This request is for Al Depoalo and the Bobcad folks, but I thought I would like to bring it up for general discussion.
I'm very new to machining and routing as a hobbyist. As a hobbyist I don't make money doing this, especially at this stage. I hope to be able to grow my experience to the point that I could turn my interest in to revenue in the future. As a hobbyist I don't have unlimited funds, and having *just* received my upgrade from V24 to V25, I'm feeling a bit pinched for the lack of features I think should be standard with Bobcad-cam.
I'm speaking specifically about nesting and tabs. I have a router and a mill. The router has the work area to allow me to cut large projects. It's not inconceivable to want to be able to cut pieces of furniture from sheets of plywood or MDF. I'm surprised that Bobcad-cam does not allow for quick easy layout of work pieces or parts on large stock with the option of placing tabs to hold the work in place until the final cuts. Other packages I have looked at allowed this as basic functionality.
The cost of adding this to my already heavily discounted version of V25 is nearly a grand. What I paid for my first copies of V24 and my recent upgrade of V25 is still a significant outlay for a hobbyist. If I was making parts for hire, I would have no problem giving Bobcad their due for the functionality. The added functionality would more than pay for itself and Bobcad would be helping me make money. Although, I don't need to be able to place the same part on a sheet of plywood and cut dozens if not hundreds of the same thing over and over. I would like to be able to easily and efficiently layout less than a dozen identical parts that are common in a design and have the CAM software help me manage my cuts to efficiently use stock and to optimize my tool usage. I would like this to be part of the standard features in Bobcad-cam.
Al, is this something that can be done? Can it be done to help folks who don't need to full features of the nesting add-on?
For those who would suggest doing it another way. My current work flow is to create the project in Alibre Design. I start with an empty assembly and add parts until complete. One approach that has worked for nesting and layout is to create a new assembly and add all the parts arranged on the same plane. I export the layout assembly as a step file to Bobcad and do my tool pathing from the imported model. This works fairly well, but does not address the tabs for work holding. The simple solution would be for Bobcad to add the tabs.
-Freeman (Analias)
I'm very new to machining and routing as a hobbyist. As a hobbyist I don't make money doing this, especially at this stage. I hope to be able to grow my experience to the point that I could turn my interest in to revenue in the future. As a hobbyist I don't have unlimited funds, and having *just* received my upgrade from V24 to V25, I'm feeling a bit pinched for the lack of features I think should be standard with Bobcad-cam.
I'm speaking specifically about nesting and tabs. I have a router and a mill. The router has the work area to allow me to cut large projects. It's not inconceivable to want to be able to cut pieces of furniture from sheets of plywood or MDF. I'm surprised that Bobcad-cam does not allow for quick easy layout of work pieces or parts on large stock with the option of placing tabs to hold the work in place until the final cuts. Other packages I have looked at allowed this as basic functionality.
The cost of adding this to my already heavily discounted version of V25 is nearly a grand. What I paid for my first copies of V24 and my recent upgrade of V25 is still a significant outlay for a hobbyist. If I was making parts for hire, I would have no problem giving Bobcad their due for the functionality. The added functionality would more than pay for itself and Bobcad would be helping me make money. Although, I don't need to be able to place the same part on a sheet of plywood and cut dozens if not hundreds of the same thing over and over. I would like to be able to easily and efficiently layout less than a dozen identical parts that are common in a design and have the CAM software help me manage my cuts to efficiently use stock and to optimize my tool usage. I would like this to be part of the standard features in Bobcad-cam.
Al, is this something that can be done? Can it be done to help folks who don't need to full features of the nesting add-on?
For those who would suggest doing it another way. My current work flow is to create the project in Alibre Design. I start with an empty assembly and add parts until complete. One approach that has worked for nesting and layout is to create a new assembly and add all the parts arranged on the same plane. I export the layout assembly as a step file to Bobcad and do my tool pathing from the imported model. This works fairly well, but does not address the tabs for work holding. The simple solution would be for Bobcad to add the tabs.
-Freeman (Analias)