"... got any opinions?"
See if this opens your mind a little to what is possible when you have
full graphical editing control over your toolpath. Lucky for you I just
happened to see this in the Rhino newsgroup and think this guy is a
fucking genius ;>)
"In my opinion if CAM toolpaths were real Rhino geometry RhinoCAM would
be in a position that even much more expensive CADCAM programs are not.
For serious production milling where multi-part, multi-pallet,
multi-vise machining is the norm when change occurs it can be pure hell
if the user does not have *full graphical control* over the toolpath.
Without a doubt full graphical control over the toolpath is what has
kept many machining job shops in the Phoenix, Arizona area using an
outdated program like SmartCAM which for many years received no
updates. The reason SmartCAM is still widely used in serious production
machining job shops in the Phoenix, Arizona area is that SmartCAM was
built from the ground up to handle change. The authors of SmartCAM
accomplished this by giving the user full graphical editing control
over the toolpath. Most CADCAM programs today don't handle change very
well and give the user little or no control over the toolpath.
In SmartCAM you can use all the geometry creation, editing, grouping,
sorting, etc. tools for toolpath. In fact, geometry becomes toolpath in
SmartCAM when you give geometry a toolpath property.
If I could only get one improvement in RhinoCAM then toolpaths being
real Rhino geometry would without a doubt be what I would want. Just
doing this would give a CAM program that runs inside Rhino a massive
leg up on just about any mid-priced (Gibbs, FeatureCAM, MasterCAM,
SurfCAM, EdgeCAM, etc.)CADCAM product.
The following was posted to the Usenet newsgroup alt.machines.cnc by a
"Smarmy Dolt" some years ago and shows just how totally frustrated many
production machining job shops are with their lousy CAM choices:
"Hey,Here's a bug-a-boo that's tripped-up all the CAM systems I own and
the ones I have demoed to replace the ones I own. The situation boiled
down to one tool. The reality of it is two pallets, 10 double vices, 20
Work Coordinate Systems (G54x) and 28 tools: Pallet-1 The Front.Tool
One tool cuts on three different fixtures. Each fixture has a different
part in it. Each Fixture has its own Work Coordinate System. G54, G55,
G56 Pallet-2. The Back - Physically a duplicate setup of Pallet 1. The
same tool with the same H/H or H/D offsets cuts on three different Work
Coordinate Systems. G57, G58, G59.
A) I want to be able to do the work of generating motion on the front
pallet only. Complete. Then have the CAM allow me to duplicate the
motions on the back pallet using different Work Coordinate systems. The
CAM system must know that the edits to the operations of tool 1(front)
must be automatically applied to wherever the same Tool One operation
was dropped. I'm lazy and feel that the CAM should let me tweak the
feeds for the front pallet and have the back follow suite. That is,
drop the "motion" on the back pallet from the front and have any
eventual edits to Tool One's feed rate and cutting motion update the
back pallet "duplicate" as well the front pallet "original".
B) The Work Coordinate Systems must be changeable by Windowing. I'm not
going to edit 24 tools on 20 WCS through 120 ops. I'm just not.
C) The tools must be sortable by Pallet and Tool number. Let us not
forget that Tool One gets used on Pallet1 *and* Pallet2 but with an
intervening pallet swap. Nothing worse that watching a CAM system sort
by tool and see Tool One rapid through the door of the CNC to work on
the back pallet that just happens to be three feet in -X overtravel.
D) There will be no cutting and there will be no pasting of g-codes - I
don't need the practice. The code - no matter how it *looks* - will
come out of the CAM system and go into the control. I will then touch
off the tools and fixtures and push the Cycle Start button.
E) There will be no custom macro that, I am assured, will work most of
the time if my cutting situations stay "relatively" the same."
Not Your Uncle Bob
Not In Seattle, WA"
Jon Banquer
Phoenix, Arizona