Cam expert

Use this forum to ask questions about how to do things in CAM Expert.

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jimhurlburt
Newbie Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:59 am
Location: Yakima, WA USA

Cam expert

Post by jimhurlburt » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:24 am

I have been using q-cad for several years, both a purchased copy and the community version. I find it quite useful and have done a fair amount of work with it -- mostly hobby model machine design.

I use G-code a fair amount and thought cam expert would be worth a try.

I need better documentation. What little there is on line assumes too much previous knowledge at best.

I am most willing to rtfm if I had any notion of where to find one. Even a purchased manual if you have useful suggestions.

I installed and opened the demo. created a simple drawing. A circle with a leadin and leadout line. The leadin connects to the circle near the top, a bit to the left of center and goes off to the left an inch or so. The leadout connects near the top of the circle, a bit to the right and goes off an inch or two to the right.

This is approximatly what I would do with hand coded g-code to machine an outside circle.

Saved the drawing. Just the same as usual. Then I try to set the cut order. The g-code should start at the left end of the lead in line. Move to the tangent point on the circle. Go around the circle clockwise, a bit more than 360 degrees to clean up the end of the cut then pick up the leadout line at the tangent point and follow it out to the end.

When I try to order the entites then run the simulation, the order starts at the circle end of the lead in, goes to the outer end. Then follows the circle clockwise, as it should, then goes to the outer end of the leadout and cuts back to the circle.

Questions
What is the meaning of the different g-code options on the machine dropdown?
Where can I find documentation sufficent to modify the machine files?
Or, perhaps background study to understand the meaning of the existing documentation?

What is the meaning of clearance in this context.
I have no clue what "support layers" might mean here.
Likewise "Factor"

I'll try this set and see what I can do with the response.

Thanks in advance. If I can make this work, I'm willing to spend the $200+

Jim Hurlburt

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andrew
Site Admin
Posts: 9019
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:07 am

Post by andrew » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:10 am

You can find the CAM Expert user manual on our web site at:
http://www.ribbonsoft.com/camexpert_doc.html

It also comes with every package of CAM Expert (including the trial version). Chapter 5 talks about machine configuration files.

To get started with configuring a machine type, I recommend looking at the gcode.cxm configuration that comes with CAM Expert, make a copy of that and start from there.

DanielWenger
Registered Member
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2010 1:58 am

gcode.cxm file

Post by DanielWenger » Wed Mar 17, 2010 2:14 am

I recently puchased CAM Expert. Attempting to generate a machine def. file. I can find no gcode.cxm file on my machine.

Please help.

Thank you.

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andrew
Site Admin
Posts: 9019
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:07 am

Post by andrew » Wed Mar 17, 2010 8:37 am

DanielWenger: if you are using Mac OS X, please note that the machines folder is inside the application bundle. To show the folder, please proceed as follows:

- Locate the CAM Expert application in finder.
- Right-click (or Ctrl-click) on the CAM Expert icon.
- From the context menu, choose "Show Package Contents".
- Finder opens a new window with the contents of the so called application bundle. There you can find the machines folder. Note that the application bundle is a regular folder and the files inside are normal, editable files. Finder simply hides this structure from you.

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