Newfangled Wizards, V2.73 Test Release

[Ron Ginger]

I have made  few changes to the Newfangled wizard set. I have more to do, but I thought I'd follows Arts lead and 'release often'

The most interesting change is in the Materials selection. In the original wizards there were a few materials and their preferred cutting speeds hard-coded into the program. Changing the values or adding materials took VB code editing. Now there is a simple text file, Materials.txt in the Newfangled folder. The file has one line for each material, and each material has 4 comma delimited fields for the surface speed. You may edit the values or add any materials you like. There is a limit of 100 materials, but that should not be a big problem. There is also a help button that explains the material handling.

I also fixed a bug in Cut-rectangle that caused it to not go to the full depth if the last cut was not a full depth of pass, for example, if you requested a .250 deep pocket cut in .100 steps it stopped cutting at .200

I also fixed the surface wizard. When you selected 'rapid move between passes' the Z value for the rapid move was calculated to high. It now always does rapids at the Z rapid setting.

I have also fixed up many error messages- the old ones were ofter something like 'Depth is set wrong' It now says what is wrong, eg "Tool diameter must be greater than Zero"

To install this load the .zip file into the Mach3\Addons folder and unzip it. It will place the files in the Newfangled folder as needed.

Let me know of any problems, and if there are other bugs (or 'features') that bother you in the wizard set let me know. I'll see what I can do to fix them. If there are no problems this version will be added to a Mach release in a few days.

We are working on a major graphics update, but it will be  a while before thats ready. Watch this space!

[chuckels]

tried your new rect wiz, set it for 2X2 inner and it cut  1X1 outer, also don't like the new material selection much it needs a default selection like Brian's.
I'm just a pain I know, ask Brian, but every time someone changes the rec wiz it does goofy stuff. this is the one i use the most so i am very critical of it. Brian spent many tries to get inner and outer correct  now its not working.
sorry if this sounds very negative your help is very much appreciated. 
chuck

[Ron Ginger]

Thanks for the note. Its strange, I didn't do anything to the code for the size of the rectangle, only for the depth of cut. I will have a look at it and see whats happening.

Ill change the material list and make it default to the first material on the list. That way everyone can set their common material first in the list.

Thanks

ron ginger

[BobsShop]

Ron;

I like the new Wizard's format that you have developed and look forward to the enhancements you mentioned.  One problem I have had involves what happens when I upgrade to the latest and greatest Mach3 version.  Each time I do that the software reverts to the previous Wizard's initial screen.  In order to bring your screen up, I have to reinvent the wheel by unzipping the new Wizard file again. 

There is probably an easier way.  Can you enlighten me?

Thanks

Bob@BobsShop - Zipping along

[Ron Ginger]

Art is still including the original version of the wizards in his release. When I fix a couple more problems I will send a copy to Art and he will make that the Newfangled version in his releases. Probably in about a week. Until then you will have to reload the zip file if you install a new version of Mach.

[titchener]

Ron, I  have to agree with Chuck on the material selection. Its important that when you come in that you see the name of the currently selected material without having to hit a button to see what's selected. It should also automatically remember the last selected material, and you shouldn't have to edit any files to set the default material, it should just remember and display the last one you selected.

I can see the appeal of trying to generalize it like you did to make it open ended, but I think you made it harder to use for 95% of the users that most of the time are going to use one of the materials that was previously listed. Being able to customize the underlying speeds and feeds is nice, but its not worth it to make it harder to use most of the time so you can have 100 materials, most people just won't do that, and if you need a special speed and feed for special material its easy to override the generated settings. Being able to specify the underlying speeds and feeds used for a specific material is a nice feature though.

Paul T.

[Ron Ginger]

Thanks for the comments,

I have removed the Message Box that insisted on choosing a new material.

If you click the 'save wizard' anywhere else within the set it remembers all of the settings, including the material, so once you have selected a material that one will always be selected when you startup.

If no material has ever been selected it will default to the first material in the list. That is as it used to work.

I don't really expect anyone to have 100 materials, but there were requests for adding materials and this makes it very simple to add your common material.