Someone please help before I loose my mind!

[justgary]

saabaero -

I have noticed that SprutCAM ignores the tool number that you have in your tool table when you select a new tool. When you select the tool it will use the next available tool number that you have not used (or something like that). Most of the time it will turn red as a clue to check it. Anyway, do not rely on SprutCAM's choice of tool number. Ever.

Simply select the tool from your tool table (and make SprutCAM's table match the tool table you have in Mach 3), then change the tool number to match the number in the table. I quit having the problems you described after I got into the habit of checking the tool number after selecting the tool. As you know, it was quite frustrating until then...

The only problem I've had since then is when an endmill got loose in a set screw holder and buried itself in a part. I had even ground a flat on the shank, but it finally vibrated free. I should have recognized it sooner, because it was leaving a terrible finish for a while. I'm considering Locktite to solve that problem.

Regards,

- Just Gary

[mactec54]

[QUOTE=HMB3000;569371]you can have many hight offset H # for the same tool...you just can't change the H# without using G49 and going to a G28 move first...this is done when say you have more than one fixture offset of part on table

This is no way to teach anyone trying to figure out what the H means/does & how to use it

[saabaero]

Just ran that machining operation tonight after I changed the "H1" to "H7". It worked like a charm.

I can't believe something so simple caused me so much grief!

[HMB3000]

Originally Posted by mactec54 This is no way to teach anyone trying to figure out what the H means/does & how to use it

I really don't think you can teach anything or make a judgment on my abilities with just one post mactec....I also don't waste my time trying to teach someone over a message board...I either go on site or use crossloop http://www.crossloop.com/ Right now I have one person in Mississippi and another in Kentucky that I'm training to use Bobcad at $50/hour...I do 1 1/2 hours at a time once a week when they have time...Also I'm teaching CNC programing and machine use of the Tormach at a high school in my area for free and a very large Tax write-off...so I don't care what you think mactec54

Originally Posted by saabaero Just ran that machining operation tonight after I changed the "H1" to "H7". It worked like a charm. I can't believe something so simple caused me so much grief!

You should find a Tormach owner that uses the same software as you and pay them for some basic training....try Michael Henry I think he uses the same software.If you paid a $150 for some training you're going to save that in broken endmill and save you from going nuts over simple thing...
http://www.tormach.com/story15.html
http://memweb.newsguy.com/~mphenry/tormach_cnc_mill.htm

[benji2505]

[QUOTE=justgary;569429]

I have noticed that SprutCAM ignores the tool number that you have in your tool table when you select a new tool. When you select the tool it will use the next available tool number that you have not used (or something like that). Most of the time it will turn red as a clue to check it. Anyway, do not rely on SprutCAM's choice of tool number. Ever.



Gary,

that is not the first mediocre feedback about Sprutcam here. I am looking to upgrade our CAM solution to 4D or at least full 3D capabilities. Is there any reasonable solution out there with a post processor for the Tormach? From what I understand Tormach only supports Sprutcam and TCC. The price for the alibre cam solution seems to be a little rich and I cannot find a Post Processor for the Tormach yet.

I would not want to worry about the correctness of tool offsets after having bought the program. What are the suggestions?

Benji

[HMB3000]

Take a look at Visual Mill Pro for mecsoft it is about $3,500 full list...you could get it for less I sure in today market...
What I like about VS Pro is that you can do full contouring on a 4th axis not just a wrap (round work)...I had a demo done for a helmet Design to do the trim cut...so I had motion in in 2 axis with 4th axis...where as a wrap is just switching Y axis for 4th...meaning you can't do anything other than round work. The helmet was an elliptical motion around 4th axis

[justgary]

Benji -

I look at problems like wrong tool number as simple annoyances that you just have to learn about. Any software has them in some form or another.

I'm downloading SprutCAM build 5.50 right now (I got an email announcement today), which supposedly has over 200 fixes and improvements in it. They do seem interested in fixing user complaints and suggestions. Sadly, I won't have time to install it for over a week, though... By the way, I'm currently using build 5.48.

I'm not a commercial operation, so even the $1000 price tag of SprutCAM took me quite a while to swallow. I don't see any way that I'm going to replace what I have, which means that I might as well just learn the nits. I can buy a bucket of good endmills for the $3500 that another CAM package would cost, so I'll just keep on with what I have (actually, I have broken very few mills, but have wrecked workpieces; I'm pretty conservative on feeds and speeds).

I certainly can't speak for saabaero, but the pucker factor adds a fun dimension to running a new program. I have gotten a lot better at watching the simulation very closely and fixing things that I see wrong before I run a program on the mill. Even then I override the feed to about 10% while I'm running a new program, and bump it up as I gain confidence. That has saved me a lot of tools and parts.

HMB3000 -

SprutCAM will definitely do complex motion with 4th axis parts. I have not posted the video, but I cut a part that tapers from a small eccentric (offset from the center) circle to a larger 12-sided polygon that is centered on the part's axis, and it was amazing watching the four axes work together to make the cuts. I roughed it mainly in the A axis, and then finished it mainly in the X axis.

Will SprutCAM do everything? Nope (well, probably not, anyway). Would I buy it again? Yup. I don't know of anything near the price I paid that will do what SprutCAM will do, so I'm pretty delighted. Also, they don't whine about wanting a maintenance fee. As a bonus, I also happen to like the user interface, but I can understand that others may not. It all depends on how you think, I guess.

Regards,

- Just Gary

P.S. The download just finished! 110MB... Now to find the time to try it!

[HMB3000]

Just Gary I do think that Sprutcam is worth the money... it is better on 4th axis than my software...But a step up would be Visaul Mill Pro...But at a large cost and a yearly fee. They do have some advanced 3d and 4th axis paths...I just have not been able to bring myself to buy it...as I am a Cheap Swamp Yankee...

[David Bord]

Instead of editing the code, why not just uncheck the tool hieght and radius comp in the tool tab. I have a list of my tools and their numbers as they are programmed in Mach3. I simply plug in the tool number width and uncheck the comp check boxed and move on to another tab. Takes about 30 seconds.

Ive been using it for years not and have yet to have a problem. I really like Sprut2007 now that I have gotten used to it. Its been working very very well for me. What I like most, while not perfect, they have been adding features and appear to be working on providing more 4th axis options. They have very good full 3 axis support.

David

[fin]

Do you have a copy of Peter Smid's CNC Programming Handbook from Industrial Press?

He's easy to read and understand. Read through it and save yourself a month of headaches.

Print out your programs and read through them before running them, it'll save you more times than you'd think.

Best of luck,

Fin