Just curious how many write to Cam, Me I write it.

Most of my programming gets done with Cam. But sometimes i do plain simple programs by hand.

I don't have cam so I hand write it I have one code that is 374 lines and not even an 1/8 done IS IT WORTH IT????

I ticked little bit of each, but would have prefered another option " Mostly by CAM, slight editing by hand."

I ticked little bit of each, but would have prefered another option " Mostly by CAM, slight editing by hand."

My thought too. CAM is great for profiling and doing complex parts. Hand coding also has its place. I use it mainly to drill my locating holes for when I flip the work piece over.

For all you guys who do the simpler stuff by hand ... you can easily and cheaply put your manual programming on steroids? ( Sorry ... no offense Mr. Palmiero ).

I invite you to have a gander at KipwareM and KipwareT ... soon to be KipwareEDM and more ... at www.KentechInc.com

I wrote it by hand for the first twenty years, then used APT for the last five.

A lot of people seem to think they need CAM to do even simple things with a CNC machine. Most of the time a pocket calculator, a ten dollar copy of TurboCAD, and a text editor will get the job done pretty quickly.

I've been doing small stuff by hand. Round & Square Pockets, surface milling, drilling. Easier to do than dealing with software. Anything more than that, I need CAM. I insert lots of M00's between lines for that first run & cut air the first time too.

CNC was originally designed for hand coding. It's good to know how to do it even if you have a CAM package. Anything more than 20-50 lines I'll let the computer do.

I wrote it by hand for the first twenty years, then used APT for the last five.

A lot of people seem to think they need CAM to do even simple things with a CNC machine. Most of the time a pocket calculator, a ten dollar copy of TurboCAD, and a text editor will get the job done pretty quickly.

That $10 copy of TurboCAD and something like ACE (free) will do it 10 times (or more) faster.

Some of the posts so far have mentioned simple or simpler programs; how do you define simple? Can we see some examples both of a part drawing and the final code?

I don't have time to do examples from scratch, but for people interested in starting out with CNC programming on the cheap - check out these free programs. You can use a group of simpler tools, in combination with your own creativity, to get a lot done.


Ace Converter (already mentioned) http://www.dakeng.com/ace.zip
Generates toolpaths from DXF files


AutoEditNC http://www.betatechnical.com/misc/AutoEditNC%20Install%20V3.0.exe
Editor and programming aid

Also check out the betatechnical website for a good book, with free downloadable chapter.


Discriminator editor and backplotter
http://www.cncedit.com

My own contribution - machining calculations and data.
http://mrainey.freeservers.com/MEConsultant20.html

I use cad for almost all coding and if I edit it by hand (which happens on all new programs) I then fix the cad file so that no editing (or so very little) has to be done.

The reason I program even the simplest things in cad is initialy for practice and for memory. I tend to delete old g-code files but the cam I save for ever (barring an accident). And you never know when your little program will turn into a big one, so you might as well have the geometery alrready done. (typing is a ltittle off today, got to eat my wheaty's :D )

I agree wholeheartedly with Michael T.'s methods and reasons. If you have a good cadcam, you'll just like it more if you practice with it on the simple things to the point of getting really fast. If you save the cadcam for only the hard jobs, then that just makes them harder to carry out.

If you have a good cadcam, you'll just like it more if you practice with it on the simple things to the point of getting really fast. If you save the cadcam for only the hard jobs, then that just makes them harder to carry out.

And even the simplest CAD/CAM is always going to be faster than hand writing the code, as long as you are proficient with the software you're using.

Some of the posts so far have mentioned simple or simpler programs; how do you define simple?

Simple can mean different things to different people. But like the previous two posts, I'd recommend doing everything in CAD. You still should know how to read and write g-code, and know it well. But the CAD/CAM route will be faster, and less prone to errors (typos).

I don't have cam so I hand write it I have one code that is 374 lines and not even an 1/8 done IS IT WORTH IT????

