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!

In the latest update to HSMAdvisor i have added Machine Definition Import and Export.

To bring a new machine in to the active machine list

• Click on "Edit" button next to machine list on FSWizard screen
  Machine Definition manager opens up and there you click on "Import" button.
• A standard windows file-open dialog appears prompting you to select a file that contains the machine you wish to import.
• After selecting a file and pressing OK, you will be asked to choose which machine you would like to import from the file.
  This is necessary as each file may contain many definitions.

To Export a machine or many to an outside file

(to share it with your friends, coworkers, or maybe even me)

• Click on "Edit" button next to machine list on FSWizard screen
  Machine Definition manager opens up and there you click on "Export" button.
• A dialog appears where you are prompted to choose which machines from your current list you would like to export.
• After choosing your machines, click OK and select a file where you would like to save your machine list.

I know you guys have created your own machines for your self.

If you could use this new feature and send me your machines, that would be super sweet!

You can also upload them onto our support forums by creating a thread.
If there will be enough interest i will create a forum sub-category where users would be able to share their machines with each other.

The current "15% Off HSMAdvisor" sale will run until August 4th.

Which here in Ontario is a statutory holiday.

I am not really sure what we are celebrating, but hey, as long as i get paid for staying at home, i don't care.

Just wanted to thank everyone for great support, for investing into YOUR software and for telling your friends and colleagues about it.

I strongly believe our pricing and conditions are VERY competitive and more and more of you agree with me on that every day. I am not even talking about the part that should You need anything improved, fixed or questions answered, i am always available.

I also wanted to let you in in what is coming regarding HSMAdvisor Speed and Feed software.

• The next course of action for me will be adding surface finish calculators to the FSWizard page.
  I have received a few requests for that, and about to start rolling those out.
• I will revisit myCut DB page.
  Tool database will have filters, that would allow users to only see the tools they need.
  You will be able to choose what tool table columns you want to see.
  I will add tool manager window that will allow to quickly show which tools need to be ordered. And create a purchase order right on the spot. Which you would be able to either export to excel, Word or just print out right away.
• I am still bearing the idea of a so-called group knowledge.
  I am not going to discuss what exactly i am thinking about. But this, if implemented would radically improve decision-making when it comes to machining.
  This last part is going to be the hardest one and involve great deal of plain hard work, so i am going to put it on a back-burner for now.

As you see we have lots more to come. And we are not even on to version 1.0 !

And the best part is, if you pitch in now, you will be able to enjoy all the updates and features i am talking about for free!

Take care.

Have a save work week!

Recently i noticed that I (and everyone else) could not add new information to my website.

The issue affected everything. New support forum posts were getting rejected, you could not save online calculations and even automatic payments were not saving in my online database.

Turns out my hosting (the company that hosts my web sites on their servers) changed a bunch of settings from their end.

This caused all the issues many may have been experiencing.

Now everything has been fixed. In fact it only took me half an hour to fix things, but 3 days webservices were immobilized until i noticed the problem.

I also made some changes to HSMAdvisor program.

In version 0.811 i have fixed an annoying glitch that crashed the progam when less than 3 days were remaining on the trial.

It did not affect paying customers, but i guess it cost me a few of potential ones.

I guess it is another drawback of releasing updates as often as i do.

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 

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!

Another week another update!

A few days ago a topic popped up in CNCZone's BobCad-CAM forums regarding why speeds and feeds in above mentioned BobCAM were so crazy and unworkable.

Users were complaining and raving about such a "simple" thing like a good speed/feed calculator being missing from there.

This is actually a trend in pretty much any other CAM software package.

They sell tool to create toolpaths.
Many give tools to create 2D geometry and even real solids.

But very few CAM packages offer anything that even remotely resembles working starting cutting parameters.

It does seem bizarre and strange. But every CAM program "knows" type of material being worked on. It knows type of tool, its diameter and length.
It even knows flute length, cutting depth, width, ramp angle... pretty much everything.

But given all that they are unable to combine all this data and produce Speed and Feed that would not either break the cutter or melt it into the work-piece!

Anyway. Back to the topic.

Someone on that forum thread mentioned my old FSWizard.
It sparked quite a lot of interest, and i popped in and dropped a link to the latest version of HSMAdvisor, so that they actually try and see what a good calc can do.

As a result i have received a ton of emails filled with suggestions and thank-yous.

Apparently many did not even know anything about it and were surprised how well it worked for them.
One guy who just bought a license even said that his copy already paid for itself several times over within the first couple of days of using it!

To thank for enthusiasm, i quickly implemented some of those suggestions and i am now releasing them in this version 0.710

New thing are

• Adjustable font size and style. (in Settings) Allows to adjust global application font.
• Adjustable default values for Speed&Feed Overrides, Tool Productivity, Deflection and Torque Limits. (in Settings) You can now set values to which overrides reset by default.
• New Plunge Feedrate field shows up for milling tools.
  Non-Center cutting tools like Indexed endmills etc. will have plunge feed equal Zero.

Thanks everybody for support and suggestions!

As usual you can download the latest release on the Download page.

I have made several changes to the layout of the frontpage.

First of all, annoying sales pitch on top is gone. It used to take to much space.

Second, i added a new side panes to the Support Forums page.
It now shows 10 latest forum topics.

On a side note. Work on FSWizard:Modile update went into really deep waters.
I kind of broke everything needlessly, and now trying to make it better than before.

Will keep you updated!