Just wanted to let everybody know that the current sale will run until the end of April.

I also wanted to ask everybody again to participate in the survey posted earlier and help decide the major direction the software needs to be moving.

Edit: I have received very valuable feedback so far.

Please fillup the survey if you did not already.

So far reaction to the new user interface has been somewhat mixed.

Those who like it, i guess keep quiet, and those who don't are voicing their discontent :)

I guess i need everyones feedback on this.

Please fill up following survey, so i can get a clearer picture of what i should be doing.

Here is a link to the survey on SurveyMonkey Website https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HN75QGC

New User Interface Old User Interface

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.

Our most recent sale is over and it has been a huge success.

I would like to thank everybody who helped me make this software better with every update.

I just wanted to tell you about an incoming update here.

One of early users- Kevin, expressed his desire to install HSMAdvisor on 9 CAM computers in his shop. Now all computers are connected to the network, so he was wandering if it was possible to make all seats share the same tooling database.

It was not possible back then, so I decided to add that functionality in there.

The testing is almost complete and soon everyone will be able to download an update that lets multiple users share the same tooling database over the network. You could even share it over the internet if you use software like DropBox.

I bit later I will create a tutiorial on how it is done. 

This goes to show how important user feedback is for software makers like me.

So if you have any idea and would like to see it implemented, please let me know.

It it looks stupid but it works, it is NOT stupid!

We all love getting positive feedback on anything we do.

For example hearing "good job" from our bosses. Or "nice work" from our co-workers....
Okay, Okay bosses do not normally tell anyone "good job", but anyway that would be nice!

I also like reading e-mails which people all over the world send thanking me for my work on FSWizard and HSMAdvisor calculators.
Telling their success stories and suggesting new features.

Most seem very surprised when they send a question on weekend and receive an answer withing a couple of hours.

Often people send pictures of their work and links to their own web sites.

It is nice that more and more professional machinists are using my software, but seeing it help create a work of art is a special feeling.

One of recent customers Daniel Gentile, uses HSMAdvisor to calculate cutting parameters for his custom knife production business.

Here is what he has to say:

HSMAdvisor enables me to efficiently do the math that saves me not just a lot of time as I can confidently often use higher speeds but also a lot of money, as I tend to break less of those expensive 2 and 3mm carbide tools that see a lot of use on my folder production. Also because I work with a dozen different materials - from D2 steel to Titanium to Bronze - and a lot of different cutter types and finish requirements it's just nice not to have to work with "guess-work" for the feeds and speeds.

Daniel Gentile, owner of FERRUM D Gentile, custom Knives & forging classes.

Here is a link to his web site.
https://www.dgentile.com/

Here is a link to his portfolio page filled by pattern welded forged blades and katanas!
https://www.dgentile.com/portfolio.html

If you are a fan of old school forging, custom knives and basically anything to do with knives and blacksmithing, you have got to check it out!

Happy New Year !

First of all i would like to thank everybody for their continuing support and feedback - without you my work would not be this rewarding and fun.
This holiday season sale has been a success and it is only reassuring me that i am moving in the right direction regarding development of this software.

Also 20 days after the very first release of FSWizard for iOS, sales for it and the Android versions have been going very strong. Which means i will be putting even more effort into improving the mobile versions as well.

New things in HSMAdvisor 0.701:

• Cut and Form taps have been added.
• Boring Bar has been added to the tool type list
• Scallop calculator has been added for ballnose type endmills

Updated and fixed things:

• Effective diameter for tapered endmills (like V-Bits) has been fixed
• Deflection model for endmills has been improved
• BallNose endmills are now considered slotting (floor milling) only when their WOC is set equal to the diameter of the tool.
  When WOC is not equal to the tip Dia, it is presumed the cutter is milling the wall rather than the floor
• Some Tool Geometry fields have been moved to a new tab.

Again after this release i will shift my attention back to mobile versions of FSWizard

Tapping Tool Type BallNose Mill Scallop Calc

In this update i fixed some of the annoying things that were present in my app before.

Firstly i have totally changed the way app renders. Instead of using gradient backgrounds i am now using background images everywhere. This prevents glitches that some users reported before.

Then main menu now takes the whole screen. Small but descriptive icons were added to ease the navigation. Also scrolling problems for all of the devices were fixed there.

