Need Help!- need help getting started with bobcad/cam v23

[cncbcncb]

i've got a couple issues i need help with:

i bought bobcad/cam v23 with the idea that i would be able to load solidworks files up and then create the toolpaths. i'm able to load about half of my parts (they're all simple, single parts, no assemblies or anything). the other half of the time it appears that it is loading fine, but then there is no part to be found within the workspace. anybody know what would cause this?

then, for the parts that do load up, they always seem to load up looking at some view other than the top. it would seem to me that this wouldn't be a big deal as you could just set up a wcs according to the part. that is my problem. when i click on the cam button and bring up the cam tree, then click on the ucs tab on the bottom, i can't seem to place a ucs in the correct position. i'm just kind of confused on why you can't just cycle through the possible ucs's until you get the one that matches your needs, like on mastercam.

also, when trying to mill a pocket, i can't even figure out how to select the pocket. it asks for a start point. ok, so i just kind of select one of the top corners, but that doesn't really let me select the pocket to machine.

with the installation of the program, there are some short tutorials that load up upon installation. how do you access these again? i can't find them, i'm sure it would provide some help.

i'm having some buyer's remorse, so i'd rather not purchase any more instrucional videos, if i can get the help on this forum and get this thing to work.

any help is appreciated. thanks.

[The Engine Guy]

Originally Posted by cncbcncb i've got a couple issues i need help with: i bought bobcad/cam v23 with the idea that i would be able to load solidworks files up and then create the toolpaths. i'm able to load about half of my parts (they're all simple, single parts, no assemblies or anything). the other half of the time it appears that it is loading fine, but then there is no part to be found within the workspace. anybody know what would cause this? then, for the parts that do load up, they always seem to load up looking at some view other than the top. it would seem to me that this wouldn't be a big deal as you could just set up a wcs according to the part. that is my problem. when i click on the cam button and bring up the cam tree, then click on the ucs tab on the bottom, i can't seem to place a ucs in the correct position. i'm just kind of confused on why you can't just cycle through the possible ucs's until you get the one that matches your needs, like on mastercam. also, when trying to mill a pocket, i can't even figure out how to select the pocket. it asks for a start point. ok, so i just kind of select one of the top corners, but that doesn't really let me select the pocket to machine. with the installation of the program, there are some short tutorials that load up upon installation. how do you access these again? i can't find them, i'm sure it would provide some help. i'm having some buyer's remorse, so i'd rather not purchase any more instrucional videos, if i can get the help on this forum and get this thing to work. any help is appreciated. thanks.

Hi

To start with go here C:\Program Files\BobCAD-CAM\BobCAD-CAM V23\Videos and click the purple icon for the Camtasia Menu Maker Player, if you want to right click on it and from the list that opens select "Create a shortcut", this will produce a copy of the icon you can either "copy and paste" or "drag and drop" it onto your "Desktop" and then double click it and the Menu for all the Videos will appear!

Spend some time with the videos and if at all possible put them on another PC or Laptop so you can run the video and pause it whenever you want and then duplicate what the video shows on V23 on the PC you have V23 installed on, I found that an easy way, being able to copy what the video does as many times as needed to understand that particular lesson!!

There are quite a lot of free tuition there, make the most of it and good luck!!

There are plenty of very knowledable people on here and on the main BobCAD Forum.

Regards
Rob



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[Ranscon]

I am also new to Bobcad. Bought v23, buyers remorse, and so on. It does get better. It also gets worse (wait till you play with Bobart). I'm still working on it but I can pocket.

Start point does not matter unless you want a particular starting point. I just leave it blank.

Cam tree, select Milling feature, 2d milling, pocket, Geometry, Hold shift and select the inside and outside parameters of the area you wish to pocket. Right click, ok, edit, set your parameters, right click on feature pocket, calculate toolpath. If this does not work there is probably a break in your geometry. If the entire line does not turn red when you use select with shift button, this is the cause. Hope this helps,You can also watch the bottom left corner of your screen and in most cases it will tell you the next step.
Jeff

[Ranscon]

OOps, almost forgot, the vids aren't that great but you can find them by clicking Start, all programs, bobcad, instructional videos. The books actually helped me more. Do the 2d and 3d tutorials.

Jeff

[Allen123]

Originally Posted by cncbcncb i've got a couple issues i need help with: i bought bobcad/cam v23 with the idea that i would be able to load solidworks files up and then create the toolpaths. i'm able to load about half of my parts (they're all simple, single parts, no assemblies or anything). the other half of the time it appears that it is loading fine, but then there is no part to be found within the workspace. anybody know what would cause this? Are you running Solidworks 2009 files? If so you need to make sure you download the new build of the v23. It's on BobCAD's website. Also you need to make sure your windows is up to date supporting dotnet 3.0. BobCAD does support the SLDPRT files but sometimes there are issues with the different features that solidworks creates. If it doesn't come in as a SLDPRT you can always try a STEP file. Some other know issues are if you have a suppressed feature in solidworks, that will cause the file not to come in. then, for the parts that do load up, they always seem to load up looking at some view other than the top. it would seem to me that this wouldn't be a big deal as you could just set up a wcs according to the part. Bobcad's top view is solidworks front view. For what ever reason that's just the way it is. So when you bring a file in you need to rotate the part to the right plane for machining. Some systems let you snap a UCS or WCS to the part to set zero. BobCAD is working on this but it doesn't work right just yet. So what you need to do is move the part to zero instead of moving the zero to the part that is my problem. when i click on the cam button and bring up the cam tree, then click on the ucs tab on the bottom, i can't seem to place a ucs in the correct position. i'm just kind of confused on why you can't just cycle through the possible ucs's until you get the one that matches your needs, like on mastercam. Well BobCAD is not mastercam so things work different. You can create a ucs by using 3 point, but at this point it's only for 4th axis work or to create a drawing plane. also, when trying to mill a pocket, i can't even figure out how to select the pocket. it asks for a start point. ok, so i just kind of select one of the top corners, but that doesn't really let me select the pocket to machine. If you are doing 2D machining operations in BobCAD you would base this off of wire frame. So in order to cut a pocket or profile or drill hole in BobCAD from a solidworks PRT file or other solid you need to create some wire frame first. What I do is create a new layer and make it active. Then I will use the utilities menu ( most of your editing tools are found here ) and extract wire frame for the bottom face of the pocket I want to cut. I use the bottom face because I can measure it if I don't know the depth. Also when you zero the part only the XY matters. All the z positions clearance and depths so on are are set in the operation ( feature ) you are using Every feature works the same way, Step one: Rt Click on milling stock > This will show all the tools path you can create Step two: Rt click on geometry and choose re-select ( this is where you are selecting the boundary for your pocket ) BobCAD has a few selection methods but to start out you most likely will be chain selecting, Shift click on the boundary if the whole thing selects you have a good chain to work with. Step Three: Rt Click on pocket and choose edit This is where you go down the lists of questions that define how the pocket will be cut. Once you done you click ok. Last step is to compute your settings. This is where you will see the tool path come up on the drawing board with the installation of the program, there are some short tutorials that load up upon installation. how do you access these again? i can't find them, i'm sure it would provide some help. i'm having some buyer's remorse, so i'd rather not purchase any more instrucional videos, if i can get the help on this forum and get this thing to work. any help is appreciated. thanks.

Those are just a few steps for you to follow. I don't think you need any additional videos to learn what you need to know. Let me know if this helped and if you have any other questions we can answer.