Followup to my post regarding - No Tool Data.  Just down loaded and installed the latest and greatest version Mach3 which included LCAM release 3.0.  Tool data now flows into the G-code as it did previously.

Although I am sure I will have questions and concerns in the future, I want to say that Mach3, the new LCAM, and the support you provide is over the top.  I don't know when you guys sleep!

Well, as you can tell from the time stamp on this post, I tend to stay on here too much.   But, I really enjoy working with this software and what it has enabled me to accomplish

Thanks again

Bob @ BobsShop signing off for a while.

Brian,

You are probably getting tired of my posts and nits, but I encountered something in LCAM version 3 that needs your attention (if you haven't already noticed it).  It appears that inputing any value into "Cut Depth,"  before inputing values into the other blocks will result in LCAM locking up.  The only way I could find to get out of it was to close down LCAM.   Since "Cut Depth," is the first line item, this will probably cause problems for others.

Although I had been successful in developing parts with the previous versions of LCAM, I feel with version 3 the software has evolved and reached its true potential. 

Thanks again for your efforts.

Bob @ BobsShop.  Only cutting between now and Thanksgiving will be to the turkey!

I will test it and see what I can find

Why Sleep  there is work that needs to be done 

Have been playing with Mach3 for a few days in an attempt to find controller for Plasma machine I'm building. Downloaded latest releases of Mach3 (R2.0.012) and LCam (Rls3.00 1.0.0.1) and have noticed some discrepancies. With all your "free time" I know you probably need something to do. These issues are pertaining to LCam.

When Autocleaning dxf with inside an outside objects, the cut direction for inside should be CCW (G3) to take advantage of the "straight" side of the kerf, and CW (G2) for outside cuts. This seems to be reversed.

Lead-ins and outs...When using a THC and making inside cuts, as the center fall out the torch will dive, possibly causing the tip to hit workpiece and move it. The lead-out needs to be a selectable item for plasma.

Appears that the Pierce Height and Initial Height in Plasma Options are reversed.

When closing a dxf and importing another, it appears that all of the properties for the old one are not all cleared, causing the new one to be named incorrectly when G-Code is generated and posted to Mach3.

With all the "reversals" noted above, I tested my computer for dyslexia and results were negative. Am planning to purchase license shortly if I can get system "settled down" a bit.

Thank you for the team's time and efforts with this whole project. Seems you have a winner on your hands....Herb Edmonds

Brian,

You are probably getting tired of my posts and nits, but I encountered something in LCAM version 3 that needs your attention (if you haven't already noticed it).  It appears that inputing any value into "Cut Depth,"  before inputing values into the other blocks will result in LCAM locking up.  The only way I could find to get out of it was to close down LCAM.   Since "Cut Depth," is the first line item, this will probably cause problems for others.

Although I had been successful in developing parts with the previous versions of LCAM, I feel with version 3 the software has evolved and reached its true potential. 

Thanks again for your efforts.

Bob @ BobsShop.  Only cutting between now and Thanksgiving will be to the turkey!

Fixed in the new rev and should be one the web

Have been playing with Mach3 for a few days in an attempt to find controller for Plasma machine I'm building. Downloaded latest releases of Mach3 (R2.0.012) and LCam (Rls3.00 1.0.0.1) and have noticed some discrepancies. With all your "free time" I know you probably need something to do. These issues are pertaining to LCam.

When Autocleaning dxf with inside an outside objects, the cut direction for inside should be CCW (G3) to take advantage of the "straight" side of the kerf, and CW (G2) for outside cuts. This seems to be reversed.

Lead-ins and outs...When using a THC and making inside cuts, as the center fall out the torch will dive, possibly causing the tip to hit workpiece and move it. The lead-out needs to be a selectable item for plasma.

Appears that the Pierce Height and Initial Height in Plasma Options are reversed.

When closing a dxf and importing another, it appears that all of the properties for the old one are not all cleared, causing the new one to be named incorrectly when G-Code is generated and posted to Mach3.

With all the "reversals" noted above, I tested my computer for dyslexia and results were negative. Am planning to purchase license shortly if I can get system "settled down" a bit.

Thank you for the team's time and efforts with this whole project. Seems you have a winner on your hands....Herb Edmonds

Herb,
First I will start with what is fixed...
The file name thing is all good now

Now for the stuff that is not fixed:
1. Direction of the chain on load... hmmm I think that can be added but it is going to be Climb or Conv.
2. Pierce Height and Initial Height in Plasma Options should be changed onthe next rev

Thank you fot he help and hope to have you part of the team 
Brian

The latest ver I have run is 3.12.  Thanks for adding the ability to show/hide properties dialogs and adding the ability to make a layer(s) disabled.  However, it's not really clear what is disabled and what is enabled.  IMHO when a layer is disabled it should NOT be visible, otherwise it is just confusing.  Also in the old style .dxf conversion included with the good ol 1.84 ver layer colors created by the .dxf program (in my case ACAD 2002) were preserved so it was easy to associate your layers with your CAD file layers.  It would be nice to see that in LCAM also.  Perhaps this isn't possible because LCAM should arcs and lines as diff colors and this would probably conflict with layer colors but what do I know?  Just my $.02  Thanks for all the great improvements!

Sid

It was very hard to come up with a way to have the layers simple to use by most all users.. the old way was not working for most of the users and that is why the change... You can still have the the layers the same way you had them from your cad system if you like... We just wanted to make it a more graphical experience If you have a chain that needs to have different cutting parameters you can just put it on a new layer.. as for hiding a layer... I think that the best we can do is to show the layer as a ghost chain at this time.

Hey Brian,

Not really sure why the old layer system wasn't working for most users.  Did ppl complain about it?  I can't imagine why, it was VERY similar to the layer control system used in AUTOCAD.  I liked the old system and had no problem at all with it.

Unfortuneately, for me this new layer system is a big step backwards for my purposes and creates some new challenges for me to think about.  Here's what I'm experiencing...

I am making signs using a company name, a logo and a person's name.  On each sign I have to change the name of the individual but the Company Name and Logo stay the same.  Essentially we are talking about 3 layers...

1. Company Name- Tool, Cut, Depth, Etc #1
2. Company Logo-  Tool, Cut, Depth, Etc #2
3. Person's Name- Tool, Cut, Depth, Etc #3

Layer 1 & 2 stay the same for every sign, yet layer 3 changes.  I create a new layer in Autocad with the new person's name and use that new name/ layer in place of the old.

After a while I have a LOT of layers (names) cluttering up that area of the file and the only way to make sense of things is to hide what is not being cut.  Ghost images just won't do it.

As always there are workarounds.  I could create a gazillion Autocad files each with a different persons name (Although HD space is cheap these days, I find this method kind of ineffecient).   Or Delete Chains as they are brought into LCAM and Save my Code files independentally.  This is different then the way I use to do it and I suppose I just need to adapt.  It was easy before to just have 1 .dxf file with everything in it and I could manipulate in LCAM to get the cut I wanted.  Now, it looks like I have to take extra steps and I was hoping that the new release would make my life easier, not more complicated. 

Thanks again for all of your efforts.

Regards,
Sid

I'm with Graham, I'm sure there are a lot of lathe machinists out there using Mach and would like the benfit of Lcam.

I still code all by hand and use of the lathe wizards is very helpful but I still find that the finished billet never looks as it should in the tool path window even though the code is correct which makes it difficult to make small changes to the code and see it visually before committing to a test cut.

One thing could make a big difference, being able to fix the billet diameter for the display.

Here's hoping that Lcam for the lathe will eventually become a reality. 


Regards to all.