No. Spend that time learning some CAD/CAM, even if it's A9CAD http://www.a9tech.com and ACE http://www.dakeng.com
You'll have a lot more time on your hands once you let the software write the code. :)

I do all hand coding using cad drawings as a reference tool. All the parts I have to do are relatively simple, just turned and bored, and threaded on our Lathe. So I don't think we are going to purchase a cam $y$tem (sic)
I just hate having to go to the lathe for backplotting...

Is there a free or cheap backplotter for CNC lathes ??? Everything seems to be
made for CNC mills.

What I do like about hand coding is that I am becoming very familiar with all the codes and canned cycles, and I can control tiny little details...cuz I am a control freak ><;

Discriminator works just fine for lathes. It won't draw the tool, just the toolpath, but you can usually visualize the tool clearances in your mind. I don't see much value in solids for backplotting turning programs, so no loss there.

The program is a free trial that doesn't time out. My all-time favorite free backplotter, even though it's apparently not supported any more.

http://www.cncedit.com

to: Mrainey

I tried Discriminator out, I'm not sure I like the backplotting style it uses,
but I really like the editor ! I think I will use that instead of notepad (LOL)

AND... I saw your Thread Data Program ! I think I wanna buy it if I get approval.

later !

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I do all hand coding using cad drawings as a reference tool. All the parts I have to do are relatively simple, just turned and bored, and threaded on our Lathe. So I don't think we are going to purchase a cam $y$tem (sic)

What I do like about hand coding is that I am becoming very familiar with all the codes and canned cycles, and I can control tiny little details...cuz I am a control freak ><;

You should realy try and get even a cheap cad system for this. Relying on hand programing limits your ability when it comes to the complex stuff and saying that your shop will never do the "hard stuff" (especialy if your a job shop) is a good way to go out of business. Everyone will pass you by! If down the road you decide to take on more complex work your learning curve will be that much harder and your mindset will not be complementery to learning a new cad system.

And like Hu said just doing the simple stuff will make you much beter when it comes time for the hard stuff.

If it just the money justification, then look at the cheaper systems out there.


No. Spend that time learning some CAD/CAM, even if it's A9CAD http://www.a9tech.com and ACE http://www.dakeng.com
You'll have a lot more time on your hands once you let the software write the code.

who couldnt use more time?

and if your excuse is "I like doing it the old way" then your are a "Hobbiest" and don't realy have the mindset for the business end. (gee did I say your just a hobbiest, my appologies, there probably arn't any around these parts anyway! ;) )

My new book Machining and CNC Technology 2004 by Michael Fitzpatrick finaly came in the mail with a student version of Mastercam. now i just need to learn the program.

mannster,

I tried Discriminator out, I'm not sure I like the backplotting style it uses,
but I really like the editor ! I think I will use that instead of notepad (LOL)

AND... I saw your Thread Data Program ! I think I wanna buy it if I get approval.


Whatever works for you.

I'll be releasing a new version of the thread data program in a day or two - adds form tap data, buttress thread data, and some interface improvements.


Mike

I do all hand coding using cad drawings as a reference tool. All the parts I have to do are relatively simple, just turned and bored, and threaded on our Lathe. So I don't think we are going to purchase a cam $y$tem (sic)
I just hate having to go to the lathe for backplotting...

Is there a free or cheap backplotter for CNC lathes ??? Everything seems to be
made for CNC mills.

What I do like about hand coding is that I am becoming very familiar with all the codes and canned cycles, and I can control tiny little details...cuz I am a control freak ><;

Check out www.ncplot.com

It has a basic lathe backplotter, but there's no canned cycles for lathe yet. I'm still working on this, I should have them ready for the next beta release.

Regards,
Scott

Depends I program both in cam and by hand depending. Parametric programs almost entirely get written by hand. Cam provides a good template though if you have multiple programmers so that the code is in the same format when it comes out and if multiple controllers so that the little diffences in some of the cycles don't cause headaches, ie G76. Also makes it easier to troubleshoot on the floor if you know where in a line you are looking for info. Still end up editing cam posts to remove some of the wasted motion you can't edit out of the template files. Have to agree though the more you use the cam product and get familiar with it the faster you become with it.

mostly CAM, but I continuously edit programs that I frequently use. I find that each time I run a program, I find another spot that I could speed it up. I also become more comfortable with seeing tools rapidly approach workpieces, etc...

