CHECK IT -- The first part I cut on Steamboat Ed's Haas Mini Mill. It took a whole lot of time but finally we got first chips. Here's a closeup of the part as cut on the Haas.
Drawn and programmed initially with Emco WinCAM, then hand-edited on Haas Mini Mill.
This is the culmination of perhaps three weeks of study of his mill.
We had to:
- Install the vise
- Tram the vise
- Get the coolant system working
- Fill it up and then get the grate/filter thing installed (he had to order it)
- And me going through the big fat binder to figure out the control panel, etc.
What I learned: it's about impossible to hand-edit a program created by a CAM program. There are simply too many things to change in too many places. Better way would be to re-do the decisions using the CAM program and re-generate the G-code. At this point I am a bundle of frustration over not being able to made G-code at home.
I embark on a lot of study of CAM programs and reading forums etc.
End up downloading Predator CNC.
So the method is to use the G-code from WinCAM and then pop it into Predator and edit it there.
Predator is a royal pain in the ass and a hassle to set up.
It probably takes an hour just to set up Predator to be able to run a simulation of the cutting.
At this point I realize what a great program WinCAM really is. I had dismissed it as rinky-dink but I am wrong. It has everything in one package - CAD, CAM, what they call "post", and "verification", which means you can see in 2-D the toolpaths and you can see in 3-D the cut-out part. So, WinCAM freakin' rocks at this point. Only problem is that I can only use it at school and when I get to Steamer's and need to make a change it's quite difficult.
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