Most hobby CAM runs out of heavyweight desktop suites. Against that backdrop, a free, open-source 2.5D CAD/CAM package that lives in the browser feels like a fresh take. PureCutCNC just shipped version 0.5.0, with a desktop build available too, aimed at hobby CNC routing: draw a design, and the app generates the toolpaths.
The nesting stands out. Parts are laid out on the stock in quantities you set, spaced according to the cutter that will cut them, and the layouts keep clear of clamps. Small parts can even sit inside the holes of bigger ones, and stock can be an irregular outline, with cutting boards given as the example. Pocket clearing runs trochoidal orbits ring by ring rather than plowing a full-width path, the rings link at depth instead of retracting between passes, and the same approach carries over to 3D roughing.
Other choices I rate highly: arc lead-ins and lead-outs bring the cutter onto walls along tangent arcs, avoiding witness marks beside the wall, and edge routes helix down at every level rather than plunging vertically. A CAM Plan reads the drawn geometry and proposes operations and tools, but nothing is created until you have reviewed and edited the proposal. In my view that gate is a sensible safeguard.
3D finishing comes as parallel, waterline and constant-scallop strategies, with the constant-scallop mode driven by a scallop height you set instead of a stepover, and any variation can be split by slope ranges; the maker cites 0-30 degrees for parallel and 30-90 for waterline. STEP import and text following a circle or an arbitrary path round things out, along with performance work and bug fixes.
One open item: there is no generic Fanuc post processor yet, and plasma support does not exist while the maker learns that process. The status bar still reads beta, and treating this as a work in progress seems fair.
Project by PureCutCNC. Watch it on their YouTube channel: