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Wire EDM Software??

csharp

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Joined
Sep 24, 2009
Location
PA
I recentely purchased an MV1200 mits wire edm. It has a 2D cam software in the control.

do most people program at the machine for wire or use cam software?

what software would you recommend?

I would be looking for the budget friendly software :)

I was considering smartCAM since I already use if for turning or BobCAM wire.
 
The short answer... it depends. We use Mastercam for our Sodicks, but we do mostly 4 axis work, not sure if there is conversational software that could do that? I used to run and program Charmilles. I generated the iso (g code) file with Bobcad, and used the machine software to generate tec files (power and such) and number of passes and offsets for each pass. I don't know Mits so maybe some one else will have a better answer...
 
I am a very happy user of Ficus Metalcam. Our Sodick has onboard programming, but I don't use it. The Ficus program is great, easy to use and has good support from Keith Davis, a long time CAM dealer. Get a demo, I'm sure you'll love it! Very fast, and a relatively short learning cycle.
 
Hi Csharp:
Like most people I program on the computer.
I looked for and found a budget solution that works for me.
I just use my old milling software (Mastercam V8.0 from the 1990's) and tell the software my cutter is 0.010" diameter.
I hand edit the code to put in the bits the milling software won't do.

This is an adequate solution FOR MY CIRCUMSTANCES.
I wouldn't dream of imposing this on employees if I hoped for them to be productive and profitable.
It works for me because I don't use the machine every day, and because I've become super familiar with it.

Zahnrad Kopf on this forum does a lot of wire work and to the best of my knowledge he still uses BobWire and is happy with it.

"Real" EDM programmers swear by Esprit...at least many of them do, but be sitting down when you get the quote.

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining
 
Hi Csharp:
Like most people I program on the computer.
I looked for and found a budget solution that works for me.
I just use my old milling software (Mastercam V8.0 from the 1990's) and tell the software my cutter is 0.010" diameter.
I hand edit the code to put in the bits the milling software won't do.

This is an adequate solution FOR MY CIRCUMSTANCES.
I wouldn't dream of imposing this on employees if I hoped for them to be productive and profitable.
It works for me because I don't use the machine every day, and because I've become super familiar with it.

Zahnrad Kopf on this forum does a lot of wire work and to the best of my knowledge he still uses BobWire and is happy with it.

"Real" EDM programmers swear by Esprit...at least many of them do, but be sitting down when you get the quote.

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

I used Esprit way back when and found it clumsy. BUT we doing pretty standard 2d cuts, some with 'general' 1-3deg tapers for die relief. Maybe it really shines for 4 axis, or...? I dunno, MCX is pretty dang easy for 4 axis work on our Sodick, not sure what could be more straight forward. Make sure equal number of 'syncs' between top and bottom profile and done.
 
The short answer... it depends. We use Mastercam for our Sodicks, but we do mostly 4 axis work, not sure if there is conversational software that could do that? I used to run and program Charmilles. I generated the iso (g code) file with Bobcad, and used the machine software to generate tec files (power and such) and number of passes and offsets for each pass. I don't know Mits so maybe some one else will have a better answer...

Thanks Mike, Sounds similar. The machine is loaded with what they call ePacks which contain all the cutting data, passes, feeds etc..... I have been playing with just bringing in DXF files and using onboard software.

I am a very happy user of Ficus Metalcam. Our Sodick has onboard programming, but I don't use it. The Ficus program is great, easy to use and has good support from Keith Davis, a long time CAM dealer. Get a demo, I'm sure you'll love it! Very fast, and a relatively short learning cycle.

Thanks Greg I will give it a look.

Hi Csharp:
Like most people I program on the computer.
I looked for and found a budget solution that works for me.
I just use my old milling software (Mastercam V8.0 from the 1990's) and tell the software my cutter is 0.010" diameter.
I hand edit the code to put in the bits the milling software won't do.

This is an adequate solution FOR MY CIRCUMSTANCES.
I wouldn't dream of imposing this on employees if I hoped for them to be productive and profitable.
It works for me because I don't use the machine every day, and because I've become super familiar with it.

Zahnrad Kopf on this forum does a lot of wire work and to the best of my knowledge he still uses BobWire and is happy with it.

"Real" EDM programmers swear by Esprit...at least many of them do, but be sitting down when you get the quote.

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

thanks Marcus. I have spoken with him and you are correct he indicated he uses bobcam as well.
 
I've used just about every single Wire EDM CAD/CAM ever made, ( professionally and casually ) so feel like I can comment on a comparison of them.

We use BobCADCAM for our Wire EDM. It does everything I have ever needed it to do. We have v32, but in all honesty 95% of the time I use v17. I will say flatly and plainly that there is simply nothing faster or easier to use than BobWire v17. Period. **

The other 5% of the time I use either v29 or v32, because I am doing some complicated independent shape cutting utilizing four axis cutting and there are some slightly more refined methods to do so in those later versions.

Regardless, you will likely not find anything as easy or as economical than BobCADCAM for your Wire duties. I defy anyone to show me differently.

Esprit is very powerful, but completely unnecessary for what we do, so cannot even begin to justify its price. MasterCAM does nothing better, is slightly more click happy, and still overpriced in comparison. The remaining are varying degrees of the same.

** - There was a company in Germany that actually wrote the original version of what became BobWIRE v17. ( they licensed it, I believe ) So, technically one could cite that as something that can do the same as BobWire v17. The name escapes me at the moment, but is ultimately irrelevant as that version is so old as to be of little interest for most people. I keep it because it is SO fast and SO easy. Over the years I have written my own macros inside of it that make it so that I can write programs in 120 seconds or less, most of the time. I LOVE v17.

