[Podunk]

I recently bought a ML-20 lathe with Centurion 6 controls. Does anyone have experience with BobCad post. Is it good out of the box,need a little work, need a lot of work? Any comments,help, or an accurate post would be welcome.
Thanks, Terry

[PTMINC]

Hey Podunk, I am getting a ML-20 in a week or so. I bought the Bobcad cam software as well. This will be my first experience with a cnc lathe. I have managed to do a couple of programs in the bobcam which was pretty easy to figure out.
I hope you don't mind if I tag along on this topic as I'm sure it will help me as well.

[Podunk]

PTMINC,
I'll be glad to share info I get any info I get about BobCad posts and programing. It's the only cadcam software I ever used,but I like it. It's a lot smarter than me. Milltronics has a 2 day training course in November, I think, might go. I've talked to their support team several times, very helpful. I'm in NW Indiana. Where are you?

[PTMINC]

Thank you Podunk, I'm in West Tennessee.

[PTMINC]

Hi Terry, would you mind sharing how you transfer your programs to your machine, IE RS232, Floppy Emulator...etc?

[Podunk]

PTMINC, I plan on doing programs with Bobcad. Transfer files to lathe via Pro Comm commutation software and RS232 cable. This setup worked good on my old LeBlond with GE 1050 control. The Bobcad post was close so I just edited
it. The Milltronics control is MUCH more complicated so I want an accurate post. What ever I find out I'll pass it along. Milltronics support has been very helpful. I'm going to see if they will tell me what needs to be corrected and then send a post edit request to Bobcad.

[PTMINC]

PTMINC, I plan on doing programs with Bobcad. Transfer files to lathe via Pro Comm commutation software and RS232 cable. This setup worked good on my old LeBlond with GE 1050 control. The Bobcad post was close so I just edited
it. The Milltronics control is MUCH more complicated so I want an accurate post. What ever I find out I'll pass it along. Milltronics support has been very helpful. I'm going to see if they will tell me what needs to be corrected and then send a post edit request to Bobcad.

Hey Terry, I finally got my machine delivered and powered up. Now the fun begins. I was wondering if you have tried out your post yet? I have some programs I did in bobcam and have them posted, I'm ready to send them to the machine, but I have to get the tool offsets set-up. I know just enough now to make a mess. Hope your doing better.

[Podunk]

I did a program and and was going to try to transfer it to lathe today. BUT, the lathe would not home. My tech guy thinks it is a simple problem and is coming tomorrow. Let you know what happens.
Terry

[PTMINC]

I did a program and and was going to try to transfer it to lathe today. BUT, the lathe would not home. My tech guy thinks it is a simple problem and is coming tomorrow. Let you know what happens.
Terry

Hi Terry, I managed to turn, face groove and thread a small piece today out of delrin. So far I've found that the bobcam post does not pick up the pecking settings in Bobcam. It also does not post the threading depth increments.
Also I programmed my lay-down thread insert to thread within .030 of a shoulder but it stops way short of the shoulder. I was glad to get something off the machine today but looks like a lot of tweaking.

[PTMINC]

Hi Terry, I managed to turn, face groove and thread a small piece today out of delrin. So far I've found that the bobcam post does not pick up the pecking settings in Bobcam. It also does not post the threading depth increments.
Also I programmed my lay-down thread insert to thread within .030 of a shoulder but it stops way short of the shoulder. I was glad to get something off the machine today but looks like a lot of tweaking.

The Bobcam DOES post the settings properly, I was running a previous program, forgot to make the new program the active program. The PP doesn't seem to me to need any major editing.

[PTMINC]

PTMINC,
I'll be glad to share info I get any info I get about BobCad posts and programing. It's the only cadcam software I ever used,but I like it. It's a lot smarter than me. Milltronics has a 2 day training course in November, I think, might go. I've talked to their support team several times, very helpful. I'm in NW Indiana. Where are you?

Terry,
Are you running yet? I'm wondering if you have tried threading anything using the Bobcam thread cycle. I tried it and the threads look really bad as you can see in the picture I posted. I was afraid it was the machine but when I used the machine threading routine the threads looked great. I don't know enough about the gcode to see the problem.

Would you mind looking at this prg. to see if you see anything?
%
O0100 ( PROGRAM NUMBER )
( PROGRAM START - TURNING CYCLES )
( PROGRAM NAME: TREAD TEST.NC)
( POST: CENTURION 6T )
( DATE: MON. 09/07/2015)
( TIME: 08:49AM)
N01 G99
N02 G93
N03 G80
N04 G40
N05 G20
N06 G00 G28 U0. W0.
(Machine Setup - 1 Lathe Thread )
(TOOL #4 )
N07 T0404 M06
N08 G50 S1000
N09 G97 S500 M03
N10 G00 G54 X.572 Z-.281 M08
N11 Z-.3013
N12 G01 X.3485 F.0417
N13 G32 Z-.63
N14 G00 X.572
N15 Z-.3141
N16 G01 X.3338 F.0417
N17 G32 Z-.63
N18 G00 X.572
N19 Z-.3218
N20 G01 X.3249 F.0417
N21 G32 Z-.63
N22 G00 X.572
N23 Z-.324
N24 G01 X.3223 F.0417
N25 G32 Z-.63
N26 G00 X.572
N27 Z-.324
N28 G01 X.3223
N29 G32 Z-.63 F.0417
N30 G00 X.572
N31 X10.
N32 Z5.
N33 G40
N34 M09
N35 G97
N36 T0400
N37 M01
N38 M05
N39 G28 U0. W0.
N40 M30

[Podunk]

PTMINC,
I checked each line of code against Milltronics list in their manual. Looks good. The thing that I noticed was the amount of in feed per pass. Looked to aggressive for me. Could account for rough finish. How did you load program into machine? Did you have to delete % sign and/or Header info in (xxxx)?
Terry

[PTMINC]

PTMINC,
I checked each line of code against Milltronics list in their manual. Looks good. The thing that I noticed was the amount of in feed per pass. Looked to aggressive for me. Could account for rough finish. How did you load program into machine? Did you have to delete % sign and/or Header info in (xxxx)?
Terry

It turns out I was using the wrong feed in selection in Bobcam I was using the 60 deg. When I plotted the points in autocad it showed the rough path. I tried the 30 deg selection, plotted the points and it looks good. I'm going to try a part again in the morning.
I loaded the program using the Predator software that came with the Bobcam. All I did was make a cable and it worked the first time with no changes.
Also did you get your homing problem fixed?

Thanks for taking a look I appreciate it.
Scott

[Podunk]

Scott,
Milltronics showed me a way around homing problem. Just now loaded a BobCad program with ProComm. Now to set tools, part 0 and hope to make chips.
Terry