Here is what I have experienced.  

Lazy Cam trashes my Z(-) settings when you import from Mach 3.
Rotations distort the workpiece.  
There seems to be no easy way to specify the Z depth for pocketing.  
I get stray codes from time to time that need to be edited out manually.  

Basically every peice of succesfull code I have used generated by Lazy Cam has had to be manually edited.  That can be quite frustrating and time consuming even just for engraving.  

Its been while since I have used it now since I either just write my code by hand or use DeskCNC for most things, but I am curious.  Is this the normal results most/many/some users get from LazyCam?  

Side Note:  Cam Bam (beta) makes a great tool for exploding splines or converting them to polylibnes for use in other programs.  I have been using it to convert splines generated by Corel Draw (in Corel I convert all objects and text to curves before exporting to DXF) so I can work with them in DeskCNC.  One day I may learn to use the rest of the features of Cam Bam. 

I haven't used it much yet, but until today everything has been fine.  Yeah it's fiddly.  Hey, it's free.  I had some weirdness initially with it ignoring my tool speed and using F60 and not doing my passes.  But it was probably something I was doing wrong because it has disappeared for the most part now that I know more about how to use it.  I have not experienced the problems you've listed.

I don't have the pro version so no pocketing or tool offsets.  I have to make my offsets and pockets manually in Illustrator.  I'm just in early testing mode right now.  I've cut a small inlay consisting of 4 separate parts and a pocket.  All inlay parts fit together and fit in the pocket.  It was a great success.  To the point that the guitar builder I work with is now ordering all sorts of parts and I'm still using the free version of LazyCAM.

Today I had a problem trying to rout a purfling channel and then cut out a guitar headstock shape around it.  It cut the first pass of the purfling, then started to cut the headstock about an inch off in Y from where it was supposed to be.  My bad for not doing a test run.  I was in a hurry and it was just scrap wood anyway.  I did export 2 layers from Illustrator but they looked ok in the preview. 

I did this once before to cut an inlay pocket with sharp corners but everything cut ok.  I routed the main body with a 1/16th end mill, then just touched up the corners with a .025".  I learned that I had to give my tools unique, non-zero numbers and LazyCAM will generate M6s.  Then I had to change the setup in Mach so it would stop for them.  So I did do my first succesful tool change. 

I just logged in here to ask a question about cutting order.  I'll post that separately.  I have no idea what went wrong with the offset in my latest program, but I need to gather some more data first. 

...Athena

__________________
www.AthenaInlay.com

Lazy Cam trashes my Z(-) settings when you import from Mach 3.

Normal route is to import a proper dxf file and use LC to generate the code, not try bringing some code from Mach3 into LC.

There seems to be no easy way to specify the Z depth for pocketing.

It's rather simple, have a look at the manual.

Is this the normal results most/many/some users get from LazyCam?

 
Nope, done some nice things with i,  there are times it can get buggy, and the manual gives a list of known bugs.
Best to post the problem / file / question and someone will respond.

or use DeskCNC for most things

If that works for you, then great, but in the reverse, i haven't used DeskCNC in a while because the combination of the Mach  mill and turn wizards, LazyCam, LazyTurn, satisfy\ies a lot of what needs to get done until you get into 3d. Best of all the user dosen't need to  to pay a $60.00 a year fee just to be able to post / ask  a question. I find that insulting, uncalled for, and a real turn off to using anythhing from that site.

RICH  

I use LazyCam for everything. I have had the "crop circles" from time to time but i have to say that 90% of the time, LC comes thru. RICH can tell you that I do not post much here because I dont have alot of trouble. I think I came to this forum 2 or 3 time that I needed some help with lazycam. For the time it would take to code by hand, I think I would rather let LC do it's thing and weed out a few crop circles and save HOURS!!


HOURS!!!

Wow Steve, your nested box thing is really cool!  I don't have anything that cool to show.  I just cut out a guitar headstock overlay with a purfling channel:



In the background are some other things done with LazyCAM.  I'm just using Adobe Illustrator for CAD right now because my first tests are just 2D.  I'm getting ready to do some 3D testing with FreeMill, but I'm already starting to make real production parts for guitars. 

And I have an inherited Taig mill with a mystery controller running on a laptop.   I'm really happy with how well all this is working. 

...Athena
LazyCAM Defenders League Member

__________________
www.AthenaInlay.com

Quote

or use DeskCNC for most things

If that works for you, then great, but in the reverse, i haven't used DeskCNC in a while because the combination of the Mach  mill and turn wizards, LazyCam, LazyTurn, satisfy\ies a lot of what needs to get done until you get into 3d. Best of all the user dosen't need to  to pay a $60.00 a year fee just to be able to post / ask  a question. I find that insulting, uncalled for, and a real turn off to using anythhing from that site.

RICH 

What the heck are you talking about?  I exchanged messsages with the writer of deskcnc and even got an extension of the trial period before I bought it. 

What the heck are you talking about?

Maybe they changed their tune..........the rub is:
There was a number of users near me, some went back to the DOS days of DeskCNC. About two years ago or so ,we were informed that in order to use their forum, ask or reply to questions, it would be necessary to pay a $60 a year fee. Insulting, uncalled for and a real turn off.
Frankly,it was a good thing, as we all use MACH which is a much better product than DeskCnc.
I wish them well and may the bird of paradise bestow on them what is deserving. 
End of this subject matter as it is off thread.

RICH

I still have not found my ideal CAD software, but the commercial version of Cam Bam is looking really good for CAM even if it is in my opinion lacking in the engraving department with it not allowing a simple process to increment engraving depth like DeskCNC or LazyCam.  Actually I think that particular method of engraving is probably easiest to layout in Lazy Cam except for some of the wild artifacts. 

After some of the posts in this thread I did play with LazyCam some more and figured out how to make it do a few more things.  I also played with DeskCNC a lot more using more complex files for each.  Lazy Cam still throws in wild artifacts.  DeskCNC looses elements of DXF files sometimes.  They both arbitrarily convert some exploded splines into a bunch of circles.  I think I'm going to plunk down the cash and pay for Cam Bam.  I don't have to explode or convert anything to make it work with most files.  I did find the last free beta version would just plain lockup on some things or take so long (18 hours to generate a g-code file for a complex logo) to complete a process as to effectively lock up. 

I may actually use LazyCam for a few things now that I undertand how the layers bit works and how to assign attributes, but I'm gravitating away from both DeskCNC and LazyCam towards CamBam now that I am really starting to understand how it works.  I can live with the engraving limitations, and work around them if I need to. 

I do have to admit that LazyCam has more capabilities than I thought, but it is certainly not very intuitive to me.  The big killer for me is the funny things it does with some exploded splines and the artifacts that pop up.  For a complex file that can take a lot of zooming and editing manually to keep from destroying a work piece.  I'ld like to add that CamBam also seems to do some really efficient planning for tool paths and travels.  The code files are testing out a lot faster than I expect based on either LazyCam or DeskCNC generated files.  Not bad for $150.  DeskCNC was $250 and LazyCam was $75 if I recall.