Computer Specs Needed To Run K CAM

[Jim Stein]

I have an older computer and I downloaded K CAM to run the demo,but when I got to the point for the system timing test it fails.It always says actual feed rate zero.I tried it on my new computer and it works fine.
So what do you think the minimum requirements on RAM and procesor speed should be.If anyone is running this software with any luck I would like your input.I do not want to spend a bunch of money on a computer that will only be in the garage to run my cnc.What I have now is a 75 megahertz procesor with 32meg of ram.

THANK YOU

[ger21]

Probably about 300Mhz minimum and at least 128MB of RAM

[Jim Stein]

I am guessing this is not very popular software.I will just give up and move on to better software.Maybe TURBO CNC or something like MACH 1.

Thanks for all of your help.

[ger21]

With a 75Mhz PC, I'd go with TurboCNC. Even with a faster PC, TurboCNC will run your motors better than KCAM. But it does run in DOS.

[Jim Stein]

Can you easily change tool offsets with Turbo CNC?Or do you have to draw your part out with tool offsets in mind?What kind of speed differnce could I expect?Since I currently have no way of checking how fast it runs now I do not know which would be better.Also,I just bought an old P2 computer 350 megahertz with 64 meg of ram.The K-CAM errors out on this one too.What difference does the ram make? 64 VS. 256

Still Learning Sorry. Thank You For Your Help!

[ger21]

I'd ask on the KCAM forum about the errors, maybe someone there can help you with that.

TurboCNC currently doesn't support G41 or G42 offsets, so you'll have to draw the offsets in your CAD package.

TurboCNC might not be faster, but it should run smoother. Windows can interfere with KCAM's pulse stream and cause rough running, and/or loss of speed. Mach2 avoids this with a special driver which lets it kinda override Windows. TurboCNC runs in DOS, so isn't affected by this problem.

But, I have heard of people running KCAM succesfully. (I've actually seen a machine running it that worked just fine.

[Jim Stein]

Thank you, I just registered my copy of TURBO CNC.For twentey bucks I think it worth a shot. I am still going to figure out KCAM,I would like to be able to use both.




Thank You