mcsteve wrote:I did not get the post. I was able to find some people who could create it but the cost just did not make sense for me. I purchased BobCAD for less money. I have been using VCP and slowly learning BobCAD as they had a post for the shark and purchasing their program allows me not to worry about loosing access to the software.
Welcome our tiny BobCAD-on-Shark club! I'm an avid user; what version/edition did you pick up? So far I'm sticking with V29, but V30 looks like it has some fantastic new features.
If you already have the VCarve software, I'd recommend keeping that around. There are some things BobCAD isn't very good at, and fitting/arranging text is one of them. To make matters worse, because exporting from AutoDesk and others uses STEP files, they do the engraving completely wrong from an engraving/v-carving standpoint, since it creates a faceted-groove, instead of just a vector. You can probably manage to select the right vector eventually, but it's just much easier to produce the engraving toolpath in V-carve.
Here's a bit of odd, unsubstantiated but repeated rumor: the guys who started BobCAD and Vectric are in fact brothers, or related in some close way. That's why you'll sometimes see features exchanged between the two that are eerily similar in configuration features and options.
Also, toolpath-file management is a different beast in BobCAD, in that it's perfectly happy putting out all toolpaths into a single .TAP file, even when they use different tools. You can either be careful (and come to love/hate the toolpath-order dialog), or you can use a software tool like I built, that splits the GCode into separate "step" files, and then lets you stitch them back together around which tool is being used. If you at some point find yourself hating how you're dealing with a million small files, or constantly having to re-enter the machining order in BobCAD, give me a call (three six zero, five nine one, two five eight seven). It has totally changed for the better how easy it is to get complicated toolpaths out of BobCAD.
Also, yeah, if you have BobCAD questions, their forums would be a better place. But, I'll be honest: the times I've been there the traffic is so little that I don't feel confident there's anyone there. If you ask questions there but don't get a useful response, feel free to send me a PM here. I've been using it for about two years now, and really do enjoy it. But, like all software, it's got it's undue and unreasonable issues, so I've had to put in some time to beat it into submission.
E.g., if you look at this post, you'll see I've created a 10-channel power-controller that uses a modified BobCAD post-processor file to use the built-in "Coolant Type" drop-down list in the BobCAD tool/F&S definitions to actually control switched peripherals from the shark controller box, without that box even knowing the extra 10 channels of control are there. It's run by an Arduino board and some custom circuitry, with remote-switching units that live near, say, the compressor, and are controlled by low-voltage current-loop sensing across simple alarm-grade two-conductor wiring up to about 1km (theoretically
).
http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5303
Cheers! And again, please do feel free to contact me about using BobCAD with your shark, if you have any questions, or even just to share ideas. We're here for you...as long as you're using a Shark.
Regards,
Thom