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[Matt Ribble]

If you guys can get your hands on it and some basics that go with it PowerMill is outstanding.

Easy, easy, easy to follow, no clutter. Absolutely not a CAD software, purely cam. Can't say enough good things compared to mastercam/gibbs/etc


I'll try to get some screenshots/tutorials up in the near future.

[ApoC_101]

Well my tooling order for the Hardinge finally came in a couple days ago, for some reason they gave me the upgraded model Dorian quickchange toolpost instead of the economy model.... good deal! Just finished re-grinding and sharpening some carbide tools yesterday and got it set up real nice today. Still waiting for my compressed air related order to come in so I can get shop air equipment going

PS Matt, I've also heard good words about Delcam/Powermill. Wish I had the time and machinery to program my own stuff on...

[lexiones]

Originally Posted by broder

I dont understand Gibbs. Here's a little test part I tried to put into Gibbs (made in Solidworks), but it's always on the wrong side! I've tried rotating it, tried moving origo but as you can see in the pic, Y is where Z should be. What am I doing wrong? The grid is suppoed to be on the top
http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/...1/th_gibbs.jpg

Writing G-code by hand is much easier than this IMO, but I guess this will save you time when you learn it.

Select the face that you want your work coordinate sytem on. Then right click and select align to CS. From there you can extract edges and start making a toolpath based off of that.

[tymcneer]

I am reviewing the HSMExpress/Works videos on YouTube. This looks to be *SO* much easier to use than MasterCAM X3.

More on the review, before the trial version runs out.

Ty

[tymcneer]

So... I had some time to tinker with HSMWorks last night... It seems I have to untrain myself from all the bad habits I learned while using MasterCAM X3... I tried to make a simple task too damn difficult, and cost myself a *lot* of time.

In the end, I watched a couple of YouTube videos and discovered I was doing it all wrong. I followed the steps and had gcode in a matter of about 10 minutes!

This morning, I tried the code on the machine, and for the most part it worked great. I need to tweak the start/end code and stop HSM from using G54 offsets... But beyond that , it is AMAZING!

To all of you with Solidworks, check out HSMExpress. It is free! All you have to do is supply them with your SW serial number and fill out a few questions... Download, install and begin producing Gcode!

Pictures, when I am not working on a customers project.

Ty

[lexiones]

Is it as intuitive as SolidWorks is? When I learned SolidWorks I always felt like I was cheating everything was just so straight forward.

[Angelballer]

Originally Posted by tymcneer

This morning, I tried the code on the machine, and for the most part it worked great. I need to tweak the start/end code and stop HSM from using G54 offsets... But beyond that , it is AMAZING!

Ty

How good are you at JavaScript?

Originally Posted by lexiones

Is it as intuitive as SolidWorks is? When I learned SolidWorks I always felt like I was cheating everything was just so straight forward.

It is as straightforward as I think is possible while still letting you do things the way you want to. CAMWorks was the only thing i found easier but only if you let the CAM decide everything. As soon as you wanted to do something your own way, it was like pulling teeth. Honestly, the HSMWorks resellers are excellent about not nagging so try the 30 day trial assuming you have a legit copy of SW.

[broder]

I downloaded the HSMXpress (free version) I and I agree! It's the easiest CAM program I have ever tested! The best thing is that it's integrated to solidworks so you can do changes to the mdoel directly, and milling on "skecthes that doesn't exist" in the model, if you know what I mean. Like sketches painted on the surface.

Do you know if there is any differnce between Xpress and the one you have to pay for? The only thing I couldnt do was solid simulation, atleast what I found.

[Angelballer]

Xpress is 2.5D. Works is 3D. I haven't played around with Xpress to know any other differences though.

[tymcneer]

Angelballer... I know enough javascript to make things happen... Are you looking for a post processor?

Ty