New Guy with an Old Question

[MetalShavings]

I just got my new Tormach 770 all set up about three weeks ago.  The CAM software that came with this package has got me loosing hair
prematurely.  It will be a while before I dare run  parts using that confusing software.

Just to get a little practice in while waiting for my tooling package to arrive, I wanted to tryout this NewFangled Wizard thing.

I made my first small pile of metal shavings this morning but, that's all I was able to do.  I wanted to shave .1" off of a small block of aluminum
just so I can say I've made some chips.

My machine was referenced, my part was referenced and all the information fields in the "Plane" wizard was filled in appropriately but, when I ran
the part my end mill was cutting fifty-percent part and fifty-percent air.

I tried running the part with all the same information in the numbers fields but, with the "Starting Points" changed.  The tool path that were being
generated were still cutting just as much air as it was aluminum.

Can someone give me a clue as to what I may be doing wrong?

Incidentally, I did use the "Search" feature to try to find the answer I'm looking for. No sense bugging folks with the same old questions but, No Luck finding the answer.  And also; I forgot to mention the I DID push the enter button when I entered my numbers.

Thanks for your help.

MetalShavings.

[MetalShavings]

Well alrighty then.

Thanks so much for allowing me to use up a little of your band width.

I know it's difficult to diagnose some problems unless you're physically in front of the
same computer screen with all the pieces of this puzzle there for you to see.

Even when folks can't offer up any input or possible solutions it's still nice when they
just acknowledge your existence if nothing else.

It goes a long way toward there being a possibility of finding a solution; even
when there may not be a solution.

[BR549]

OK lets clear up some of your issues,(;-)

First this site is manned by people that are volenters(don't get paid).  IF you are going to get PISSY about the free service I would suggest that you go BACK to where they TOOK your MONEY. They are the ONLY ONES that OWE you anything.

Second I just looked and do not see ANY wizard in the NFW set that is CALLED "PLANE" nor did I find one in the public wizards. SO I am not sure if ANYONE has any idea what you are refereing to.

NOW if you would like to try it again post in the MAIN forum for help and if you don't PISS them off you may get some help.

(;-)TP

[Ron Ginger]

If you are using the newfangled wizards, then you must be trying to surface the stock. That wizard allows for starting the tool off the edge of the stock, and it allows you to set the stepover by percent. Id guess you have some combination of these values set to cause the 'air cut'

There is a manual for the NFS wizards, you can get it off the documents tab at the top of this page. Most of the screens have pretty obvious descriptions, but some may not be clear, and the manual will explain them. The manual version is old, but the information is  current- the wizards have been fixed for various bugs, but none of the basic operations have changed.

Try to give me a better idea of what you mean by 'air cutting' and Ill see if I can help

[MetalShavings]

Thank you Ron Ginger:

I'll give that manual another read.  It may be that I missed something the first couple of times.

What I meant by "Cutting Air" was that my end mill will cut approximately a third of my work piece then as it remains on the tool-path
that was generated, that same tool path moves the end mill completely off the work piece so that it's no longer making contact
with the piece of metal I was wanting to Plane/Surface, it's just just cutting through the air on the side of the part.

Pissy?  I'm not completely disillusioned by these little setbacks.  I fully expect it to be a "User Error" related problem as it
generally is in cases like this.  As I eluded to, after trying to figure this out myself I came to the conclusion that I was clueless
as to how to remedy this situation so I came here hoping to get a clue.

My apologies for any offense.  I'm afraid my frustration with this problem overshadowed my plea for help.

Thanks again Mr. Ginger.

MetalShavings

[MetalShavings]

I think I may have found the answer to my own problem.

I back tracked the procedure I use to ready my part for machining.  All the input fields in the NewFangled Wizard I was using
had been entered correctly each time.  They're pretty straight forward and hard to mess up as you eluded to before.

It turns out that when I referenced my part I think I neglected to include the "Minus" symbol in the Mach3 X and Y axis number fields.

I attempted to test my theory by using one of the hole drilling wizards today but, the code it was generating didn't include the spindle speed or the G-Code
for the drilling operation I was attempting to do.  I tried it several times with no success.

I test-ran the G-Code that this Wizard put out and the tool path was spot on.  I think its because I was missing those pieces of the G-Code that would trigger
the spindle to come on that caused this drilling cycle to fail.  I can't say for sure.

If all the other problems I've encountered are any indication, this next problem may very well be User Error as well but, it's hard to figure since I'm
99.9 percent sure I filled in all the text fields correctly.

Have you heard of any such problems with the Multiple Hole Drilling Wizard?  Off the top of your head, can you think of anything that I may or may not be doing that would cause the lack of these components in the G-Code that is generated?

MetalShavings

[Ron Ginger]

can you post a copy of the gcode from one of your drilling jobs?

I dont understand your problem. It might also be helpful if you can post a screen shot of the wizard page after you have filled in all the blanks.

[MetalShavings]

I'm basically a Mac computer guy.  I'm not completely up to speed on Windows based computers.

 I think posting the G-Code will be easy enough but, posting a "Screen Shot" might be a little more difficult for me.

The computer I use to go online is a Mac desktop.  The Windows based computer I use for the Mach3 and New Fangled software is not connected to the
internet.  Can you tell me how to do a "Screen Shot?"  I think posting a "Screen Shot" would be a good idea.  It would sure give anyone else who may encounter such a problem a chance to see how to fix it.

Once I figure out how to do this "Screen Shot" I think I can just transfer it onto my Mac and post it here.

MetalShavings

[Ron Ginger]

Windows has a built in screen capture.. Put the mouse in the window you want to copy hold down the ALT key and hit the <print screen> key. That is usually on the very top row, just right of the F keys.

Once you have captured the screen open the windows Paint program and do a PASTE function, That will put you screen capture in Paint, then do a save as and save it as a jpg- be sure to choose jpg, otherwise paint will save a bmp which is huge.

Once you have the screen shot just save that file to a memory stick, take that to the mac browse to this topic and write a message. On the screen you will see a button for Attachments, click that and attach you screen file.

The Gcode can be inserted right into the text box on the browser, just cut and paste.

[budman68]

Hi,

To do a screen shot, when you have the image on your screen that you'd like to share, just hit the "Print Screen" key on the keyboard. This puts that image on the "imaginary" clipboard.

 Then, open up Microsoft Paint, which is a very small paint program that is installed in Windows. Start button->Programs->accessories->Paint.

Create a new file in Microsft Paint, than right click (right mouse button) on the white area and choose "Paste" from the menu. Your image should appear. Just save that as a JPEG (.jpg) file but name it something like "MetalShavingsscreenshot" and then transfer it to the Mac. Then upload it here.

Hope that helps-
Dave

EDIT: Ooops, sorry, I see Ron beat me to it!