Plasmacam sending update discs out?

[Joe Jones]

Some seem to think that their PlasmaCam software engineers are pretty much either retired or non-existent.

There are a hundred additional features and capabilities I can think of, that could be added to DesignEdge software to make it completely awesome. I would even be willing to pay their favorite $998.00 UPGRADE FEE for the Full Monty of feature upgrades as a single package.

I do not believe PlasmaCam has ANY interest in adding any additional capabilities to the software.

Joe

[Joe Jones]

Some seem to think that their PlasmaCam software engineers are pretty much either retired or non-existent.

There are a hundred additional features and capabilities I can think of off the top of my head, that could be added to DesignEdge software to make it completely awesome. I would even be willing to pay their favorite $998.00 UPGRADE FEE for the Full Monty of feature upgrades as a single package in Version 6.0.1.

I do not believe the owner of DesignEdge software has ANY interest in adding additional capabilities to the software, even if he could sell an ADVANCED FEATURES PACKAGE update for $998.00.

Joe

[adbuch]

Thats way cool David.
I have been making the transition from Designspark to fusion 360, which I do like better than Onshape for my basic CAD drawings.
And like you,, do prefer inkscape over DE for file conversions, and of course DE for the final touches and actual cnc Plas work

Doug - I cut the parts last night and they turned out great! I had a few tip-ups, but the Plasmacam catches these immediately and pauses until the offending piece is moved. Also the Design Edge Nesting works great - so much quicker than nesting them by hand.

David

[tinspark]

Thats way cool David.
I have been making the transition from Designspark to fusion 360, which I do like better than Onshape for my basic CAD drawings.
And like you,, do prefer inkscape over DE for file conversions, and of course DE for the final touches and actual cnc Plas work

Doug - I cut the parts last night and they turned out great! I had a few tip-ups, but the PlasmaCam catches these immediately and pauses until the offending piece is moved. Also the Design Edge Nesting works great - so much quicker than nesting them by hand.

David

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I would like to get advanced height, and a second seat, and have been using the array tool in the place of the nesting feature.
Pressing a lot of the A button, and the R button in the meantime..
Still have a few kids at home, underage who seem to never really let me get ahead.
They take a lot of time and denaro!! (aka$$$) haahah But no complaints from me. I feel blessed!

[rdj357]

HAHA Doug, these kids are expensive!! BUT what an investment and source of joy! I love tools and toys but I love my family more!

[Joe Jones]

Still have a few kids at home, underage who seem to never really let me get ahead.
They take a lot of time and denaro!! (aka$$$) haahah But no complaints from me. I feel blessed!

What are their ages?

Joe

[tinspark]

What are their ages?

...

[rocksolidesigns]

Still have a few kids at home, underage who seem to never really let me get ahead.
They take a lot of time and denaro!! (aka$$$) haahah But no complaints from me. I feel blessed!

What are their ages?

Joe

cringey...

[Joe Jones]

cringey...

Very funny. My question was geared toward whether or not they are old enough to GET JOBS and CONTRIBUTE to the cost of running the home. People often refer to TEENS as "kids."

Joe

[tinspark]

cringey...

Very funny. My question was geared toward whether or not they are old enough to GET JOBS and CONTRIBUTE to the cost of running the home. People often refer to TEENS as "kids."

Joe

No offense taken here.
We charged our son rent after he graduated from high school and had a job. Especially when he started buying Amazon Cr** and probably had more pocket jingle than his dad at times..…Also, so that he didn’t take us (wife and I) for granted, and to teach him responsibility.
But what he didn’t know was that we decided a log time ago to put every penny that he paid us in a savings account for him so that when he left home it would all go back to him as a house warming gift, and give him an easier start. He grumbled about paying rent, and had no clue what we were doing with “HIS $$$$” .
but sure loved it after he moved out when we gave him all of his money back.
He even talked us into lowering his rent along the way, because I was putting the hurt on his paycheck..
But what he didn’t know was that he was actually taking money out of his own pocket by not giving it to us and by campaigning how low all of his buddies rent was compared to his..
After the fact he said, “dad why didn’t you tell me?”
II told him that it was not really his concern.
But he was very thankful for access to his newly discovered savings account, and surprised!
The goal was to teach, which we did!

[abmetal]

Doug,
What you did for your son hit home but in a different way. We'd told our son since he wasn't helping out around the house he was going to have to pay rent and he promptly told us that he'd move out before he'd pay rent....which he promptly did. We had planned on doing the exact same thing as you but he thought he knew more. Years later we told him what we'd planned on doing should he have continued living at home. The look on his face was PRICELESS!

Allen

[Joe Jones]

I have often thought about teaching a high school class called "Moving Out!" It would be a real wake-up call for self-centered teens who think they are ready to make it in the real world.

