Have you ever had to machine a slot but didn’t want to mill the slot out completely with an end mill?
Looking for a quicker way to remove material from slots or other linear type patterns?
We just completed what we call a new “drill nibbling” or what others might call a “plunge milling” conversational menu in our KipwareM® – conversational CNC programming software for milling. For the machining described above … why would you pull out your complex and expensive CAD/CAM system or run to your overpaid CAD/CAM operator to create this G code ?? … when you could pull up KipwareM® … answer a few questions … and bang out some awesome G code in a matter of minutes.
The details …
Here’s a look at some of the screen and results.
The DRILL NIBBLING conversational screen has a number of unique features like :
The ability to select the step over amount and number of plunges to make per location. This gives the user complete control over the cutting conditions.
The ability to enter the “slot” center locations either manually or through a direct DXF file import.
The ability to use any standard drill cycle … spot, peck, peck with complete retraction or drill with dwell. Again … alowing for complete control over the cutting conditions.
The number of “slot” locations is not limited … any number of slot or pattern locations can be input.
The pattern can be drilled along the X or the Y axis … so vertically or horizontally.
You can create efficient plunge milling G code in a matter of seconds with KipwareM® … no drawing … no complex and expensive CAD/CAM system required. Just answer a few questions and BANG … G code.
As this capability demonstrates … Kipware® conversational is NOT a G code “wizard” creating underdeveloped and simplistic toolpaths … but rather a robust, shop floor programming system that can tackle the everyday CNC programming quickly and easily because it IS a powerful, complete CNC programming system.
If you are ready to STOP the CAD/CAM OVERKILL and reap the benefits of shop floor programming … we invite you to explore Kipware® conversational in more detail at www.KentechInc.com.
As we continue to ramp up our sister woodworking company … KÄRV … we continue to demonstrate and prove our mantras for our Kipware® machine shop software. Metalworking operations … woodworking operations … both have a lot of similarities and requirements and we continue to prove our Kipware® real world machine shop design and features in our now real world woodworking environment.
We recently blogged regarding how we utilize our KipwareCYC® and KipwareQTE® machine shop cycletime and cost estimating software to estimate retail costs for some of our wood products. If you missed it … see the full article HERE.
We are also proving our “not every job requires a CAD/CAM system” programming mantra at KÄRV as well. We recently put our KipwareM® – conversational CNC programming software for milling … to work on a shop floor programming project we were working on in the KÄRV workshop. If you haven’t read our article on shop floor programming vs. CAD/CAM programming … it’s quite the eye-opener … you can read the full article HERE.
The Rest of the Story …
We came up with an idea for a unique clock design that featured a quartz clock movement inside a slice of an oak log. To house the clock body … we needed to mill a 3″ diameter hole in the slice … and we wanted to use our X-Carve CNC router to mill the hole. Simple enough … and it really illustrates how a simple programming project could turn into an overblown programming project if we were to use a CAD/CAM program to create that G code program.
In a CAD/CAM system we would have had to first create a drawing … why? … and then use that drawing to create the toolpath. Some extra steps that would not only cost us time but that time expense has to go somewhere and that would mean additional labor costs associated with the cost of the clock … which would eventually be for sale on our website. Want one … get it HERE !!
So we started KipwareM® … no drawing required … and with a couple of fill-in-the-blank forms completed … we had our G code program to rough pocket and finish mill … using a helical milling routine … the 3″ hole needed to mount the clock movement. Here are some screenshots of the forms … simple, plain english, fill-in-the-blank forms with tons of machining options that created a quick and efficient toolpath … no drawing nor drawing time required Bang bang done !!
As I mentioned we roughed the pocket using a pocketing routine … but we finished the side walls using a helical type cutting routine. Very easy to create in KipwareM® and posted out using KipwareXC® with our X-Carve Profile. We sent the G code and drove the X-Carve using the Universal G Code Sender application. The results were outstanding and the fit for the clock movement was perfect … first shot.
Needless to say we saved ourselves a ton of time by not having to create a drawing and by using our shop floor programming ( not CAD/CAM programming ) model and KipwareM®. We did the programming right at the machine … no expensive CAD/CAM system required and no drawing or CAD/CAM experience required.
