Anyone have any input for a new guy. I have been in the woodworking industry for some time now. I have been using AutoCAD for about 10 years (2d mostly), and have used Pattern Systems cabinet software, as well as Cabinet Vision.

My step father owns a company called SMF ( smart mother fu@ker) kidding Specification Machining and Fabrication. He has a Haas VF-3 and currently programs it through the machine control panel. I really want to show him the limitless possibilities of this machine using CAD/CAM.

He has purchased BobCAD, and I have been toying with it a bit. Question? Can you go backwards through the post processor? Can you take a program off the machine and show it as a drawing? Does anyone care to share any Bobcad drawing samples, and code?

Any info will be helpful.

Newbie

You have learned much, young one.
Yoda

Yes, you can use the "generate geometry from NC code" function, Newbie.

This will generate a wireframe rendering of the toolpath. This is not exactly the same as seeing a drawing of the part, necessarily.

I think that this "reverse post" function only reads industry standard G00, G01, G02 and G03 codes. In some cases, this will cause the omission of some stuff.

Bobcad comes with a bunch of sample files. You can post them and then use the geometry from NC function (in the NC menu) and compare what you get, forwards and back.

Hu's right. It's called backposting or backplotting.
I use Ver.18 everyday to program my Haas VF-3 and the backpost(generate geo) is an excellant way to double check your program.
It's located in NC Cam, bring up your program,go to edit,click "select all" icon, go back to edit, click on "generate geo" and presto!

Also, keep in mind that "WMS" or "Ward" on this site is a Haas user. He too provides alot of good useful tips.


If I left out any other Haas users, sorry. Jim Jacobs.