Just starting out

[BawFlinger]

Hi guys,
Im just starting out and trying to get to the crux of everything CAD/CAM. I am a freelence model maker/mould maker and recently started freelancing for a film/TV armourers company. The guy that owns it, bought a 2-axis Haas lathe and a 3-axis Haas mill about a year ago, and nobody has been trained in them up until now. After a chat about the dormant machines, he gestured some sales stuff on Onecnc and asked what I thought. Well, I thought 'bloody brilliant', going through the website, it looks like it could be something I could get to grips with fairly quickly. Now, looks and actual practices are two very differnt sides of the coin, so...... How 'easy' is it for someone with no exp of 3d modeling or CNC to get creative in a decent amount of time? Dumb question, I know! I will say however that in the last week, I have put about 10hours into the Hass operators and programing (G-code) manual and dont seem to have to many problems so far. Also I could mention that I taught myself Photoshop and illustrator (to name but a few), so I can pick up programs fairly quickly. Cant get my hands on a trial ver for OneCNC to try out at the moment as I am in the UK and they wont give one out (something to do with a German crack). I will have to wait a few weeks until I can organise a presentation before I can see it first hand. After going through various forums, its hard to find out what the true deal is but I am getting to grips with it all . Thanks in advance for any help!

[gulliver22]

You should be able to download the US demo version from http://www.onecnc.net/today/download.htm

I havent used the demo much, but it looks fairly straight forward and well laid out (I've taught myself Alibre, Solidworks and Inventor to name a few, and I think OneCNC would be as easy to learn as those). The only major difference is OneCNC is CAD/CAM, which is both good and bad since you will be learning both at once.

Good luck.
Mike

[BawFlinger]

Thanks for that. The problem is you need to call to get an activation key and the US wont hand this out to anybody outside the US, bugger

[gulliver22]

Mine said that, "call for activation", but it did an auto demo activation anyway (in the software). I'd suggest reinstalling it, putting in some US address for your info and seeing if that will work.

[BawFlinger]

Will give it a go. Thanks!

[BawFlinger]

OK, up and runing on the eval. As soon as I tryed to launch without an activation I got a email with a code which was nice. I am now trying to get my head around it but have produced some basic models and making progress. Seems quite user freindly so far, but it is a case of setting a small series of tasks I want it to do, then spending some time battering away at the functions until I get it. Also went through some tool selection, tool path and simulations. Not bad for a couple of hours this afternoon and feel quite hopefull.

Now the fun begins, expect a torrent of stupid questions soon! ;-)

Cheers

[HuFlungDung]

Have fun, BawFlinger. None of us pros got this way without a bit of head scratching, mistakes and so forth, but the truth of it is, you can usually still cut something without it being the best way to do it! See my signature

[BawFlinger]

Thanks Hu, I judge from here and elsewhere that you will more than likely be the person I pester the most
Here's a few pics of my first wee project. Took about 2 hours and was created from a drawing. Its a flashhider for an assault rifle and I recon if I were to do the same again, it would take about 30-40 mins. Now, for some more difficult tasks............

Cheers!

[gixerboy1]

Where in the UK are you based? I use onecnc on the xyz minimill where I work. At the moment I am just editing programs with it, but we have a complex job to go on the machine in a few weeks that I wont be able to program on the control, so I will be using one cnc to do it.
You can import 3D models into it, we use solidworks and just convert the files to IGES and then import them into onecnc.

[BawFlinger]

Hi there, I am in High Wycombe, just North of London.

[gixerboy1]

I am quite a bit further North in Rochdale. There is a book for onecnc, it isnt cheap but is very good. I will get a link for it on Monday if you are interested?

[BawFlinger]

Cool, that would be great.

Cheers!