Phone Back button now exits the main menu or the virtual keyboard.

To shut down the app you have to tap Back key twice. This prevents acidental exits.

Phone Menu button opens main menu now. So the workflow is a lot like in the rest of android apps.

As a test i gave it to my wife to try out. She was pleased and managed to run through the whole app within a couple of minutes and never got lost. She especially liked menu icons, said they looked cool.

Email me or post on forums if you have any feedback.

main menu updated keyboard

In this release I have added CAD/CAM integration.

Please read the latest tutorial in HSMAdvisor Tutorials section here
This is a pretty Unique way of doing it.

It is still in the beta-mode.
But it is fully functional. I have tested it on MasterCAM and SurfCAM with great results.
While some functionality is not supported well on all cadcam packages, it is still much better than nothing.

Please send me your feedback on how it works with your CADCAM package.

I have also added a list of recently used materials.

Now material list will have 6 recently used items at the very top of it.
Later on i will allow user to enter whatever number of recent items he wants to see there. But for now its just 6.

New Computer ID and New License keys

Starting from this release i have changed how Computer ID keys are generated.
This was done to fix problems some of the users experienced when they added or removed additional hardware on their computers.

New Computer ID's mean License keys have been changed for all users as well.
Not to worry though, License keys will be automatically updated for all of our users, so no action from their side is required.

If you have active license. You will get a message telling you what happened and your license file will be updated automatically.

Some bugs got fixed as well.

All of them were pretty minor, nothing to write home about.

Material definitions got updated as well.

Added several materials, updated speeds and feeds for tool steels and stainless steels.

I still have to add some of the previously requested materials (like Weldox Graphite, etc) to the list.
And i am planning to add it in the next release.

Chiploads for micro-milling were changed as well.

Chiploads for micro-endmills (below 1/16 dia) were reduced significantly.

NOTE. THIS INTEGRATION MECHANISM HAS BEEN DEPRECIATED AND REMOVED FROM HSMADVISOR.

PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR MASTERCAM X9 AND MASTERCAM 2017 HOOKS FOR MASTERCAM

One of the most requested features in HSMAdvisor has long been integration with various CAD/CAM solutions available on the market.

There are two possible ways of achieving said task.

First way: using CAD/CAM API to create plugins to enable HSMAdvisor to "talk to" various software packages.
This road could produce the best results, however implementing it would be laborous and results not always very convinient to use.
Also developer(me) would have to create plugins for many dozens of cad/cam software packages. Muliply that by the fact that with each CADCAM release, a new version of plugin would need to be produced, tested and debugged. This work is for a whole software department and would call for a product far more expensive than what a lot of my customers could afford.

Second way: Grab tool, speed and feed data directly from the CAD/CAM window, process it and then update required information when the calculation is done.
This solution is easyer to implement and could prove to be the most convinient for user as well.

Need i tell you that i have chosen to go the easy way?

Without further delay let me introduce the first Speed and Feed calculator that can be integrated with a CAD/CAM solution by a user himself!

This is How it Works

Step One: User launches CAD/CAM solution. We will use MasterCAM x2 in our case.

A toolpath is programmed the usual way, a proper tool is selected and when it is time to enter your speed and feed data you launch HSMAdvisor.

On FSWizard page you first select

I have just uploaded a new release of HSMAdvisor.

I have decided to extend trials every time major releases come out.

This will happen every several months or so.

This release is pretty big. So every one who has not purchased yet gets 30 days more to play with it.

We have material cross-reference tool.

It allows you to quickly figure out material group for a large number of materials. Around 1000 of them.
You can access it by pressing "MORE" button next to material drop-down list.

Here is it looks:

Second Big thing is new tool life estimator.

It allows to show you how tool life reacts to changes in speed, feed rate and depth of cut.

It is a percentage based on normal shoulder milling cut that should equal 100%

Nobody else has this feature- it is absolutely unique to HSMAdvisor and that is in part why i decided to extend trials this time.

Besides tool life gage there is a new tab in results area.

It is called Gages.

It shows important information like what percentage of deflection, torque and machine load we are running at the moment.

It helps to figure out at a glance if something is out of whack.

As always feedback is welcome.