Get a demo of BC. Ask them to remove your name from the call list and you should not get pestered. You should not have much need to look much further than that. I know that they recently underwent some HUGE changes for the better over there, so you should not have any issues. Contact Al ( he's on the forum ) and tell him I told you to speak to him. He's fantastic.

Good luck.
 
.

Regardless, you will likely not find anything as easy or as economical than BobCADCAM for your Wire duties. I defy anyone to show me differently.


Good luck.

This ^^^ I can absolutely attest to!
Only difference is that I draw the actual toolpath in AutoCAD and export it into Bob.
Otherwise there is no contest for speed.

And, the benefit of V17 ( actually V21-Express is the latest with this feature ) is that the resulting code appears right next to the graphics window, and you can watch the
location in the graphics as you cursor through the program and edit it by hand.

Now a sidenote.
Scott Martinez of NcPlot fame is working on something very similar with SketchNC.
It is still very much in beta ( might as well call it alpha ), but it might become an alternative to the now abandoned posting method of BobCAD .
 
Thanks to all. I will try to get a bobcad demo.

On a side note. I have had a trial from them a couple of years ago and never experienced the call most are talking about. I think they followed up after 6months and I never heard from them again. Was completely fine in my book.
 
Good Afternoon Aldepoalo,
can you answer some question for me like?
1 Can you buy just Bobwire only?
2 where can i get a post if i buy bobwire?
3 About how much is Bobwire?
Thanks you for your time
Chris
 
Hi Csharp:
Like most people I program on the computer.
I looked for and found a budget solution that works for me.
I just use my old milling software (Mastercam V8.0 from the 1990's) and tell the software my cutter is 0.010" diameter.
I hand edit the code to put in the bits the milling software won't do.

This is an adequate solution FOR MY CIRCUMSTANCES.
I wouldn't dream of imposing this on employees if I hoped for them to be productive and profitable.
It works for me because I don't use the machine every day, and because I've become super familiar with it.

Zahnrad Kopf on this forum does a lot of wire work and to the best of my knowledge he still uses BobWire and is happy with it.

"Real" EDM programmers swear by Esprit...at least many of them do, but be sitting down when you get the quote.

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

I do the same with x2...I have a .txt template and just copy and paste. I have wire capability in my software but I've never messed with it lol
 
Good Afternoon Mike
i know this thread is a year old but i just wanted to know if you might be able to help with some programming of a Charmilles wire it is a robofil 310 we have read the books but and are have some programming issues i would be willing to pay if you might be able to help me out
Thanks for your time
Chris
 
Are you talking to me? What problems you having? I haven't used Charmilles in years so not sure what I remember that would be useful...
 
I recentely purchased an MV1200 mits wire edm. It has a 2D cam software in the control.

do most people program at the machine for wire or use cam software?

what software would you recommend?

I would be looking for the budget friendly software :)

I was considering smartCAM since I already use if for turning or BobCAM wire.
Cimworks I use it I got my customers using it
It's the smartest cam software on the market
Virtually "one click" programming
I can set you up with a demo anytime please pm me for meetimg

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
I recentely purchased an MV1200 mits wire edm. It has a 2D cam software in the control.

do most people program at the machine for wire or use cam software?

what software would you recommend?

I would be looking for the budget friendly software :)

I was considering smartCAM since I already use if for turning or BobCAM wire.
CAMWorks WireEDM Pro is the result of 25+ years of development. One of the first systems to utilize feature based machining and cutting condition databases, CIMTechnology has a long history of automation and innovation.

Today, CAMWorks WireEDM Pro is powered by CIMWorks and provides powerful, one-click, automated machining as well as robust customization. This allows you to optimize your processes and save up to 97% on your programming time and costs.

All while being seamlessly integrated with SolidWorks.


Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
I ran an AGIECUT progress for some time, we used CAMTEK PEPS V4 (i think it was V4) it was actually pretty good, the only thing that used to bug me was i had to manually fillet the internal corners in AutoCAD first otherwise it would throw a wobbly trying to post, but it was easy to use and you could save default profiles for things like cutting dies and then having a separate profile for the punch (wire offset, cutting technology, wire type etc)
 
Just my two cents on CamWorks Wire EDM Pro.
We are only a month or so in trying to switch over from a very old version of MasterCAM.

All our models are in SolidWorks and we use CamWorks very successfully on our 4axis Mori mill and our ZT2500Y twin turret live tool Y axis sub spindle lathe.

CamWorks Wire EDM Pro is still very very green. It really seems like a beta version.
While it seems very powerful at first glance very few times in a day am I able to use surfaces from the solid model for wire paths.
I am almost always using sketches. Solid to G-Code will never do this. And the tool paths don’t follow the sketches if you update the model. At this point there is no support for configurations. If you switch configurations you need to reselect all the geometry.
There is also no back plot within the wire software. You need to post the code and run it through Predator simulation. Which only works if you exit the part file and reopen it. Even then it only works half the time.
To this point a haven’t been successful at something as simple as moving the origin and having the tool paths update.
I end up deleting them and doing them again from a newly created origin. There is no way to copy an operation in the tree. So if you need to manually program five or ten paths on the same part you need to create and adjust each one separately. One at a time.
Makes for a long day.

The list goes on.

I can see the potential in this software so I’m really hoping there will be tons of fixes in the upcoming version.

John


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