This past week we were busy with our MultiCam. Jeff Hartman, one of the creators of EnRoute software was here in my studio. He was here to develop and test an interface to program and run the fourth axis of our router.
Up to now, to run a file I've had to manually insert some code to allow the machine to switch from going back and forth on the router bed and instead position the spindle over the lathe and then turn the piece set degrees. Jeff and his team's work in EnRoute will instead do this work automatically inside EnRoute. To run a rotary file is now a simple matter of using the MultiCam keypad to call up and position the spindle over the lathe. I then need to establish the starting X position (one end of the piece) and then hit start. It sure is a whole lot easier than before!
Jeff was working with his boy scout troop at home to turn some bats by hand. He thought it would be a cool idea to bring three bat blanks with him and turn them on the router to test the work he was doing. We had great fun making the bats and he will have a cool show and tell for his scout troop when he gets home.
The bats turned out great and were a cool way to test Jeff's ideas for the software.
-dan
