What Enhancement Would You Like To See Implemented

[jonbanquer]

Just curious what other users think should be added / changed / improved

jon

"I may have many faults, but being wrong ain't one of them." ... Jimmy Hoffa

[jonbanquer]

When you have a lot of machining operations in the Op List it gets to be a major hassle trying to manage them. The Gibbs tile UI is obsolete and needs to be redone. I would suggest a file explorer that docks, expands and contracts like every other decent CADCAM program has.

One level of Undo after all these years ?

Why not just enable right clicking and do away with the eye ? Anyone think the Gibbs eye has any benefits ? I sure don't.

A better way to edit feeds and speeds... I find utility markers to be a real pain but maybe I'm missing something ?

Documentation. The Gibbs manuals are horrible. There is so much undocumented stuff that is not covered. I paid close to $200 for Gibbs books and for $200 you would think the documentation would be world class. I'm lucky because I got the Gibbs manuals at a discount but I'm not sure they would be a good deal at $50 !

I see very little input from *Gibbs programmers* being addressed on the Gibbs Web Board.... so what is the point of Gibbs having a Web Board ?

jon


"I may have many faults, but being wrong ain't one of them." ... Jimmy Hoffa

[miljnor]

will probably forget alot. (some of this might have been address I only have up to whatever number was last years version)

Well here it goes:

1. Tool libraries. How much of a pain is it to redo tools in most programs! Just beeing able to copy them from one prog to the other would be nice.

2. Get rid of or set to off as the starting state for the little red Axis changing thingy. So anoying to accidentaly hit that thing.

3. make it so that you have to point at the actuall number of the dimension line to select it. (don't know how many times Ive had to turn the dimensions off jut to be able to select a line.

4. Heres on that no one has done yet. make it so you can round a solid model edge as if a corner rounder was doing the rounding, instead of blending the whole dang thing (or worse yet giving you an error that the blend is too large, especialy when you know that a cutter could easily make it)

5. make someway to move between the tiles faster than the current way. (if you have 30+ tiles it just takes to long to get to the top)

6. tool library..... did i say that already?

7. make the cut reander so it just gives you a final so you don't have to watch the tool (a button or something, becuase after about 10-20 times it get real old)

8. better 3d cut paths (i still have to mess with these way too much to keep gouging and run over from kill me)

9. changing the light source direction on the rendering would be nice. although I can make do with what is there. (so hard to make out stuff if you don't have the part tilted the right way, and when you change the direction it has to go through its cut paths again.)

10. did I mention tool libraries?????

Thats all I could think of. but Im sure I will come up with more.

[jonbanquer]

I see Gibbs in their latest newsletter has stated that version 8 will *finally* have a new way to manage / edit Ops. It's a spreadsheet. It will be interesting to see how well a spreadsheet works for doing this compared to the tabbed explorer that docks and that almost every other CADCAM program now uses. The only program that I have ever seen use a spreadsheet to do this was EZCAM. It worked OK. I'll try and keep an open mind and see what Gibbs comes up with.

I also see that with Gibbs 2005 that all the Gibbs documentation went to .pdf format. I wonder it one purchased all the Gibbs books if they can get the new documentation for free or for an upgrade price ? I don't own Gibbs. I do own the Gibbs books and purchased them with my hard earned cash. I wonder how the local Community College, that use to sell the Gibbs books at a discount, will deal with the new .pdf format ? Will students get the .pdf Gibbs documentation on disk ? Anyone know how this will work ?

jon

"I may have many faults, but being wrong ain't one of them." ... Jimmy Hoffa

[cadman]

GibbsCam 2005 documentation ALSO includes pdf files, in addition to the books.

[miljnor]

i never got any pdf files with my gibbs renuewal! but then again I have been using it for awhile and prob wouldn't use them anyway!

[jonbanquer]

Originally Posted by cadman GibbsCam 2005 documentation ALSO includes pdf files, in addition to the books.

I called Gibbs on the phone today. It seems that at least some of the books are still getting updates and have not been redone. I believe the basic mill book is over 10 years old now. I'm going to check out the local Community College and see if they have the "new" books and what they look like. I fail to see the point in going electronic with ten year old material.

