Hand jive --> CPNC

Ok, time for me to beat the Conversational Programming drum in this
manual machine discussion.

Let me do it by example. My friend Roland has a Lagun Mill with an
AcuRite Mill Power control. He does 2 kinds of work- repairs and
building parts for models from plans in magazines. Neither type of work
comes with CAD drawings, and he has no CAD or CAM software, in fact he
doesnt even have a computer except for the one inside the AcuRite box.

I watched him mill a cylinder head for a motorcycle. The job was to mill
around the head, an irregular shape of about 5 sides. Clamp it down on
the table, make it flat, but no worry about location on the table. Push
the jog buttons until the tool is over the place he wants to start. Push
the 'learn' button so the control remembers this point- dont care what
the coordinates are, just want to remember the point. Jog to the next
point, and hit learn agian. Repeat 4 or 5 times until he has described
the path he wants to cut. Push <home>, then <run> and watch the machine
move the path. If its OK, lower the tool and push again. Job done.

No dimensions, no trig, no CAM, no CAD, just a part done, a happy
customer, and a few folding green notes in Rollies pocket. And no
turning hand wheels. Its faster to hit the jog buttons and have the
table move under servo power. There are handwheels on the machine, but
he hasnt unfolded the handle on one since he got the machine.

So, skip the handwheels, BUT have appropriate software for doing that
kind of simple, one-off part. There is a big place for this kind of work
in many commercial shops, and its the only kind of work a hobby shop is
likely to do.

With the right software you can design the part, and run the job faster
than you can open a CAD package, draw the part, delvelop the tool path,
export the Gcode, load the machine driver program, and run the part.

ron ginger

PS. Yes, I am still tinkering with CPNC, but slowly. To many other
projects in the shop. Im wasting to much time drawing parts and running
Vector Cam and saving files to carry to my cncpro machine to run the
part. Somethings wrong with this picture!