K-CAM program / lathe programming questions
Posted by
Ken Jenkins
on 2000-11-26 20:30:36 UTC
Does anyone have any experience using the K-CAM program offered by
Kellyware [http://www.kellyware.com/%5d? It's written in Visual Basic and is
freeware. Apparently he's found a way around the "WINDOWS issue" by doing
some specific timing tests on the computer it is resident on during intial
setup. It's quite an attractive program in terms of the user interface and
includes .dxf --> gcode conversion and some gcode to cutter path simuation
built in. Hat's off to Kelly for making it available for free. I haven't
actually used it to "make chips" yet as at this stage of my lathe CNC
conversion project the software is ahead of the hardware but I'm using it to
test gcode in order to tune the template I'm setting up in my CAD program.
I've purchased CNCPro and ACE from Yasoft and am using K-CAM at the moment
for gcode sim-runs. I'd be interested in all input from the folks here about
other (FREE) gcode graphical simulators available and if anyone has actually
use K-CAM for machine control and what the results were. Also any tips on
"how to program a CNC lathe vs. a mill". Right now I have set up a
multi-layered template in my CAD program. One layer has the 0,0 home
position and various different colored lines laying out the "playground
area" on the lathe (centerline, usable center-to-center, max cut to depth
with various chucks and holding devices in place, etc, etc.). I have another
layer which allows me to import a scaled scanned graphic (jpeg, gif, tiff,
eps) which I can trace to if desired. The toolpath layer is basically an
unbroken line from 0,0 through all the multiple paths to rough to size and
then multiple passes taking exactly what I want in terms of cut depth, then
extract tool to safe distance and back to home. I export just the toolpath
layer to .dxf and convert to gcode using ACE from YASOFT with it's
prioritize feature. If I keep the toolpath as an unbroken line and convert
my arcs into line segs before export everything seems to go just fine -- at
least in my simulators ;-). Is there an easier/different way to go about
this? Thanks ahead of time.
Ken Jenkins
kjenkins@...
Kellyware [http://www.kellyware.com/%5d? It's written in Visual Basic and is
freeware. Apparently he's found a way around the "WINDOWS issue" by doing
some specific timing tests on the computer it is resident on during intial
setup. It's quite an attractive program in terms of the user interface and
includes .dxf --> gcode conversion and some gcode to cutter path simuation
built in. Hat's off to Kelly for making it available for free. I haven't
actually used it to "make chips" yet as at this stage of my lathe CNC
conversion project the software is ahead of the hardware but I'm using it to
test gcode in order to tune the template I'm setting up in my CAD program.
I've purchased CNCPro and ACE from Yasoft and am using K-CAM at the moment
for gcode sim-runs. I'd be interested in all input from the folks here about
other (FREE) gcode graphical simulators available and if anyone has actually
use K-CAM for machine control and what the results were. Also any tips on
"how to program a CNC lathe vs. a mill". Right now I have set up a
multi-layered template in my CAD program. One layer has the 0,0 home
position and various different colored lines laying out the "playground
area" on the lathe (centerline, usable center-to-center, max cut to depth
with various chucks and holding devices in place, etc, etc.). I have another
layer which allows me to import a scaled scanned graphic (jpeg, gif, tiff,
eps) which I can trace to if desired. The toolpath layer is basically an
unbroken line from 0,0 through all the multiple paths to rough to size and
then multiple passes taking exactly what I want in terms of cut depth, then
extract tool to safe distance and back to home. I export just the toolpath
layer to .dxf and convert to gcode using ACE from YASOFT with it's
prioritize feature. If I keep the toolpath as an unbroken line and convert
my arcs into line segs before export everything seems to go just fine -- at
least in my simulators ;-). Is there an easier/different way to go about
this? Thanks ahead of time.
Ken Jenkins
kjenkins@...