I WAS somewhat happy with BobCAD, until I had to figure out some features, that I can't find in the "V18 Training Guide".

If anyone knows where the book covers this?, could you share that information. I just finished reading through pages 401-482 and nothing. There are a few general referances with with what the button does. But no where can I find any actual procedure. Plenty of procedures on pocketing (roughing and finishing).

My E-mails are ignored by the support staff (nothing new). When I called them, we went through it kind of quickly. I found covering it on the phone seemed to work, because it worked with ramping out just fine. The person I spoke to, also rattled off a method for ramping during the "roughing process" too. He rattled it out so fast I didn't absorb anything.

After the conversation ended, I realized the same procedure to "ramp in" did not work. I do better reading and applying the information. This is why I sent the E-mail, (that was never answered..). hmm

thank you for your time,


Disclaimer:

I, cannot be held responsible for any typos, wrong dates, wrong figures, incorrect addresses, inclement weather, computer viruses, computer failure, dead batteries, or anything else that you do not like or disagree with.

All information is accurate as to these events occurring! None of this information is written to be slanderous, but simply to help the consumer understand what has happened to me and what could happen to them.

From what I can remember (its been a while) this ramp setting is really dependant on what you have used for parameters in your tool up/down dialog. If your tool is currently at the Rapid plane, say Z1. and you have a cutting depth of Z-.25 entered in the box, then you are ready to ramp. All you need to do is click the "Ramp" icon, and then go to your Cad window, and pick a point or the end of a line or arc somewhere that you want the tool to move to. At this moment, then the tool will obey the settings in the Tool up/down dialog, and the tool will move to depth setting.

But note, you must have 3d turned off in the CAM window, otherwise, the ramp would simply be the actual movement (in 3d) to the point you selected for the next move to.

So, ramp is basically a "pretend" 3d movement for use in a 2d environment. Such a situation would normally arise if your entire drawing was a simple XY profile, all drawn in the Z0 plane. If your drawing is in one plane, then Bobcad has no way of outputting the actual Z depth of the intended toolpath, except by using your parameter input.

I don't like working that way, I would sooner program the paths in real 3d and just follow the actual Z depths of the entities as the CAM does its thing.

Now I see what important detail I missed. It's almost as fast just doing the auto generate, and manually doing the cut & paste process.

Thanks for your help...

Since this has been answered, I have requested it be remove from this forum. I do not wish to upset anyone, there's enough madness on the planet.

If this is related, I experience days when , for some reason, I expound too fluently and end up putting my foot into my mouth...er keyboard. :violin:

I say just leave it posted. CNCdude likes the help ;)

We are going to leave it here, because if someone else has that same problem, maybe they can get some sort of answer from reading this.

Don't worry about CNCdude, he has very thick skin, and is a very understanding person. He won't hold this against you. I've seen him take some real abuse and come back with a great attitude and solve the problem.

Thanks!

'Rekd

inthedark,

I was just wondering, did you ask your question on the BobCad support forum or only here? I do not recall seeing it there. Seems like they have a couple of users there that might be able to help out.

And by the way, you post was already quoted on another software mfg.'s support forum. Just to let you know.



Dan

I have to admit that I don't use the BobCAD support forum, (seen it once). I already patiently waited 3 days for an answer via E-mail. Then when thier payed support personnel acted like they are doing me a favor to even speak with me on the phone. I was pretty bent, so as a last resort, I posted it here. I didn't think of wasting more time searching the net for answers.

Hu gave me an answer pretty fast.

I assure you that this is the only forum I frequent. Although I am now looking into other packages, I'm not one to discuss specific greivences, life is too short (my venting is over and I will move on). It makes sense, that a savy marketing and/or sales person working for a competitor, would watch these sites.

inthedark,

If you have a chance you might want to check the forum out. Alot of posts there on many different subjects. Some are really useful, especially if you do much scripting.

Also, good luck with your CAM evaliations. I am presently doing the same (switching from another package, not BobCad).
It is alot harder today to compare packages than it was about 8 years ago. Today so many do the same thing but they each have a different name for it. Can be confusing.


Dan

I should have thought to seek out that forum before I posted this here. I will have to say the people here are very helpful. I am always amazed by the courtesy and effort that is put out to the members by the members. Of course we can't forget the Admin-man.

Technology, itself is a tough business. I myself just have to try to realize where I want to be, and how fast it can be obtained. For me it's to work smarter, not harder.

thanks,

Thanks Rekd for the cool comments above. Ya, my skin is thick but every once in a while I turn around to find that someones trying to gouge it. It's been a while since I have been up here because of a lot going on. I see that there are a few guys up here that are having trouble with either posts or support.

It is really easy to get pissed off sometimes and start firing bullets in a forum and then say that you are "concerned" about others. That's a joke. If I had a problem with a product I would get help. The last thing I would think of would be to publicize the problem and then put "disclamers" under their postings. It's funny how when I get down to the bottom of things it usually boils down to the guy not being available when support calls back or that the person was uncooperative in some way. It's true. You should see the volume of satisfied and serviced customers that pour in every week. The list is long.

