G4 Question

[richards]

Shawn,
I can certainly understand your desire to use the same type code with all the machines that you have to operate. (Those of us who have spent significant time programming have our favorite editors and favorite compilers. No matter what else is on the market, we always install the tools that we are most comfortable with on any new workstation.)

If I understand correctly, you already have a PRT. That means that you already have the stepper motors and a stepper motor power supply. To convert to G-code all you need to do is to buy four Gecko stepper drivers (the G202 model or G203 model would both be perfect), a breakout board (I use the PMDX-122 but many other brands are available), and a copy of Mach 3. That's it. Other than an hour or two to wire things up, you'll be ready to go. If you really push your motors, you might also consider adding a large capacitor (10,000 uf minimum), or even adding a linear power supply using a simple toroid transformer. If you choose to go this route, you'll be up and running in a minimum amount of time and at a cost of about $850 - but you won't be able to use Shopbot software.

[conceptmachine]

Brady,
I guess i have been a little vague on what im calling limitations.now keep in mind i've only been using the bot for a short while so maybe i've not seen the light yet!what im looking at as limitations if i want to do a quick let's say cut a rectangle,you have to manualy move x,y,z to the locations and then fill in the length values and if you didnt clean the face of the material you have to go and re-enter all the values then move your z down and do it again.it would be nice to have "canned cycles" to be able to fill in the blanks,give the start point of what operation you are doing without moving the machine to a new location and zeroing x,y.i know these things can be done on the sb but not without editing,the point is to be able to do it quickly.it would also be nice to have a tool library.hope this makes since.
shawn

[Brady Watson]

Shawn,
I'm sure that someone could write a little 'macro' or Custom Cut that would automate the types of things that you want to do. Personally, I never used any of the standard canned cycles in the software (like CC, CR) aside from surfacing my spoilboard, or popping in a vacuum port here and there. I like to have precise control over the toolpath and find it easiest to just open up PartWizard, sketch a vector or two on the screen and bang out a toolpath I know is going to work exactly as planned. Most of the time this only takes a minute or two. Rarely do I ever have a need to just cut a rectangle or circle etc arbitrarily, but that's just me.

I'm sure if you had an idea for a canned cycle, there's somebody else who needs one too. There are a number of talented programmers on here that could help you or others make it into a Custom Cut that you could call up whenever you needed it. If nobody chimes in or gives feedback as to what they need or want, then it is assumed that people are getting their needs met with the standard software features. My old BOSS Bridgeport had canned cycles built into it and I always wondered why anyone would want to use them if you could code up something in CAD/CAM and ensure everything was correct. It's possible that I am missing the advantages of having/using canned cycles compared to doing it in CAM.

-B

[conceptmachine]

Brady,
At my day job i mainly use hurco vmc's which have conversational programming(canned cycles)and the only time i EVER use cam software is to do 3d machining.Although i do know g-code its not worth the time to write the code or take the time to use cam software when you have conversational capabilities.we are a job shop so time is money,the faster the better.With my shopbot i use VCP(i dont have partwiazrd),and i use the same computer to run the bot and design software so to do simple commands i have to turn off sb3 open vcp make a file reopen sb3 then hope it works the way i want it to.It's realy just a matter of personal preference,having experienced all the ways of creating a cut file having canned cycles is soooooo much easier and efficient.

shawn

[conceptmachine]

Brady,
Forgot to mention,i know it's not fair to compare what capabilities i have on my cnc's at work to the SB but if i can get as close to it as possible it would make things alot easier.check out my company's website to see all the neat toy's i get paid to play with
LOL.
www.geometrictool.com

shawn

[patricktoomey]

Man, those are some cool toys!

[rustnrot]

I was looking at the Shopbot website, and found the following sentence under the "Part File Programming Handbook" dated Feb 7, 2007. "If you are already an experienced CNC programmer and prefer G-code or have
software that generates G-code just go ahead an run it on ShopBot."

I assume they are talking about the new beta release mentioned above?

[cjohnson]

Just upgraded the PRT to the 4g. All things considered, very happy with results. Thanks Shopbot for a great product at a great price.