Has anyone used the new SOLIDWORKS CAM (it comes with the 2018/2019 SOLIDWORKS FRC version and is made by CAMWorks) with Mach 3? There is a Mach 3 postprocessor built in, but it has a ton of issues. We tried using UPG (the program to edit posts) but it has an error when we try to open the Mach 3 source files. It seems to open the other source files fine, but not the ones for Mach 3.
I have used SWX CAM and the issue most of our folks are having is that the UPG simply does not provide the right tool set to finish a complicated post as many of the variables you cannot edit. Your best bet to quickly get up and running is to find a CamWorks service and have them make a recommendation or pay for the post outright.
If you are lucky maybe you can find someone who knows how to write the post in CamWorks as these should work in SWX CAM.
I actually was able to get UPG to work enough. By installing it to the desktop, it was at least able to compile the Mach 3 example post without crashing. Then just changed what I needed in Notepad and it seems to work, or at least load and run in Mach without errors. But I’m still not sure if it’ll work properly until I actually run a part.
I know your workflow is probably all solidworks, but Fusion 360 is a really nice CAD/CAM tool (for free).
Take your solidworks files and import them into Fusion 360, then use that. I find Fusion really easy to start machining in.
Does the HSMWorks plugin still function on 2018/2019? That’s what I’ve been used in the past with SolidWorks. It is the same kernel as Fusion 360/Inventor HSM. You can download it on the Autodesk student website.
Yeah that’s what we used to use. We want to try SOLDIWORKS CAM since the integration and automatic machining strategy selection seems interesting. We might go back, but SW CAM seems kinda nice.
I have used it with success on our VELOX and MACH 3, just to see how it worked when we upgraded to SW2018 in the classroom. It reminds me of CamWorks, which I last used in SW 2014.
However, the vast majority of our CNC machining are simple 2.5D cuts, so we will stay with SheetCAM for anything that doesn’t require true 3D machining.
After a few meetings worth of testing, I’ve made a post for Mach 3 that works well for us. I had to split some lines up, add G64 to enable CV mode, and change a few other things. Here it is: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0ilrj8fhy0xn27p/AAC9cHQu8vUFcfvkj8EPJwdNa?dl=0
To use the post, copy the .ctl and .lng files into the “C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS CAM 2018\Posts” directory then select the post by right-clicking Edit Definition on the machine name in the operations tree and going to the Post Processor tab, or selecting it in the TechDB editor. The source file (.src) is also included if you have UPG and want to edit the post. It will need to be placed in the “CAMWORks\SampleSourceFiles\Mill\Mach_III_G54” folder to compile properly