Hello,
I have managed to make a drawing in AutoCad Lt 98 and have attached it along with a cross section view.
I can export the DXF sucessfuly to LCam.
Could you explain the steps envolved and show examples getting this part through LCam to M3Turn?
I do not have the License yet and cannot get very far in LCam.
I'm pretty sure that LC cannot cut threads...that's OK. I can patch that in with a wizard or by hand.

Can LC face a part ?  And work the ID ?

Please send me what you can.
Thanks,
RC

Hello,
I chopped the drawing up to leave this profile along with the center line.
Is this what LCam needs to create a tool path ? I cannot make it work.
Too complex ?
Thanks,
RC

Well............I may be on to something.
But this is as far as I can seem to get. Without a Pro License anyway.
I can generate a tool path in Pocket and Offset..but NOTHING in Turn.
The video tutorials are SUPER !
Let's have one for T U R N .
Thanks,
RC

I think it will have to be the same for both halves in turn, if it is turing a profile, it will be the same on one side of the part as the other. Not sure at all, just a stab.

Brett

The way I've done it is to produce a half profile - just the top or bottom half. Remember it's going to rotate around the Z axis. Lcam Needs to Know how big the stock is, so at the RHS, take a line out from the centre about 1mm say, then out to the stock radius.

Try this one.

Tony

Hey Tony,
That works GOOD.
What do you mean..."at the RHS"....what is that ? How do I draw the blue line ?
Thanks Tony,
RC

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

Brett, thanks for the "stab".
Every bit helps. I thought I'd tried everything. Stab marks everywhere. 




HOLY SMOKES TONY,
That's EXACTLY what I was needing. I had NO CLUE what to do. I bought and read everything I could find.

You must do this for a living. I'm an old manual machinist. Heck, I don't even know the lingo for this NEW stuff.

You and me are in the same "Mushroom" boat. I was beginning to think I was alone.     

With all of the NEW Mach stuff being developed, I suppose there's not many resources to devote to this OLD stuff.
I just wish that they hadn't left it this way, seemingly unfinished.
Maybe they will come back to it someday. 

Like you said, everybody must just be milling out Roadrunners and chopping up foam blocks. Not much turning.

Until then........can't thank YOU enough.
Thanks for taking the time Tony.
RC   

Thanks Tony,

That helped me as well. Now I can at least cut in the direction I want to.

I still have not managed to do multiple cuts to get to size. When I post my G code it cuts the profile perfect but only one cut.

Any idea how I tell it what the stock size is in diameter and how to cut it down in steps?

Anton

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