[CanAm1]

Hello,

I am trying to engrave the word "Sweetpea" and everything appears to be working until I load the g code into mach3. The last letter has lost about a third of it's right side. I have tried different size fonts and they all do it.
I do not know if this is a cambam issue or a mach3 problem. The text wizard in mach3 works fine that's why I am suspecting cambam.


Thanks in advance

Mark

[10bulls]

Hi Mark,

Does the toolpath view look complete in CamBam? If you hide the layer with the text it should be easier just to see just the toolpath.

If the toolpath looks OK in CamBam, the only thing I could think that may be the problem is if you are running Mach3 in evaluation mode and it is cutting off at the 500 lines limit. If you go Help - About in Mach it should tell you whether Mach is registered or in evaluation mode.

I hope this helps. If not, feel free to upload a file and I will investigate.

Hello,

I am trying to engrave the word "Sweetpea" and everything appears to be working until I load the g code into mach3. The last letter has lost about a third of it's right side. I have tried different size fonts and they all do it.
I do not know if this is a cambam issue or a mach3 problem. The text wizard in mach3 works fine that's why I am suspecting cambam.


Thanks in advance

Mark

[CanAm1]

10Bulls,

Thank you for your input.

After reading your response I looked at the file in Mach3 and it shows there are only about 300 lines. I went ahead and loaded the nc file back into cambam and how about that, it is cutoff just like mach3 is showing. I then loaded the cambam file (not the NC file) into cambam and generated the tool paths and things look fine. It looks like when cambam generates the g code it cuts things off.

I have to admit that being a fledgling CNCer I wasted quite a few of my cambam evaluations and now am running it in “things are shut down mode”. Still being an infant at this stuff I am slowly getting more adept at it. I have looked at several other programs that are similar to cambam and am pretty sure I am going to stick with cambam. Just have to figure out a way to spring the cost on the other half. Actually the wifey spoils me pretty well, so it should not be a problem.

Thanks

Mark

[blowlamp]

If you are running CamBam version 0.9.7 and you made the file after the 40th evaluation, then you could have run into its 300 lines of code limit - see this snip here from the latest documentation for 0.9.8 "...When the evaluation period has expired, the number of gcode lines allowed to be produced has increased from 300 to 500 lines...". So you might get it working OK in 0.9.8 if you're not using it already.

You could post the .cb file here (zipped) for someone to check as well.

If you let us know which other programs you're looking at, we'll let you know why you should get CamBam .

Martin.

[CanAm1]

Martin,

I currently have Cambam 0.9.7 running. I had read somewhere that one had 40 evaluations before goodies started shutting down. Honest to God I only got right around 10 before notices started popping up and items started to not work. When I get a chance I'll load in 0.9.8 and see how things go.
Right now I'm on my desktop that is hooked up to the router. I am setting up a profile on this computer to where it shuts all the rif-raf down when I'm milling. My laptop has all the down loads of other cam programs, so I'll have to fire it up and make a list of the other software.

Thanks for the advice.

Mark

[CanAm1]

Hello again..

I finally made it to my laptop and the following are a few of the programs I was looking at:

CamBam
Google Sketchup
CNC4Free
Creo Elements
FreeMill

Plus a couple others I can’t seem to find…

I do have to admit that CamBam is what I have tinkered around with the most and am "very slowly" learning my way through things..

Thanks for all the advice.

Mark

[blowlamp]

Mark.
Sketchup is good, but there are a few that are better suited for use with CAM programs. You usually need something that can export DXF files for 2D work and I don't think Sketchup does that without a plugin. Solid Edge 2D and Draftsight 2D are both free and quite powerful and are used by many I think.

Creo Elements appears to have a basic starting price of around $5000 and seems to go up in $5000 stages too!

The other free software you mention is stuff that I haven't used myself, but I'm given to understand that it is pretty capable but a bit harder to use/learn. However, anything that is free and usable is certainly welcomed by me.

Some other CAM software you come across may look prettier in some respects, but CamBam's powers run very deep and when it comes to getting the job done is up there amongst the best of them.

Martin.

[CanAm1]

Martin,

Thanks for your input.
I finally got things to work with CamBam. It looks like the shutting off of goodies continues.... multiple processes now.
So, I did up 3 seperate g codes and then stitched them together. Worked like a charm, but is a slight pain in the you know what.. although it is a great learning experience it would be nice to just have the program do it all.....
I guess I am getting close to plunking my bucks down for an official Cambam license..

Mark

[CanAm1]

Hello All,

Update, after talking to the Wifey, she said go for it, so I bit the bullet and purchased a license for both CamBam and Mach3..... Hopefully my issues with code being cutoff are over with........
Since I'm basically a full blown beginner, I will probably be back with a lot more questions...

Thanks again..

Mark