Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: BobCAD/CAM v.s. Dolphin CAD/CAM

Fred,
I think I may understand Johns whole point here..... It comes down to the
TOTAL separation of what exactly consists of the part drawing and the
generated toolpaths. Case in point: Clean pocket. "clean pocket" sure looks
like it works exactly like the old bobcad. If you select a circle in your
drawing without offsetting a line to represent 1/2 the diameter of the
tooling you want to use, It uses the parts circle line as a toolpath.

Clean Pocket is probably not the best point because I well know that most
other areas in regards Vectors pocketing DO create their own offset toolpath
line and leave the part drawing totally alone. It is one area to use caution
though !

I too feel that there are times where the direction arrows are annoying. It
probably would not take much to add a mechanism to allow one to display them
only when desired. Consider CorelDraw. While drawing something, "home and
end" nodes are irrelevant and unseen though they are being registered. Yet,
if and when desired, using the other line edit tool and "highlighting" an
entity does show you which is Home and which is End. Similarily, Vector has
two "pick tools" just like Corel. Maybe when you pick an entity with the
"Edit node" version tool, THEN the arrow lines could display.

Most of this should be accomplished as an option. If a machinist absolutely
wants to dictate every lines direction in his part drawing, he turns that
option on, and subsequently benefits from his input; what cuts first, what
direction etc. But for the others who simply rely on the fact that if the
software is correctly creatinging relatively safe code as far as direction,
Who cares! Create Code ! I have noticed that Vector DOES create the code in a
very trustworthy manner as long as the entity your creating it from is
"closed" and correct.

Get a copy of Signlab to Study. It works similar to the Corel example but one
only needs to double click on a toolpath to edit it. One would typically Draw
a rectangle, highlight it, and select the pocket tool. Pick your tool from
the library, add the depth, depth per pass, final pass depth, pick "climb" or
"conventional" milling (this dictates final direction along edges), pick
"type" of pocket routine (lots of them), pick the tool overlap, Pick if you
want a finish pass and how much, select how much to overcut or leave IF you
select "inlay", even an excess "Glue" pocket on the outside edge for inlay
work, select OK. Instantly the toolpaths were created on screen, Original
object NOT touched. But, now, double click on the toolpath. NOW the toolpath
shows the arrows of cut direction and the stop/start points. You can now
Right click any toolpath node to change direction, change Z depth, change
start stop point, change or add lead-ins and even add "bridges" to hold the
part in place for cutting loose later. You can also change any portion of the
toopath to a different color, allowing you to selectively "cut by color" in
order of prefered code creation.

I guess my ultimate point would be: I wonder why when some company sets out
to develop a new program, they sometimes refuse to look at the competition ?
I would gather all of the greatest of techniques, Pound away at the current
offerings to find their strong points and weak points. I would scour the NG's
to find out common complaints, common "likes" and see if I could excell in
those areas. Then I would identify what I could use without facing legal
action and then apply it to the program.

Then on the other hand, when they have a really old outdated method, why be
so afraid to make it better ? Oh, ya I know, because "we always did it this
way and it works". We used to plow with horses. It worked too. But, Sometimes
you just need to move forward. If stubborn people never died, we would still
plow with horses because tractors are unecessary.

One may say that there is not one universal best way. Well, I think if they
start with a CAD program that follows Ashlars methods of drawing, Who could
argue with that ? I would like to see a much simpler toolpath generation
technique and the ability to edit that path when and if necessary, and also
dictate "order" and what I want to cut and when much like SignLab.

I do agree that Vector DOES sort out, and automaticaly fix and order lines.
As an added benefit, you can manually chose them in the order you want. I
have noticed this with the few toolpaths and code I have created so far. I do
need to get a grip on the variables I can place to create the code the way I
want it. Right now, whatever I changed in those setup windows causes it to
ask a feedrate for every line. I brought in that fancy demo 4AXWire thing and
I must have to hit the enter key for feedrate question a couple of hundred
times ! I will figure it out, I am sure it works the way i want !

I am pretty confident that Vector will continue to advance. That is THE most
important thing for any software developer. Listening and making every change
possible that will suit the majority of its users will keep the software on
the desktop.


Chris L

> --- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., "stevenson_engineers" <machines@n...>
> wrote:
> > Yes that's fine Fred I understand that now.
>
> No you don't
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