Thread: FS Wizard Machining Calculator

Spotted this free machining calculator on another site, anyone using it or tried it out?

FSWizard

Originally Posted by Peter Neill

Spotted this free machining calculator on another site, anyone using it or tried it out?

FSWizard

I have tried it in the past. It has a lot of issues and I was never happy with the results. But, it is free. It is easy to mess up the inputs.

GWizard is $69, works very reliably, and the author is a frequent contributor to this community and very responsive with good information.

For the amount of trouble and broken tooling you save, GWizard is the way to go. GWizard is just like any other tool in your shop. A good tool that you use often is something you should be willing to pay for. Besides, a few broken carbide cutters and a number of wasted hours is a common alternative.

Just a happy customer.

Originally Posted by Peter Neill

Spotted this free machining calculator on another site, anyone using it or tried it out?

FSWizard

I always say, "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR".

Originally Posted by kevinro

I have tried it in the past. It has a lot of issues and I was never happy with the results. But, it is free. It is easy to mess up the inputs.

GWizard is $69, works very reliably, and the author is a frequent contributor to this community and very responsive with good information.

For the amount of trouble and broken tooling you save, GWizard is the way to go. GWizard is just like any other tool in your shop. A good tool that you use often is something you should be willing to pay for. Besides, a few broken carbide cutters and a number of wasted hours is a common alternative.

Just a happy customer.

Ouch. did you just compare it to the results GWizard is giving or actually tried it?
I was not happy with the results GWizard was giving me, so i decided to do my own thing.

The speeds and feeds FSWizard is giving are always within 10% of manufacturer recommended and usually on conservative side.

What do you mean by "easy to mess up" the inputs? I always need good suggestions.

By the way for the people who don't have or don't want to use internet connection. There is also a free Windows based version available for download. It works instantaneous. And has lots of safety features like Torque and HP limitations.

I have run jobs calculated 100% with my tool and never broken a single cutter. All you need to do is only type in the right values.

Here is a download page for a Standalone Windows version:
FSWizard Standalone

Originally Posted by zero_divide

I have run jobs calculated 100% with my tool and never broken a single cutter. All you need to do is only type in the right values.

Here is a download page for a Standalone Windows version:
FSWizard Standalone

Very nice piece of work. I also started my own months ago, but haven't had time to finish it - when complete, it will calculate values for an entire set of tools, and export the toolset to some of the popular CAM programs. Yours is generating values very much in line with the values I've been using for years. I have yet to find *any* problems with yours (while I have seen G-Wizard calculate bogus values at times), and I think the calculated values are spot-on. Thank you for making this available!

Regards,
Ray L.

zero-divide,
I see you have v0.012 available on your site. I thought I would download and see what was new over the previous one. However, when I attempt to install I get:
"Installer corrupted or incomplete.

This could be the result of a failed download or corruption from a virus....."

If I click on the Yes button to try and install anyway, it looks like it goes through, however it still shows the v0.010 status on the initial logo screen.

I like the program and just trying to give some feedback

Originally Posted by Bubba

zero-divide,
I see you have v0.012 available on your site. I thought I would download and see what was new over the previous one. However, when I attempt to install I get:
"Installer corrupted or incomplete.

This could be the result of a failed download or corruption from a virus....."

If I click on the Yes button to try and install anyway, it looks like it goes through, however it still shows the v0.010 status on the initial logo screen.

I like the program and just trying to give some feedback

Thank you.
Version 0.012 is just a bug fix with some improvements like added high feed milling. Maybe that's why i didn't bother to change the status window text
Yeah the situation with false "corrupt installer" has been brought to my attention. But i don't yet know what causes it.
What Windows version are you using?
How do results its giving match the optimal ones for you. I work in prototyping/semi production environment and or more-less rigid machines from 10 to 25 HP. Have not broken a cutter in years because of wrong cutting parameters. And since i started my project the cycle times have reduced by at least 50 percent.
So i am interested how things work for Tormach and other small machines.

Thanks for the interest.
Cheers

Originally Posted by zero_divide

What do you mean by "easy to mess up" the inputs? I always need good suggestions.

Oh, well, here are the first few things that, well, didn't impress me:

Workpiece Material selection isn't sorted in any reasonable order. Looked messy on the very first field.

When I tried using it the first time, where the list of tools shows was a database error message. I still haven't quite figured out what the list of tools is for.

