One of the latest additions to HSMAdvisor speed and feed calculator is the ability to set manufacturer-recommended speeds and feeds for work-piece materials and groups of materials.

Here is a YouTube video walk-through showing how to add S&F tables into the program https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJOgWfgy99U

HSMAdvisor uses Brand Name and Series Name to assign speed and chipload tables to tools.

A new "Speed and Feed Source" (S&F Source) indicator has been added to quickly tell user which speed and feed table is being used right now.

Read More 

Plugins Tab now has functionality to Download and Save webpages to your computer, so they are always available offline.

There is now an address bar on the bottom of the screen.
If you enter URL address and click go, you can load website in a new tab.

You can save it as one page by right-clicking on corresponding tab and selecting "Save Page on Disk":

Alternatively you can save your webpage in ".mht" format using Internet Explorer into HSMAdvisor\plugins\ folder.

Next time you launch HSMAdvisor, your saved web page will show up in Plugins Tab.

This is where all plugins are saved:

You can use *.HTML, *.HTM, *.MHT and *.TXT files.

If you have any Microsoft Word documents you would like to keep there as well, you can save them "As Web Page" and copy to the plugins folder.

More goodies for our HSMAdvisor users!

I have just uploaded an update that allows several computers running HSMAdvisor to share the same database.
Please check out Tutorials section for more info on how it works and how to turn it on.

I have been bearing this idea for quite some time, but HSMAdvisor user Kevin E. (koodos!) sent me an email and suggested that i finally implement it.
He has almost a dozen CAM computers in his shop and he and his co-workers frequently change workstations.
Obviousy in this kind of setting it would be hard to keep importing/exporting yout tooling data without loosing anything.

Before you go ahead, however, please make sure you create a backup copy of your database yto prevent possible data loss should anything go wrong.

Also several things were improved and fixed.

First of all, Automatic Registration that allows users with multiple purchased seats request and receive their license key online on-demand has been fixed.
All 2 accounts with keys wrongfully issued this way were fixed :)

I also improved the way Tools and Cuts are loaded into the calculator.
Before there was a bit of confusion when loading tools from myCutDB page- speed and feed overrides would pick up wrong values - now it is fixed.

Thank you to everyone who has helped me with their suggestions and feedback.

In HSMAdvisor starting from version 0.750 it is possible for sevaral HSMAdvisor seats to share the same tool and cut library (myCutDB).

All you need to do is tell all HSMAdvisor seats where the shared database file is located. And then check "Shared Database" option in settings page.
This will make all seats use this file in synchronous mode.

Which means changes to the DB made on one computer will automatically propagate to other computers as well.

This is how it looks in a more schematic way:Read More 

HSMAdvisor has got a brand new CAD/CAM integration profiles manager.

It is now possible to import/export profiles to and from HSMAdvisor.

For now i only had time to add SurfCAM 5.2 to the list. MasterCAM x2 is coming a little later.

While using Capture Wizard yields very satisfactory results in most cases, it does not take a long time to set up either.
The whole procedure of creating a brand new profile takes just about 30 minutes.

If you created your own profile for a CAM system that is not already in the lest, please send it to my e-mail address: cnc@zero-divide.net or create a thread on the support forums. There you can upload XML files directly.

I would like to add it to the next release for everyone to enjoy.

Very good things happen to those who contribute!

If you need any help figuring out CAD/CAM integration. please refer to "HSMAdvisor Tutorials" category of this site, create a thread on support forums, or send me an email!

In this tutorial we are going to explore different options and techniques when programming cutter movement.

Lets begin with a simple part shown in a drawing below.

Basically it is a rectangular piece 4.00x2.00
For the purpose of simplicity lets make the depth of our profile (z- dimention) 0.75"

We are going to use a 0.5" dia endmill, again because it is a very common size and is easy to do basic math with.

I took a liberty of puting locations for our part/toolpath, so it is easy to extract numbers from the drawing just by looking at it.

Notice the green rectangle. This rectangle represents the path that the center of the tool will have to take to produce the part with required dimentions.
The thing is: because endmills have certain diameter, the center of the tool must be always offset by its radius.

There are two ways of doing that.Read More 

At my day job I am starting to do more and more manual programming.

Which i do not realy like, but since am at it anyway i have decided to keep piling little articles about G-Code programming into this new category.
This way when i forget things again i will be able to quicly refresh my memory.

Program Start

O0001 (COMMENT OR PROGRAM NAME)

Starting safety blocks

(G20 IMPERIAL UNITS, G21-METRIC)
(G17 XY ARC PLANE, G18-XZ, G19-YZ)
(G40 CANCEL TOOL RADIUS COMPENSATION)
(G49 CANCEL TOOL LENGTH OFFSET)
(G80 CANCEL CANNED CyCLE)
(G90 ABSOLUTE POSITIONING MODE)

G20 G17 G40 G49 G80 G90

Tool Change Routine

(T14 - call 2.5" Face mill)
(M6 - Perform tool change)
(G0 - rapid feedrate)
(G55-G59 - Choose Work Offset)
(X, Y - Command a Position to move to)
(S - choose spindle speed)
(M03 - Turn spindle on Clockwise, M04 - Counter-clock wise)

T14 M6
G0 G54 G90 X{X} Y{Y} S{SPEED} M03;

Apply Tool length offset at retract height, Turn on Coolant

(G43 H14 Z2.0 - All codes must be in the same line Apply cutter length offset from record #14 to cuttent tool, move to 2.0 above work at the same time )
(M8 - Turn on Coolant)

G0 G43 H14 Z2.0 M8

Rapid tool to plunge height

G0 Z{Z_PLUNGE}

Plunge to cutting depth at plunge feedrate

G01 Z{Z_DEPTH} F{F_PLUNGE}

Make a straight cut in xy direction at cutting feedrate

G1 X{X_POS} Y{Y_POS} F{F_FEED}

Retract to plunge height at either rapid or retract feedrate

G1 Z{Z_PLUNGE}

Retract to rapid height, turn off colant

(M09 - Turn OFF coolant)

G0 Z{Z_RETRACT} M09

Retract to tool change height, turn off spindle

(G28 G91 Z0 - all coes must be in the same line, move Z axis to HOME POSITION through a reference point)
(G91 Z0 - Causes reference point to be the current location, thus sending axis straight up )
(M05 - Turn off spindle)

G0 G28 G91 Z0 M05

Perform Next tool change or end program

M30(end program)

Please check out this tutorial i made for calculating speeds, feeds and engagement when pocketing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qctpiDWiF34

This is my first try at making a tutorial.

I wanted to show how to set up integration with you CAD/CAM program usi g drilling cycle as example.