Hand writen G-code VS Cam

[cadfish]

Just curious how many write to Cam, Me I write it.

[Klox]

Most of my programming gets done with Cam. But sometimes i do plain simple programs by hand.

[cadfish]

I don't have cam so I hand write it I have one code that is 374 lines and not even an 1/8 done IS IT WORTH IT????

[ynneb]

I ticked little bit of each, but would have prefered another option " Mostly by CAM, slight editing by hand."

[damae]

Originally Posted by ynneb I ticked little bit of each, but would have prefered another option " Mostly by CAM, slight editing by hand."

My thought too. CAM is great for profiling and doing complex parts. Hand coding also has its place. I use it mainly to drill my locating holes for when I flip the work piece over.

[BlueChip]

For all you guys who do the simpler stuff by hand ... you can easily and cheaply put your manual programming on steroids? ( Sorry ... no offense Mr. Palmiero ).

I invite you to have a gander at KipwareM and KipwareT ... soon to be KipwareEDM and more ... at www.KentechInc.com

[mrainey]

I wrote it by hand for the first twenty years, then used APT for the last five.

A lot of people seem to think they need CAM to do even simple things with a CNC machine. Most of the time a pocket calculator, a ten dollar copy of TurboCAD, and a text editor will get the job done pretty quickly.

[rustyolddo]

I've been doing small stuff by hand. Round & Square Pockets, surface milling, drilling. Easier to do than dealing with software. Anything more than that, I need CAM. I insert lots of M00's between lines for that first run & cut air the first time too.

CNC was originally designed for hand coding. It's good to know how to do it even if you have a CAM package. Anything more than 20-50 lines I'll let the computer do.

[ger21]

Originally Posted by mrainey I wrote it by hand for the first twenty years, then used APT for the last five. A lot of people seem to think they need CAM to do even simple things with a CNC machine. Most of the time a pocket calculator, a ten dollar copy of TurboCAD, and a text editor will get the job done pretty quickly.

That $10 copy of TurboCAD and something like ACE (free) will do it 10 times (or more) faster.

[Geof]

Some of the posts so far have mentioned simple or simpler programs; how do you define simple? Can we see some examples both of a part drawing and the final code?

[mrainey]

I don't have time to do examples from scratch, but for people interested in starting out with CNC programming on the cheap - check out these free programs. You can use a group of simpler tools, in combination with your own creativity, to get a lot done.


Ace Converter (already mentioned) http://www.dakeng.com/ace.zip
Generates toolpaths from DXF files


AutoEditNC http://www.cnczone.com.com/misc/Au...all%20V3.0.exe
Editor and programming aid

Also check out the cnczone.com website for a good book, with free downloadable chapter.


Discriminator editor and backplotter
http://www.cncedit.com

My own contribution - machining calculations and data.
http://mrainey.freeservers.com/MEConsultant20.html

[miljnor]

I use cad for almost all coding and if I edit it by hand (which happens on all new programs) I then fix the cad file so that no editing (or so very little) has to be done.

The reason I program even the simplest things in cad is initialy for practice and for memory. I tend to delete old g-code files but the cam I save for ever (barring an accident). And you never know when your little program will turn into a big one, so you might as well have the geometery alrready done. (typing is a ltittle off today, got to eat my wheaty's )