CAM for quick and dirty stuff, hand edit for optimum speed.

99.7% by hand. Directly on the machine (Okuma MC-400H). It is an older machine, so it can't read MS-DOS formatted floppies. We have newer machines that can read both MS-DOS and OSP-Formatted floppies, which can then be used for copying programs written or generated on a PC.

Guess i should be overly happy by doing it all by "hand", but it is slow and generally lots of errors/typos. Good for making some smaller programs, like a few holes, threads ,
simple facemilling. We had edgecam a few years ago, but gave it up since the one who could use it left, and it costed quite a bit to use (yearly fee or something), and we didn't use it enough to cover the cost, .. or so they said. And it generated very large programs , which the little memory on the okuma had a hard time to digest.
No parametrics i guess. But the 4 - 9 jobs we used it for turned out very well. Now and then, quite often actually, i wish we still had it. Or something simular.

Just curious how many write to Cam, Me I write it.
Hello,
I make wood carved reliefs, it's impossible to write the Gcodes by hand. My works are too complex for that! In the mechanical industry I wrote some Gcodes by hand.
Regards,
Juan Sanchez.

http://www.geocities.com/grabadosjapansa/index_EN.htm

I Use Cad\Cam every day. I use cam because it will not make a mistake where as if I write the code myself I may make a simple mistake and it then would cost me money and even more time than doing it with cam. Genarally if you can hand code it faster by hand you need a better cam or more training with it. Elimination of the posibilitys is all. "The old saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. :)

I used a cam package to develop some code that I will need to run over 10,000 times in the next few months. The CAM version ended ran at around 14 minutes per part, way too slow.

I started from scratch, and hand coded it. Now it runs at just under 4 minutes per part.

My Cam system tells me how long the part will take to cut and how long each tool will take. It's easy to see if I did something dumb ( like use 5 ipm instead of 50) before I try to cut the part. It will also simulate the milling process on screen as an additional check for reliability. I still usually optimize speeds and feeds at the machine, sometimes forgetting to record the best values for re-use the next time the same part is made.

Fred Smith - IMService
http://www.cadcamcadcam.com/hobby

Musicmkrs example demonstrates what has been referred to by a few posts; hand coding can produce faster running programs than cam and a lot of people edit their cam programs to optimise them. I think the dogmatic claims that cam is faster, better, easier for everything are wrong. Sometimes cam is the only way; nobody can write a multithousand line program for some mold shape or engraving a picture but if you know the geometry of your part you can hand code complex shapes; years ago everybody did this. Those people who came into the trade 20 years ago and did learn good hand coding skills, which they now apply to editing cam programs, are doing a disservice to newcomers when they say do everything by cam. A fully competent programmer needs both so that they have the knowledge and experience to edit and optimize cam programs. Also just looking at the time to create a program is wrong; the correct time period to look at is from when you first get the drawing, dxf file, or whatever to when the last part comes off the machine. A short run of a complex part almost certainly is quicker overall with cam but a long run may be quicker with hand coding. And the difference is often not just speed and feedrate selection, cam often introduces redundant toolpaths and sometimes it is quicker to write the entire code by hand to run faster than it is to spend a lot of time finding these and editing them out. But if a person has only used the cam approach and never done any significant hand coding they have no reference point to decide whether a part is complex and what can be done to optimize a cam program. My suggestion to people coming into the trade is; if it is possible to hand code, in other words if the part geometry can be calculated using trig in the same manner it would have been done 20 years ago, do it!!! Learn the complete capabilities of G codes and CNC machines. Sure you might have to spend some of your own time writing programs that are not needed because the cam generated program is cranking out the parts. The thing is you have two programs to compare and can learn the advantages and limitations of both approachs. You might finishing up knowing more than is needed for your current position but I can assure you knowing too much is a whole lot better than not knowing enough.

