This is 21st century and we all live in the age of the Internet.

While some software developers claim to use it for the benefit of the customers they in fact only care about license protection benefits it can provide.

Here is how HSMAdvisor Speed and Feed Calculator uses the big WWW for the benefit of its users:

1. Tool Database and Cutting Data Sharing
   Not many users realise that simply placing the Tool Data Base file on a shared network drive or service like DropBox or Google Drive will keep their Tool DB in sync on all of their computers running HSMAdvisor.
   Oh, regarding the "running on multiple computers" thing.....
2. Floating License allows users to run a single seat of HSMAdvisor on multiple computers non concurrently.
   All you need is internet connection! Permanent Licenses do not even need internet connection at all.
3. Cloud-Hosted Machine Profiles.
   Machine Profiles are important part of out calculator tool. Among other things they allow to prevent machine stalls and resulting machine damage and tool breakage.
   You can upload your Machine Profiles to HSMAdvisor Cloud for Public or Private access.
   Or you can request a machine profile to be added and I will upload it for you to easily download.
   All within the HSMAdvisor Machine Definition dialog!
4. Cut Cloud. The place to get other Machinist's experience at your fingertips.
   Another great feature that we are actively developing right now is the Cut Cloud.
   It allows Machinists to share their cutting experience with other HSMAdvisor users.
   It is still in development but shortly we are going to populate out public online library (Cut Cloud) with cutting data from popular tool manufacturers.
   Anyone running HSMAdvisor will be able to just dial in their cutting tool, connect to the Cloud and see how others run their tools in similar cutting conditions on similar machines.
5. Immediate and Accurate Licensing.
   A few times I got emails from disappointed machinists who were not aware of HSMAdvisor and thus chose a competing software product.
   They all were complaining about misleading Licensing schemes some software developers were using that hindered their work. Things ranged from not being able to register their seats for hours after completing the purchase to having to keep their computers online almost uninterruptedly (despite claims it could run offline for weeks) to keep their software running.
   HSMAdvisor uses transparent Permanent and Floating Licensing scheme that will not leave you hanging.
   All purchases are handled automatically and our new customers do not need to wait for a next business day to get their purchase functioning.
   We constantly work on making your experience as flawless as possible and do not linger on past achievements.

There is a lot more work planned and already in progress.

In the age when everyone is talking about how internet is turning the world around we are doing our small part in making it happen!

Thank you, everybody for your support and feedback!

As unhappy I am to learn that something may be wrong with the software I develop and love, negative feedback is essential in learning whether i am doing everything right.

So a couple of days ago I received an email from a somewhat disappointed user. 

He (lets call him Peter) was complaining that HSMAdvisor calculator gave him "excessively high" speeds and feeds for his 3/4" 4 flute 3.0 LOC  end mill in aluminum.

With the data Peter entered he was getting around 10000 RPM(SFPM 2117) and the feed of 270 inches per minute while usual practice in the shop was side-milling aluminum at that (2.8" axial) depth at only 325 SFM

After double-checking the numbers I replied that in fact his numbers seemed very slow and if for some reason he HAD to run that slow (heck, i machine most steels faster than 325 SFM) due to some conditions, perhaps, he was ought to change the conditions themselves.

This is what I am getting for Peter's end mill setup:

I set the feed override to 50% because it is obvious 0.001" width of cut operation is finishing.
We can see that despite quite long tool projection, deflection in the cut remains below detectable number.
Which means that theoretically he should have been able to run with the speeds and feeds suggested by HSMAdvisor.

In fact it should be able to take a much heavier cut no-problem!

Peter still insisted that my calculations were wrong and that he did not care how fast I ran steels and he wanted the calculator to output the magical low SFM number they were so used to in the shop.

But hey, perhaps my Calculator is wrong and its not possible to spin a 3" long 3/4 dia endmill that fast?

Nope

Back in the days when i was machining aluminum all day long i did use similar numbers but never got to record a video.
Luckily there is YouTube for that.
Check out this guy running his  SGS S-CARB 3/4" DIA X 3 1/2 LOC  end mill cutting QC-10 aluminum at 12000 RPM 360 inches per minute

Clearly 10000 RPM and 270 IPM does not seem that radical compared to that!
In fact HSMAdvisor is suggesting numbers very close to the ones posted in the video.

