Messages

41

VB and the development of wizards / Re: New Multiple and Complex thread Turning Wizard!!!

« on: January 11, 2008, 02:22:46 PM »

Hi Poppabear,

I know it's been along time since you did the Quickthreads Wizard, but I've only just got around to trying it. A thing I've noticed, being a metric sort of person, is that the G20/G21 changeover doesn't seem to work. I always get G20.
Also the tool selection is that for a mill I think. Mach turn uses T101 etc. This is V 2.01, which I think was your latest version.
Another thing, which is just my preference, could the bright green be something a bit less glaring - it hurts my poor old eyes!
I'm not moaning, it looks a useful tool & I want to try it for real.


Tony

42

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: From .DWG to LazyCam to Mach3 Turn - Natural Progression

« on: January 10, 2008, 05:41:57 PM »

If we're not careful we might end up knowing how to use this.


Tony

43

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: From .DWG to LazyCam to Mach3 Turn - Natural Progression

« on: January 10, 2008, 05:31:58 PM »

HA, RC - just beat me to it!

Tony

44

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: From .DWG to LazyCam to Mach3 Turn - Natural Progression

« on: January 10, 2008, 05:22:19 PM »

Right, I finally got somewhere! I've spent a long & frustrating evening playing with bores. (boring in fact)
If you take a look at the attached test file, the rules seem to be that :
1/ point A must be further out than point C.
2/point B sets the start of cutting on the inner bore.
3/the zero marker sets X0

Bevels seem ok but arcs don't seem to work - although I've run out of steam for tonight.

See what you think

Tony

45

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: From .DWG to LazyCam to Mach3 Turn - Natural Progression

« on: January 10, 2008, 02:48:33 PM »

I haven't used Code Shark - its more of a G code generator & editor as far as I can see. The wizards in Mach will do a lot of coding for simple profiles & threading & it's easy enough to string a few operations together.
 I'm quite happy (but a bit impatient) to invest in what may turn out to be capable of doing more complicated profiles. Fortunately I'm not relying on cnc to make a living. Any machining work that I take on is usually prototypes in very small batches and better tackled on the manual machines.

Tony

46

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: From .DWG to LazyCam to Mach3 Turn - Natural Progression

« on: January 10, 2008, 11:09:43 AM »

Oh I've bought it, so that I could find out what the code does. It's cheap enough. As you say some of the paths can be rather dangerous so I haven't actually run any code live yet.
I haven't managed to create a new inside profile that works yet - even Art's example doesn't work if you change say, the right hand arc to a bevel.

I thought it was worth a gamble in case it really does become useful sometime.

Tony

47

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: From .DWG to LazyCam to Mach3 Turn - Natural Progression

« on: January 10, 2008, 08:21:43 AM »

Yes I'd found that one. The profiles Art posted work fine, but I'm having trouble with the inner one if I modify it. I've been playing with it most of the morning and managed to get several 'unrecoverable errors' which is always great fun.


Tony

48

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: From .DWG to LazyCam to Mach3 Turn - Natural Progression

« on: January 10, 2008, 05:35:50 AM »

Anton,
 the stock size is the outer end of the line I've mentioned. To get a correct size it must start from X 0. For turntest03.dxf, the bar is 32mm dia, hence the line is 16mm long. In Lcam, before cleanup, drag the zero datum to the X0, Z0 position of the drawing.
To get more cuts, set the step distance to say 1mm, margin at 5mm & finish at 0.1mm.
I must have a play with doing inside bores - I imagine it works the same way.
Don't be surprised if you don't get quite what you think - it's still beta software. I just wish we knew exactly what the rules are!

Tony

49

General Mach Discussion / Re: R3.00 Auto Limit Override?

« on: January 09, 2008, 03:39:06 PM »

In Turn it's in the diagnostics screen just looked at Mill & its on the top left hand side of the Settings screen.


Tony

50

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: From .DWG to LazyCam to Mach3 Turn - Natural Progression

« on: January 09, 2008, 03:30:26 PM »

If you draw your half profile with the chuck at the left then the Right Hand Side is Z 0. Just extend the line on your dxf (In your CAD system) out to the radius of the stock as in mine. It just makes sure that the job will be faced in some way and tells Lcam what the stock size is. I don't really know all this for sure - there certainly isn't much information available- but this is what I've found by trial & error. Playing with the tool settings also improves the path once you've got it working.
I don't really know why the turn operations are being kept a secret, but that's what it seems. Everything about Mach seems to be done for mills & very little is ever said about lathe developments.
I get a little grouchy about it sometimes.

Tony