Indexer software

[Art Ransom]

For those running an indexer here is a email of Rich, rgoldner@iname.com, who has written 2 wizards so far for the indexer. I have been working with both and they are great. Rich is a retired programer who has been building CNC machine running Mach since Mach's early years. He also helped a friend upgrade his Legacy Ornimental mill to CNC. The perfect background for doing indexer wizards.
One wizard is to do spiral cuts. Designed mainly to do rope/barley twists. It allows to use A, B or C as rotational axis, do CW or CCW twists, select depth of cut, etc. Here is a 14" piece I did.
The other wizard will wrap a file around a cylinder using A, B or C as the rotational wizard. Both work great and he is going to write more.
The other option is http://legacywoodworking.com. They have released the beta version of a spread sheet that will do rounding, fluting and rope/barley twists. Price is $100. Right now it's only advantage over Rich's wizards is that it will do fluting. Hopefull Rich will fix that shortly.

[ger21]

Are these wizards available for free? And can we download them somewhere?

[Art Ransom]

No Rich will charge but price hasen't been set. He is giong to add more and I have encourged him to do a suite like New Fangle Solutions except for the indexer. Legacy charges $100 for their spreadsheat and it is not near as good. I tested the fluting wizard and found a minor problem which he should fix tomorrow. It will allow you to ramp in and out. Here is a test piece I did. Flutes are 3/4" wide, 4" long with a 1" ramp.

[rgoldner]

Check this thread:

New Mach3 indexer wizards available

[Art Ransom]

Rich has setup a web site to handle purchase of his wizards.
http://www.wizardsbyrich.embarqspace.com:80/
Rich strikes again! He has written a rounding wizard. It will also do tapering. This a piece of 4x4 that has been in the wood pile for a few years so finish of cut is terible. Now the spiral and fluting wizards will have to be changed so they can be used on tapered work. I do a lot of spiral and fluting work on columns up to 18" by 10'. The rounding, fluting and spiral wizards are goining to save me a LOT lot of work! Profit just went up at least 15%. Talked with Rich about more enhancements and hopefully he will do more. Three weeks ago I bought the Legacy spreadsheet for $90 and was happy to get it. Now it is obsolete as the 286 computers