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CNC Explorer App Help Topics
General Information
Home Page
- Bottom Navigation Bar
- Show Material Screen
- Recipe Edit Buttons
CNC Help Videos
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About the CNC Explorer App
With the cost of endmill tools and lumber doesn't it make sense to minimize the chance of errors? CNC Explorer can help make your cuts right the first time.
The CNC Explorer WEB App is a software tool to help the CNC'er calculate the optimum "Feed and Speed" settings for their CNC Machines.
Many factors determine the optimum settings, including the type and geometry of the endmill selected, the material selected, the rigidity of the CNC machine, the depth of cut, and the width of cut. etc. etc.
Clearly, it can be a daunting task for the hobbyist to calculate all the factors. What is needed is a simple to use tool that is convenient to use, with basic inputs for the beginner but also more advanced and detailed information for the enthusiast.
The CNC Explorer App is such a tool. The App is truly universal able to run on multiple platforms such as web browsers, computer desktops, mobile phones, tablets. Always available at a mouse click ready to pick up where you left off. Customizable and expandable with your own tried and true Setup Recipes. A growing list of supported endmills and materials.
The displays can be easily toggled to show from a basic view with just the right amount of information to calculate a good "Speed and Feed" recommended range. You can switch in detailed views showing the various sub calculations the app is performing and allow you to fine-tune the result to perfectly match your requirements.
When you are happy with a recipe you can save it off and recall the exact settings you used last time. You can even use the saved recipes as a starting point for a new setup. Plans are to add the capability of allowing the sharing of recipes with others in the community.
One constant comment we hear from the hobby CNC'er is their machine is not capable of operating at the recommended endmill tool manufacture settings. The CNC Explorer addresses this issue by allowing you to select the type of machine you are using and the "Speed and Feeds" recommendations will be scaled accordingly.
We have put in a great deal of research and development in the CNC Explorer and we hope as you learn more about the tool you too will agree it is a breakthrough in convenience and useability to the Hobbyist CNC'er.
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Top App Control Bar
- Show Endmills / Hide Endmills
- Show or hides section to filter make a selection from the various tool libraries in the app
- Show Materials/ Hide Materials
- Show or hides section to filter and select from the different materials in the material library
- Show / Hide Milling
- Shows controls to adjust the spindle RPM, Make fine tune ajustments in Feed Rate, Adjust your depth of cut and Width of Cut
- Logout
- Log out of the App
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Bottom Navigation Bar
- Home Screen - Main App Screen
- Tool Library - Screen to Search and Favorite Endmills
- Material Library - Manage Material Library
- CNC Setup Screen - Configure machine and spindles
- Help Screen - Basic Help FAQ and Licenses/Legal
- Settings Screen - Manage App Defaults
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Basic Home Screen
The basic home screen displays all the current settings of the app configurations and the recommended Feed Rate range of the configuration. This setup or 'recipe' can be saved off or updated. As well a previously saved recipe can be loaded.
All the parameters can be changed by opening up the various sections of the app by toggling on or off the Show Endmills, Show Materials, or Show Milling buttons in the Top App Bar
The bottom section shows information about the currently selected End Mill and information about the currently selected cutting Material.
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Show/Hide EndMills Home Screen
Pressing the Show/Hide EndMills button on the Top App Bar drops in a set of selection filters to help you choose an EndMill to make your cut.
There are a series of drop-down selection boxes to choose the diameter, number of flutes, Type of tool, manufacture, shank size, and even what type of material to cut.
To help focus better there is a text search box. If you know the part number or even a partial number it will sort through the database. You can try any word to help you sort.
The last selector is a scrolling view showing the results of your filtering. You will notice it will keep a count of the possible bits to choose from. you can scroll throw the list and click on the bit you want. It will turn green and the app displays will reflect your selection and use it for all the calculations.
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Show/Hide Material Home Screen
Pressing the Show/Hide Material button on the Top App Bar drops in a set of selection filters to help you choose the material you want to cut. It looks and works very similar to the Show EndMill Screen button
There is only one drop-down selection box to choose the type of material. There are three classes of woods, All woods, Hard Woods, and Soft Woods
To help focus better there is a text search box where you can type in the name of the wood you are searching for,
The last selector is a scrolling view showing the results of your filtering. You will notice it will keep a count of the possible materials to choose from. You can scroll throw the list and click on the material you want. It will turn green and the app displays will reflect your selection and use it for all the calculations.
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Show/Hide Milling Home Screen
Pressing the Show/Hide Material button on the Top App Bar drops in a set of selection filters to help you choose the material you want to cut. It looks and works very similar to the Show EndMill Screen button
There is only one drop-down selection box to choose the type of material. There are three classes of woods, All woods, Hard Woods, and Soft Woods
To help focus better there is a text search box where you can type in the name of the wood you are searching for,
The last selector is a scrolling view showing the results of your filtering. You will notice it will keep a count of the possible materials to choose from. You can scroll throw the list and click on the material you want. It will turn green and the app displays will reflect your selection and use it for all the calculations.
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Feed Rate Displays
The Feed Rate Display is the Heart of the CNC Explorer App. This display presents the results of all your configuration selections. The top row shows the range of recommended feed rates as calculated from your milling tool, material, and milling control selections. As well the rate is adjusted for your type of CNC machine and your selected skill level. Values are in imperial inches or metric mm depending on your preferred selection in the App Setup screen.
Our recommended speed is somewhat conservative shown in the green-colored section.
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Machine Milling Force Monitor
The Machine Milling Force Monitor is a great tool to help assure your recipe setup configuration will run safely on your CNC machine. Cutting harder materials and especially cutting deep and wide cuts can place a great deal of force on your cutting tool and machine. Your Machine must be able to handle the milling forces to make clean cuts. Exceeding the limits of your machine could result in damage to your machine and poor cuts.
The CNC Explorer takes all your configurations in your current setup and calculates the peak cutting force required and displays it in lbf. In addition bases on your selected machine, it knows the limits of your machine and will display the percentage required against the limits. If the required milling force exceeds the limit the display will indicate RED to give you a warning so that you might make an adjustment in your cutting parameters.
