[lennys]

I've been using BobCAD for years. We run v23, which is no longer supported.

I have geometry that refuses to generate a tool path properly. I have confirmed that the counter is solid and complete. I have copied and pasted other geometry that successfully generated a tool path. When I reverse the contour I can generate a toolpath inside the geometry, but when I reverse again Bob refuses to give me a tool path. I am at my wits end. Any ideas what's wrong?

Attachment 355386

[jrmach]

A file and we can figure it,,you can PM , if you like

I a 23 expert,lol

But from your screen shot,,it looks like you need to reverse countour on inside or outside profile,,,you can't have them pointed same way,,,,ex, inside of pocket,typically profile with a contour in a ccw direction
Outside pocket typically in a cw direction,,,and both tool pathed with left hand compensation,,,,(typically)
Hard on my old eyes and small computer screen to see exactly what you got
Also when picking geometry,,do not simply drag a window over everything and press ok,,,,if you have double geometry or other wierd stuff,it will pick all that up,,,instead put you pointer on one contour,click,move to next,click,and so on,,then press ok

[lennys]

Thanks. I tried selecting individually - no luck.

[The Engine Guy]

Thanks. I tried selecting individually - no luck.

My 2 cents worth, I agree with JRMACH, it looks to me that you are using a Profile strategy instead of using the outside shape as a Pocket and all the smaller shapes as Islands within the pocket, that way you should have a toolpath around the INSIDE of the big outer shape and toolpaths around the OUTSIDE of all the smaller shapes if that is what you are looking for.
If you want the toolpaths to be all on the INSIDE of all shapes then you`ll probably have to do a couple of seperate features so they are toolpathed individually.

Regards
Rob
:rainfro: :rainfro: :rainfro:

[vpl]

I've been using BobCAD for years. We run v23, which is no longer supported.

I have geometry that refuses to generate a tool path properly. I have confirmed that the counter is solid and complete. I have copied and pasted other geometry that successfully generated a tool path. When I reverse the contour I can generate a toolpath inside the geometry, but when I reverse again Bob refuses to give me a tool path. I am at my wits end. Any ideas what's wrong?

Attachment 355386

My V24 is sadly unsupported-
Maybe a bit off topic but I have been running v24. When purchased the salesman told me it was mine "for life". I was a bit skeptical purchasing a digital format. My skepticism has been met with reality. If my computer crashes again I no longer have a cad/cam system which is a significant part of my income. Now their salesmen are relentlessly contacting me trying to stuff v29 down my throat. LOL....one word "fusion 360"- out performs BC 24 and is way more affordable. If you're on the fence about buying BC download the FREE version of fusion...I have approx 4 or 5 years dealing with BC and nothing has been easy with them. Autodesk just offered me the full blown version of fusion 360 for $120 a year since I attended a free seminar in my area. Go figure.... oh tons more support, tutorials and a great community..my 2 cents

[magicniner]

My V24 is sadly unsupported-
Maybe a bit off topic but I have been running v24. When purchased the salesman told me it was mine "for life".

My V25 is mine for life

[BurrMan]

World domination! Now THERE'S a business model i'll avoid.

[The Engine Guy]

My V25 is mine for life

Nick

Yes, it is yours for life, you paid for it and it is all yours

However it is no longer supported so if you lost it through a PC failure you wouldn`t be able to re-register any re-install you may have been able to do

Like other posters I have also looked at Fusion 360 and Onshape (Both now have CAM integrated) and I am finding them quite good for the cost, big +++ is that the user is always up to date using the latest version of the software without the need for expensive extra downloads, basically it is like getting your software for free and paying an annual maintenance fee instead of paying for the software (Often big bucks) and then also paying an annual maintenance fee in order to keep up to date.

With BC quite often updates are carried over to the next Version and are not even offered during the life of the particular version unless the user pays out for the higher rate support/maintenance so all in all there are some reasonable pros and few cons with the new online offerings.
A huge upside is file sizes, BobCAD produces very large files and is extremely resource hungry, requiring some pretty high spec hardware to work at anything like a reasonable speed without hang ups and crashes, I have tested Onshape on a very, very old Laptop and it ran fine, not done so on Fusion 360 yet but it seems to produce much smaller files as well, the main reason is that every move/action done in BobCAD is saved in the CAM Tree and adds to the file size, the advantage of the others is that all that information is saved in the CAM tree at the servers and is available next time you open that file to work on it but when you want to for example export a STEP file for toolpathing/machining the file does not contain any of that stuff so is a much,much smaller and easier to work with file.
Next BIG,BIG plus is drawings, as yet (Maybe in V30) BobCAD doesn`t produce drawings and that is a heck of a downside from our point of view, BC have been asked for years (And I do mean YEARS) for this facility but no info from them on when this might appear, Onshape/Fusion/SW/Powershape all provide this and I couldn`t work without it as I have to produce detailed drawings for customers and their third party machine shops.

For a shop that is designing and manufacturing its own parts or even external ones then they aren`t strictly essential but nice all the same to give shop floor machinists some drawings as well as just firing code into the machine via an Ethernet connection

You can do drawings by uploading STEP (Also some other formats) to Onshape and Fusion and creating your drawings that way and downloading as a PDF file, I have been trialing that system for a while now and it works fine but it is a LOT nicer to be able to do it all in a single environment and currently that isn`t possible in BobCAD, not even V29 ! ! !

