 3D geometry and try to understand some libraries. This is a very good one: http://www.angusj.com/delphi/clipper.php

Most 2d and 3d calculations are based on triangle calculations. There are also solved algorithms like finding the closest point on a curve. Once you start playing with triangles, I'm sure with some software development and machining background you can easily begin to understand how toolpath generation works. It's easier to create toolpaths from stl files. Because stl models only consist of triangles. Thanks to the gaming industry, triangle-based math isn't a cutting-edge science these days, and there are many open source libraries.

You also need tons of coffee and tons of dedicated time.