CamBam - Tutorials. Here are some tutorials describing some of the basic operations of CamBam. 2.5D Profile Using a 2.5D profile to generate a 20 tooth HTD5 timing pulley. Pocketing Creating a pocketing operation from a DXF file. Drilling Creating drilling patterns is very easy.
CAMBAM is a very versatile piece of software, hence it is difficult to make tutorials and videos for. That being said, there are videos and written tutorials, AND YOU HAVE TO START WITH THE SIMPLEST ONES at the very beginning and then work your way up to the more sophisticated operations within CAMBAM. Also, the forum is an integral part of the CAMBAM operating manual. The people that contribute and experiment are very diligent and congenial and share quite freely with their time and expertise. And yes 3D with CAMBAM can be a challenge. First, make sure it is 3D you need. There have be a number of cases where 2D and 2.5D MOPS were the appropriate operations.
Second, search the forums for 3D hints. There is one long thread between a user Imagineer I think and 10 Bulls about some nuances of 3D. CAMBAM is a piece of software that needs to be experimented with in order to get the most out of it, especially since it is so versatile and configurable. I too was very frustrated when I first started using it, but just kept at it and suddenly.everything just fell into place and it worked.
Keep a detailed notebook on what you do and the outcomes; this will make learn so much easier. Yes, I know how to use 2.5D and I can whip out gcode in minutes with CAMBAM. Yes, I know I need 3D to machine a carved top for a guitar. I have been through the manual several times and just can't get it. The 2.5Dand 3D methods are as different as night and day, as if the two development teams never talked!
And if the forum is part of the manual then why haven't we got an answer? For that matter, why don't you write a good guide instead of scolding us for being stupid? I write user interface S/W for a living, and the 3D interface has a long way to go before I would call it user friendly! CbrViking stated: For that matter, why don't you write a good guide instead of scolding us for being stupid? First, and foremost: I was not 'scolding' and I did not in any way, shape or form, explicitly or implicitly, say anyone was 'stupid'. I will let this go as part of being frustrated. What my post was about was giving readers here some experiences I had with CAMBAM in hopes it would be supportive so they did not give up hope.
Second: There are no 'development teams', there is one guy, Andy, who began writing CAMBAM, and continues to do so to this day. He is an incredible person and quite busy. For $150, CAMBAM is a lot for the buck. Three: Me write a user's manual.now there is a joke in the making!!! I design furniture and boxes, and am so bad at detail I at times forget to include small items like: How are those two pieces supposed to me joined? Someone gave me some gorgeous pieces of oak from cutoffs and I was reading a book on Medieval church architecture and got enamored with flying buttresses and so design a stunning jewelry box with flying buttresses cut using CAMBAM really wild and gothic looking!!
and started to build it and after getting the back and front done with panels of highly figured wood.one of which looks like a Whistler painting I discovered that I forgot to design how to join the sides to the front and back. Going to use dowels or dominoes I guess, still working on some construction problems of my own making with the curved top. See you do not want me writing an operation manual.
Four: A bit more detail, and I offer the following not knowing what you know how to do, so I start with basics until I know different. I design with SketchUp 6 yes older but hey.it works!!and have a add-in that exports a SKP file as an STL. I import the STL into CAMBAM make sure that the normals are facing up!!! and work from there setting up for generating the tool paths and then the g-code. Now that does seem vague, though this will emphasize an important point. For all the terms down the left-hand side of the screen, you have to know what the terms mean in order to make CAMBAM function properly.
And yes it is tedious, and yes there is much not immediately obvious. This latter point is why I previously mentioned that the user forum is an integral part of the operator's manual. Look at this CAMBAM forum entry, it should help explain 3D in CAMBAM to you: Also in the CAMBAM forum search this word: 3D. I ended up with seven pages of entries dealing with 3D in CAMBAM. A bit to read, but there are some common themes that will start to make CAMBAM's 3D functionality begin to become evident. Also search for the word: Imagining. This is a user there that started a ground zero with 3D has a long thread with Andy, plus one thread on why the bit cut air or cut odd shapes in a 3D design.
This is what one well versed CAMBAM user suggested on how to learn 3D in CAMBAM: There are many 3D examples here on the forum. I would suggest downloading the.cb files, examine how the various milling approaches are set via the MOPs and try experimenting with them via Cutviewer or actually machining the pieces to see how they work or change. I am a visual type learner so manipulating examples is an effective learning mode for me.
I can read manuals and directions all day long and end up not grasping all the variables, but using the variables and observing the changes works well for me. I can follow the g-code path of CAMBAM just with MACH3, but if you'd like something a bit more illuminating try OpenSCAM.
Its an open source program. One last item.odd as this sounds. Try to not to get too hung up in all the details right from the start.
Go operation by operation.those entries down the column of setting on the left hand side of the CAMBAM screen. Figure out exactly what they do write out definitions, and then after that figure out how they interact. In closing, please keep in mind that CAMBAM is very versatile and configurable, and they all interact, hence the menus and terms in them are vague.
Some of the lower end CAM programs are capable of some amazing work. Here are some samples done with: A.
Very cool 3D work! With “tabs” for fixturing Watch part There is the part installed CamBam scored pretty well on the CAM Survey (below).
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