G-Wizard v1.52 Adds Power Tools for Machinists: Constant Engagement Toolpaths, Plunge Roughing, Through Spindle Coolant, and Programmable Coolant Nozzle Support

Jun 13, 2011 // by Bob Warfield // Blog, Software, Techniques // No Comments

I get to hear constantly from our many customers about what they’d like us to add to G-Wizard next. It’s one of the great pleasures of this job, and it makes me smarter every time I get to talk to a customer. They’re often puzzled when I tell them that, particularly when all they’re doing is asking questions. From their perspective, they called because they were confused. They can’t see how someone can learn from a confused person. But I operate from the perspective that says it was our software that confused them, LOL, so therefore at the very least I got to learn what areas to make less confusing.

I just uploaded release 1.52 to the G-Wizard Calculator install page (if you’re not registered, installing won’t help much, register and get the free 30-day trial so you can play with it!). This release is chock full of power tools for machinists:

- We’ve added a Plunge Roughing mini-calculator. Plunge Roughing is a very efficient roughing strategy for machines and setups where rigidity is a problem. This calculator will be in Beta for a while so folks can validate the results. I checked it against a number of online sources, and it seems conservative, if anything.

Plunge Roughing Calculator

Plunge Roughing ups this heavy pocket clearing job from 22.7 IPM to 48.1 IPM and increases rigidity…

- We’ve taken the HSM constant tool engagement calculator out of beta–it’s finalized now. The last step was to validate its results not only with our own users via beta test, but with online data sources such as this database on the eMastercam group (that’s a great forum for Mastercam users, BTW). If you haven’t tried these high speed machining toolpaths you don’t know what you’re missing–awesome speedups are possible!

- We now have support for Through Spindle Coolant (TSC) and Programmable Coolant Nozzles (PCN) like SpiderCool. These can add a lot of productivity to a machining center, especially drilling holes. To use the features, you must indicate they’re enabled for your machine on the machine profile (Setup tab). You then access them with checkboxes just to the right of the mini-calcs.

We try to make sure there’s something for everyone, so if you’re not interested in power tools, how about convenience? Release 1.52 has a couple of handy time savers too:

- We now suggest a twist drill size to use with reamers in the hint area at the bottom of feeds and speeds. This was a customer-suggested feature (thanks, John!).

- Another customer-suggested feature is the ability to select sheet metal gauges in the Weights and Volumes calculator. You select a gauge from the popup list and this sets the material thickness for further calculations. This also provides a handy reference for sheet metal thickness.

- Added units to the hardware profile page to make it more obvious what to enter.

Check it out if you haven’t already downloaded 1.52!