Every time I made a change, there was a pause and the screen repainted. The repaint caused everything on the screen to visually change, so my eyes could not validate the changed parameter made sense.

The numbers generated, at least for my simple test, where pretty similar to GWizard, so I don't have complaints. It just seemed clunky to use, the database errors gave me pause, and the data entry part didn't give me a warm fuzzy. So while the numbers were similar to GWizard, I didn't have high confidence in the results.

Kevin

Originally Posted by kevinro

Oh, well, here are the first few things that, well, didn't impress me:

Workpiece Material selection isn't sorted in any reasonable order. Looked messy on the very first field.

When I tried using it the first time, where the list of tools shows was a database error message. I still haven't quite figured out what the list of tools is for.

Every time I made a change, there was a pause and the screen repainted. The repaint caused everything on the screen to visually change, so my eyes could not validate the changed parameter made sense.

The numbers generated, at least for my simple test, where pretty similar to GWizard, so I don't have complaints. It just seemed clunky to use, the database errors gave me pause, and the data entry part didn't give me a warm fuzzy. So while the numbers were similar to GWizard, I didn't have high confidence in the results.

Kevin

Ok i, added material groups to the list, so things are much more readable now.

Regarding slow response and glitches you had using online version: i addressed that by releasing the standalone Windows app.

In Next couple of days i will release an update for it.
Right now you can see changes online here
FSWizard

Thanks for valid hints!
I am sorry you didn't like it.

Originally Posted by zero_divide

Thanks for valid hints!
I am sorry you didn't like it.

I applaud your efforts! I like the new materials list. I will get a chance in a few days to download the PC version and give it a whirl.

Thanks for the response as this clears it up for me. I am using it on XP pro SP3.

The figures look reasonable to me, but have not had a real world chance to test it out as I have been trying to finish up a router that I will use to mill pcb's.

Made my first board this week so now maybe can get back up to the shop to make some swarf on my RF31.

Thanks again.

Zero divide,

Wanted to try your stand alone verision, but it requires net v4.0, which isn't on my tormach controller, and without an internet connection, I can't install it.

Any ideas?

Terry

Originally Posted by MFchief

Zero divide,

Wanted to try your stand alone verision, but it requires net v4.0, which isn't on my tormach controller, and without an internet connection, I can't install it.

Any ideas?

Terry

Do you have NET v2.0 installed there?
I could scale it back to v2.0 it could help you.

If you dont even have v2.0 installed then i dont know how to help you.
Besides v4.0 is like 40MB in size. and 2.0 is "only" 20MB....

I had a version that did not requre .NET but its very much behind now. Gonna be very hard to resurrect it. I killed it B/C it didnt work on Windows 7 but worked on anything from Windows 95 to XP.

Thanks for replying so quickly.
Under microsoft.net\framework, there are folders labled:
V 1.0.3705
V 1.1.4322
2.0.50727
V 3.0
V 3.5

Does that make sense to you? I know zilch about framework

Terry

Originally Posted by MFchief

Thanks for replying so quickly.
Under microsoft.net\framework, there are folders labled:
V 1.0.3705
V 1.1.4322
2.0.50727
V 3.0
V 3.5

Does that make sense to you? I know zilch about framework

Terry

I will get home and scale everything down to .NET version 2.0 if its still possible. Maybe V3.0 if its too far gone.

Hang on and i'll make it work for you.

Thanks again for your efforts, way beyond, what anyone could ask.

Terry

You can download the .NET installer from Microsoft using a computer with web access, then copy it to a USB Flash drive, and use that to install on your machine.

Regards,
Ray L.

Ray,

Thanks for letting me know, when I looked at Microsofts dwnld page it said web access was required, I didn't see the stand alone installer download.

I did that dwnld and successfully installed net 4.0 and then the F/S calculator, and it works fine.

Zero divide,

No need to work on the conversion to an earlier net version! With Ray's help I go v 4.0 installed and all is well, now I'm playing with the calculator to get used to it.

Thanks again to both of you
Terry

Terry,

Glad everything worked out for you.
I will try to transfer it to a previous .NET version on next update anyway so that more people can use my FSWizard hassle-free.

Please post back what do you think about interface and the results.

Did anyone notice "in" and other labels near most input fields are actually clickable and change input to metric values and back?

Originally Posted by Steve Seebold

I always say, "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR".

So if the guy charged 200 bucks a shot you'd be happy.

I guess you never buy off ebay.

A more sceptical but realistic point of view would be "YOU DON'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR".

Phil