# new Beginning tutorial videos for SprutCAM 7

[Eric_Tormach]

Hello everyone, I know it has been a long time coming, but there is now three new SprutCAM 7 beginning tutorials available here
SprutCAMAmerica's Channel - YouTube
These are very basic just like the videos for 2007, and I will be building a new list of beginning tutorials for version 7

[MichaelHenry]

Thanks for creating those Eric. It should really help some of the new users.

When time allows, would you consider doing some tutorials that describe the fields on the Paramters screens for each op? Things like what they do and how to select appropriate values for each one.

Mike

[MetalShavings]

+1 on the request made by MichaelHenry:

This would be a area of great interest to me. Learning the specific purpose of all those input fields would certainly help give me a little more traction to climb that steep learning curve.

Thanks for the heads up on the videos.

MetalShavings

[davidperry3]

How about a series of videos explaining all of the different machining ops systematically. They can be very simple (maybe the same part) just a quick run through of how they work even if it is to say it does not apply to this machine. To this day I have never gotten 3D engraving to do anything. I suspect it is a bad translation to English and has nothing to do with engraving or 3D!

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by davidperry3 How about a series of videos explaining all of the different machining ops systematically.

I'd also like to see this. Some of them work much differently then I would expect from the name.

[MichaelHenry]

Originally Posted by davidperry3 How about a series of videos explaining all of the different machining ops systematically. They can be very simple (maybe the same part) just a quick run through of how they work even if it is to say it does not apply to this machine. To this day I have never gotten 3D engraving to do anything. I suspect it is a bad translation to English and has nothing to do with engraving or 3D!

I'd like to see those tutorials too.

[TXFred]

Not only explanations of the ops, but some detail on the myriad of configurations within each operation. I'd be happy to watch a ten minute video that just covered the various configurations of Waterline machining, and another one that just covered surfacing, etc.

Sprut really is some very smart software, and I think that most of us have barely begun to tap its potential because we are fumbling about in the dark to some extent.

Frederic

[MetalShavings]

Here's a stupid question pertaining to the Rough-Plane function that I don't understand.

Before you create the "Planing" operation in SprutCAM and you add some stock to the Z-axis, (the top surface of your stock-block) Does SprutCAm automatically know that the same amount of stock that you just added to the Z-axis is the amount that SprutCAM is being asked to plane off in creating such an operation.

I'm not clear on this. If this is the case, and other than being able to decide how many passes your cutting tool makes to achieve the final depth of your cut, what's the real purpose of all those other input fields?

Hope this question makes sense.

I tried doing the very thing I've just described. The only thing I fiddled with was the number of passes I wanted to achieve the desired depth of my "Planing" operation. All the other fields were left alone and my simulations seemed to do exactly what I'd hoped.

In my initial attempts to figure out those other input fields I'd fill in the numbers where I thought necessary. The simulation results in these cases always seemed to work out badly. Some times when I "Ran" it, it wouldn't generate any tool path. If I left every thing in its default numbers, when I played the simulation my cutting tool would try to remove the stock I had added in one big bite.

I would like to add my name to the list of all the other guys that have requested videos asking for detailed explanations of all these other input fields and exactly when to fill them in and when to leave them alone.

MetalShavings

[TXFred]

Originally Posted by MetalShavings Before you create the "Planing" operation in SprutCAM and you add some stock to the Z-axis, (the top surface of your stock-block) Does SprutCAm automatically know that the same amount of stock that you just added to the Z-axis is the amount that SprutCAM is being asked to plane off in creating such an operation. I'm not clear on this. If this is the case, and other than being able to decide how many passes your cutting tool makes to achieve the final depth of your cut, what's the real purpose of all those other input fields?

I just tried it. I created a roughing plane operation on the tutorial part. I then extended the stock up by one inch in Z, and re-ran the operation. It adjusted automatically.

The reason it's not adjusting for you is because you've filled out the input fields.

The inputs, specifically Safe Plane, Top Level, and Bottom Level, are optional. When you first create the toolpath, leave them unchecked. This lets Sprut fill in the values with whatever it thinks is best. And Sprut can adjust those values when something changes, such as the size of your stock.

If you check them, then you have taken control away from Sprut. Sometimes that's necessary. But when you do this, Sprut cannot adjust those values anymore.

So, unless you have a specific need to alter one of those values, you're better off letting Sprut control them.

Frederic

[MetalShavings]

All right. That sort of clears that up in my mind.

Now on to the 997 other questions I have left.

Seriously; I didn't know that putting a check mark in the box to the left of the
input field did anything more than allow you to enter or chance the values

I wasn't aware that SprutCAM factored in those numbers based on wether those
little boxes were checked or not. It make sense not the the answer to my own question
was staring me right in the face.

MetalShavings

[MichaelHenry]

Eric,

I just had a chance to go over the 3 new tutorials - nice job! I've been using SprutCAM for 5 years now, but still learned a thing or two.

Mike

[davidperry3]

Originally Posted by MichaelHenry Eric, I just had a chance to go over the 3 new tutorials - nice job! I've been using SprutCAM for 5 years now, but still learned a thing or two. Mike

+1 Now I know why my background has been black in this version!
(I have been only been using for 3 years).