Today was quite productive.

All the remaining milling tool types have been finished.

The last one to complete was Chamfering tool type:

Looking at the HSMAdvisor's tool graphic on the right i realize how useful it is to understand where your tool engagement is.
Especially so for tapered, Ballnose and Chamfering tools.

FSWizard does not yet have that functionality, but i will definitely try to add it in one of the updates after the initial release.

As you might know after i pulled online FSWizard, I set on a huge task rewriting its code to reflect better on all the great improvements HSMAdvisor has had in the last 4 years

So far I have completed rewriting FSWizard code for all Endmill tool types.

Special attention is being paid to have it produce exactly the same results as its big brother:
 

Do not mind the mobile phone frame around the new FSWizard. It will be available online in your desktop browser as well!

I am going to continue posing here about my progress.
So far it seems I will be publishing a first online alpha version in a few weeks.

Best Regards.

Well not the bad mayday. It is the good one.

Today is the International Worker's day.

My best wishers go to all machinists and cnc programmers out there.

Keep it safe.

Btw. HSMAdvisor v1.509 has been released just yesterday. It is a big release which has lots of improvements. So we updated the Mastercam x9 and 2017 hooks as well.

Btw2. User's feedback has been plenty and steady recently. Please keep it up!  We really like making HSMAdvisor even better by adding stuff that you actually need!

Cheers!

Previously when someone asked me whether HSMAdvisor works on linux or Mac I would steer them towards using VirtualBox or Parallels or some other virtual machine to run HSMAdvisor in the virtual Windows box.

As it turns out it is not always necessary.

Our customer has just managed to successfully run HSMA on Linux using package called Wine.

All he had to do was to use wine in 32 bit mode.

I, personally, did not think it was possible to run an app as complex as HSMAdvisor on linux without any modifications on my side. But i was wrong!

Here is a helpful link if you are running 64 bit version of linux and your Wine refuses to launch HSMAdvisor in 32 bit mode:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/136714/how-to-force-wine-into-acting-like-32-bit-windows-on-64-bit-ubuntu

Reportedly Reference and Geometry tabs do not work. But this is not surprising, since they use Internet Explorer to show the information.

Also pressing ENTER key causes the app to crash.

I am going to install a test Linux system on my workstation in the near future and figure out how to fix those issues and make Non-Windows support more readily available.

On another news.

Having made a new FSWizard App design and right before publishing. I decided to rewrite the whole core almost from scratch.

This was needed to make room for new modules like User Tool Libraries and Machine Profiles.

The work is going ahead at full speed and in due time i will roll our the brand new spanking FSWizard!

Before we start milling away our stock we first need to get down to the required depth.

This is not a problem with external features when we can plunge outside.

When machining closed pockets, however, we need to find a way to get down to the machining depth first.

As usual there are several ways to get the job done. The plunging methods listed here are not ordered by their preference.

For various machining operations on different materials some may be more preferable than others.

Straight Plunging into a larger Pre-Drilled hole

This is one the best ones in my opinion.
Very few machining modes can compete in effectiveness with drilling and this method will get you the best combined tool life on most materials and (in case of many deep pockets) the least machining time, even when tool change time is factored in.

Read More 

Out of all kinds of feedback forms on HSMAdvisor (we have Forums, User Feedback and Unistall Feedback) web site the only one I dread opening is the "Uninstall Feedback".

When someone uninstalls HSMAdvisor, on the last step the program asks to provide the final feedback to maybe help us make HSMAdvisor better.

I do not like reading this form very much because it means that would-be users left in some way dissatisfied with the program.

And that really breaks my heart!

Among the most common answers is stuff like "does not support metric" even though IT VERY MUCH SUPPORTS METRIC.
We have, without a doubt, one of the most flexible units system of all machining-related software products.
I guess I have to improve in helping people learn how to use many unit switches within the program.

But the one that stood out is this one:

Thank you Jeremy! Really made my day!

Just a heads-up.

Another update is coming this weekend.
I am adding some materials and this threads specification drawing:

Requested by one of the users, I am sure it will be a big help.

I have just uploaded the latest update to HSMAdvisor hook for MasterCam x9 and 2017.
This is a catch-up update to the latest HSMAdvisor improvements.

Additionally i promised few guys a tutorial on how to easily install the hook into MasterCam 2017

So here it is:

Please excuse my lack of artistic prowess.
Hey, You can be ANYTHING but you can not be EVERYTHING

And i am more of a technical guy who, perhaps, lacks the hypnotizing narrating skills of a salesman :)

What is new in this update:

• Improved Engraving and Chamfering speeds and feeds
• Improved Deflection calculation for High Feed Endmills
• Removed annoying "Ding" sound on ENTER key press
• Some minor bug fixes and cleanup.

There have been lots of new functionality in the program and i am going to release a video showcasing that soon.
Keep an eye out for it!

Best Regards.

What is new and improved in this update:

• Added Custom Speeds and Feeds Tables selection on the Speeds and Feeds page
  You can now quickly apply custom settings to all tools in one click
• Materials that have custom Speeds and Feeds specified for them are now highlighted with green color in the drop-down
• Redesigned Custom Speeds and Feeds module.
  It is now on a separate dialog and is accessible not only through Edit Tool Dialog, but also from Speeds and Feeds page by clicking on "Custom Tables" Edit button.
  Dialog now uses Result "in/mm" setting for displaying default units.
• Fixed error on adding a Tool Library from Database Actions drop-down
• Improved layout drawing and resizing speed.
• Improved cut balancing for End Mills

As usual the latest update can be downloaded over here: http://hsmadvisor.com/?page=HSMAdvisor

Check this out, guys.

Been working on this for the past couple of weeks:

New FSWizard Speeds and Feeds Calc will have not only modern improved design. But latest tools and materials.
Special attention is being paid to have it produce EXACTLY the same results as our HSMAdvisor desktop app.

It is not complete yet, but it is almost there - making it catch up to the latest HSMAdvisor code is a big job.

The new calculator will replace our online calculator as well.....

Yes, you heard that right! You will be able to run exactly the same FSWizard Speed and Feed calc on your mobile phone, desktop and even Windows Mobile.

Heck, it will even work on Mac!

Best of all, it will be published as an update to our existing apps, so our existing customers will not have to buy an upgrade, unlike what some other "Machinist Calculator" has done in the past.

I will keep you posted.

Cheers!