[smitty]

What can I say, Mike at Onecnc was the deciding factor for my purchase of the program. I have ZERO experiance with any CAD/CAM, and after running through some of the Tutorials, I actually made something close to what I want to make!
I hope to learn much from this group, as I have been lurking around picking up bits here and there.
Program should be here by the end of the week, and I am off to make parts!
Thanks Mike!!!!
Smitty

[HuFlungDung]

Congrats, Smitty.

You're starting miles ahead of where I did. Now you're going to think this is the way all cadcam's are, but they're not.

What version did you get?

If you've got gritty questions for tech support, check at www.onecnc.net and see what's what.

[wms]

Smitty,

Glad to have you in the group. I hope you love the program as much as I do. I know you will.

Great to have a guy like Micheal at Onecnc on your side. Makes life so much easier.

If you have a quesions or find any neat tricks let us know.

Welcome to the Onecnc family.

[smitty]

Thanks for the warm welcome. I have never owned any kind of CAD/CAM before, so I am a little in the dark, but from what I have read and seen, ONEcnc was the right choice.
Now to learn it is another story!!
I have a part that I make by hand, now I just need to figure out how to draw it!
Thanks again,
Smitty

[Ken_Shea]

Hi Smitty,
Reading your post was like looking into a mirror, I was at the same level of experience as you on cad/cam a big fat ZERO
I am amazed at how much I have learned in such a short period of time, and apart from some expected initial learning curve frustrations OneCNC has actually been fun and I have a hard time staying away from it when I should be taking care of business here at the store.

While OneCNC provides all the friendly support you could want this site and now OneCNC's site is actually where I have learned the most.

Welcome aboard.

Ken

P.S. Ther are a number of guys on this forum, I won't mention any names for fear of causing them a headace from their swelled heads but they are IMO the best.

[smitty]

I only hope that I can learn this program as fast as I need to, I never said I was the brighest bulb in the box!
Anyhow, how do I convert my files to a DXF format. I was using MS word for writing my programs, but now when I save to my floppy, I get nothing but garbage.
Thanks
Smitty

[wms]

Smitty,

Do you mean the programs writen in Ms word to Dxf or the programs drawing in Onecnc to dxf?

[smitty]

Onecnc to DXF.
When I draw my part, and go to save it to disc "A", there is nothing but garbage there.
Like I mentioned before, I wrote all my programs in MS word, and they where DXF files. That is what I am used to, so to convert them to DXF in Onecnc, I have no clue. I just wanted to test out the program against my machine, to verify all was good.
Smitty

[smitty]

My mistake,
I use MS Notepad, not MS WORD.
Sorry about that,
Smitty

[Mortek]

I'm a bit confused here Smitty. Do you draw the part and then save as a DXF and enter the drawing into the machine. Most people draw the part go to the NC cam wizard create the program there, save it as an .NC file and then imput that into the machine.

I think that is why you are seeing garbage because you are saving the drawing not the program.

Ken

[wms]

Smitty,
Two ways:

1) file> save as> then when you get to the folder you want to save it to> at the bottom where it says "save as type", click on the little down arrow and it will open a drop down box > then select DXF. And it will save as a DXF.

2) file > export> DXF

[HuFlungDung]

Smitty, if you have time, go into more detail about the procedure you are using to get from concept to part. I also am confused by what you are telling us that you are doing.

A dxf file is a drawing file, not a text file. Most cnc's run nc code in the form of a text file, but the CAM part of your Onecnc program is what produces this special machine ready form of a text file.

The file type is totally irrelevant, if all you are creating is Gcode, you could call it anything. But a text file is all it is.

A dxf file is typically an Autocad drawing file, and I have heard that there is some stuff in there that you can edit with a text editor, but it is not a general purpose gcode file.

I got my ears on, come on. Over

[Mortek]

Hu, Wms,

Looks like maybe Smitty went to bed. Can you imagine that. What nerve. Doesn't he know all die hard OneCnc men stay up at least half the night.

Ken

[HuFlungDung]

Lol, Mortek, he's not been properly initiated yet. Or maybe he's all tuckered out from a hard day at the hard anvil (smitty= blacksmith where I come from)

[wms]

Well maybe it is half the night were he lives.

And on that note my clock says 12:03, so good night.

[smitty]

Man you guys are tough on rookies!!!
Ok, here I go.
First I am drawing my part from one of Onecnc's demo's. I then generate the "G" code, that is what I am trying to save to disc, so I can take that to my machines in the garage.
But, when I do that, I get nothing usefull. When I go to safe the file to disc, I get a pop up saying "Last line to file"
What exactly does that mean?
Thanks for the help, and I will do my best to prop my eyes open longer!
Smitty

[HuFlungDung]

Smitty, what version of Onecnc are you running? I'm not seeing that problem in the Mill EXPert.

You say you are running the demos? That would be Mill2000 you are looking at? The demo version did not allow saving a program.

Anyway, let us know.

[Mortek]

Smitty,

When you save a program file you get the option of saving as a .cnc , a .tap, a .nc, or a txt file. If you choose the .cnc file all the info configure to show the tool path in onecnc is saved with it. If you choose .tap or .nc the program is saved as a text file ready to go into the machine. Perhaps you are choosing .cnc and this is the garbage you are seeing.

The add last lines to file are lines you setup in your machine configuration to do things like go to z home or give an M5 or M30 command to turn off the program, etc....

If you are using a demo program I don't think you can save a program file. But if you're getting the last lines prompt, you must be able to.

Ken

[Mortek]

I just save a file as a .cnc file, looked at it in notepad like you and I must say, you could get pretty confused at what is there. So I'm sure that you are choosing the .cnc ext. Choose .tap or .nc and you will see the code as it should be.

Ken

[Rekd]

Just a side note for dung... a .dxf file IS, in fact, a text (ascii) file that can be opened/edited in any text editor.

Unless you know how they're structured, it will likely make no sense to you.

 
 0
SECTION
  2
HEADER
  9
$ACADVER
  1
AC1015
  9
$ACADMAINTVER
 70
    13
  9
$DWGCODEPAGE
  3
ANSI_1252
  9
$INSBASE
 10
0.0
 20
0.0
 30
0.0
  9
$EXTMIN
 10
10.55849474981285
 20
1.175179752213567
 30
0.0
  9
$EXTMAX
 10
22.24865407177474
 20
6.966475220069384
 30
0.0
  9
$LIMMIN
 10
0.0
 20
0.0
  9
$LIMMAX
 10
12.0
 20
9.0
  9
$ORTHOMODE
 70
     1
  9
$REGENMODE
 70
     1
  9
$FILLMODE
 70
     1
  9
$QTEXTMODE
 70
     0
  9
$MIRRTEXT
 70
     1
  9