Geof,

Great post!

100% cam with hand editing.
Gary

I still have no clue how to use a drawing or cam package. I have two beutifull cnc machines but they are limited to engraving work with DeskEngrave and because I cant figure out where to start when I open up a CAD or a CAM program. People often say to take the time to learn CAD/CAM, but I have yet to figure out how to do that or even where to start. I can make anything I need with a rotary table and a manual mill or lathe and the right tooling, but couldnt cut a square with a hole in it if I had to do it with CAD/CAM.

Some day I'll learn more, but I geusse I need a course or a book to explain it to me. I have been unable to figure this stuff out with the manuals included with the software. Most CAD or CAM manuals explain how to use thier software, but assume the user knows things that I am clueless of. For instance, the manual for ACEConverter says "load a DXF file into the program that has includes your tool path data." OK, but whats a toolpath? How do I produce a DXF file from my CAD program with the toolpath data? Other programs work without toolpaths, now I need to have it.

Thats an example of the type of frustration I have experianced trying to learn CAD/CAM. I know how to program, so I geusse If I had to I could write a program with just G-code, but by the time I wrote the program I could make 6 of the parts manually. Any one know of some FREE ways to learn the concepts of this stuff?

So anyway, what exactly is a toolpath, how do I write them, and where do they go?

(The above comments are the authors and do not represent the opinions of CNCZone or its management.

Wow Halfnutz, you sound really lost with cadcam. What kind of cnc machines do you have?

I would recommend that you browse the Haas website. They have a lot of material on there. While it is geared towards the user who is learning to run a Haas, much of it has universal application, assuming that your cnc is not too far off the mainstream in the way it is designed to be programmed.

A toolpath is simply the mathematical equivalent of cranking the handles on your mill table to arrive at coordinates. You need to understand what a 3 axis coordinate system looks like, and how any point in space can be described by one and only one coordinate, having X,Y and Z values that correspond to the hypothetical axis system.

It is always easiest to assume that the XYZ system has its origin (zero values for all three axis) at one corner of your part, if it is a cube shape. Sometimes, we need to imagine there are two coordinate systems, one belonging to the part, and one belonging to the machine. The two coordinate systems have the same orientation in space, but are simply displaced by a simple offset. Then we need to know how to compensate for this offset.

The toolpath is simply the safe coordinate locations for the tool to move to, outside the part. Obviously, if the tool moves through any space occupied by the finish part, you have cut a gouge through the part.

If the size of your stock is larger than the final desired part, then obviously material must be removed from the part. The fact that the tool you will use has a diameter of some value, means that the path for the tool has to maintain a fixed distance from the actual final part surface. This fixed distance equals the radius of the cutter. The cam part of the software creates lines and arcs that are offset from the part by exactly the correct amount. The lines on your screen representing toolpaths really are only for your visual benefit. The machine only needs the start and end coordinates of the lines and arcs, plus one of two possible choices:
Start here and move in a straight line to the next point (machine code is G01)
or
Start here and move along an arc to the next point (machine code is G02 or G03).

Now the cad part of your software deals only with the drawing of the part, or model, geometry itself. If you use solids or surfaces in your cad, this is obvious. If you draw only "wireframe" cad, then you have to imagine that your lines and arcs define the edges of the surfaces that you intend for the model to have. In such a case, then either you, or your cam system has to offset from the wireframe cad model, by the radius of your cutter, and create a "skeleton" of toolpaths which will cut away all excess stock.

For instance, the manual for ACEConverter says "load a DXF file into the program that has includes your tool path data." OK, but whats a toolpath? How do I produce a DXF file from my CAD program with the toolpath data? Other programs work without toolpaths, now I need to have it.


What ACE considers the toolpaths, is just lines and arcs. All you need to do in your CAD program is draw lines and arcs wherever you want the tool to go. Save as .dxf and load it into ACE.

