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Newbie Looking For Advice with Elderado Bridgemill
Hey there everybody! I'm new to the forum and looking for a little experienced advice. I generally tinker with autos and bikes, typical jack of all trades, master of none. I am new to the forum and plan on surfing old threads to learn as I go.
I have an Elderado Bridgemill I purchased in '05. It has a DRO and CNC. The controller is the proto-type that is currently used on the Patriot. I have Mach II that I run on a dedicated PC. I became occupied with career changes and have only tinkered with the machine occasionally.
Two things. First is set up I have spent a lot of time setting up the machine, tweaking the unit. I am looking to add a home switches on X,Y and Z. Any suggestions on locations? Should I use limit switches instead? Being a 3and1, I am concerned about crashing into the lathe.
I think I have the steppers tuned optimum for use. I was having trouble with the X stalling on occasion. Come to find out the drive pulley set screw was loose. After tightening it, the stepper has not stalled since. I am still trying to set up Mach II for travel limits, but am having trouble with determining a starting point so that the posted code does not conflict with limits.
The second primary subject is BobCad. I realize that they have moved way above the V19 that I have, but I made a considerable investment for it to just go out and buy the newist version. I am trying to learn the program and run into occasional hurdles to overcome. Does anybody know of a practical book to learn how to apply the V19 to the Mach II to be productive. Most of the manual focuses on improvements over V18. I think I can design my parts, but I'm not sure about the contour corrections or whether I need to be concerned with them. It seems that these are considerations to be taken when I input the bit size and overlap. I wish their tech help was as talkative as their sales reps.
I have a friend who put me in touch with his CAD people, but they deal with Master CAM with real machinery and are not familiar with the small details of piecing together systems. I look forward to learning from this forum. I am amazed that it is getting harder to find experienced metal workers. I tried to find my metalshop teacher for advice to find the shop is gone at the school. That's another thread. I plan on ball screws, but I need to be able to use the machine first to jusitify the expense to the other half. Any other ideas for setting up the Elderado would be appreciated.Thanks in advance.
Forget Bobcad! Even the newest version 23 isn't worth the super discounts they are pushing if it doesn't have the user controls to generate usable Gcode. I bought version 21 and 22 but was never able to get them to create usable G code without hours of re-writing.
Thanks. I've come to the conclusion that I need to look for another cad program. Everytime I have called tech support, I get an answering machine. They do call back a day later, but one said he's not familiar with V19, another told me I need a computer with XP, not to mention the non-stop sales pitches. I got a call today telling my tech support was expired and I was challanged when I said that I have it in writing that I have 45 days free from registration. Any suggestions on a new CAD program would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Another thing to consider. Mach II is pretty old now. Mach III has been out for years and there have been constant updates to it. If you have a licensed copy of Mach II, you are eligable for free upgrades, so my suggestion would be to download the latest lockdown of Mach. The next suggestion would be to invest in Newfangled Solutions Wizards. The Wizards will do a lot of what you would want a CAM package to do. I've been quite happy with them. Mach III now comes with Lazycam. I haven't used it yet, but it's a plae to start. I've got Turbocad with the Cam plug in and have been modistly happy with the results. Almost any CAM package that you use, you will still have to hand edit it to have it do what you want it to do.
As for limits and homes, the 3 in 1 creates some issues. Depending on whaich mode, mill or lathe, you may want to set limits at different places. I set up an aluminum angle along the back of the lathe bed with movable ramps, and a single switch on the carriage. I can adjust the placement of the limit switch actuation for weather the tailstock or chuck are installed, or fi I have my 6" Kurt vise on the table. For the crossslide, I did the same basic thing, one switch with 2 ramps to actuate it. On the crossslide I made them fixed. For Z, I use 2 switches and they are actuated by the drill stop. I use the limit switches for home also, so there is no need for seperate home and limit switches.
I got rid of the stock break out board and insstalled a CNC4PC C11G break out board. This offers opto isolation and safety charge pump along with a lot of other features. I've also added another Gecko (G251) for my rotary axis.
Hope this helps.
I purchased BobCAD/CAM v.19 and upgraded to v.20. Then I even spent $1,000 on a 3-day seminar all to no avail. I deal with wood. I tried VisualMill 5.0 and have to admit that it is much easier than BobCAD. However, I finally found the Vectric software and was making very nice parts in 2D 2.5D and 3D the same day that I made the purchase.
I think that VisualMill might be better suited for your type of machining. However, you might want to check with the Vectric people. No hard sell. GREAT tech support and free forums. They also have all of their programs available for download along with all of their free video tutorials. They ask that you PLEASE try their programs BEFORE you buy them to make sure that they can do what you want on YOUR machine.
I DO NOT work for them or get anything for recommending their products. It's just that I was in the same place as you a few months ago. I am actually having fun with my CNC router now that I have software that works.
When we got our Patriots, I asked JT about Bobcad and he warned me to stay away. He said that once they have your name and number they will assault you constantly with high pressure sales tactices. He was a dealer for them in the 90's and whenever the customers would call for technical advice, Bobcad would then pressure them into buying upgrades direct.Originally Posted by ginotortelli
Thank you for the prompt replies. The last 2 weeks I have been overwhelmed with trying to get this thing going. I've downloaded MachIII and am in utter amazement of the detailed intstructions along with the training videos available. I have the machine running and almost dialed in. I will mount the the limit/home switches this weekend and should be good to go. Apparently I didn't fool with it enough to know I need to license the Mach II. I am going to license the Mach III as well as Lazy Cam. It looks very cool for what it is. If ArtSofts tech help is as good as it's instructions (meaning I can understand it) it should be a good deal. I'll look for another CAD program when I get more comfortablel with the machine. Maybe BobCad should rethink their angle on marketing their product. Thanks again for the advice. I'll be watching your words of wisdom.
Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't thaink that Artsoft has a dedicated support staff in the sense of someone you can call to get answers. All of the support is via the Mach support forums here, on Yahoo, and on the Machsupport.com site with only the latter two providing any real company support. The support here on CNCZone is user-based, I think.
Mike
Well, it's running! I have to say that I am impressed with Artsofts videos and instructions. I licesned Mach III and do not regret the investment a bit. I am new to CNC, but have learned alot by following the videos. I even have the limit switches wired and working correctly. I used the wizard to cut some fonts. While doing this, I am starting to understand the G-code. I even went in and modified it to make second passes at a deeper cut. Not to sound like I am blowing my own horn, but I love it when a plan comes together.
I have been trying to figure out LazyCam, which I licensed as well. Bobcad wants me to upgrade to V23. I haven't found any other software that is reasonable yet. I think it is harder for me to compare since I do not use CAD/CAM programs on a regular basis. I still think that my investment in V19 should work for a newbe like myself. I looked at AutoDesk Inventor that my son is using at school. More than slightly out of my price range and the retailer had no idea on CAM capabilities.
I am going back to tighten up the machine. Seems that now that I have ran it on it's own, it has loosened up a little bit. Any suggestions on software would be appreciated!!!!!!!!!
You might want to get the NewFangledSolutions wizards for Mach III. I think they are only about $50 and they will do about 80% of the programing for almost anything you might want to machine. I find the wizards much easier and more productive than my TurboCadCam, although I do use that also.
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