Surfcam Velocity 4

[hpmor]

Dear surfcam users,

I would appreciate if all the users of new velocity 4 write down its new features or pros & cons.

thanks

[Cammotion]

Originally Posted by hpmor Dear surfcam users, I would appreciate if all the users of new velocity 4 write down its new features or pros & cons. thanks

I ain't got it yet! But, the reseller is planning a user group meeting to demo all the new stuff. When that happens, I'll post.

[Jason S]

I have it, just haven't loaded it yet. Hopefully when I do load it, everything still works!!!

Has anybody loaded the new Solidworks yet? What kind of surprises should we be looking for?

[lkenney]

I have it loaded and it looks like they fixed the bug that stopped me from doing both lathe and mill jobs with the same version. Vel 3 would not convert back to 3 axis mill view after i programmed a lathe job. I ended up running the lathe on the Vel 2 and my mill on Vel 3. That is all I have checked so far. Put for me that is a big deal and I thank Surfware for fixing it.

Eagle

[Charlie Gary]

I hope it's better than V3, though it won't matter for me because my employer refuses to pay any more maintenance to Surfware. V3 has some nice capabilities, but when the feed between moves started scrapping parts we promptly quit using it. Our last year of maintenance payments resulted in nothing more than us paying to be beta testers, and my boss gets really pissed about that kind of thing.

[lkenney]

Except for the Lathe bug, VEL 3 was very solid for us and TrueMill was exceptional for increasing our productivity. Charlie, I am interested in your experiences with the movement between parts causing problems, What machine(s) are you programming for, how did the movement wreck parts? which post do you use? I want to avoid any problems in my work.

Thanks

Eagle

[Charlie Gary]

Originally Posted by lkenney Except for the Lathe bug, VEL 3 was very solid for us and TrueMill was exceptional for increasing our productivity. Charlie, I am interested in your experiences with the movement between parts causing problems, What machine(s) are you programming for, how did the movement wreck parts? which post do you use? I want to avoid any problems in my work. Thanks Eagle

I program for Milltronics controls, and I post with Mpost customized for our controls. These didn't have any influence on what happened, though. I found the gouge moves in the original SURFCAM toolpaths. 98% of what we do is 3-axis toolpath. The last part I programmed with V3 was about 65 inches long, 2 to 3 inches wide, and the top surface I was cutting was slightly convex. I used a 3/4" bullnose, and I set it to climb cut with normal lead-ins and lead-outs. The first cut was like it should have been, but the first feed between move was a straight line between lead-out number one and lead-in number two. All the rest of the lead-outs/lead-ins were correct, but the first one wrecked my part even though I always look to make sure that gouge check on lead moves is activated. When I got V3 SP1 it said Windows2000 was supported on the package, but when I spoke to a Surfware representative about problems I was told Windows2000 was no longer on the list of supported platforms. That did not make me smile.
I always try to use the graphic verifiy, but my part files and programs seem to be much bigger than what will run on my computer. All the samples work great, but then they're not anywhere near the size of the part files I deal with. I've had programs run faster on the machine than in my verify. I've had others that wouldn't even start to run in the verify because they were so big (30-40 megs of g-code).
Most everything we cut is either aluminum or foam, so Truemill doesn't really help me because my max programmable feedrate is 320 ipm with 8000 rpm max spindle speed. Truemill likes to go 800 ipm @ 30,000rpm (roughly) and when I back the feeds and speeds down to what our machines will do I get toolpath that actually takes 2 to 3 times longer than what I can create myself.

[lkenney]

Charlie,

I am cutting steel and found that even with my 7500RPM VF-0 1992 I could machine faster and better with True mill. Cutting soft stuff would make a difference. so far my files have not been as big as yours but Truemill does make a large file. I normally DNC the TrueMill stuff to get around the 64K of memory that I have. What software did you switch too?

Eagle

[Charlie Gary]

Originally Posted by lkenney Charlie, I am cutting steel and found that even with my 7500RPM VF-0 1992 I could machine faster and better with True mill. Cutting soft stuff would make a difference. so far my files have not been as big as yours but Truemill does make a large file. I normally DNC the TrueMill stuff to get around the 64K of memory that I have. What software did you switch too? Eagle

I went back to Velocity2. I've been using surf since version 4.1, and for the most part I really like it. V2's not totally bug-free, but all in all it's the best version they've ever sent me.

[ossito]

Can anyone tell me if Trumill in V4 has other materials to select from other than mild steel?

[PinnacleMachine]

Originally Posted by Charlie Gary I hope it's better than V3, though it won't matter for me because my employer refuses to pay any more maintenance to Surfware. V3 has some nice capabilities, but when the feed between moves started scrapping parts we promptly quit using it. Our last year of maintenance payments resulted in nothing more than us paying to be beta testers, and my boss gets really pissed about that kind of thing.

You can change the feed between - I assume you have your feed between side step mode set to direct instead of follow edge, you can also change the distance that it will put a feed between in vs a rapid move to return plane . So do you not verify your toolpaths before running?

It sounds like you are not using the software properly. I've been using Surfcam for almost 10 years now relatively problem free.

Wow windows 2000 - how old is your computer? For Velocity 4 to work to it's potential you need at least a dual core machine.

JP

[dkyes@pearcedes]

whats up Chuck

tell that cheap bas-tared to pony up the cash