[keen]

Hi. I am about to change over to Path Pilot, but first thought I should check if any of you have gone down this road already.

If so is there any post processers already available so Bobcadcam users can post for Path Pilot. Keen

[kstrauss]

Have you looked at the thread at http://www.cnczone.com/forums/tormac...ius-small.html ?

[shred]

What version of BCC?

[keen]

V25 shred

[keen]

Have you looked at the thread at http://www.cnczone.com/forums/tormac...ius-small.html ?

Thanks - Just read it. Seems the issue is not yet concluded. Seems I may have problems with arc error messages and this could take a while to sort out. Bobcadcam did at one time offer free post processors to suit....anyone been down that road?

Keen

[KSky]

I use BobCAD v27 for all my work and ran into a number of issues with PathPilot. I thought that my gcode was supposed to work w/o issue, but that's not really the case. The arc radius thing is the most frushtrating. I emailed Tormach support about it and got zero response. I opened a case with BobCAD and they provided a workaround, which was to explode the radius I had issues with, that's a pain in the ass as you cannot predict when it will happen and so you have to monkey with the drawing if you run into it. Which thankfully, only seems to be about 20% of the time.

As far as post processors, the Mach ones don't work for me very well, so I started with the EMC one and customized it to my liking. I can share it if you like.

[keen]

Thanks KSky,. I am disappointed with Tormachs lack of help - there are many BobCad users out there and this makes Path Pilot less attractive. Surely that is not in order to promote SprutCam?

So KSky, Are you using PathPilot now? If so how do you know when you need to apply the work around and are there any other issues? If had known about all this in advance would you have stayed with Mach3? ....Thanks, Keen

[KSky]

I never really had a problem with Mach, but then I was pretty careful about what I ran on it. I'm a Linux guy, so I was pretty excited to go down that route and I purchased a PathPilot controller mostly for that reason.

I am not sure what triggers the radius problem (cannot have a arc with a radius under .0005) although it seems like something that's not too hard to fix.

I have a couple other gripes for minor things.

1. I cannot set my G54 offsets by hand. At least I tried double clicking and entering stuff but I couldn't get it to allow me to enter anything in the DRO.
2. I would love to be able to load multiple tool tables.
3. Why can't you have a simulation copy running on another machine? My CAD station is in the house a long way from the shop and it's a pain to run back and forth. With Mach, I had a copy loaded on a machine just to test and check the tool path.

There are some things I really like.
1. It seems smoother.
2. The tool path display is better.
3. It's not windows.

[shred]

I use V25. I had to tweak the Mach post just a bit to avoid some bad code and things that didn't work in the early betas, but otherwise my tweaked Mach post has been fine running for months. Haven't run into the arc radius thing ever, so maybe V25 doesn't do it or my post accidentally turns off whatever does it.

[keen]

Good to hear it is running fine nowShred. Do you mean the early beta bugs were giving the issues, or was it the bobcam code/post?

I have resisted upgrading from V25 because the cost to do that is quite high now, and V25 has a lot of function compared with many CAM systems. Thanks. Keen

[shred]

I was in the early-beta, and so the LinuxCNC configuration changed as Tormach made changes to improve compatibility with typical Mach posts. Most of my changes were to fix the offending parts of the post at the time so I could keep running. Some I put back as they were fixed by Tormach, others were just bad code generation and got left out, so I think the total of what got changed is actually quite low-- mostly to remove bad code that Mach would ignore and PP would error on, but my post is modified enough that it's not going to be easy to pick those changes out of it.

[Concepts_Design]

I use BobCAD v27 for all my work and ran into a number of issues with PathPilot. I thought that my gcode was supposed to work w/o issue, but that's not really the case. The arc radius thing is the most frushtrating. I emailed Tormach support about it and got zero response. I opened a case with BobCAD and they provided a workaround, which was to explode the radius I had issues with, that's a pain in the ass as you cannot predict when it will happen and so you have to monkey with the drawing if you run into it. Which thankfully, only seems to be about 20% of the time.

As far as post processors, the Mach ones don't work for me very well, so I started with the EMC one and customized it to my liking. I can share it if you like.

I tried to PM you but you mailbox is full, here's ,my email, Thank you very much !! Thank you very much!

[email protected]

[shred]

There's a post switch in V25 (and probably still there) that turns off using arcs. Instead of messing with the drawings you could switch to a post with that setting the other way when you hit the Arc Radius issue.

[kstrauss]

I believe that PP v1.8 includes some changes for the arc-radius issue. Have you tried it?

[KSky]

I believe that PP v1.8 includes some changes for the arc-radius issue. Have you tried it?

It fixed it for me.

[keen]

Hi guys.

I am finally getting PathPilot installed now - any good post processors for bobcadcam V25 available? keen

[shred]

I have one that works but it is rather heavily edited to match my machining style. The Mach one (which it started as) with a few tweaks to get rid of bad code generated I hear works pretty well if you're used to that.

[keen]

I have one that works but it is rather heavily edited to match my machining style. The Mach one (which it started as) with a few tweaks to get rid of bad code generated I hear works pretty well if you're used to that.

Hi Shred - if it works well for you it probably will for me. I have installed the latest version of PathPilot .

So I tried to run a simple previous code ex BCC V25 ex my previous Mach3 Post P. Error messages one after the other....Damn!

....it is a pain because I just want to get on with learning and using Pathpilot.

So, if you have time... I would be keen to try your Post P.... keen

[bevinp]

I have one that works but it is rather heavily edited to match my machining style. The Mach one (which it started as) with a few tweaks to get rid of bad code generated I hear works pretty well if you're used to that.

Shred,
Is the file you modified "postMach3Mill.pst"?
Bevin

[shred]

Yeah, whatever the stock Mach 3 one was. It might be easier to start with the EMC post now. I vaguely remember seeing one at some point.