Say you want the tool to cut from 5,5 to 15,2. Just draw a line with those coordinates, and ACE will turn that line into g-code to move the tool to those positions.

A book or online tutorials is probably the best way to go. What CAD porgram are you using, btw?

Halfnutz,
You sound a little like me when I first started. I received my first machine (Brand new VFOE) and a Compaq computer the same week. Had never wrote 1 line of G code in my life, and had never pushed the on button on any computer. I obviously had no fear and no sense back then!

Then the hard part, a "friend" recommended bobcad as a easy solution to get started. After 2 weeks of despair I somehow found a surfcam dealer that would come to my shop and teach me cad cam. It was hard to part with $5500 when the other systems were so cheap, but the difference was hands on teaching.

Now there are lots of good cad cam systems, but what you need is somebody to sit down and show you the basics. It will make all the difference in the world.
Gary

PS I beat the crap out of the friend for his recommedation :boxing:

Yes, I need to take a course at the comunity college. I just havent been able to yet, and trying to do it ad lib is just too time consuming. I will try out the tool path example you gave me though, Gerry, it sounds simple enough.

I'm not desperate or worried about it though, I can do signs and plaques with deskEngrave, then I do the borders manually with a router, so I do use the machines. And I can make whatever I need manually. It would be nice to learn more about CAD/CAM though.

I have a copy of TurboCad, and its fine, I havent had time to teach it to myself yet, but I will. I'll probably get thier TurboCADCAM eventually, but in the meantime I would like to learn how to do this stuff with ACE. I dont have the bucks for a CAD/CAM package right now.

Ive only been doing this for less than a year, and Ive made two machines so far, so I have learned quite a bit, just not as much and as fast as I'd like.

How 'bout a 24 year old female CADCAM tutor named Bambie to sit on my lap while I struggle through this....................

(The above coments are the authors and do not represent the oppinions of CNCZone or its management.)

I dont have cad yet,We are a custom hydraulic Cylinder manufacturing shop and still do production jobs rarely.I think I will need cad once I master my turning ctr.Which is better Shopcam or ezcam?both of these are cheaper than Featurecam.Is there any shortcuts like templates that could save me time w/o cad cam?I have Fanuc 6t control and 1982 wasino l5- j3.

Victor Martin,
Not familiar with either of them. Or with Surfcam lathe package for that matter. I have had all mills up till now. But with a new lathe on the floor I think I will get Surf lathe just because I know the mill side so well.
Gary

I think doing lathe programming is much easier by hand. You run into to many variables that are difficult to handle with cam/post processer and end up playing around with the program at the machine to get it right anyway. Simple stuff for the mill is easier by hand too although I have written posts for a lot of the simpler stuff that works pretty well. I will say that when you have a lot of combined radius and angle work a cam system can help with the numbers you need. Once you get those, a text editor is all you need.

hey halfnuts, you look like you in orange county. If so just PM me come by my shop and I can probably point you in the right direction. Most packages have some similarities I personally use virtual gibbs which is a nice package. dont know what you use they all have their pluses and minuses but between me and the guy that works for me we could probably point you in the right direction. We can probably only help if your not affraid of the stuff though ;)

Of course it could just mess you up more! :D

Man, that would be awesome. I'll email you and talk tonight. I would really appreciate it, and who knows, maybe I could help you out somehow as well. All I need is to go through one complete cycle of draw,vector and convert, and I'll be off on my own.

Part of my problem is the lack of a CAM package. Ive used a few demo packages, but as of yet I still need to go buy something permanent. I do have TurboCad for drawing though

Great, look for my email and thanks for the offer. I wont turn it into a big deal, it may just require a single iteration of something simple.

(the above comments are the authors and do not represent the oppinions of CNCZone or its management.)