I will look seriously at getting one or other of Onshape or Fusion 360, of course it is possibe that "they" may hold folks to ransom later with higher (Sky High Cloud) prices but it could be the future if things stay like they are

Enjoyed that nice little ramble

Regards
Rob
:rainfro: :rainfro: :rainfro:

[macroguy]

I was also told mine for life with no maintenance fees. Unsupported and can't reload? I guess I need to call and ask for some permanent reloadable what ever for it then. Or call an attorney.

[magicniner]

Nick

Yes, it is yours for life, you paid for it and it is all yours

However it is no longer supported so if you lost it through a PC failure you wouldn`t be able to re-register any re-install you may have been able to do

Rob,
You underestimate me ;-)
I had a HDD failure on the machine with my V25 on it after V26 was released, the tech I spoke to repeatedly insisted I de-activate my current install (On a failed HDD, yeah, that's gonna happen!) until I finally offered to post him the drive so he could strip it, bung the platter on a drive lathe in a clean room and do it for me, he then warned me that he would activate it but strictly as a one-off and I'd have to de-activate first in future.
After the above incident I have made my own arrangements and believe me my copy of V25 is mine for life, I've moved it to new hard drives and clean builds since and it's fine
Regards,
- Nick

[BurrMan]

The "bobcad will tell you you're "SOL" is bunk. "Unsupported" refers to people calling about v23 and their 2017 problems "they" created.

Now we'll duscuss contacting AUTODESK with your problems!!!! Lmao....

[The Engine Guy]

Rob,
You underestimate me ;-)
I had a HDD failure on the machine with my V25 on it after V26 was released, the tech I spoke to repeatedly insisted I de-activate my current install (On a failed HDD, yeah, that's gonna happen!) until I finally offered to post him the drive so he could strip it, bung the platter on a drive lathe in a clean room and do it for me, he then warned me that he would activate it but strictly as a one-off and I'd have to de-activate first in future.
After the above incident I have made my own arrangements and believe me my copy of V25 is mine for life, I've moved it to new hard drives and clean builds since and it's fine
Regards,
- Nick

I too have everything backed up just in case, currently using an "imaging" software to create an image of my SSD that is saved to two external "free standing" SSD drives so in the event of catastrophic failure of the SSD in my PC I can pretty easily re-create my PC on a new machine, so far it has only been used once but it did work fine

[The Engine Guy]

The "bobcad will tell you you're "SOL" is bunk. "Unsupported" refers to people calling about v23 and their 2017 problems "they" created.

Now we'll duscuss contacting AUTODESK with your problems!!!! Lmao....

Burr

Haven`t had any issues so far but it is early days as they say, nothing is perfect so I don`t expect it to be all plain sailing by any means that`s for sure

Having said that it is a very different working environment and is an interesting diversion from the daily rigours, if/when I get any issues with Fusion I will let you know how they handle it JFYI

Regards
Rob
:rainfro: :rainfro: :rainfro:

[SeanDa]

BobCAD-CAM still registers V23,V24, and V25. We do not provide support for the product in regards to general issues or posting, but we will still assist with issues like crashing.

[shred]

BobCAD-CAM still registers V23,V24, and V25. We do not provide support for the product in regards to general issues or posting, but we will still assist with issues like crashing.

BobCAD sales people told me last Tuesday that V24 and V25 are unsupported and therefore we would not be able to unregister/reregister to move a seat to a new machine. You might want to make sure everybody is on the same page as that went over like a lead balloon with the guy that would write checks for the V29 seats.

[BurrMan]

BobCAD sales people told me last Tuesday that V24 and V25 are unsupported and therefore we would not be able to unregister/reregister to move a seat to a new machine. You might want to make sure everybody is on the same page as that went over like a lead balloon with the guy that would write checks for the V29 seats.

Recognize that bobcad sales and bobcad support are different sets of people. Never call sales with support issues.

I recognize the sales people are not always as well versed as an Al DePoalo or a Sean, and wouldnt rip on a guy who's doing his best to make something of himself. Thats just me though. Others differ...

[SeanDa]

Shred,

I do apologize for any miscommunication.

[aldepoalo]

Shred,

I want to find out which sales rep you spoke with.

[shred]

Recognize that bobcad sales and bobcad support are different sets of people. Never call sales with support issues.

I didn't call them, they called me.

I'm looking into upgrading some seats of v24 to v29 and did the demo-download thing (yeah, I know most people put in the White House phone number or 1-800-porno or whatever but I give them a real #). It was during this sales call they said those weren't supported anymore and we wouldn't be able to move seats from computer to computer. I get the unsupported thing, but not being able to move existing, paid-for seats irritated the boss-man a lot. I doubt we'd do that because the plan was to swap out all the seats to 29, but he didn't like that way of doing business.

I don't remember the rep's name off-hand, but might still have a voicemail or two from them.

[BurrMan]

I didn't call them, they called me.

Support wont call you.

2 bobcad employees have responded to you here in this 3rd party forum.

If someone told me i couldnt register my software i'd get someone on the phone.

But thats just how i do business.