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VisualMill first impression
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| Another minor annoyance was that they rightfully say the program has a perpetual license, but neglect to point out that the G-code simulator package they sell only works under maintenance, like the free Solidworks CAM add-on included since SW 2018. I really like the way the program works. Unlike SolidWorks CAM, with a feature tab and an operations tab where you never know where you are or where you are supposed to change things, VisualMill just adds one tab. Under that is a big wide "Program" tab and a big wide "Simulate" tab. I love it. It was straightforward to figure out how to add operations and set part zero. I liked the fact that you can type in a stock size, and then center the part inside that stock box. On a lark, I picked a 3D operation, Horizontal Roughing, and just let the program go wild. It roughed out the whole part, with an estimated machining time of 1 hour and 53 minutes. The issues I had were that it seemed that every operation wanted to leave stock allowance. When I set the allowance to zero, the program would blow up, changing the zero to a 1, and making crazy toolpaths. I learned to zig-zag back and forth, narrowing down on the allowance until I finally reached zero, and that seemed to take and stick. Some other times, the toolpath would generate a 3-foot rapid down into the part and through the machine. There was nothing I could do to fix that, I always had to just delete the operation and start over. These bugs may be due to an installation failure, where the program wanted to add two different Visual C++ libraries, but could only do one, since there was already a newer version of the other package installed on my computer. |
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Another factor in the buggy unstable performance was that this is a Win7 box, which SolidWorks does not even support anymore. In addition to the flaky operation, the program did crash my SolidWorks a few times. Since this demo does not let you save the work, that became a horrible frustration. I would much prefer it if it just did not post G-code. . I have no idea why the program put in 1-inch stock allowances as in the above picture. I learned how to re-set these to zero, but a couple times it crashed the program, which means I had to start from scratch. For the next video, I will get to the same point as the end of this video, then start the camera. I am beginning to like the many kinds of operations that you can do, and can see why the 3D package is worth 5000 dollars. After getting this test part programmed, I will try out the FreeMill program that will actually let me post G-code. Then I can better evaluate the toolpaths and such on my Avid Benchtop Pro milling machine. What is nice is that learning SolidWorks CAM has helped me here, so I will be getting better at programming. |
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