Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Has anybody tried BobCad software?

Robin Szemeti wrote:

>On Sunday 22 February 2004 10:03, stevenson_engineers wrote:
>
>
>
>>Actually Cliff the guy who replied, Mike, owns the company he's not a
>>rep.
>>I can't fault the service I get from this company but more
>>importantly the product.
>>Over on one of the other lists they have also been asking questions
>>about Bobcad, V19 in particular.
>>It appears that there is a print bug in this that won't allow you to
>>print.
>>They know of this but still sell it without a work around other than
>>using a screen capture, [ pause for hoots of maniacial laughter
>>here ....]
>>The first bug fix was pulled off the web site almost immediatly and
>>the second one well over a week later is causing machines to crash.
>>BUT..... they posted " Did you see the enhancements we switched
>>on......."
>>
>>
>
>Has bobcad evolved beyond the basic state it was in when I tried it? .. last
>time I looked at using iot (for simple plasma profiling) all I wanted to do
>was draw a part (say a square with a circular hole in the middle) and have
>BobCAD produce a toolpath correctly offset 0.5mm larger than the square, and
>0.5mm smaller than the internal circle. ALL proper CAM software can do this
>.. can BobCAD?
>

Bobcad/CAM 16.1 certainly does this. It is quirky and unintuitive to the
beginner, but now that I've learned it, it appears to work very reliably.
I do have one part I designed using the 3-D surface stuff that didn't quite
handle the intersection of a sloping arch to a plane. But, when it drew the
toolpath, it was clear what it was going to cut, and I just made it like
that,
as it was only a little off. That is the only place I have seen it make an
error. Otherwise, if I draw it, it will cut it as drawn. There is a
command
to create an offset from an existing chain of lines, arcs, etc.

> I'd have happily accepted it using G41 and G40 to select the
>compensation in the CNC, but ti didn;t seem to have that option either .. and
>to use G41/G40 you would need some form of lead-in generation, which BobCad
>didnt appear to have ...
>
>

I have done this, manually, in cases where I might need to adjust the
final dimensions
due to tool deflection and cutter size.

It would also need M3/M5 words before the contours
to turn the plasma torch on and off ... I couldn't see how that was achieved
either ...

You could probably set up custom g-code commands for this, I think there's
something that allows you to add your own commands when going between
non-cutting and cutting moves.

>.. last tiem I asked I didn;t even get a reply, on the third time of asking I
>was told to 'draw a line around the part and have the toolpath follow that'
>... what about automatic lead-in/lead-out? hmmm ?? .. I can't see any point
>in investgating the 'new 3d version' of BobCAD until they get the very basic
>bits sorted out. As a CAD package it seemed OK, as a CAM package, it didn;t
>seem to have any of the basic functionality I would have expected.
>
>
>

No, it doesn't automatically figure out the lead-in and lead-out points.
But, then
individual CNC controls are so picky about these points, I'd just as
soon do it
manually, anyway. Customer service is non-existant - think of this as
shrink-wrap
software with no phone number.

All the above applies specifically to Bobcad/CAM 16.1 only. The newer
versions may be better or worse.

Jon