Topics

1

CamBam help (General usage) / 3D Profile Zeros and Stock surfaces.

« on: November 25, 2018, 19:50:04 pm »

Hi,

Finally getting around to 3D Milling some parts again, kinda as a practice session for more projects upcoming.
In particular I'm trying to 3D mill the 'grinds' in a knife blade, along with some precision 2.5D milling. (The part is basically a 2.5D part, with one region on each side done in 3D. It's mirrored across the middle Z of the part) 

In my model the 3D Z zero is in the middle of the blade, that is the blade is extruded up and down from zero. When imported into cambam, this holds true. I've got some cb code hacked out that seems to mill the front and back side parts, however it isn't 100% clear to me where my stock surface should be placed.

In order to get any backside 3D tool paths that are reasonable, it seems that my machine zero needs to bet set to the middle of my part and stock (As it is in the drawing). Otherwise backside machining operations generate weird tool paths.

Are there any recommended procedures for setting up a Z zero for a 3D model when doing front and backside machining in cambam? Any other 3D recommendations or conventions I should be following in general?

I'll attach the part. (Cambam .cb file to follow later if requested...)

Thanks,
Dan

2

Post Processors (*.cbpp) / Spindle Speed manual change.

« on: October 16, 2018, 01:07:58 am »

Hi,

So, I run a Chinese auxiliary spindle on my mill. I'm setting up a second post process for use with this spindle. The speed settings are done manually via a potentiometer.

Now, my mill has a M00 code, which displays a message to the user, pausing until the dialog box accepted. This is very useful for cases where manual intervention is required.

Now, I'd like to use this M00 code to throw a message telling me to change the spindle speed. Currently I have it set up int the start of the MOP portion of the post, using {$s} command do display the spindle speed. However the issue here is if there are many MOPS with the same spindle speed, the M00 message is displayed for every mop. I'd like that onlty to display for MOP's where the spindle speed actually needs to change.

So, any suggestions on where or how I can trap this situation and send the message when speed changes are required???

I'm thinking maybe some conditionals with variables in the MOP header that makes G code which will catch this???  I haven't even begun to figure that out yet...


Thanks!
Dan

3

Related Softwares / G Wizard

« on: October 12, 2018, 02:20:37 am »

Hi All,

Anyone else using this?

I've had it for quite a few years now. The latest editions (Your forced to upgrade via Adobe AIM platform, which it's written on) are giving me some way too fast feed and speeds. I've broken a few cutters. Lots of bugs in the interface, etc.

It used to work well, but lately with the small cutters I'm running there are way too many things that don't give good results. I've basically gotten to the point where I don't trust it anymore. When I attempt to address the issues, I always seem to get blown off by the author when trying to get answers.

For example, choosing 440C as a material defaults to 412 SFM, where Harvey tool recommends 150 SFM. Of course the 413 is waaaayyy too fast. It tried to tell me to slot at full width with a 1/8" carbide .750 inches deep in 440C earlier tonight!!!

Deflection calculation was nice, but it's all screwed up now. Every version changes things and add bugs.

Anyone else using it, if so anyone seeing similar issues?

Thanks,
Dan
 

4

Feature Requests / 3D machining profile, Boundary Taper negative value.

« on: December 22, 2017, 01:18:07 am »

Hi,

So, it seems that using a boundary shape ID allows one to trim a 3D machining operation to a boundary shape. The boundary taper seem to work well also, however taper gives positive results only (Making the boundary taper wider at the top.

I have an application where I'd like a negative boundary taper. That is, Narrower at the top than the bottom, for an outside machining operation. It would be nice if the boundary taper allowed both negative and positive values to tip the boundary in or out as needed.

The application is 3D profile on the end of a round bar. I've removed most of the extra stock with the lathe, and would like to tip the boundary to be smaller at the top. This would allow much less cutting of 'air'.

Thanks,
Dan

5

CamBam help (General usage) / Pocket and Profile, Corner slowdown.

« on: June 14, 2017, 02:15:17 am »

Hi All,

I glanced through the settings, and I'm wondering if CamBam has any methods to slow down the cutter then entering or traversing a small through tool radius corner.

That is, if I'm cutting a corner or curve that's close to the diameter of the tool, the cutter should slow down in the corner to maintain the feed rate at the tool cutting edge. Is there a way to set cambam to generate code that will slow down the feed rate in corners to prevent over feeding material into the cutter?

Thanks,
Dan

6

CamBam help (General usage) / Fast Plunge not working...

