Is or will it be possible to select climb/conventional milling?
All the samples I have looked at are conventional.
Is or will it be possible to select climb/conventional milling?
Climb milling is at the moment possible only in cylindrical pockets milled with a face mill. In all other cases conventional milling is used.
The new version will also use conventional milling -at least in the first stages.
Sorry for the disappointment.
Sotiris
I've been using gsimple for a few months for engraving text. It's a great tool to easily and quickly do this. Is there an easy way to import a complex DXF and then engrave it. This would be a GREAT feature.
Last edited by davek; 11-03-2007 at 06:54 PM.
DXF and Engraving
You can easily engrave a complex drawing with GSimple -with some limitation.
Required steps:
---------------
1) Import the dxf file
2) Select the lines, arcs and circles you want to engrave (see below)
3) Select from the Menu Compose/Engraving. Supply the desired data (width and depth) and click OK
4) Attach appropriate tool on the toolholder
5) Make the G-code
To select multiple objects. There are three methods:
Method A)
Left click on the object (in our case line, arc or circle) with the SHIFT key pressed down. If the SHIFT key is not pressed, clicking on any object will automatically deselect all other, already selected, objects. To deselect a selected object click on it with the CTRL key pressed.
Method B)
Right click on the object. This action will open up a pop-down menu. Select "Select" from the menu.
Method C)
After selecting a line or arc with method A or B, right click on any connected line or arc and then use "Auto Select" instead of "Select". This action will select all connected elements. The auto selection will stop if there is no other connected element or if there is a crossroad (3 or more elements connected on the same spot). Method C can save you a lot of clicking (which is sometimes anyway impossible)
Limitations
----------
1. The current version cannot handle more that 1024 drawing elements. If your dxf file containes more they will be discarded with the message "Too many drawing elements". In this case you can split up your file in two (or more) parts and compile them with gsimple separately.
2. The current version will not handle multy-pass engravings.
thanks
Thanks, I didn't know if you would still be paying attention to this thread.
I'm having some trouble here. I've gotten this to work a few times, but often when I have selected the elements and go to Menu Compose/Engraving that is not in bold print as a viable choice. Any Idea what I am doing wrong? I really like this software for this use, thanks for writing it.
Originally Posted by S.Kontogiannis
Sorry, my mistake. GSimple needs to know what you are going to engrave! In order to be able to convert (compose) anything you must have selected the object which is going to be engraved AS PARENT. There are three object types which may be selected as parent:
The block (stock)
A bulge (a bulge is the oposite of a pocket)
A pocket.
Drills, threads, longholes an engravings cannot be selected as parent. In other words you cannot attach a pocket on a drill or an engraving.
Only one object may be selected at a time as parent. The current parent object is colored red. To select an appropriate object as parent:
Method A) Left click on it. This is the same you are doing in order to select an object. Gsimple selects AS PARENT the first selected object
Method B) Right click on it and select it AS PARENT with the appropriate menu selection.
Please note that GSimple will refuse to compile a project if you have not defined a block. If you just want to do some engravings you will have to select the block as parent. But you can also make an engraving in the bottom of a pocket -even if it is located on top of a bulge or another pocket etc.
Yeah, I figured that out after a while. Thanks for all your help on this! I hope if I ask a few more questions you won't mind. You've been a huge help.
I am trying to machine the outside of an engraving now, like a bas relief. I've gotten two problems.
1. When picking the outside and then going to "bulge", I get the message "element 1 and 2 not connected" or somesuch. I can't find anything not connected. Is there an easy way to find the breaks?
2. I'll have to set up a small tool to get into small radii and I'll get a message like "speed Fz out of range". If I can make it work anyway, I can edit the feed or speed later.
1. Elements not connected: you have to select the elements one by one in a counterclockwise order. The autoselect feature should leave no gaps -it will stop if there is a gap. If it gets through but then you still get this error message -well this needs some investigation. In this case, could you please send be the .gsi file?
2. The "speed Fz out of range" message means that the tool you have selected has zero plunging feed for the selected material.
You can correct this by editing the tool library data (Select "Tools/Endimll/Rough" from the main menu, select the tool, Press the button Mat.Data, Select the Material Group and then press edit). There is an example in the web of how to set up a new tool -editing is similar.
thanks so much
Thanks again for all the help you have been to me. I tried the outside of a dxf again and got the same error "elements 14 and 15 not connected", here is the .gsi.
I had to rename it test.txt from test.gsi to get it to upload.
I checked the drawind a little bit. There are indeed unconnected parts. I edited the outer lines by filling the gaps with very small lines -and here is the result. (I have changed the block height and the view options to get the nice view I have attached).
Just two comments:
1. I suspect the drawing is from a scanned picture. This method produces allmost always unconnected elements, since the scanning accuracy is low.
2. I have converted the outer drawing into a bulge. But this is not a producable shape! In order to be producable any shape is not allowed to have elements intersecting at angles smaller than 180 deg. You would need a tool with zero diameter in order to be able to produce such a part and clearly such a tool can not exist.
Some cad-cams are able to overcome this problem by chamfering automatically (with a radious equal to the tool radious) these sharp corners. GSimple is not (yet) so clever. It will simply damage your part -ie the shape will not look exactly as drawn.
Engraving text!
I am trying to include the Swedish characters ÅÄÖåäö without success. To make changes in the configuration file, romansfont.cfg, have so far resulted in an error message (syntax error). Can somebody please help me.