I have recently been given the opportunity to learn programming a cam system but still do some by hand. Depending on the control you have I find it can be as fast or faster than going into the office drawing,doing a tool path, and then posting and sending to the machine. For instance a circular pocket, G13 D# I# K# Q# F#. Its that fast at the machine. But again it depends on the control. We have two different types of machines 2 Haas and two Supermax w/Fanuc OM controls. What I would do on the Haas with copy and paste, G codes for bolt hole patterns and such I would not do on the Fanuc control because it is no where as user friendly.

Very little is faster than a cam package if you know how to use it. If the program is 5-10 lines of code, then maybe.

I find that if you want to be proficient at something you have to throw yourself into it 100%. Sure those little programs might be faster than the cam but if you do everything with cam then you just get that much faster. Besides it can take a couple of years to get good enough at a system to be able to say "yes I can do that, no problem" with even the toughest parts (and actually back it up ;) ).

Some of the features of all systems aren't documented anywhere and you can only find them by accident (doing something wrong) and finding out that it worked better than what you learned from the Tech guys or the book. Not to mention if you don't use all of the little widgets that come with your cam system you obviously won't be very good at doing them.

On the negative side of Cad/Cam: MACRO's are the most powerful program tool you can have in the G-code environment and Unfortunatly Cad/cam can even come close to emulating them. But since most Machine shops don't understand how to use macro's this is usually not a big deal since they wouldn't miss something they never used.

Macro, did someone say macro?
Some good comments here... Like many, I have made the transition to cad/cam. Could not possibly be as productive without it. I also agree that sometimes it is quicker to program manually. Trigonometry skills must be practised or you get lazy and forget. Most shops have a few programmers that do the cad/cam work, and rely on set up personel to fill in the gaps and to do the shop floor editing that is inevitable. My experience is that these guys get lazy too, and rely on the programmer for even the simplest correction. This happens more often than not, unfortunately. Productivity is lost, fingers are pointed and the blame game goes on...

One thing I strongly believe is that what ever method of programming wether hand writen or cad/cam is that it be done on a PC. I mean, get away from standing at the control and punching in code by hand. Anyone who is doing this can dramatically improve their performance by getting a PC. Use one of the good editers that have a backplotting function and you'll be soo much better off.

Now for both groups!!!
Check out this thread:
http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11136

Whatever method you use, cad/cam or handwriting, you can automate some of the stuff you do into a "software macro". This little program is not hard to learn and you can save yourself so much time. Maybe best of all you can demonstrate your creativity and computer skill in no time at all. The other day I taught my daugter to do her own macros for work, and she is off and running.

Try it you'll like it!

From my experience, you have to have a solid base in hand coding in order to fully use a cam package. I do a lot of one off stuff, and it is usually very complicated 3D contours inside of molds. It is nice for me to use CAD(Solidworks) and then CAM(MasterCAM), because if something gets messed up it can be easily remade. The programs are slow, but since we never make more than one or two we never get to the point of optimising the program. Someone stated that CAM is nice "because it does not make mistakes" - although that is the idea with CAM, I have never seen it happen with MasterCAM. I usually get things that show up on parts that do not show in the backplot or the verify for the part. These can usually be polished out or fixed, but it is a headache. I have also had a tough time getting CAM to do 4th axis. Usually the programs are rediculously long and do not give the desired result. I end up using CAM for 3-axis, and then editing in the A moves. Any time I just need to drill a hole or square a block it is all hand coded. Also, as mentioned before, if you learn subroutines and macros your hand coding becomes much more powerful and the programs get much shorter and faster. I took a 400+ line hand coded program and with subroutines alone dropped it to less than 80. MasterCAM routinely spits out programs in the 20,000 line range and we have had a few over a million that take a week to run - that is when you fall in love with CAM. For beginners and hobbyists, programs like DeskCNC or Mach2 have a pretty good DXF to G-code CAM package and they are really cheap and easy to use. I use Mach2 for my homebuilt - they have a very very well written user manual that is available online, as well as demo software. --- But that is just my .02

M0

Yes knowing the code is really good to know. But not all controllers are the same. Programming on a Mitsubishi is a little different than on a Fanuc as well as A CC220 to An Arco loop. IF you program for allot of different machines it gets confusing. I haven’t used Master Cam in a long time. I cant say I enjoyed the experience as much as a full CAD/CAM "Catia or Unigraphics". But software like that is expensive to say the least. I would guess that your post processor in Master Cam is to blame for the erroneous errors in the compiled blocks. Since it is not showing up in simulation. This may also have something to do with the 4th or 5th axis? It would also make for some very long code if it was not posting correctly.