« on: June 05, 2017, 02:21:45 am »

Ok,

I must be doing something really stupid! I can't seem to get the fast plunge working for a very simple test I'm running. Set fast plunge height, Set all settings as I normally would, but no fast plunge in the code. I've done this hundreds of times in the past (However, I did move my mill to the house we built last fall, and this is the first time running code in about 6 months... )

Can any of you spot what I'm doing wrong...   (With my fast plunge setting, not my feeds and speeds! lol )


Thanks,
Dan

7

How to's and tutorials / Cheap ball end mills for 3D...

« on: December 18, 2016, 04:07:07 am »

Hi All,

Here's a hint. I tried a small 3D Project the other day. I didn't have a ball end mill small enough to finish the part. However, there's a drawer full of Brasseler carbide dental burrs next to my mill. (These get used with a 400K RPM air turbine). The mill has a 24K RPM spindle. So I pulled out the 1/16 inch collet and a 0.8mm burr from the pile. It worked perfectly to mill out a small profile in 440C stainless. The best part about these is the price, at around $0.85 each in quantities of 10.

So, if you have some small detailing to do on parts that aren't too deep, these may be just the thing. The burrs I have are 1/16 inch shank friction grip parts. (A standard for dental tools). They performed perfectly on 440C stainless, and they're cheap enough to break a few with out breaking the bank.

A couple things to keep in mind. First is that most of them are carbide brazed or silver soldered onto steel shanks, so the shank may flex a bit more than solid carbide. This could be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Second, center cutting clearance is a little thin. So plunge cuts may not work as well as you expect them to. I haven't tried them in this mode, but you may want to lead into a cut that isn't a pencil type finish.

Dan

8

CamBam help (General usage) / Not all toolpaths being displayed.

« on: December 16, 2016, 02:54:49 am »

Hi All,

Tried a small 3D pocket the other night. Worked out well, however I noticed not all of the toolpaths were being displayed. When cutting the part there were a lot more moves than were displayed on the screen. I tried increasing the resolution and switched from Y to waterline finish with a very find dept of cut. A lot of data was generated, but only a small amount was displayed.

Are there any settings that may prevent all of the toolpaths from showing up? Or any other hints I should look at?

Thanks!
Dan

9

CamBam help (General usage) / Getting results of $mop.holediameter into string in M command.

« on: March 15, 2015, 16:15:16 pm »

Hi,

I'm trying to set up a standard CB file, with a lot of the common MOP's I use. The idea is that these mops will be there to copy to a new project when I run into the same operation again. This is useful for hole drilling in particular.

In my standard hole drilling MOP's, I use an M command for the flashcut CNC controller. The command is M00, and pauses machine operation and outputs string in a textbox on the controller. It's very useful for user reminders, etc. In the drilling commands, I put this in the 'Custom MOP Header", as a reminder to change the tool in the drill chuck as necessary. 

However, I'd like to concatenate the results of $mop.holediameter into the string.

For example, my current header is:
G30 P2 Z0
G30 P3 X0 Y0
M00 "Put x drill in the chuck."

G30 is used to move the mill to a tool change location, and the M00 tells me to put tool x to put in the chuck.

It would be really nice if I could get the results of the concatenated string:
M00 "Put " & $mop.holediameter & " drill in the chuck",

Thus that the result is:
M00 "Put .125 drill in the chuck".




Now, that question asked. The actual tool change command has not been fired. If I mill with one cutter, drill a bunch, then mill with the same cutter again, the drill chuck could be left in the machine. I'm looking for a good way to resolve that potential issue.

I'm not sure how the best way to fix that is. It may be best to add a tool high up in my tool table, called 'drill chuck' or similar. That way my 'standard' drill mops would be set up for that tool, and would fire the tool change command.

Any suggestions on either of these issues?

Thanks!
Dan

10

CamBam help (General usage) / Keep Getting Error, "Style not Found".

« on: March 13, 2015, 22:44:35 pm »

I  keep getting style not found error, even if I start a new drawing. I Wonder if I'm missing some sort of default style, or something.

Also, when I pick a milling style, the tool diameter is not looked up in the tool table. It just stays at zero. This used to work, but just quit one day. Hasn't worked since.

Anyone have any ideas where to start?

Attached is my style XML.

Thanks~
Dan

11

CamBam help (General usage) / Tool diameters won't load from too table...

« on: December 07, 2014, 22:13:30 pm »

Hi All,

So, I fired up cambam today to mill a few quick things, and for no apparent reason it keeps throwing a error about not being able to find style ". Can't figure out what style is missing, they all appear to be there.

Then, it won't load tool diameters from the tool table. If I pick a tool to mill with, the diameter remains zero...

Any idea where to look?


CamBam plus [0.9] Rel 8N
CamBam.CAD : 0.9.4878.23990
CamBam : 0.9.4878.23992
Build Date : 5/10/2013 2:19:40 PM
Framework Version : 2.0.50727.5485

Win 7 64bit pro.