I get the idea that 10 year old $50 books are a profit center for Gibbs. :frown:

Reminds me of the old days before PostHaste :frown:

I wonder how many times you can sell a $200 COMPost post processor for Haas or FADAL ?

jon

[jonbanquer]

"1. Tool libraries. How much of a pain is it to redo tools in most programs! Just beeing able to copy them from one prog to the other would be nice."

1. You can do this if you have multiple instances of GibbsCAM launched.

2. What would a tool library do for you that Pre-Defined Process Groups can't ?


jon

"I may have many faults, but being wrong ain't one of them." ... Jimmy Hoffa

[cadman]

Originally Posted by miljnor i never got any pdf files with my gibbs renuewal! but then again I have been using it for awhile and prob wouldn't use them anyway!

The pdf documentation is on your 2005 CD. It doesn't install automatically, so you will have to load the cd and copy the files yourself. There are documents for all the basic modules/plug-ins and for some of the options too.

The Saved Processes feature is underutilizied by many users and there are some that don't really know that it exists. This is your custom defined tool and machining process library in one. You don't need to have another instance of Gibbs to use it, unless you want to copy solids, surfaces, or geometry from one file to another.

I do agree with Jon that Gibbs needs to revamp their books.

[miljnor]

what exactly Does saving processes do?

I have never used it because when saving it saves a file, but ,when loading it loads nothing!

Unless there is more to it that saving a file and then loading it in another program?

will look on my disks for pdfs as well

now that I look back I only have Gibbs 2004 vers 7.07 so they might not have the bugs worked out on the processes save function.

I stopped buying newer versions do to lack of functionality over a year of maintenece at 1700.00+ a year. and they were changing stuff that i liked.

I usually reup my maintenece about every 3-4years. its about 1/2 price and the changes are usually worth it by then.

[jonbanquer]

"what exactly Does saving processes do?"

What is below is how Shannon M. describes Processes in the Gibbs Mill Book. It took me awhile to type it out.

In my opinion Processes are the *Cats Ass* because they cut programming time and repetitive input.

If you really get into Processes you might want to adopt cadman's file naming structure. I did cause my file naming structure sucked.



"Pre-Defined Process Groups: A Process Group is the collection of Process Tiles
contained in the Process List at any one time. A Process Group contains all the
tooling and machining information to generate a specific set of operations. A
Process Group can be saved as an external file that can be loaded into other part
files. This capability allows the user to access and reuse common machining and
tool data for multiple part files quickly and easily without having to recreate
tools and processes. Process Groups can be saved by selecting Save from the
Processes Menu when the Process List contains the completed Process Tiles that
will compose the group. The system will ask for a file name and a location to
save the file. Once a Process Group file is saved, it can be loaded into any
part file by selecting the Load item from the Process Menu. Another way to
quickly load Process Groups is by choosing a directory that contains Process
Group files. The directory is chosen by selecting the Set Directory item from
the Process Menu. When a directory is set, all the Process Group files contained
in that directory will appear in the lower half of the process menu. For a quick
load, simply select the name of the Process Group file to be loaded from the
list. When a Process Group is loaded into a part file, any Process Tiles
currently in the Process List will be removed and replaced by the loaded
Process Group. (If this removes Process Tiles that were needed, simply select
Undo from the Edit Menu.) If the Tool List contains Tool Tiles, those tools
will become deselected, but not removed from the list. The system will search
through the existing Tool List to find the necessary tools for the loaded
Process Group. First, the system will search for an exact tool match. If an
exact match is not found, the system will search for a close match which would
be a tool with a longer tool or flute length. A tool identified as a close
match will be used. Failing to find an exact match or a close match the necessary
tools for the loaded Process Group will be created and added to the Tool List
in the first available positions. Added tools will be highlighted. Once the
Process Group is loaded into the Process List, select the appropriate Geometry
to act as the cut shape and click on the Do It button to create the operation
and the toolpath."

jon

"I may have many faults, but being wrong ain't one of them." ... Jimmy Hoffa

[miljnor]

Thats a very good explanation! thanks.

I will try that ASAP. I have been using gibberish for 8+ years now and this is a new one for me. So hopefully it will cut some time down on alot of my parts. If it works in this version of gibbs.