After working a while with this cool machine, I created a little wishlist:
a) Powermill default extension is “.tap” which cannot be loaded directly, without renaming it before.
b) Opening the “Quick Access” requires always two mouse-clicks. This should be on a separate main-page (setup, manual, …). Or all these buttons should be directly on the production and setup page page.
c) After uploading a program, it should be possible to immediately activate it, if it was just one single program
d) There should be an option to quickly add/subtract 2.54mm from the working offset values (G54), when using the
excenter tool. It’s annoying always to use a calculator.
It would also be helpful, to somehow automate this procedure - usually you do always the same.
btw: enhance the documenation with the z-offset setting (turn B axis, move with X and enter value in Z)
e) I always forget to reset the speed overrides. They should always be resetted when loading a new program.
f) make the working area bigger
a) I’ll look into what a .tap file implies. This should be straight forward to accept if it’s a text file with G code in it. Our flavor of G code mostly follows the RS274NGC specification, hence the .ngc extension.
b) This is a great point and I totally agree that it’s too many clicks to be quick access. We’ll put some thought into where it could fit better. For now, you do still have the option to bind those buttons to key bindings, which are accessible in the Setup and Manual tabs. You can set the key binding in the Favorites tab, where you give it a name to make it show up in the Quick Access tab.
c) This is on the list. We do want to be explicit about the behavior, though, so the default will likely remain how it is and there will be an option that can be enabled to automatically open an uploaded program when it’s a single file and a program isn’t already running or the machine isn’t homing/jogging, etc. right now you can upload files at any time and we want people to feel comfortable doing so. Adding the option to open it automatically can add confusion about what’s going to happen when the machine is doing something, so we’ll want to spell in out in an options panel somewhere.
d) Could you provide more info here? Is the 2.54 you’re talking about the radius of your tool? When setting your work offset, there is a set DRO to value, where you could enter +/- your tool radius. Is that the kind of behavior you’re looking for?
ad a) But you also support .nc extension, why not .tap and .txt as well? Why not any extension? You have to check the contents anyway, so it does not matter imho.
ad b) I already have so many favorites, I cannot remember their shortkeys. I would prefer a small floating toolbox window, as it’s useful on three different tabs at least.
ad c) Optionally is always the best
ad d) Oups sorry… inch/mil… Yes, I meant the half diameter of the excenter tool. Ahh!! I always wondered why there is an input value 0.0 in this popup. This particular issue is solved (rest remains).
Ading a new topic g)
It concerns the simulator: Hide the lower control panel only when the simulator is running. When I jump through different toolpaths, it’s annoying that the button I was just clicking on, disappeared in the meantime…
