BOB CAD

[Dave_C]

I'll update some issues with V27 I have found already!

Post come out in Radius only, no Diameter! (They are working on it)

Lots of crashes with the 64 bit version if I do something the program does not want, which we beginners do often!

The 32 bit version boots with a script error that I have to turn off or it keeps popping up. It has to do with BOBCAD Live.

I got three arcs in a POST that had no arcs anywhere on the drawing. (They have not figured that one out yet)

I'm really impressed with the DVD training videos. Well done and detailed, not too fast and lots of them to choose from. So the learning curve is not as steep as I once thought it might be.

Apparently I can't make square groves like you do using the Torus. Must have to draw them manually?

I'll keep you all posted on the progress,

Dave C.

[DICKEYBIRD]

Sounds like you're getting there Dave!

I forget, are you using Mach3? If so, weird arc problems can be caused by the IJ Mode setting in the General Config screen. I had trouble getting "crop circles" and had to switch mine to "Absolute" IJ Mode and check the "Reversed Arcs in Front Post" box in the Ports & Pins/Turn options screen. I have no clue why but searching for Mach3 crop circles unearthed posts where many others had the same issue.

This info only applies if there are fillets or arcs (no matter how small) in your CAD drawing.

Hope this helps!

[Dave_C]

Milton,

The problems I am having is the POST having arcs in them when there were none on the drawing or in the tools paths. Tech support just replied and said they did not know why it was doing it and gave me some line about going into the POST processor and editing line 255 to change arcs to straight lines then back if I want to cut arcs on the next project.

NO way! That is not a solution. I will be sending the product back for a full refund as they admit they can't make it work for Mach 3 Lathe any other way.

Well, it was fun while it lasted!

Dave C.

[DICKEYBIRD]

Hi Dave,

Lathe CAM is apparently a very difficult thing! One would think that there's more than enough Mach users around to warrant B/CAD fixing up a solid P/P for Mach.

I spent a lot of time this weekend getting my head around Dolphin Lathe & Mach. I had a heckuva frustrating time with it but in the end it was like most things that have to do with me & software. It does exactly what you tell it to do.

I had trouble importing my TurboCAD .dxf's into Dolphin but finally figgered that out....then it was getting the little 4mm Micro-100 carbide boring bar in & out of a 4mm hole without crashing into the other side of the hole....then getting it to run the roughing cut without the little bar digging in & over cutting which messed up the finish cut. I later figured out that many of the problems had to do with chips jamming between the bar & the hole causing tool flex & digging in. In the end I finally got a usable part; yay! At least the Dolphin diameter mode P/P for Mach worked great with my v10. I've read about some P/P problems with v12 but I'm sure they'll fix that

[Dave_C]

Quick update:

BobCad sales will tell you to take the software, try it and if you don't like it you have 45 days to return it. Not true! The only way they will take it back is if they determine they can not make it work on your machine. Now the devil is in the details of who gets to decide if their fix is a fix or a workaround that you will have to do every time you use the software.

In my case, they can not make the arcs cut correctly unless I uncheck "reverse arcs in front tool post". Sounds simple but that makes all of my other wizards and software not work correctly.

So it looks like I'm stuck with it unless I go to a lot of trouble and it just ain't worth it!

On the up side, the training DVD's were pretty good and I am able to do the cam part to some degree. Not advanced, but adequate!

However, I ran this drain basket that I am making for the lathe without using BobCad. I just used the wizards in Mach 3 for the entire project.

I still need to drill the 6 holes in the top ring and thread them, but not today.

Dave C.

[DICKEYBIRD]

Wow, that's beautiful Dave; kudos. I'll bet you made a pile of swarf!

Is it in Mach that you have to uncheck reverse arcs in front tool post?

[Dave_C]

Milton,

Yes, it is in Mach 3. (ports and pins, turning options tab)

One nice thing about the swarf was that it was all in the form of little C's and 9's. I've pretty much changed out all of my tooling to proper CNC type tools, thanks to Glen's advice. Before that I made a lot of long tangled ribbons that would bird nest easily.

I started out with a 5.5" x 3" chunk of aluminum and took most of it away.

I could have used the flood tank for this turn for sure. The part got pretty warm by the time I made all of those passes!

I think it will work,

Dave C.

[DICKEYBIRD]

I got some more time with Dolphin yesterday and darned if I didn't have a very similar problem with its P/P or Mach or?? I know this is off the topic of BobCAD but I thought it oddly coincidental that it has about the same problem you're having.

The attached pics show what Mach does on the 1st roughing pass of an internal turning job. the little pentagon at the end of the pass is supposed to be a short arc back to the clearance point and a retraction like all the other passes. The other pic shows the toolpath in Dolphin...no arcs generated. When the job is actually running it's does a tiny little circular move which makes a small gouge in the work. All the other passes are perfect, just the 1st one screws up. This is with the reversed arcs in front toolpost box unchecked in Mach. If I check the box, the little arc shows up at the end of every pass! That's what I thought previously was tool flex/dig-in or swarf jamming...NOT!

I'll make a second profile in Mach & call it Dolphin (or whatever) with the box unchecked so I don't have to change the config every time, just remember to click on Dolphin to run jobs created by it. Hopefully I can get to the bottom of why the 1st pass screw up; if not I'll have to edit that one line.

So far all external work including arcs has been perfect, only internal work is screwy.

[Dave_C]

Milton,

I feel so much better now Well at least to know that I am not the only one who runs into problems.

Thanks for the post and the pics.

Dave C.

[DICKEYBIRD]

Most everything I do in the CNC world runs into problems.

Like the attached pic. That's what I was getting before the Mach config change. Kinda pretty in its own screwed up way.

[Mid Day Machining]

I had a seat of BOBCAD V23, and I spent so much time griping about it on line that Al DePaolo sent me 2 seats of V25. I couldn't make that work either.

Perhaps I should explain. I am a former owner of a real CNC shop where I had a FADAL 3016 a Haas TM1 CNC milling machine and a heart attack. Now, I have a Tormach PCNC 1100 in my garage.

I made a serious attempt to learn the BOBCAD software, but when I had my shop, I used GibbsCam, I had a little over $18,000.00 invested in my GibbsCam when I sold my shop, and the new owner wanted to use Mastercam. I don't understand why. So I brought my GibbsCam home with me.

I fought with the BobCad for close to 2 years, before I finally gave up and threw it in the trash.

I call myself Mid Day Machining now because I seldom start working before 11:00 AM, and I always finish between 4:00 and 6:00 PM.

[Dave_C]

Mid Day Machining,

Well, I've reached the same conclusion. I've called it quits with Bob-Cad/Cam and will never use it.

I worked with tech support until my support ran out! Then they won't have anything to do with helping you even though they never fixed their product problems from day one.

Here is what I found:

Bob Cad would work on projects without any arcs and worked pretty well. But when arcs were involved I had to turn off "Reverse Arcs in front tool post" but I found later that not to work as well.

The last drawing I tried to Post to Mach 3 was a simple radius cut into the end of a 5.5" bar. The code ran fine until the finish pass and then the arcs were large circles outside of the part stock. This has to be a Bob-Cad issue since the rough passes made their arcs in the proper direction.

So, total waste of time and money!

Buyers beware!

Dave C.