I have been writing about 400 programs/every year for last decade :tired: (all by hand), for fanuc and siemens. And I think Cam would be easier, but cycle times would be longer. :cheers:

Sometimes at work I do simple things by hand like move boring holes or move edge boring holes, but I have never done an entire part by hand, not even a simple square. I have thought about tring it sometime though.

Sometimes at work I do simple things by hand like move boring holes or move edge boring holes, but I have never done an entire part by hand, not even a simple square. I have thought about tring it sometime though.

You must be careful expressing thoughts like this here; you will give all the cam, cam, cam nothing but cam people conniptions and palpitations.

I have recently been playing with Mach2 at home on a project I am working on. I like the MDI Macro part of it. It is sort of like a teach pendant for a robot. You can move the Machine around in MDI and then replay it. It works well for doing simple parts and building subs. I wish that more of the big name industrial controllers had this simple little feature.
At work we have an automated laser FMS. Every day when the work orders are released I download an excel sheet with all the part numbers and quantities I then convert it to a text file and run a script. The script starts the cam and nests all the parts on the correct material and generates a work cell schedule. The schedule is then input into the FMS controller and ran in the order that I prioritize it to. Every day it generates around 80 to 150 programs and around 320,000 to 600,000 lines of code. The FMS cell runs 24/7 non stop and unattended for 128 hrs during the week. It is down 8 hrs each month for maintenance and 10 hrs every 4 to 6 months for resonator and mirror maintenance. It also runs at 40% to 60% faster cut feed than bigger sister company running at stock settings. This would not be possible without a very good Cam system and programmer. We used to have a guy that worked for us that would spend hours nitpicking a program and saving 1 or 2 seconds off a cycle time. All to have engineering completely change the part a day later.

I've been reading this extremely long thread for quite a while ... seems like there are a lot of us who do both the CAD/CAM thing and the manual thing ... and after 25 years or so in machining I think, and it seems like most here would agree, that this is the best way to go. CAD/CAM for the complex and something simpler for the "everyday" stuff.

Using this approach ... about 3-4 years ago my company developed our Kipware software to assist in the simple stuff. If you' re of the thinking above ... I would invite you to explore our KipwareM and KipwareT software at www.KentechInc.com. Our belief is that CAD/CAM is great for the 3D and complex stuff, but those companies have left the "everyday" programmer wanting something easier, that requires less training so more people can create programs, and is faster for programming the everyday jobs of drilling, simple milling, simple turning, etc.

This post may be a little bit of a shameless plug ... but after 700+ installations worldwide, I really believe that we have developed a product that can assist some of the posters here ... both get more out of their CNC, their shop floor personnel, production and make more $$$$ faster.

Thanks for the opportunity to post and for the interest ( and thoughts? ).

I am just getting started at this, Building a CNC router for a college project. I guess I am a lazy student because I just bought TurboCad/Cam to generate the G-code.

I write code for simple parts. I am trying to learn to use my turbocadcam pro v 10.1.

I have been using it for my milling code. Now I am trying to learn to use it for turning.

The problem I have now is getting the part to cut to the size I want it.
I thought if I set my machine (a scratch built cnc conversion using a X Y table and a simple lathe) so 0 was in the center of the chuck the part would be the right size when done. As it turns out, 0 is on the other side of my part.

I know the problem must be I am not drawing the part right. I have attached a image of the part completed and as it was being cut.

Anyone care to offer me a little help drawing something simple. Once I can do something simple. I will take it from there.