Every month we are getting a good amount of feedback and suggestions.

Everything is getting prioritized and eventually implemented. Urgent stuff is getting done fast. And other "nice to haves" are getting pushed down according to their usefulness / difficulty (yes, everyone secretly wishes my program could also edit and create HSM g-code :)).

It is amazing, but almost half of HSMAdvisor's features were originally suggested by our loyal users!

The latest update HSMAdvisor 1.213 addresses some of the feedback I have received last couple of months.

So the New features are:

1. Smart Depth and Width of Cut (DOC/WOC) suggestion (user suggested)
2. Compressing of Shared Tool DataBases
3. Display of Stock status on Tool DataBase tables (user suggested)
4. Various little improvements like new Heli-Coil reference, better DOC/WOC calculation better multitasking, etc. (mostly based on user feedback)

Let's go over the most important ones here:

Before we run any G-Code program, we need to tell the machine where our part zero is.
A Part Zero is simply a bunch of numbers that offset the axis to give the machine a new coordinate point to work from.

Work Offsets is one of the most basic pieces of knowledge any machinist must-have.

Let us account for all the basic coordinate systems and definitions, available in a generic CNC machine

• Machine Home and (Absolute) Machine Coordinates
• Work Offset Coordinates
• Tool Length Offsets

Machine Home and Machine Coordinates: G53

Machine Coordinates (or Absolute Coordinates) is the absolute and constant representation of the machine axis position.
These coordinates never change between Machine Restarts and must remain such. In fact, there is often no way for an operator to adjust the Absolute Machine Axis Home position.

Machine Home is simply that magical place where all Machine Coordinates should become Zero.

To Home the Machine is to start a machine operation, that will move all Axis to their soft limit position where X, Y, and Z-axis reading will be set to zero.

Homing must be done every time you restart your machine. Without it machine does not know where is the position of its table or spindle.

When homed your machine coordinates will read X=0 Y=0 and Z=0 and it is going to look like this:

The point where Machine X and Y intersect is called Table Home Position and the one where the Machine Z-axis starts from is called Spindle Home.

Now, there is no agreement between machine tool manufacturers on where the machine home should be.

The First Ever HSMAdvisor Speed and Feed Wizard hook for MasterCAM has been released today for everybody to download for free.

Getting it to this stage has been a titanic effort for me and I am going to put a lot more of it in the coming months: i need to get it to pretty much perfect state before i start forgetting how i did all those things.

Because of this each update i release will extend trial period by 30 days.

This will last for as long as needed to finish the bulk of developing it.

At this moment the following toolpaths are fully recognized:

• Face Mill
• Contour
• Pocket
• Drilling
• Circle Mill
• All 2D HST Toolpaths:
  Dynamic Milling
  Dynamic Area
  Blend Mill
  Peel Mill

The only exception is: Coolant parameters are getting lost somewhere in the process. So please double check it before posting!

Things to be added in the coming days/weeks/months:

1. Fix Coolant
2. Engraving
3. Other Circular Toolpaths such as ThreadMilling etc.
4. Conventional and HST 3D Toolpahs
5. Turning

If you have any suggestions or find any bugs please let me know.

I would like to reassure my current customers that HSMAdvisor Hook is/will be included with your license once this all is set and done.

Please help me with your suggestions/bug reports make this thing even better for all of you!

Here are the latest 2 videos i uploaded to my Youtube chanel

Setting up HSMAdvisor hook:

Calculating cutting parameters for Face Milling, Saving Tool and Cut data and recalling it when needed:

Cheers. And a huge "thank you" to everyone who has been supporting me!

New and updated features

• New workpiece materials
  Cutlery stainless steels have been added
• Better scaling and control positioning on "Speeds and Feeds" page
• Tool Database page now displays Libraries in multiple rows, which makes it easier to find stuff.
• HSMAdvisor now installs by default into "Program Files (x86)" folder
  It will still copy data files into your "AppDataRoamingHSMAdvisor" folder. So it will still pick up your old tool library and license file.
• HSMAdvisor.ZIP archive now does not contain installer files, but rather ready-to use application folders, which you can unpack and use without installation.

As usual check our downloads page to get the update.

Now i know you are wondering when i will release updates to the mobile versions as well.
That should (hopefully) be done by this Monday.

Cheers!

I have just finished uploading the latest update for FSWizard apps to both iOS and Android stores.

Your iOS update should be available in about 3 to 5 days, while it is already available on Google Play.

As always my thanks go to Apple for killing 90% of my day on trying to find and fix stupid xCode quirks.
Thanks, apple guys! I wouldn't know what to do with all of my time if your stuff worked the way it was supposed to!

Here are just some of the changes in the latest version v1.40

• Added new materials
• Fixed Turning MRR/HP Calculation
• Fixed Sticky Lead Angle
• Changed WOC label in Turning mode to DOC

I have just uploaded my first FSWizard CNC MAchinists Speed and Feed Calculator video tutorial.

This is a quick walk through the basic functionality when using milling tools.

Please excuse my tired voice and occasional stuttering. This was my 9th take- every time either my computer crashed or i was interrupted by my kids running around and causing mess.

I am planning to release more videos. So please let me know what other topics i need to cover.

We have 2 new calculators available on Reference tab.
It is Oblique Triangle Calculator and a Fillet calculator.

I also fixed Floating Window's missing fields.

I have finally bought a proper microphone and was able to record a tutorial video, where i show a way to calculate speeds and feeds for pocketing in D2 tool steel and also calculate ramping feed rate.

during my meetings with shop programmers i have found out that some people did not really understand the functionality behind Helical Ramping calculator. A more detailed video on Circular Compensation and Ramping to follow.

This video is already on my YouTybe channel:

A couple of days ago I helped a gentleman by answering a few questions about using HSMAdvisor Speed and Feed Calculator to machine a 310 Stainless Steel piece using HSM techniques.

Today he created a post on PracticalMachinist forums walking us through his experience.
And he even took a video of the part being cut!

Endorsements like this is the best thing any software developer can hope for.

I always welcome any feedback regarding my software and never mind helping anyone, whether he is a novice, experienced machinist, my customer or not.

Thank you Sebastien, good luck to you!