I had some unfortunate troubles initially releasing the mastercam hook this month.

But thanks to the feedback from my users and the fine folk from eMasterCAM.com community they are now over!

Updated installer is available here-> http://hsmadvisor.com/index.php?page=HSMAdvisor_for_MasterCAM

Cheers!

I have not announced the previous update here, so i am going to cover the latest changes here.

New and Improved Things:

• Fine-tuned Speeds for drilling tools
• Added more database self-repair capability
• Added "Uddeholm" vendor' material family

An update to port those changes to Android and IOS apps is under way

Would like to thank everyone for their continuous support and feedback.

I do not know what i would do without you guys!

Thanks!

Most of email correspondence i receive is questions regarding use of my software, feature suggestions, material requests etc. Purely technical.

But sometimes i receive thank-you letters that make me feel all fuzzy and warm inside. It is a great feeling to know that something you do makes other people's work easier and more productive.

Yesterday I received a letter from one of HSMAdvisor's early users. He actually sent me a couple of short videos with a part he is currently making.

With his permission i am posting his letter:

Thank you Craig,

Over more than last two years you and many others have supported me with very valuable feedback and suggestions. Without all of you, it would have never come as far as it did.

And there is a lot more to come!

First of all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !

There has been a spur in development in the last couple of weeks.
Mainly due to the fact that i took a vacation from my day job.

I also used this time to pay a visit to some businesses operating in the area to get some feedback on my software, hear out their needs and desires.

I have not been able to post about the latest updates, so let's summarize what we have at this moment in the latest v1.110 update

• New 90 Degree metric Flat Head screw reference tool
  
• Ability to use comma sign instead of dot as a decimal point.
  HSMAdvisor will still convert comma to dot, but now it treats input properly
  This was done to accommodate users whose language settings use comma on their numpad
• Fixed scaling for all DPI types.
• Added a bunch of materials like Machinable Wax, Plywood, some Steels etc.
• Improved and made more predictable loading of tools and cuts from the database
• Made improvements to Machine definition window.

Most of the work has been finished on the CAM integration feature.
If any of you, my users, feel like you want the FREE integration with their favorite CAM, please nag your CAM support and/or sales desk!!

........

........

Now did I mention I plan on NOT changing a dime for the integration feature?

If not, then let me repeat it again.

CAM Integration feature will come at no price for my users!

So if i were you, i would file support tickets (make some phone calls, write letters) to your CAM providers and ask them to consider enabling their software to speak with mine.

My contact details can be found here: http://hsmadvisor.com/index.php?page=help&shell_id=241&article_id=4426

Have a nice New Year!

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!

I have just uploaded the latest version of HSMAdvisor

In this one I made some changes (again) to the layout of the FSWizard tab.

Changes were made according to Your feedback, so i hope you guys like it!

As you can see from the screen shot above Tool Type selection drop-down lists have been moved to the Tool Data panel.
This was made to make it more obvious which values get saved and loaded when user does operations with saved tools.

For the same purpose Saved Cut drop-down is now located on top of all cut parameters that it affects.

The top-most panel (Workpiece) now contains Machine and Tool Library drop-down lists.

I urge everybody to download this update as it fixes all of the existing issues regarding layout changes.

Also in the previous version, when Trial version gets expired, the Splash Screen blocks the License Activation dialog, which would make it impossible to purchase a license or enter your license information.

This glitch and many others have been fixed and i would like to ask everybody to download the latest release as soon as possible!

Cheers!

New version 0.900 includes one big improvement:

A new "Load Tool" button was added on the Toll Data panel.
When you click on that button, a brand-new "Select Tool/Cut" dialog box appears.

Using this dialog box you can quickly find and load any Tool/Cut from your Tool Database:

When you click on the "Toll Library" header, panel expands allowing user to filter out the tools and cuts that he wishes to see.

Also Expand All checkbox allows to expand all tools on the table.

In the future updates i am planning to completely replace the functionality of the two separate Tool and Cut Drop-Down lists with this single dialog window.

If you have any feedback, positive or negative or any ideas, please let me know!

Cheers!

Trial Reset For Everybody!

I have just uploaded another update to HSMAdvisor. You can download the updated version over here -> http://hsmadvisor.com/index.php?page=Download

This update resets trials on ALL unlicensed computers.

In it i addressed some of your concerns  regarding readability of the screen.
A qualified committee, consisting of me and my lovely wife, who no-doubt has better taste than me, decided upon the new screen layout.

Behold:

Basically i am returning to the old layout where controls are grouped in blocks and not in rows like in previous version.

Please let me know if you have any feedback and want something improved upon!

Other new things in this update include 2 new high performance coatings - nACo and nACRo.

Also in this update i improved licensing by granting floating license holders a grace period when they are unable to connect to the server.

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 

I think it is time to reflect on latest changes to our HSMAdvisor and look at survey results.

Thanks to your input I was able to make changes that I believe addressed some of the issues you guys were having.

You can download and try HSMAdvisor for 30 more days here http://hsmadvisor.com/index.php?page=Download

This update resets your trial counter back to "30 days left", so if your old trial expired, you can use it for one month more.

First of all, I put all of the available overrides on plain sight. Now you do not need to expand a panel to access speed/feed overrides.

I also added cutting speed and chipload to the collapsed view.

Machine Panel now has  Max RPM on collapsed view.

Gages panel now is not expandable and has Read More