RE MAXNC, light machines, EMCO MAIER,BOBCAD and beta interface test

I have several CNC machines here, and first let me say trying to solve any
thing in this remote Alaskan Village has been exponentially harder than any
of you might experience. Who can I ask for help??.My approach has been to
buy things off Eaby and try to force account my way through them, random
sampling of tols, books, software ad naueuum infiniitum......I was so
excited to have been guided to this qroup two days ago that I have'nt been
to bed in two days just reading and following links to information. Wow this
is a great group, hope I can catch up/on.

back to the types of machines I have and use,

I have two running CNC5 lathes, two more for parts, I just recieved and set
up a F1 CNC which I hope will allow me to stop the travel to Seattle to have
special fixtures made. There are certain things that I do not believe I am
capable to make manually on lathe or milling machine. Wire EDM and CNC are
the only options for certain complex shapes. True one might be able to
whittle out one single part but I am not capable of producing ellipses on a
lathe in a single operation, single set up.

Then I have a MAXNC controller which I had intended to use to run one of the
5 sherline machines I have as dedicated machines, one is a microkinetics,
simple basic lathe, I intended to set up for roughing out the turning stock
and finally the center piece of my home shop is a Light Machines sherline
that has at least one of every accessory in the big sherline catalog. There
are extra spindle bearings, a spare tailstock,adjustable live centers,
drill arbors you name it. It came with a complete computer,monitor,
keyboard,mouse,the light machines controller, fists full of tooling, boring
bars, quick change tool posts.Regular tool posts precision ground so the
tool is alwasy at correct center height. I boought is on EBAY for $3,000
thinking it would be the sltion t all the rlems, kind of like aminiature CNC
shopsmith:^)

I have managed to accumulate so much equipment that I think I could make
anything I will ever concieve of or need if i was machinist enough. I didn't
even mention the mulitple south bend manual lathes,Rusnok Benchtop Milling
machines, sanders, gang drill presses etc.

The point of this whole brag is that I am not bragging but leading up to
explain that in my quest to find solutions to a freindly cadcam software for
dummies I had to buy all this to get the one or two pieces in between that
would finish at least one machine for me so I could make the small guitar
parts that is my real business. It is amazing that less than a year I have
Ammassed what resembles the power tool section of a Sharper Image level Pawn
Shop and I still am not able to produce one ellipse on any of these machines
by CNC. I cannot even draw one that is to the specifications of the blue
print I was issued two years ago. I still do those parts by hand. So ....

I theorize that the MAXNC controller can be hooked up in series via RS 232
cable and used as a simple connector between the EMCO and a PC, then
whatever is sent to the PC via G66 will pick up the missing information in
passing through so that the EMCCO proprietary programs sizzled into the
eproms ( I found that board by the way whoever it was asked if I had an
extra, any idea what they cost?) can be used with any real/normal program,
That is what my current project is, Finding some way to make EMCO machines
behave like real CNC machines.

It would be much simpler if someone sent BOBCAD or Gecko or Delta Cad even
turbo, a copy of the F1 CNC software and had their tech people write the
appropriate config file to add to their drop down lists of controllers. Then
a fool like me could have an on line yard sale, all this wonderful tooling
cluttering my shop could get redistributed into the hands of deserving
hobbiests and I could get get my Ebay moneys back into PAYPA for another
roind or two while I am back working again.

This is meant as half humor half lobbying, If enough of us wrote to
support@... and requested they set up a drop down menu for Emco MAIER
F1 CNC they would do it for us, They have peole on staff who do write post
processor stuff all day long, it would take them 1/2 a day and the thing
would be done and right!! No homemade excell spread sheet/worsd/MS
PAINT/notepad software thanks anyway. And all of us could have a nice
manageable software program that behaves itsef and will run these now
obsolete machines. yup, I know i have a funny way of writing but it keeps
things from getting too dry and boring. If there are really 1600 members on
this group lets assume 60% actually own and use EMCO MAIER CNC5's/F1 CNC. If
25% would like a user freindly REAL cad/cam software program then get one
person on this list who owns the F1 software, to write me I wlil buy a copy
and send it with a CNC5/F1 Manual to Glenn the service technician at BOBCAD
and within a month we will all have a software program custom written to
run EMCO MAIR CNC5 machines from windows, it might cost first time users the
cost of bobcad but I think if BoBCAD becomes aware of how many customers we
are and are out here ready to buy we can negotiate a Group Purchase Price.
Those who aready own BBCAD will be able to download a patch on their website
as a free download to registered users of version 17.0. Naturally this is
altheory since I don't work for BobCAD or any of ther others mnetioned but
it is my exoerience that These types of propostions do fly. If someone will
sel me the F1 software then no one has a thing to lose excpet me, and If it
works Evryone on the kist wind=s , B=Nw Enmco might not like ths too much
becase it will compete a little with the sales of new PC turn 55's. Myself I
like the layut f the the CNC5, I olike the fact it is self contained and I
thnk they would have been miles ahead just buiding a better comuter
architecure to accomdate more modern software, We all know the basic problem
with e machine is not the klathe or harware, it is sad it is being run on an
8086 computer and most contemporary CACAM software require a minimum of a
pentium class machnie.

If someone will send me the F1 software from EMCO I will pay the initial set
up fee myself to bobcad for writing the config post. It has to be cheaper
than the $3,000 EMCO wants for their software which I imagine is just as
goofy as the CNC5 software. ANYONE wants a free copy of version one for CNC5
I wl give it t you, be forewrned, this disk came with an anti cmos virus and
i have never been able to get rid of it. It is harmless I think it makes the
screen say eat me or soemthing bt isn't the kind of virus that uses up
memory or wrecks stuff. I just can;t get it off the disk so I write protect
it and ive with it THe replacement disk also had a boot sector virus on it
but it did get cleaned up before I ran it, They had this neat trick that
after installing the software when you hit finish once the computer rebooted
it automatically erased the exe files on the install files makimg it
impossible to copy the software to another disk or giving it away. All we
need is a EMCO specific software program that actually works and looks on
screen like normal software.

Oaky that is all for now, I will try and keep future posts shorter and on a
topic. This is a first pitch, I am selling off lots of excess lathes and
milling machine tooling/stuff for the home shop machinists and I am trying
to get a group to gang up on BOBCAD to write one small macro file to let us
use their software easily. I will respond all who write, I have phitos of
al the equipment I am surplusing out, it would help me out tremendously to
get rid of it at the cheap prices i paid on ebay. So get them letters
coming in here, I have my flame retardandt suit from the last list I was on
where I got flamed a lot for spelling and syntax, grammar errors, The
decoder ring for my typo errors will be under option, other,tool. J0hn

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