Converion based upon my old Deckel Mill

[Muzzer]

For tutorials for all abilities and applications, you couldn't do better than Fusion. Can't imagine anyone arguing with that.

[Doddy]

I'm a big fan of Fusion (especially as I hate Windows machines), but you'd be running into a wall of learning curves. CamBam allows you to go from a single point to a machine drill operation, through basic primitives (lines, circles) to more complex machining operations (pocketing, etc). It's a really useful and pretty capable.

Fusion et all are great but not an easy-in on CAM. Get the basics understood first, learn to walk before you try running.

...or maybe that's just me

[routercnc]

I think you’ve made a good point Doddy and I agree. I have used CAD and CAM packages for years so when F360 came out it was an easy transition.
But if you are starting from very little experience it could be too much.

Coming from the other end I think starting with the gcode is equally challenging and I think you are better off letting the CAM software generate the magic code leaving you free to concentrate on what you actually want to make.

Are you familiar with the steps that are required in the whole process as there are actually quite a few?

Have an idea
Draw it in CAD
Export the file out as something like .IGES format (assuming CAM is a separate program)
Load the file into a CAM program
Select the lines and circles and tell the software which tool you want to use and how you want it to be cut (inside the line , outside the line, or drill a hole etc)
This generates the toolpaths
Export out these toolpaths as gcode (.txt format)
If you like you can view these in an editor as see what code it created
Load the gcode file into your control software (Mach3) or whatever
Assuming machine is homed and ready then hit cycle start

When you write it out in a list like this there is a lot to step through so start simple and get practising. There will be set backs and frustrations but it will start to become clear.

[John11668]

Hi guys
Have downloaded Cam Bam (9.8)
And had a quick look through the tutorials
Have to say I was quickly lost. The tutorials seem to go far too fast for a total novice to follow and by the time he had copied and pasted 3 items i was so far behind him it was hard to catch up.
Are there any step by step tutorials for us old fogies to follow at our own pace .
I will give it another shot later but are there others out there that dont find it easy to keep up?

[Clive S]

Hi guys
Have downloaded Cam Bam (9.8)
And had a quick look through the tutorials
Have to say I was quickly lost. The tutorials seem to go far too fast for a total novice to follow and by the time he had copied and pasted 3 items i was so far behind him it was hard to catch up.
Are there any step by step tutorials for us old fogies to follow at our own pace .
I will give it another shot later but are there others out there that dont find it easy to keep up?

If you are watching them on You tube just keep your finger on the space bar and press it for pause then press it again for play

[Doddy]

I'd cut my teeth on the basic documentation just to get used to how the software works first, before worrying about the exotics....

http://www.cambam.info/doc/plus/cam/Basics.htm

[Kitwn]

Note that v1.0 is now preferred. There isn't much difference from the outside but when you come to add some of the very useful plug-ins in future many of them only work on 1.0.

I'm with Doddy on starting with the basics. Use the menu on the page he linked to for instructions. This is a good starter..

http://www.cambam.info/doc/plus/SimpleExample.htm

The site forum is also very good with lots of helpful people and a big archive. And help is always available here of course.


Kit

[Kitwn]

Gcode is nothing but text so you can save it with any extension your email will allow. .txt for example and change it to whatever MACH3 wants on arrival. If it's the file size that's the problem then try some simpler shapes! Even the Aztec Calendar at 400mm diameter is only 6MB and I've just had a look at my collected files for all sorts of projects and most of them are only a few tens of Killobytes with some (cutting out gears for wooden clocks as an example) still under 1MB.
Alternatively save each part of the machining as a separate file (right click on each machining operation in turn and click on 'Enable/Dissable MOP' to turn them on and off).

You can always attach a CamBam project file to a post here as a .zip file if you want us to have a look at the work in progress (You may also be able to cheat and simply change the file extension from .cb to .jpg or .zip as long as you tell us exactly what you've done, but I've never tried that in practice).

In practice I do as driftspin suggests, design everything on my desk computer and carry a USB stick with the Gcode to the dedicated machine computer.

Kit

[Doddy]

Don't confuse the CAMBAM project (.cb) with the GCode. I'm doing this blind and haven't used CAMBAM for a while, so this might be a bit awry, but lets try...

When you define your graphic primitives, then create the machining operations to "do" the CAM, by this action you create a second branch in the "tree" on the far left of the CAMBAM window labeled "Machining", and under this "Part1", then the individual CAM operations. If you click on the "Machining" branch (this will set this for the whole project.... you can also, I think, do this under the "Part" branch - just depends on how much you want to automate the CAM generation), then under there there'll be an "Out File" - or something similar that you specify the path/filename that you want, then hit the menu option Machining/Create GCode File - that'll generate the G-Code and write this to the filename specified. As others have said - you can designate this as .txt or whatever you want.

[John11668]

Thanks guys
I managed to save the G code file onto a stick , carted it off to the workshop, and loaded g code directly into Mach 3 from the stick address (without copying elsewhere ) and all seemed to appear as required into the Mach 3 . So lookin good

Doesnt look like Cambam and Mach 3 speak the same dialect though !

So when I click start , the process begins and looks promising until it stops and I get I get an error message .
Says "Radius to end of arc differs from Radius to start (with block reference )
Block is G2 F800.0 X180.0 Z-0.0856 I-12.5717 J58.6681
No radius in there to trouble us , is there ????

And if i go to edit the .txt file come up with pages totally delineated load of code . Not a list , just pages of consecutive text, so finding the offending block to edit is nigh on impossible.