Thread: Learning GibbsCam - connect/disconnect?

I'm having trouble understanding how this works. I'm thinking it is easier to draw in Solidworks and import the file.
Can someone give me an tricks or secrets to getting this into my head?
Thanks.

Im 8 months in teaching myself gibbs, while it is diffirent from anything ive ever come in contact with, once you are use to it, its pretty quick.

As far as connect, are you just talking about connecting IE joning IE chaining together two lines / arc's splines etc?

Ctr-Click both lines right click, hit connect. if its an arc you usualy get the option of where to join on the arc, click the one you want, hit space or the ok on geometry pallet and your done.

If you have a online.gibbscam account, the basic tutorials are very helpfull at getting you going

-Jacob

Like was said, very quick once you get the hang of it. If it is simple I prefer Gibbscam, however if I have a complicated part I do usually go to Solidworks to model it.

One of the frustrations I had learning Gibbs, was that you could end up with several points stacked up on top of each other, often enough, causing a failure to connect.

Pull down the View menu, click Labels (iirc) (maybe Draw Points, too)and each point or line's number will show. when you have several stacked up, you see the label as a blurry mess, and you can start deleting points there, until it cleans up. If you didn't know that, anyway.

Keep in mind that you are drawing lines and points, you are drawing geometry, not a part. Sometimes you use the part shape as the geometry, sometimes not. If that didn't make sense, sit down and draw a straight line, with a terminator at each end, and see how many different shapes and sizes of cut path you can create. By the time you play with the offsets and various cut path strategies, the options are huge. Whether you find a use fr all of them... gonna depend what you are making.

Cheers
Trev

Originally Posted by munruh

Like was said, very quick once you get the hang of it. If it is simple I prefer Gibbscam, however if I have a complicated part I do usually go to Solidworks to model it.

SolidWorks is so damn fast why waste your time in any of the CAM software's CAD side of things and since Gibbs is a CAM partner of SW if you change the model in SW it should warn you!!

I setup everything in SW from material to sketches that can be used for containment of toolpathes.......

Originally Posted by trevj

One of the frustrations I had learning Gibbs, was that you could end up with several points stacked up on top of each other, often enough, causing a failure to connect.

Pull down the View menu, click Labels (iirc) (maybe Draw Points, too)and each point or line's number will show. when you have several stacked up, you see the label as a blurry mess, and you can start deleting points there, until it cleans up. If you didn't know that, anyway.

Keep in mind that you are drawing lines and points, you are drawing geometry, not a part. Sometimes you use the part shape as the geometry, sometimes not. If that didn't make sense, sit down and draw a straight line, with a terminator at each end, and see how many different shapes and sizes of cut path you can create. By the time you play with the offsets and various cut path strategies, the options are huge. Whether you find a use fr all of them... gonna depend what you are making.

Cheers
Trev

I think this is what is baffling. I am used to drawing the part and applying toolpath to it. I started using the tutorials. SW is so easy though, I'm going to need self control to not give up on creating geometry in Gibbs.

It is really very simple. In someways simpler than SW. Go through a couple of tutorials.

Gibbs is fine as CAM software but in my opinion, for CAD work of any kind, almost any free CAD program is better. Of all the CAD software I have ever used Gibbs is completely backward.

Originally Posted by munruh

It is really very simple. In someways simpler than SW. Go through a couple of tutorials.

Really??? How is that, most CAM software I've worked with the CAD side is kind of crappy.

Guess you don't use SW enough.

Sketch just you do with a pencil and paper in SW, doesn't get any easier than that!

Originally Posted by AHC

I think this is what is baffling. I am used to drawing the part and applying toolpath to it. I started using the tutorials. SW is so easy though, I'm going to need self control to not give up on creating geometry in Gibbs.

Never had the opportunity to get serious with any of the parametric solid modelling softwares. Was chucked in the deep end of the pool, programming and running a milling machine with Gibbs, and no previous background with CNC or Gcode. It was a little brutal, but I bludgeoned my way through, tore out some hair, and asked a lot of dumb questions on several different forums. The manuals were a big help too (whooda thunkit?)

All my machining was 2 1/2 axis, so that is where I come from. Onesy-twosy parts, mostly, rather than production, but high enough value parts that sitting at the computer on the shop floor was time well spent, even as slow as I was.

Yeah. I think there is a lot of stuff in Gibbs that is ass backwards. I figured it for relics of it's origins as an Apple based software, that had become 'how we do things around here'.

Everything is easy when you know how, eh!

One of the things all the guys I worked with commented upon, was that it was pretty easy to pic it back up, if they had been away for a while. Once you can get around the backwards bits, it moves pretty quickly. The ability to dry run all the programming (Cut Part Simulation) saved us a lot of time and tooling, too. No idea what the other SW's offer in that respect though.

Cheers
Trev

Originally Posted by len_1962

Really??? How is that, most CAM software I've worked with the CAD side is kind of crappy.

Guess you don't use SW enough.

Sketch just you do with a pencil and paper in SW, doesn't get any easier than that!

If it is a simple bushing or shaft I use geometry expert in Gibbscam and go. It really is not worth my time to sketch it in SW and import over to Gibbs when I can in a minute sketch it in Gibbs and keep programming. I would have to open up SW and then save the SW file. Like I said, a little more complex part is definitiely worth it.

I am a mill guy and the only time I use SW is to creat complex turned stock, or if I am doing surfacing. Sometimes it is very conveinent to create a fixture holding the part in SW. Most burn outs or simple turned parts I will create the stock in Gibbs. I will ask for ParaSolid XT files from customers. They seem to be the easiest to work with.

Here is what you guy's don't think about, if you start to create everything in SW you are now making a library of all sorts of things, easy to change, add, subtract, use again and again.

just don't make it an forget it, thats where the power lies! If you are not on the latest version then yes it may be one more step because no file open SW.

I have used SW since 97 and I set up everything in it I have even modeled my pin and threaded sub-plate and drop the parts on that, no need to even set the X,Y zero because the plate is indicated in on the machine, drop the part and go......mostly but you get my drift.