Thread: Anyone using Biesse Works and or a Biesse Over head router.

Mat,
good luck, that's seriously esoteric stuff you're talking about there, but you never know we might have a lurker who's conversant with the programs. Was foreman in a large cabinet shop about five years back and one of the many problems which I identified and which, like all the other problems they did nothing about, was the fact that only one person knew how to drive the beam saw and the optimiser software. He'd done his aprenticeship there and was working quite happily as a contractor but he could have left at any time. Why do people allow such situations to develop?

Mick

Hey there at my old workshop they had a biesse I havent had much experience with the biesse personally. The past 2 yrs I have been working with a machine called tekcel which uses Profile Lab software. I do a lot of the programming from autocad then importing them into Profile Lab where I can add the tool paths and do what I need before sending it to the machine. One thing I found really useful which may help is to put each different type of file into their own folder and all of those folders put into the one folder for that particular job. It really makes searching for files and programs much quicker and easier. What exactly is it that you want to know anyway?? I don't know much about the system I have seen pytha in action and a few other things but havent worked with any of it much. As for making things efficient I worked out good ways of doing that over the years I have worked with the tekcel machine. Sorry I cant help much but i may be able to help in certain areas though.

I know the head aches and problems you are facing with this challange.
With my work we have a Biesse Skipper 100 running BiesseWorks that work has resently bought that I have to learn to program and operate. Aswell as the Biesse Rover 23's we have which we have using Pytha to Analyzer to Hops to the Xnc editor on the Rovers. All which I need to know to use, operate , and fix. Depending on which problem or should i say problems are happing.
I've been doing this now for about 5 years now.
And still having people complain about it.
You can never please them only change the complaint from one thing to another...hahaha..
Anyways if I can help in anyway, I'll be glad to try

Just looking at what your trying to learn in terms of software and from the outside looking in, one way you're trying to use four different programs to run the machine and the other you only need two? My suggestion is concentrate on CabGenie and Biesseworks (from what I've heard Biesseworks is quite flexible) and get that system running smoothly then maybe look at your other system and decide which way to go. You may have to ditch one! Boss might not be happy but if the bottom line starts to pick up he'll be thanking you for sure.

From what I've heard another company who run a Biesse Skipper and Rover 23 ended up ditching Pytha and started running a completely different CAD/CAM system entirely, bold move but it paid off for them.

Spazz, congrats on the opportunity with the Skipper. It's a great machine and bloody fast!! There's definately some smart cookie's around who designed that machine.

At this stage I think we're looking at kicking CabGenie. It's a known problem that CabGenie to Biesse Works isn't all that stable and we're not paying $30000 for Aspan. If all you do is very basic box making it works ok. But once you venture outside that problems start happening and no one has the solutions. CabGenie says it's a Biesse fault and Biesse says it's a Cabgenie fault. We're getting sick of being the beta testers for them.

We're not all that impressd with Pytha either but we end up coming back to it because it does more than the rest. It can really corrupt parts and when it does look out cause the Biesse beds gonno cop it. We've been fairly lucky I've heard of some really bad damage done by the Pytha -> Analyzer -> Enroute combination.

Pytha was pushing us to upgrade all our cad stations to 18 saying it was going to solve all our problems. I said no way, we install it on a stand alone machine and test it before we even think of going live. We dumped 18 three weeks after it was installed cause it was so buggy. And the solution they gave us to correct the bugs were a joke. They just announced that they have an update to 18 - for a price. What a joke - the software is buggy and they expect us to pay for the fix.

We looked into Cabinet Vision, had the Aus rep do a demo and were quite impressed until he tried doing some curved work. That was painful to watch. He said CV will have a pytha type component in 2 - 4 years. So for $80,000 we said come back and talk to us in 4 years.

Right now I think the biggets problem with Pytha is the lack of decent written materials and access to people with knowledge. The manuals provided by Pytha can only be described as crap. There's only one pytha forum on the planet and it's in german. Pytha Australia is sort of knowledgeable for cabinetry but that's about it.

Don't know if it helps, but where I work at the moment they use a Biesse 322. They do a fair bit of curved work too. I will see if I can ask someone on Monday about what software they use. I know for the design stage they use Pytha and Autocad.

