Machsupport Forum

G-Code, CAD, and CAM => LazyCam (Beta) => Topic started by: rayzsurfer on May 03, 2012, 12:14:25 PM

Title: Experienced Lazycammer Wanted!
Post by: rayzsurfer on May 03, 2012, 12:14:25 PM
Hello all, I finally have my DIY plasma table working well now I just need to figure out the software side of it. I am having trouble converting my drawings into Gcode. I am able to do simple shapes but I can't seem to get all the steps correct for slightly more complex drawings. I am attaching a drawing that I am struggling with it is 5 letters that I created. I am also attaching the gcode file that I created. I am using LazyCam and Mach3. If someone can give me the step by step instructions they used to get the entire image to show up in Mach3 I could probably learn from that. HELP!!!
Title: Re: Experienced Lazycammer Wanted!
Post by: RICH on May 03, 2012, 05:28:59 PM
You don't say what you want to do with the letters.
You will find a users manual for Lazycam in Members Docs and strongly suggest you have a read and not hack at the program.

RICH
Title: Re: Experienced Lazycammer Wanted!
Post by: rayzsurfer on May 04, 2012, 12:19:39 PM
I want to use it on my plasma machine. I have looked through the manual and since it's geared towards mill operations it is difficult to coorelate it with the plasma. I figured someone with LC experience could do this quickly. When I load in Mach it does not show the complete drawing.
Title: Re: Experienced Lazycammer Wanted!
Post by: RICH on May 04, 2012, 10:14:34 PM
The manual dosen't cover plasma. The reason is simple. I don't have or use a plasma machine and in that light would not know what quirks to look for in the program. Anybody out there is free to write a section on LazyCam Plasma and post it. There is no documentation for LazyCam other than the numerous hours I spent hacking it to death for the lathe and mill.  So the only support I tend to offer is for the mill part of LazyCam ( consider the Lathe module dead as it is now replaced by LazyTurn).

RICH
Title: Re: Experienced Lazycammer Wanted!
Post by: RICH on May 06, 2012, 06:41:53 AM
RAYSURFER,
Tried your dx in both LC mill and Plasma. No problem in mill. Trying LC Plasma I only got two letters also the first time I tried posting the code. BUT...... Went out of LC, reloaded LC , and posted again and the complete code was posted.

Do you have a licensed copy of MACH and do you have the Pro license of LC ?

There is a line limit in LC if you don't have a licensed for MACH and LC also restricts the different LC Modes if it is not the
Pro Version.

RICH
Title: Re: Experienced Lazycammer Wanted!
Post by: rayzsurfer on May 06, 2012, 10:36:38 PM
In fact I have not purchased a license yet. I am trying to figure out which CAM software to purchase. A lot of them will package Mach3 with their software. If I purchase the Mach license from Artsoft does it come with an unrestricted version of LazyCam? Do you know?

Thanks for loading it, I wanted to make sure it was something I was doing wrong.
Title: Re: Experienced Lazycammer Wanted!
Post by: RICH on May 07, 2012, 06:36:49 AM
Lazycam will still be restrictive even if you purchase Mach. See page 4 of 123 in the manual which can be found in
Member's Docs which provides more information. There is no documention on Plasma in the manual and your on your owne.


RICH
Title: Re: Experienced Lazycammer Wanted!
Post by: tripleblack on May 24, 2012, 01:02:07 PM
i have never needed anything but lazycam for plasma.i find that arcs can be a pain so after drawing shape , i explode all and then join polylines. i use turbocad vers 10.  i then offset to the inside or outside the width of the plasma kerf and delete the original lines. save as r14 or earlier dxf.  open in lazycam , relayer opimize, reset origin, cset the leadins
and direction form the popup dialog box. set the speeds and feeds  in the dialog box , post and save.i know that everyone says that sheetcam is better and i have played around with it but, i can go from importing a dxf into lazycam and be cutting in less than 1 minute. i also have customized the plasma post processor so that it auto inserts the safe z, start z, and plunge speed z . been using it for 4 years now.
Title: Re: Experienced Lazycammer Wanted!
Post by: rayzsurfer on May 24, 2012, 07:06:12 PM
Thanks tripleblack for the feedback. I am trying out the sheetcam. I think my issue with LC might have been that I was using an unlicensed version. I am reluctant though to sink the $75 for the software when it's dead though. So I might go with the sheetcam since it's still active.
Title: Re: Experienced Lazycammer Wanted!
Post by: BR549 on May 24, 2012, 10:40:32 PM
For Plasma work SheetCam all the way, No comparison. 

Just a thought, (;-) TP

Title: Re: Experienced Lazycammer Wanted!
Post by: tripleblack on May 25, 2012, 06:24:45 AM
this is the version that comes with your mach3 lic. i do not use the pro.