After reviewing the post on the HAAS SL I went down to support to find out what the hell was going on only to discover that a customer, who had vital information, was unwilling to provide it so that we could get his post done!! Now, what the hell is that??

We are a highly dedicated crew. The customer means everything. The product has never been better. If there is a problem or an unhappy customer, I personally want to know about it. We are also in the midst of providing all of our post processors on a seperate CD that auto loads into the right directories. It should be done soon so that loading posts for your machines is lightning fast and easy.

In terms of the manual or manuals, I write them. I also realize that there is always room for improvement. Therefore, call me directly. Let me know how BobCAD-CAM can improve training products. This way I can ensure that you get trained better. That our training products are better every time we release something. My number is 877-262-2231 ext 12 or 727-442-3554 ext 12. I will happily stop what I am doing to talk with you. You are important.
Sincerely,
CNC Dude

I hope that SL comment was not directed towards me. I don't seem to recall any email, phone call or anything regarding critical information required to complete a post. If there was one, I certainly would have made an attempt to help.

James Trosclair
Glenco of Houma, inc.

No, that wasn't you James. It was someone else with a Haas SL. However, just for the record. Glen is working on the Haas SL post right now. He has been for several days and is just wrapping up the scripts for the post. Evidently there was difficulty getting the information that he needed which in turn, makes him look slow. That isn't the case.
CNC Dude

Thanks for jumping in Chris. I've seen you on good and bad days. But I've never seen you turn down helping someone who was at least somewhat civilized.

It cracks me up that people won't help you help them, (SL). Those are the people that I would have told right where to go and exactally how to get there.

I hope you get things fixed James. ;)

'Rekd

Thanks Rekd. Sometimes we will get a call in, the customer leaves a message and then when we return the call (usually within a half hour) we get a busy signal or have to leave a message. Then the customer gets upset when we actually tried to return the call. The solution: Every call in gets a live technical support rep. That is certainly what we want. We are about to hire another support rep. The biggest part of support is building custom scripts for every machine control. It's an ongoing process. General usage questions are lower than ever due to training products and better quality manuals. However, even they can always be better.
CNC Dude

I was going to let it be. However, I found out CNCDUDE was out of town (unknown to me), during this fiasco.

In my defense;

1. "then put "disclamers" under their postings"

The disclaimer was simply for a chuckle...

2. ["You should see the volume of satisfied and serviced customers" (usually within a half hour)"]

I have never recieved a return call within 30 minutes. Usually the next day if at all. Perhaps I just call when they are swamped. Yeah, guess I'm the only one on the planet who fell through the cracks. ;)

2. "It's funny how when I get down to the bottom of things it usually boils down to the guy not being available when support calls back""or that the person was uncooperative"

Below are the original E-mails (mine and support), Please notice the dates on each, and the date this was first posted. I waited an ample amount of time (5 days), before my hosility came out. I only recieved one phone call back (from some chick), the same week of their E-mail below. I was done, can you blame me for not returning the call?

It's natural for your staff to say, "oh but we tried". CYA is the first defense, when they are under heat. Do they use an open ticket system to log calls and information?

Should I post my phone records too? My system does log incoming calls,,,

Can you let it go now?

-----Original Message-----
From: Kenny
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 12:06 PM
To: support@bobcad.com
Subject: CAM Ramp button

Any time I attempt to use the Ramp button I get the, "BobCAD v19 has generated errors and will be shut down" message before it blows me out.

Can anyone tell me if this function works, and where I may find a doc on the correct way to use it?

thanks,
Kenny
(phone number)

===============================================================

From: support@bobcad.com [mailto:support@bobcad.com]
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 9:59 AM
To: kenny
Subject: [Fwd: CAM Ramp button]


Kenny,

The function does work.

You use it in the same fashion as the Move to Point. Do a Move to Point,
selecting a point where you want the tool to start. Then click on the
Ramp tool icon, (you can not have anything selected as it will try to
generate code for the geometry you have selected). Then click on the
point where you want the tool to move to.

Thank You
BobCAD-CAM Technical Support

Are you still having an error on the ramp function?

Oh Yeah, you can also use this e-mail to get your questions pertaining to BobCAD answered, wren@bobcad.com. If you send an e-mail there I know for a fact it is answered everyday, except those when he is out of town.

Regards

Ya, I re-read the "disclaimer" and did actually have a laugh. Anyway, we do appologize for the delay in getting back to you on support. However I would like to review your phone logs! Just kidding. I probably should have written more on the ramp function. I will certainly do that in future manuals. OK. You are a customer and I appreciate that! Call me if you need assistance. Hell I'll even give you my cell number.
Sincerely,
CNC Dude
877-262-2231 ext 12.

I am cool, and having no problems. I am good on the ramping function, once one gets the movements down, it's easy to breeze right through.

Thanks