Not sure what you guys make Toolin' Around, but it doesn't sound like many kitchens. Have a look at http://www.topsolid.com/ , from what I've seen in the demo CD it looks smarter and more flexible than ASPAN, but I only use ASPAN as a post-processor so I'm not too sure how smart and flexible ASPAN is on shaped stuff. I think I saw a pricelist of around $18000 for the basic version of TopSolid.

If any software has gliches or corrupts parts don't trust it!!
Check everything it spits out; because if you don't, not only may a router crash into the bed you may bust the spindle, thn your talking big bucks replacing or repairing the spindle, a technician for disassembly and re-installation and testing, not to mention the missed opportunity costs while the machine is down .

Just having another read back over about Biesse and CabGenie blaming each other, youknow what would make life so much easier? If people would just communicate with each other and explain the problems from each side and come to a decision in the middle somewhere, everyone wins!!! You guys win because you only have two programs to learn, CabGenie wins because they can export to the entire Biesse machine range, and Biesse wins because they can say they can accept data from yet another software vendor! Isn't it just so simple!?

Hi

I will introduce myself immediately as the Australian agent for TopSolid. We are based in Sydney and as "BazMick" says its VERY different than all the usual suspects such as cabinet vision etc...

TopSolid'Wood has been developed directly from a "real" full featured cad/cam system and as such has no limits with regards to product design and complexity etc. The machining (cam) gives the user a full 3d model of the entire machine so you can see exactly where the cutter is going and how its going to get there.

We have post processors for Biesse and all other popular makes of routers

Well, thats the quick and dirty sales pitch so if any of you would like to see it first hand give me a call and we will arrange a demo.

(02)8824 9095

Originally Posted by Cimso

Hi

I will introduce myself immediately as the Australian agent for TopSolid. We are based in Sydney and as "BazMick" says its VERY different than all the usual suspects such as cabinet vision etc...

TopSolid'Wood has been developed directly from a "real" full featured cad/cam system and as such has no limits with regards to product design and complexity etc. The machining (cam) gives the user a full 3d model of the entire machine so you can see exactly where the cutter is going and how its going to get there.

We have post processors for Biesse and all other popular makes of routers

Well, thats the quick and dirty sales pitch so if any of you would like to see it first hand give me a call and we will arrange a demo.

(02)8824 9095

Hi

Cab Vision price is around $80,000 what's your ball park price. About 50% of the business is standard box work the rest is custom to alsorts of varying degrees of complexity.

hi there
i have worked with biesse routers for 12 years and the best programme out there is alphacam by licom systems. it is a full cad cam package. easy to use and tooling is done there as well and then it is sent to machine via alpha edit. hope this helps

Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

Mat,
good luck, that's seriously esoteric stuff you're talking about there, but you never know we might have a lurker who's conversant with the programs. Was foreman in a large cabinet shop about five years back and one of the many problems which I identified and which, like all the other problems they did nothing about, was the fact that only one person knew how to drive the beam saw and the optimiser software. He'd done his aprenticeship there and was working quite happily as a contractor but he could have left at any time. Why do people allow such situations to develop?

Mick

Same thing happened at my work. I was the only guy in the factory who knew how the operate the CNC router. I gave my boss 1 month notice and he only got a new guy for me to train in the last few days and then that guy left for another job. haha

So what happens, my boss gives me a call to train another guy but the new job i'm at pays way more then he ever did and he was shifty on the pay/super so why would i ever go back to him. I hope he loses alot of business. Karma

i have just purchased rover A .. this is my first CNC machine. and the spec they have given me for the dust collection unit. say ( 30 m/sec min with 3400 CFM)
does any one have a idea if this is the only machine i will be running on the duct collection unit .. how much is it going to cost me
thanks

Hey mate im new her...

Hi all..Im GTR675(mark)...

I run a rover 9 using Pytha or CAD , Analyzer then Hops or Enroute to create Output Files.

This setup is almost bulletproof when strategies are setup correctly..

Anyone here used ball mills??

Hi, Guys my name is sumidh. Actually i m from Bombay(India). But last 4 Years i m working in dubai as a Cnc department Head. I m working in one woodworking company.In my department i m using 3 cnc machine
1) Biesse Rover B 4.4 Biesse work, Nc 1000
2) Biesse Rover 24 Nc 1000
3) Holzma Cnc Panel saw (HPL 380) Cad matic 4

As well as i m using some special software for designing "Artcam Pro 9" for Router machine. And for panel saw i m using Cut Rite Moduler For Optimizing the part.

Thank You,
Sumidh