Newbie- BobCAD Manuals?

[IBigBoy]

I have just purchased the BobCAD software and am starting to regret it. The Tutorials provide with the software are not the least bit helpful. What is needed is some basic ones that tell you what and where the function are on the tool bars. I'm sure there are many, many operations that are "secret", know only to those who work for the company.

I've inquired about manuals and that is something that have not be done by the company. Are they any commercial manuals about how to use the BobCAD software? The "help" function assumes that you know what you are doing and starts talking at a level where I don't have a clue what they are talking about.

I've set e-mails to the BobCAD support and they have gone unanswered.

I have made a simple drawing of a part. (Took over 10 hours just to get the drawning.) I've now tried to generate the tool paths. Either the whole program crashes when I try to generate the tool paths or tool paths are generated that are 12" to 14" from the part! A very non-intuitive program.

Bill

[mmc005]

What version are you using and can you post up your file and which post processor your using?

Dave

[The Engine Guy]

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Hi Bill

Yes, it`s a very steep learning curve if you haven`t used a software like it before!!

However there are lots of folks both on here and the BobCAD Forum that will be able to help you get going.
http://www.bobcadsupport.com/forum/

I assume you have V23?? If you can Post your file up to either this Forum or the BobCAD one we will all have a look at it for you and see if we can get it sorted for you.

Regards
Rob



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[MikeTheG]

IBIGBOY,

What email address are you using to contact support??

Mike G.

[IBigBoy]

Originally Posted by The Engine Guy . Hi Bill Yes, it`s a very steep learning curve if you haven`t used a software like it before!! However there are lots of folks both on here and the BobCAD Forum that will be able to help you get going. http://www.bobcadsupport.com/forum/ I assume you have V23?? If you can Post your file up to either this Forum or the BobCAD one we will all have a look at it for you and see if we can get it sorted for you. Regards Rob .

All,

Thanks for the replies. I must first state that on the information superhighway, I'm road kill! I did all my engineering work with slide rule and these new fangled computers are way too complicated.

Yes I have version V23. How does one post a file? I have no idea how to do that.

I'm trying to do a very simple lathe part and I tired both the FANUC and HAAS lathe controllers. Do you have to draw the whole part or is just the upper half sufficient for the lathe program? I tied both ways and neither one worked.

The e-mail address I used for the questions was the one found on the BobCAD website.

I tried to use the link you provided but it doesn't recognize me as purchaser of their software.

I'm going to call BobCAD today to see if they will help me with the tool profile problem. I don't have much hair left and I can't afford to pull any more out!!

Bill

[mmc005]

You only have to draw half the part for the lathe, draw it in the upper left quadtant of your coordinate system(You don't have to, but it easier). So your using a Fanuc post, what is the model of the control? OITC, OT, for example.

You must register at that site, it's free and is just another site for help. You should see a register link, click on it and fill in the info.

Dave

[IBigBoy]

I sent my file to BobCAD and they fixed it. They said that you don't need a stock boundary for a lathe part. How was I suppose to know that? They said that they have tutorials on several CDs which gives you instructions on how to operate BobCAD. I bought the CD set so now maybe I can do this right. Why didn't they offer the CD tutorials when I initially bought the software? That would saved many hours of frustraton I have had trying to do the simplist of things.

Bill

[mmc005]

Glad to hear you got it working. The Videos are for V22 but they most of the operations are the same in V23. Those should help you out some.
You would have thought that they would have tried to sell them to you when you purchased V23, hmm, must have been a busy day for them at sales. lol

Dave