After playing around with CM for hours, I have made up a brief list of features I would personal like to see in the software. Personal I feel like without these the software is broken and is unusable. These are listed in order by most important feature first (as I see fit).
WCS - simple buttons for loading and saving WCS. If P1 is highlighted, then that lets you know you are working off of the G54 WCS.
Home Button - as simple as that, a button you click, and it finds the home location.
Tool change - Instead of just saying “…change to cutter #2…” send the machine to the home position! Im so sick and tired of not having any room to pull the bit out of the router!
I really hope to see these implemented! It would change the learning curve for so many people! As always, keep up the hard work Carbide3D, we all know you love us!
Hi Bretrichter, it sounds like you are fairly advanced with other CNC machines and Gcode, you need to remember this machine is for hobbyists really. Comming from having no CNC back ground I have had a few issues with CM too but not one of these was one of them. Just saying.
Seriously, there are things that people with CNC experience do note missing and would like to have.
I do miss G54… G59 (it’s not listed as supported in the official G code list).
CM up till this year was very distracting to me (I have a bit of CNC experience). The new layout and abilities have made things so much nicer!
The move to a nice place for a tool change is a good idea. I suspect that this can be remedied via a change to the post processor. @bretrichter, message me and let’s see if we can come up with something.
C3D is actively working on improving CM further. There are good things coming! I hope that eventually there is an “expert mode” (more than MDI).
It’s important to keep the requests coming so C3D can think on them… This is brainstorming. Some ideas may not be relevant to an individual or a small group but may make things nicer for some and may, possibly, make things better for everyone.
Also, if I was C3D I would focus development time on CM over CC since every user that has not seriously modified their machine to use Mach3 or 4 is using CM, those that have CAD experience are probably not using CC so much.
Votes are good, they help prioritize. That said, people coming from less experience may not know “what’s it’s supposed to look like” or “how it can work”. The list will be weighted by many things, not simple counts of the users. This is where experience, C3D goals, and other factors are added to the mix.
C3D is trying - VERY HARD - to balance n00b and “expert”. It’s hard.
Just because the Nomad 883 is small doesn’t mean that it’s not a professional instrument. It’s pretty good! The software integration is one of the things that makes C3D different. Keep making suggestions - and counter suggestions - C3D does listen.
Completely agree, a faster horse would be nice but a tesla would be better
OK… maybe a Chevy Volt…
So do you work for C3D mbellon?
Nope. I’ve done startups and small companies and things are amazing similar across these companies. C3D appears to be no different. Success is often the most difficult thing to deal with.
CNC is a tough thing to get right - to balance apprentice, journeyman, and master. It’s getting there…
Let’s listen to everyone and try to understand their perspectives. Brainstorming. All ideas have merit until an evaluation shows a better alternative.
@1st_Kiwi_Nomad , For what it is worth, I have no experience with CNC or GCode until I purchased my SO3 3 months ago. there is a learning curve, but I posed this simply because these appear to be obvious issues anyone would have when it comes CNC. To me these items would be game changing.
Not everyone will agree with me and thats fine, but I would love to hear some more feedback!
I just sent out a feature request email to everyone we have tagged in our email system to try and get some broad CM feedback. I think it’ll favor Nomad users since our order system didn’t tag earlier SO3 buyers but it’ll be good feedback.
I’ll post a summary of what we hear back and we’ll try to knock a few items off the list in the near future.
A key feature for me would be the ability to restart a job at an arbitrary point to avoid cutting air if there is a hang. This is not a truly safe option, as it requires the user know what he/she is doing so as to avoid crashing the cutter, but, as long as the zeroes are preserved, mid-job restart takes care of a lot of other concerns when a job hangs for some reason.
When loading a job, CM shouldn’t default to its own directory-- it should either allow the start to be set by the user, or at least remember where it has been. Also, after using jog to set zero, I shouldn’t need to reload the .nc file. That is just plain annoying. Minor issues, but they are key for usability.
I am a NOOB to CNC and have so far enjoyed the ride. One of the things I can attest to is “I don’t know, what I don’t know!”.
In the original post by #bretrichter, I don’t know what the 1st request is and will do, but I am sure I would like it.
Number 2 & 3, I get and would like those as well. It has taken me awhile to decipher what is being said. Don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying the learning and looking forward to using my SO3 once I get all of the bugs worked out.
There’s at least one 3D printer comm / control program which tracks which lines have been sent in a file, and can pause / resume prints, or if the program crashes, pretty much begin where it left off — implement something like that?
Or just a “Jump to” option and select near the % of failure. Since the Nomad has a log anyway, would there be a way to tap that in a “Recover Last Job” manner or something of the sort?
It’s not hard to keep track of the last line sent. The difficulty is was the line executed or not.
In the general case, the line might be compound (G code allow multiple commands on a line), or might be defining a zero (G 54… G59). Any uncertainty could lead to a crash or serious problem.
While I agree there should be a way to take off again from a good point, doing so after a hang or crash isn’t that safe a things to do automatically.
The number of reports of hangs - particularly on the Mac - is becoming alarming. We should find the root cause and fix that!
Anyone having Mac hangs, please get a ground/neutral tester (if you don’t already have one) and check all your outlets. Any problems can potentially be fatal and can easily cause untold problems.
Power is often the source of many problems. I documented things to try here:
I have a dedicated Socket for my machines and a massive UPS making sure the power stays steady. 24k gold USB to Nomad and both Lulzbots.
The hangs I’m getting are odd; sometimes the spindle just stops @ XYZ and keeps spinning, other times it just stops. In all instances CM stays responsive. I’m near 100% it isn’t a power or interference issue.
I have a dedicated Socket for my machines and a massive UPS making sure the power stays steady. 24k gold USB to Nomad and both Lulzbots.
You run things like I do. Your UPS would be complaining about ground/neutral so I’m reasonable sure you’re OK on that front.
The hangs I’m getting are odd; sometimes the spindle just stops @ XYZ and keeps spinning, other times it just stops. In all instances CM stays responsive. I’m near 100% it isn’t a power or interference issue.
I’m writing for the general case. You data tends to point to something funky with the Nomad itself. I would ask for a support ticket and see what C3D can do. Off the cuff, it sounds like it might be noise problems due to bad connectors or solders, or a wire harness problem. YMMV.
