Hi all. A very quick question for you all. Can I control my LongMill 30 with Vectric VCarve Desktop 10.5 instead of using UGS?
Thanks
In short, No. VCarve is a CAD/CAM application. It will generated the gcode, but will not talk to your Mill. If you are trying to avoid UGS for some reason, there are other gcode senders out there.
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Thank you for the reply. Very much appreciated .
Since this topic was started, I have a question as new owner of the LongMill. I have just started testing out the machine. I downloaded the trial version of VCarve Desktop. I plan to make that my software of choice. What is the best output file type to choose? In the VCarve pulldown for post processor, I do not see the LongMill listed. What would the best selection be or does it even matter for using UGS? Thanks for the help.
Excellent. I had tried a few different selections and they all worked. I appreciate going forward I now have a definitive answer.
Out of curiosity, V-Carve now comes with V-Transfer for direct to machine transfers. Has anyone tried this with the Longmill?
@Prangster @stevendq @Chris Tks for this, Steve. I forgot all about that. Paul: I’m sorry but I forgot about the new version of VCP coming with Vtransfer. I believe that will allow you to forego using UGS, for example. I have no experience with it, so can’t put my foot in my mouth any further.
@gwilki - You are correct that VCarve Desktop cannot control the longmill but I found the following info on a search for Vectric VTransfer. I didn’t copy to entire document but it goes on to explain how to install, setup and use. I haven’t tried it yet but plan to in the near future. I saw where it is used with the new laser module too. I don’t currently have it installed on my cnc computer but will in the next few days. It should have come with the VCarve and Aspire downloads
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VTransfer
VTransfer is a small helper application provided by Vectric to simplify the process of sending toolpaths to some grbl-based controllers. You should run VTransfer on the PC to which your CNC machine is connected via a USB serial connection. If your Vectric CADCAM software is also running on the same PC, you can use Direct Output mode to send toolpaths to VTransfer directly, without the need for file saving or loading.
As well as streaming toolpaths, also VTransfer provides the commands you need to initiate basic homing, jogging and setting of origins on your CNC machine before a toolpath is run.
Please Note: VTransfer has been created specifically for streaming toolpaths to a pre-configured controller. It expects that your controller is correctly set-up and tested for your hardware. VTransfer will not set, alter or validate your controller’s parameters in any way and is not intended to be used for lower-level controller configuration.
I have used Vtransfer back on my 3018 prior to getting my Longmill. It worked fine but is very basic and I quickly switched over to using UGS. I now use CNCjs. Since those are both free And so cost is not a barrier, I would highly recommend one of those over Vtransfer.