If you would like to learn more about KÄRV woodworking and see our other products and designs … please visit our website … www.KarvWoodworking.com
If you would like to explore our conversational, shop floor programming applications or any of our other REAL WORLD machine shop software … please visit our website … www.KentechInc.com
Kenney Skonieczny
President – Kentech Inc.
Woodworker – KÄRV Woodworking
Shop floor CNC programming … the creation of material cutting programs / G code programs at the machine tool or on the shop floor … is the majority of CNC programming performed in REAL WORLD machine shops around the world, every day. Good chip makers creating their G code programs utilizing evrything from pen and paper to PC’s and tablets. It’s undeniable … and it’s the real world.
Unfortunately, most CNC software developers have never worked directly on a production or job shop floor … have no real world CNC machining experiences … and create software based on unrealistic … not real world … goals and expectations. The user interface and output too often reflect that lack of real world experience and the people on the floor are made to live with it.
How do we know? We worked on those shop floors for almost 30 years … we used and were held hostage by their software. When we started Kentech Inc. in 1986, our goal was to put a STOP TO IT !!! Over the last 30 years … thanks to THOUSANDS of programmers and machinists around the world … we are well on our way.
COMPLICATED – Too Much is Too Much
On the complicated side of the scale … we have CAD/CAM. There is certainly no denying that CAD is a necessary tool for design … without it, we would never have built the world we have today. HOWEVER … not every workpiece to be machined requires a drawing nor a CAD application. And here is where the software developers got it wrong … blame their lack of shop floor experiences. In order to create a G code program … the user is forced to either have a CAD drawing or create a CAD drawing. Without a drawing … no machining code. And that’s just a BAD model.
How is Kipware® Conversational different ?
We designed our Kipware® conversational to be good at two ways of programming … without a drawing and with a drawing. For the simpler, everyday type workpieces, users can fire up the conversational, fill-in-the-blank forms … and quickly and easily create powerful G code programs in minutes. For those more complex contours and shapes … they can draw or import a drawing and create G code programs from their drawings still using a simpler, real world interface.
SIMPLISTIC – Don’t Even Bother !!
On the simplistic side of the scale … we have software designed and created by hobbyists whose only experiences are with hobby machining … which as any machinist knows is worlds away from production and shop floor programming. Overly simplistic designs … producing overly simplistic G code … with overly simplistic methods and processes that in reality, take programming from overly complicated to overly tedious and inefficient. Do you want to be a better hobbyist (“cnc’er”) or a better professional ?
How is Kipware® Conversational different ?
Having lived and worked cutting chips for a living … we were able to build simpler applications that pack a punch and include professional chip cutting output all done automatically based from our real world chip making experiences. We may be using a simpler interface and design as a cover … but we provide all the professional code output all automatically and all done under-the-hood inside the source code. While simplistic “wizards” and simplistic “conversational controls” give you simple but hold you back as a trade off … Kipware® conversational gives you simple and provides all the professional output you need all automatically.
From auto cutter compensation output … to long hand or canned cycle user configurable options … we built BEST PROGRAMMING PRACTICES into our software and output. While the “wizards” are still trying to learn what best programming practices even are !!
In addition … our cutting edge development gives the user powerful real world options like the ONLY conversational 3D machining options for milling … and the ONLY conversational Live Tool and Y Axis programming options for turning centers. That is taking simpler and …
… KICKING IT UP A NOTCH !!
Kipware® Conversational
The Perfect Blend Between the SIMPLE and the COMPLEX
If you agree with the statements that not EVERY job requires a CAD/CAM program … and overly simplistic is NOT real world … we invite you to spend some of your valuable time exploring our Kipware® conversational software for MILLING and TURNING. Don’t wait or struggle for another minute … do yourself and your shop efficiency a favor and join the THOUSANDS of programmers and machinist around the world who gave CAD/CAM the boot … and put the “wizards” back in the bottle where they belong.
Kenney Skonieczny – President
Kentech Inc.
The place for all things Kipware® from www.KentechInc.com
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