So what was the reason Peter is using such conservative cutting speed (he never mentioned the kind of feed rate he was going at) ?

Perhaps he was getting chatter and/or was afraid of snapping his cutter?

One thing stands out to me from this story is Peter mentioned he is using a 4 flute endmill. Knowing that usually Aluminum-specific cutters come with 3 flutes, I immediately thought that he perhaps is using a wrong tool for the job. Incorrect tool will cause al kinds of problems like chatter, bad surface finish and such.

Unfortunately Peter never told me what were the reasons for using the current low cutting numbers. Only that my calculator's numbers were wrong for his application.

If I were Peter I would call the SGS guys and ask them to set up a test with their tool. With the $250 cutter on their tab he will not be as afraid to snap it:)

Start low and slowly creep up the overrides (and confidence) until the spindle' load meter pegs out at 80%-90%

Try HSMAdvisor Speed and Feed Calculator too. Aside from suggesting cutting Speeds, Feeds, Depth of Cut it will aslo tell you about the Tool Deflection, Spindle Load and tons of other useful information that will help you stay safe while being productive.

In this particular case Peter could easily increase his productivity tenfold versus the old numbers. I hope this makes him reconsider his current approach.

Nobody has to machine aluminum at 325 SFM these days!

This update fixes the no-message shutdown when your trial expires!

I would like to congratulate all Canadians and all our Canadain users in particular today.

Wishing peace and prosperity to us all.
Have a nice and safe long weekend!

One of HSMAdvisor users asked me for help figuring speeds and feeds for machining stainless on his underpowered Tormach 700.
He volunteered to send me a model to work on, so I decided it was a good opportunity to make a learning video and share it with everybody.

I must say programming for such a low-power machine is a lot harder than for a full-blown production VMC where you are not worried about stalling your machine with anything under 1" in diameter:

Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.

We are actually listening to our users!

I have been working hard to improve not only HSMAdvisor lately, but FSWizard Mobile CNC Machinist App too!

The latest update improves productivity, speed, fixes a lot of small glitches.
And it also adds a completely new GD&T reference tab to both the FSWizard Free and PRO apps.

Update: FSWizard PRO and Free apps have just been approved by the iTunes and are available on the AppStore!

GDT.PNG DDT_Profile.PNG

There had not been any updates to HSMAdvisor for several months now.
And there is a very good reason for that.

We have been working hard on a lot of new super-cool features and improving the old functionality.

BTW: This Update Resets the Trial Counter!

Let us cut to the chase.
Here is a list of all the latest changes and improvements:

• New Cut Cloud controls added (beta only!)
• New Cast Aluminum materials
• New combined Tool Torque and Deflection Limit controls
• New and Improved Tool Display Graphics. Now for Turning too!
• Lathe Tools now consider Shank size when suggesting chip-load.
• New Mass Edit - > Set SFM/Feed Overrides command in the Tool Database
• Improved Tool Deflection calculations
• Improved and refined a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff

I am going to explain the most important improvements below.

We will start from the brand-new feature that is called CutCloud.

Unlike other guys who mostly use the internet for licensing their product, we are using it to let our users share and access more information - something Internet was made for.

CutCloud is still in development stage.
But already you can download and upload your cutting parameters. This will be a place where our users get both the real-world user and the manufacturer-suggested cutting parameters.

Deflection and Torque display built into the Limits controls

I wanted to decongest the space and combine the Limit and the ProgressBar in one control. The yellow square track is the Limit and the green bar in the current value. When Value hits the limit it becomes red and triggers a warning.

New and Improved Tool Display Graphics

This one has been mentioned by my customers quite a few times. So i finally had enough time to implement the better tool graphics:

Also....

We improved calculation of deflection for End Mills and added deflection calculation and limiting to Turning.
More precise calculations allowed us to expand the allowed deflection values range.
So please double-check your deflection Limits.

Any feedback? Suggestions?

Please do not hesitate to contact me via email or support forums!

Regards.

As you may have noticed zero-divide.net website where I post all the updates, research and news have gotten a bunch on new social sharing buttons.

I would like to encourage all our friends to share our web pages with the big wide net!

As I am beginning to realize the potential behind the whole "social networking" thing, I also understand that this is something I should have done from the get-go.

Help this project flourish by recommending our great software and information to your peers on the Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn!