brand new to lazycam

[Hablomos]

First let me start by saying that I am brand new to any cam software. With that said, I have a simple 2.5d part that i have modeled in 3d in autocads .dwg format. the part is drawn as a 3d solid. I see that lazy cam will let me import a .dxf. My question is; Is lazycam looking for a tool path in the form of a 3d poly-line? I assume that I cannot just import the 3d solid.

I tried to just make a "test" tool path poly-line just to see if i would be able to import it. No luck so far...

At this point I don't have a stepper controller or even mach 3 for that matter. I just want to try to understand the process before I take the plunge and start spending money on a mill conversion.

I can't find any decent tutorials out there for lazycam so any advice, pointers and or directions would be appreciated.

[ger21]

Originally Posted by Hablomos My question is; Is lazycam looking for a tool path in the form of a 3d poly-line? I assume that I cannot just import the 3d solid.

I don't use it, but I doubt that LazyCAM wants a 3D polyline. And you're correct, no solids either. Your best bet would be lines or 2D polylines, and arcs or circles. You assign the depth of cut in LazyCAM.

As for tutorials, check out the videos at the machsupport website.

I personally don't like LazyCAM, as there are far better options available (easier to learn, too)

If you have AutoCAD 2002 or newer, I have a free macro available that will convert both 2D and 3D polylines into g-code, and circles as well.

Here's a link to it.
http://tinyurl.com/cghkzp

and a thread here.
http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8226

Other CAM programs you might want to look at are SheetCAM and Vectric's Cut2D. As with LazyCAM, they both accept 2D .dxf drawings.

I'd also recommend downloading Mach3, and instal it and set it up as if you had a machine attached to it. It'll let you load and run g-code and give you a much better feel of how everything works. You don't need a machine at all to use it, and it's free for up to 500 lines of g-code.

[425hpChargerSRT]

Originally Posted by ger21 I don't use it, but I doubt that LazyCAM wants a 3D polyline. And you're correct, no solids either. Your best bet would be lines or 2D polylines, and arcs or circles. You assign the depth of cut in LazyCAM. As for tutorials, check out the videos at the machsupport website. I personally don't like LazyCAM, as there are far better options available (easier to learn, too) If you have AutoCAD 2002 or newer, I have a free macro available that will convert both 2D and 3D polylines into g-code, and circles as well. Here's a link to it. http://tinyurl.com/cghkzp and a thread here. http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8226 Other CAM programs you might want to look at are SheetCAM and Vectric's Cut2D. As with LazyCAM, they both accept 2D .dxf drawings. I'd also recommend downloading Mach3, and instal it and set it up as if you had a machine attached to it. It'll let you load and run g-code and give you a much better feel of how everything works. You don't need a machine at all to use it, and it's free for up to 500 lines of g-code.

Im having a very hard time myself. Ive used solid edge, rhino, and autocad for years now. I finally decided to take a dive into the cnc world, but before i buy the machine i wanted to get a fill for everything.

So like you said, i set mach 3 up, with lazy cam and have tried importing several different dxf files into lazy cam. i have yet to find one that works. most of my imports have lines through the middle of it, or wont show up at all. any hints or tips for a beginner?

oh and thanks for the macro on converting poly lines to g-code. I'll give that a go as well

[ger21]

There's a LazyCAM manual that may help you. And always try to save as .v12 .dxf files.

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/ind...c,12078.0.html

[ghyas alfarra]

DEAR FRIENDS:
I HAVE PROBLME FOR MAKING G-CODE OF 3DPOLYLINE ....IS THERE ANY WAY TO LET THE CAM PROGRAMS MAKE GCODE FOR 3DPLOYLINE .....
I AM USING MANY TYPE OF CAM SOFTWARE LIKE : UCANCAM , tYPE3 ... TPCWIN ...AND SO .

[Burnit0017]

Greetings, I purchased LazyCam Pro and Mach3 when I started. I wasted 8 months and a lot of material finding out that only parts of LazyCam work and Mach3 has a offset of 0.0009 that does not show on up on the DRO’s every time the axis moves. They are no long developing LazyCam and you will never be able to cut a circle or a square part using Mach3 because the un-displayed offset accumulates. You should not waste your time with this software, try other software to start with. Best regards

[ger21]

Mach3 has a offset of 0.0009 that does not show on up on the DRO’s every time the axis moves.

you will never be able to cut a circle or a square part using Mach3 because the un-displayed offset accumulates.

Completely false. I've cut parts with 400,000 linef of g-code that take hours to run, with no errors at all. I've never had an error in any parts I cut.

Perhaps you have a problem with your drives? I've heard of drives losing steps on direction changes. But it's not the fault of mach3.

As for LazyCAM, I'd never recommend that to anyone.

[ger21]

Originally Posted by ghyas alfarra DEAR FRIENDS: I HAVE PROBLME FOR MAKING G-CODE OF 3DPOLYLINE ....IS THERE ANY WAY TO LET THE CAM PROGRAMS MAKE GCODE FOR 3DPLOYLINE ..... I AM USING MANY TYPE OF CAM SOFTWARE LIKE : UCANCAM , tYPE3 ... TPCWIN ...AND SO .

What are you creating your 3D polylines in? I have an AutoCAD macro that will create g-code from 3D polylines. It runs inside AutoCAD.

[Burnit0017]

Greeting, have you cut a circle and placed it on a axis and measured it with dial indicator and have had no error or perform a simply repeatable test, again with no error? What version of Mach3 do you have? I performed a simple repeatable test where I placed the dial indicator at 1 inch from Zero and wrote code to jog the axis back and forth and the accumulated offset would push the dial indicator off the 1 inch position. I did the same test with other controller software and have had no problems. What is your solution for getting Mach3 to work?

[ger21]

No, I've never used a dial indicator, as I've never had a need for one. My machine works fine, with no accumulated error. There are tens of thousands of others that run Mach3 with no problems either.

You say that the DRO's are off by .0009 every time Mach3 moves? According to Art, the author, that's not possible. When a step is sent to the parallel port, the DRO is updated. The DRO's only display a certain number of digits, but internally Mach keeps track of position to a very high precision. I don't know the exact amount, though.

Are you saying if you move back and forth 1000 times, your machine will be off 1 inch?

What kind of drives are you using, and what type of processor in the PC? My guess is that it's possibly PC related, since the machine works with other software? Mach3 can be much more demanding of the PC hardware. Have you tried increasing pulse widths, and changing active low settings?

As a guess, probably over 90% of the hobbiests here are using Mach3 trouble free. Although I do see the occasional user who has issues that are very hard to diagnose.

[Burnit0017]

Greetings, yes the DRO’s do reset, but the position is off. I tried to two different controller boards and had the same problem. When I was trying to find a solution and when I was communicating with them, I found out they were using 16 decimal places in their code and that would create a truncation error and that would cause the problem that I was having. The only solution I found was to use different controller software. Thanks for your time and efforts. Best regards.