Partworks with KCDw?

[nat_wheatley]

I use KCDW for cabinet/closet design and am considering (loosely) upgrading to their 'Commander' module. This will produce 'ready-to-use layered DXF files.'

My question is PW capable of receiving the files and sending them directly to my machine without any 'tinkering' on my part (multiple sheets of nested cabinet parts, along with notches, boring holes etc.)

I've used PW very little, just to make some random parts when I first got my machine. (PRS Alpha 60x96 with 2 drills). I need something that, once setup is seemless in terms of handling these files.

Thanks

[adrianm]

Which version of PartWorks do you have? The latest (and previous) have tools that will make the process of importing and toolpathing those files a great deal easier than the older versions.

[nat_wheatley]

Version 2.505. I haven't upgraded for awhile, but certainly can if needed.

[adrianm]

To make it as easy as possible you need to upgrade so you get the toolpath templates feature.

Have a look at the video D05 on this page - http://support.vectric.com/tut-vcp-2d-techniques - to see what can be done.

VCarve is the same program as PartWorks if you didn't know. The latest version of PartWorks is called VCarve Pro - ShopBot edition.

[nat_wheatley]

Thanks for the link, it does look promising. Video keeps cutting out at about 23mins for me, but will try it again later on today.

[nat_wheatley]

Just watched the full video. Looks like there would be too many steps involved for this to be practical. Toolpaths would need to be generated sheet by sheet, then each sheet ends up with multiple toolpaths that would need to be executed individually.

I'm using Ecabinets at the moment, which does this automatically but the shop drawings are slow and clunky...

[bleeth]

Nat:
Instead of doing shop drawings in e-cab just toolpath the cabs from batch entries. You can even list them out in a spreadsheet and then import the spreadsheet.
I agree, their rendering is clunky.

[nat_wheatley]

Right now I draw (and price) everything in KCD, then create a batch list in Ecabinets. Even though my Ecabinet libraries are in decent shape, creating the batch lists is starting to eat up a significant amount of time.

I could consolidate these steps in KCD (at an added cost of $8500) but was hoping to use a CAM package that I already had instead of outlaying additional $...

In reading further, it looks like KCD will 'define tooling and create toolpaths', so it doesn't seem like all much is needed on the CAM end.

http://kcdw.com/ClosCommander.html

[adrianm]

If you're using an ATC (or the MTC) option then you can save the toolpaths all to one file and so you end up with one file of toolpaths for each sheet.

[nat_wheatley]

No ATC here, just a spindle and 2 drills. If I remember correctly, when I used to use PW there was a way to combine the toolpaths and run as 1 file. I think it involved creating a separate file, which merely listed the name of each file that was to be run.

Key to this would be to make sure new toolpaths for each layer were created each time, so that it there were a 'blank' layer that the data from the last job wouldn't be pulled in again...

[zeykr]

Try KCD 'one touch machining' before you buy it. To me it was very clunky and often required having the company make changes when doing something slightly different. I like the machining part of E-cabs much better, though the drawing in KCD was nice.

[nat_wheatley]

Thanks, I will give it a try before I commit. The machining capabilities of Ecabinets are pretty close to ideal...

I think that Thermwood owners have the ability to pull KCD files into their control software, which would be the best of both worlds (with nominal steps) Unfortunately I'm fairly sure that this feature doesn't carry over into the SB Link.

[nat_wheatley]

Turns out that this is 'screen to machine' - no other software needed.

But- no option for a climb then conventional cut for perimeter cuts, which may be a deal breaker...