Thanks Sten
Hi StenJ,
could you just post the lines you have added to define, lets say Å? Then, I suppose I will be able to help you!
Hi S. Kontogiannis,
First, thanks for the fast replay.
This is the part of romansfont.cfg I tested without success. It was the character Ä I started to work with, but I did not really understod the structure of the configuration file.
CHARACTER Å 10
JUMPTO 0 0
LINETO 4 12
LINETO 8 0
JUMPTO 2 5
LINETO 6 5
JUMPTO 4 11
CWTO 2 12 1.0
CWTO 2 10 1.0
END
CHARACTER Ä 10
JUMPTO 0 0
LINETO 4 10
LINETO 8 0
JUMPTO 2 5
LINETO 6 5
JUMPTO 2 11
CWTO 2 12 0.5
CWTO 2 10 0.5
JUMTO 6 11
CWTO 6 12 0.5
CWTO 6 10 0.5
END
CHARACTER Ö 10
JUMPTO 1 2.1066
CWTO 1 9.8949 8.0823
CWTO 8.047 9.8949 4
CWTO 8.047 2.1066 8.0823
CWTO 1 2.1066 4
JUMPTO 2 11
CWTO 2 12 0.5
CWTO 2 10 0.5
JUMTO 6 11
CWTO 6 12 0.5
CWTO 6 10 0.5
END
I know that I have mixed things up. Thanks in advance.
Sten
I added the character Å definintion in my file -and I did not get any "Syntax Error" at load time. My only guess is that you have saved your file in unicode -gsimple accepts only plain text (ascii) files.
I did get an error message when I tried to use the character (write a text containing it). The error was in the CWTO definitions, in the lines
JUMPTO 4 11
CWTO 2 12 1.0
CWTO 2 10 1.0
The line CWTO 2 12 1.0 means "go from point X4.0, Y11.0 to point X2.0 Y12.0 with a Clockwise arc of radius 1.0". The quivalent g-code syntax would be
G00 X4.0 Y11.0
G02 X2.0 Y12.0 R1.0
Clearly, this is not possible (there is no such arc)
This is a corrected version of character Å
CHARACTER Å 10
JUMPTO 0 0
LINETO 4 12
LINETO 8 0
JUMPTO 2 5
LINETO 6 5
JUMPTO 4 12
CWTO 4 14 1.0
CWTO 4 12 1.0
END
If you correct the other characters (I just checked this one, sorry) and save your file as ascii (simple) text, I think it will work.
Thank You,
I now understand the configuration file for text better. Following your advice I have made the part of the file also for Ä and Ö:
CHARACTER Ä 10
JUMPTO 0 0
LINETO 4 12
LINETO 8 0
JUMPTO 2 5
LINETO 6 5
JUMPTO 2 12.5
CWTO 2 13.5 0.5
CWTO 2 12.5 0.5
JUMPTO 6 12.5
CWTO 6 13.5 0.5
CWTO 6 12.5 0.5
END
CHARACTER Ö 10
JUMPTO 1 2.1066
CWTO 1 8.8949 7.0823
CWTO 7.047 8.8949 4
CWTO 7.047 2.1066 7.0823
CWTO 1 2.1066 4
JUMPTO 2 12.5
CWTO 2 13.5 0.5
CWTO 2 12.5 0.5
JUMPTO 6 12.5
CWTO 6 13.5 0.5
CWTO 6 12.5 0.5
END
THank you
Thanks, thanks, thanks
I haven't been on in a while as my computer crashed and I had to get the old mule going again. Way past time to upgrade and not financially wise to do so now.
What I want to know is how did you find the breaks?! I looked and looked in autocad and gsimple both.
Things are pretty weird at work at present, but I downloaded the file and may try it with a .062" tool as I planned. It would take forever to cut, but would it look too bad you think?
I am new in cad design (but i understand and use Gcode and Mach3 since a few months) and try to understand Gsimple in order to go one step further. I took your first example (ex1.gsi) and tried to drill a hole. Clicking to the "drill" icone I am asked to select an object first. How can I do it? I have been able to draw a circle in the corner, but how can i get it become a hole? I have printed the "features" document but found nowhere the way to select an object. What is an object?
Selecting the parent object
"Clicking to the "drill" icone I am asked to select an object first. How can I do it? I have been able to draw a circle in the corner, but how can i get it become a hole? I have printed the "features" document but found nowhere the way to select an object. What is an object?"
You must select the block "as parent". To select an object you have just to click with the mouse anywhere on it. If you click on the block it will be coloured red. This means it is selected "as parent".
What does "selecting an object as parent" mean? Gsimple must know what you are going to drill. In this example where you just have a block and no other "object" it does not seem to make any sence. But consider a more complex object: a block with a pocket inside and a drill in the bottom of the pocket. Placing the drill just in the right position is not enough for gsimple: unfortunatelly it is not "clever" enough to unerstand that you are requesting from it to:
a) make the pocket
b) drill a hole in the bottom of it
and not do the opposite -drill a hole on top of the block and then make a pocket
The "parent object" is the one on which the drill (or pocket or thread or bulge etc) is placed.
Please observe the two images I have attached. In the first the drill rests on the block. In the second on the pocket.
Profiling
Hi,
I want to simply cut out some shapes from a metal sheet.I think its called
Profiling.Can i do this in Gsimple.Im new to this CNC game.Ive looked thru
the program and docs.I can only see Pocketing,Drilling Engraving.But nothing
to cut out from a sheet of material.
Any Help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Les
When is the next update to be out?
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