Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Quick and Dirty One-Offs?

Hi Bill,

I use Visual Mill for one-offs and production work but as for the "quick
and dirty" parts I'm not so sure. I've found with CAM if I'm quick -
i.e. I rush things, I usually miss something and either there's a
mistake or a tool hits something undesireable.... It still seems that
if I am designing a part, creating the tool paths, preparing a block of
material and maybe a bit of fixturing, then machining it - it ends up
taking pretty much the whole day after various other work interruptions.

Even with all the simulation tools my CAD and CAM software offers - I
have found I have become a better designer because I work harder to
simplify the designs - before it gets to the shop. That's what saves
time in the end.

As you design and then make a range of different "one-off" parts you
will get better for all your machining projects - including the
production stuff.

I think Jon's comments about using canned cycles such as pocket
routines, etc. and using the DRO and MDI features along with the
handwheels are good ways to save some time. Personally, I almost never
hand code G-Code.

Cheers, Peter

Bill Kichman wrote:

>Let me rephrase....I also want to be able to do multple items, but am
>starting from ground zero, with an Autocad background and am using Mach2 to
>control my machine, and have access to VisualMill. Since Autocad is
>available I probably should learn through that, but it probably makes sense
>to get "down and dirty" with g-codes, manually at first, so I understand
>them well. This is the reason for the original post, I want to learn on a
>sample one-off design and progress to a "production run". Am now collecting
>references to get a bit more knowledgeable with g-codes.
>R. William Kichman, P.E.
>Kichman Engineering Associates
>103 Old Furnace Road
>Cornwall, PA 17016-0643
>tel/fax 717/270-0714
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Charles Hixon" <cehixon@...>
>To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 2:05 PM
>Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Quick and Dirty One-Offs?
>