Cees, Thank you and I understand, but, it could have been worse........ "yus guys aint't seen nuttin".
That reply covers a lot of subject matter. You will find text in the manuals containing high levels of thought, example; in "PRACTICAL MACHINING CONSIDERATIONS, APPENDIX "E",
3.3 Common sense regarding tool selection can be subjective depending on the user.
Just an example of verbage which will be changed...... over time.
RC, Zafar is very frugal. He's only shows the good bending all the rest are sold as band instruments to pre-schoolers. Carefull Zafar, on what you disclose, Rc and another moderator are trying to perfect bending gun barrels that would shoot around corners. Word out on the street is that their scrap is being used as re-bar for building foundations and it dosn't neet code requirements.
Wont say anymore and should have posted this sort of thing a long tiime ago. RICH
3.19 Do not draw a profile with an element going or turning in a downward / backwards direction towards the face of the profile. The profile can proceed downwards but must be at least perpendicular to the center line of the object. ( As LazyTurn develops the statement may longer hold true but applies for now.)
also, practicaly speaking, For actual machining you would need a tool tip radius small enough to follow the profile ( get into the sharp corners). Sharp corners are not good design in that they "introduce stress intensification factors" which downgrade the allowable forces and also affect cyclic design. Not to be smart but added the comment for interest purposes. If you want those sharp corners then you will need a very pointed ( or even custom ) tool to follow the profile and use that tool for the finish pass ( which Art is working on ).
Common sense will be required by the user when they create / use a tool with an appropriate defined depth cut, spindle speed, etc. as it applies to what they want to machine.
Ray makes a good point in the selection and learning curve associated with software. You just need try and see what is best suited for the work you are going to do and what is most agreeable with you on how the software works. The trick is to minimize the time and money you spend finding what you want. One way would be to do the all free route piecing things together and finding out limitations. Then you know first hand what is expected out of a packaged software like some mentioned and your trial allows you to discount rather quickly. Notice there are a lot of you's above and in the end it's you that will use it.
Interesting and now all you need is the different output from the pipe or tube iso's to agree with on your software end.
Back over 40 years ago major pipe fab shops would automaticaly select appropriate material from storage, have the material conveyed to the machine, index, bend, add additional items like back up flanges, lap the ends of the pipe or tube, etc. You had to see the "key punched cut cards" to appriciate. Additionaly orbital welding machines woud weld in sections. To make all work, the sketches had to take into consideration the fabrication.
Still neat posting and just thought i would throw out some history. RICH
Hank, In Mach Mill there is an estimated run time for a given program. I have been using the standard screen for Mach Turn and it dosn't have a run time in it, not to say that the screen couldn't be customized to add it. And sometime in the future they will probably improve the screen. A few new lathe screens have been posted but not sure on their exact content.
It would be a nice feature to see the run time based on user defined pathing and then maybe you would adjust pass depth to minimize or know how "approx" how long it will take to do.