Dan

12

Members Machines / New Router: Mach3 / Smoother stepper - Suck

« on: April 28, 2014, 01:23:14 am »

Well,

Starting to get the new router table running. Was using an optical centering scope to square the gantry and learned of a Major flaw in Mach3/Smooth stepper.

It turns out that if you Jog an axis with the shift key down, and let up on the shift key before the jog key, the axis keeps going. Nothing short of an E-stop will stop it.  Found this out while moving the Z axis down with my several hundred dollar centering scope installed. Yep, smashed my scope. The only thing it's good for now is the trash can! After a little research, this turns out to be a well known bug. It appears that many motion control boards suffer with this problem. However in about a year of knowledge of this bug, no one has fixed it yet. 

Let me not forget that also today, mach/smooth stepper at random decided to move only one of my axis's without moving the slave axis (when everything has been working fine for hours), thus torquing the gantry. Also a separate time when jogging few jog steps, it decided to slowly start moving several axes at once. There are times at random won't load G code files correctly, with a reboot required to fix the issue. I'm not impressed.

Overall, I'm kicking myself for not spending the few extra dollars for a Flashcut board. Yeah, Flashcut has had a few bugs too, but as soon as I report one I get a response with fixed code back. It's a lot more stable, a lot more responsive, and doesn't look like my 5 year old designed the screen with a box of crayola crayons.

I'm real close to shooting a couple of .45 holes in that damned smooth stepper board, smashing it with a hammer and calling flashcut. I've never been so disappointed with anything I've spent money on before. In my opinion Mach3 is bug ridden garbage software. Now I know why they've had to spend years writing mach 4 from scratch, they have nothing but junk to start with. We've had some issues with USB smooth stepper. It's hardware shows promise, and I believe it's crippled by Mach3. Maybe mach 4 will make it a worth while board. 

Anyone else have similar feelings about Mach3? Or is it just that an EE with 15 years of PC programming and electronics hardware development experience isn't smart enough to figure out a simple software package! 

Dan

13

CamBam help (General usage) / Problem profile...

« on: March 17, 2014, 11:06:34 am »

Hi All,

Have a profile that is supposed to be a finishing pass in a pocket. The problem is that it starts the lead in on the outside of the pockets, not the inside. I think it's a closed pocket, and mills fine as a pocket. However a tangential lead in starts outside the pocket when doing a profile finish cut.

I did test moving the start point, and that changed the lead in to the inside of the pocket. Seems like this shouldn't change anything, but it does. (Put a start point in between the pockets to try it) 

I'm sure I'm missing something simple here. I thought a profile on the 'Inside' of a pocket would start the lead in on the inside of the part.

Any ideas?

Dan

14

CamBam help (General usage) / Small mills, non centercutting, spiral angle.

« on: February 06, 2014, 17:15:18 pm »

Hi all,

I picked up some small carbide mills (1/64") for a pretty good price. However these are not center cutting. I looked at them under a microscope, and there is some small amount of clearance in the middle. I'm tempted to try some small pockets or engraving with them anyway. I'd imagine if  I can get them to depth, the'll be fine. The question is how small of a ramp angle should I start with. I'm sure 5 degree would be too steep. Maybe 1 degree or something silly.

My concern is the engraving MOP's don't have a lead move, do they? I was thinking about using a profile mop with a roughing clearance set to -1/2 the tool diameter.

Has anyone tried a really shallow angle for plunging non center cutting mills. I've done it with larger mills, but these usually had a center hole drilled in the middle of the bottom, so there was some cutting edge while moving down a spiral ramp of 5 degrees or so).

I hated to pass these up, they were about 1/5th price of what I'm used to seeing for mills this size...

Dan

15

Members Machines / New router.

« on: February 05, 2014, 19:41:39 pm »

Hi

Started a new project with my Dad. We're working on a 3 axis router table.

The target is to be able to work on a 48" by 48" piece. The table base is now mostly welded together, and is made from a 4"x4"x.25 square tube for weight and rigidity. We're going to add some more iron to hold the table. The legs will be 3" angle, and will be bolted to the inside corners of the square tube. We plan to tie the legs together with  3/4" plywood or similar. Probably use that space for storage as well.

The two long sides of the table, where the gantry slides will mount are parallel to better than .003" over 48", which is probably close enough. However, we're trying to figure out how to make the two slide rails parallel in two planes. One direction is good now, but the other is still up in the air. I have access to a large steel bed plate at work, and we may use that to gauge the rails when we mount them. (It's the flattest thing I have access to.) 

Anyone have any ideas for checking parallelism between two round bars. Again, one plane is pretty close. The other is an unknown.

Dan