They live in mom and dad's home, and they complain about how HORRIBLE it is living under their roof The way to deal with that is to calmly instruct the rebellious yout' to sit down with a pad of paper and write down EVERYTHING it costs to live on your own. Once you open their eyes to the truth, they WILL calm down and fall back into line!

Joe

[tinspark]

Doug,
What you did for your son hit home but in a different way. We'd told our son since he wasn't helping out around the house he was going to have to pay rent and he promptly told us that he'd move out before he'd pay rent....which he promptly did. We had planned on doing the exact same thing as you but he thought he knew more. Years later we told him what we'd planned on doing should he have continued living at home. The look on his face was PRICELESS!

Allen

A month after he moved out (which was about 10 months ago), he told his mom. "I have to buy toilet paper", " They are using all of my toilet paper"...
, " you guys bought everything)" ...I don't know why, but that was one of the funniest things that I have ever heard.
He is doing fine.. I still get a chuckle out of that one though..
Maybe because I saw the "self entitlement" bubble burst in that one sentence.
It was perfect!!

[tinspark]

It has arrived!!

[adbuch]

Doug - that's great news! I'll have to go out and check my mailbox - maybe mine is here today as well. Thanks for the update!

David

[adbuch]

Hooray!! It's finally here. I can wait to see what's inside. Very exciting indeed!!
David

[rdj357]

PSA: BE VERY CAREFUL INSTALLING THIS UPDATE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are using PlasmaCAM software version 3.11 or older BE SURE TO NOT RUN the auto installer without reading the instructions. This can be tricky because computers are often set to AUTO RUN the installer and it is VERY EASY to think you're doing the right thing by just clicking OK OK OK INSTALL but this will overwrite your old software with DesignEdge and you will NOT be able to fix that unless you have the old software installation disc. (WHICH YOU SHOULD ABSOLUTELY HAVE IN A SAFE SPOT) But you will lose any saved settings or configurations.

I really believe this is done intentionally by PlasmaCAM to flush out old software users who may have gotten their tables second-hand (legally and registered) who either didn't get or don't have the original install discs so that they are trapped into the new software (which is absolutely much better and well worth the investment if you didn't already know).

3.11 Video Manual ONLY Installation Instructions
1) Run the setup file (this may run automatically when you insert the disc.
2) DO NOT check the 'Install DesignEdge' or 'Uninstall DesignEdge' boxes - MAKE SURE THEY ARE NOT CHECKED
3) Ignore the machine model and click next.
4) Check (or make sure it is) the 'Install Video Manual' box and change/set any options you may want on that screen.
5) Set your machine model and click 'Finish.'
6) A window will pop up saying, "Installation complete. Thank you for choosing DesignEdge." DON'T panic. It only did the video manual......

For DesignEdge users, install away! Most of us already have the version 4.57 installed since it's freely available on the Owner's Community forum but if you haven't been out from under the rock since 2017 when the last disc was mailed then here's your opportunity for a few new things.

As for the new video manual, there are some new things and FINALLY a fix for the black screen on the player. Hopefully it works well. It works fine on my system. (I have only tested on the laptop I use for design) The PDF thing opening inside the player is OK. I think I liked it better opening the other way but you can maximize and read them well enough. I opened a PDF and now the video manual won't play in the original window, only the little one that cannot be moved or maximized. I tried closing and reopening the video manual but it still shows only a black screen on the main window and plays in the little one. It cannot be moved or maximized or even enlarged. Oh well, maybe in another 5 years it will work correctly?

[adbuch]

Robert - thanks for this great information! I will be viewing the new Video Manual on a separate computer which does not currently have Design Edge installed. That was my plan anyway. I'm interested to see the changes/improvements to the Video Manual, but will not be updating my Design Edge on any of my computers at this time, as I'm perfectly happy with the current performance of the older versions.

I hope the FaceBook groups will be made aware of this as well, as I know there are quite a few members there still running 3.11 as well.

David

[abmetal]

Robert,
Thanks for the info. We got ours yesterday but Wifey is a little gun shy about loading it. Monkey is on her back since she runs the table.

Allen

[sonbakler]

Robert,
Thanks for the info. We got ours yesterday but Wifey is a little gun shy about loading it. Monkey is on her back since she runs the table.

Allen

Can't blame her there Allen, I am sure she has learned from experience like many of us that if your happy with it and it's working well...LEAVE IT ALONE!

[tinspark]

I downloaded the video manual in non table PC and watched some of the new video manual. It was good!

But....................................... if I ever have insomnia, I need to remember to fire up the video manual, because every time I watch it day or night I can only get maybe 10 minutes in and start falling asleep!! It works better than melatonin! haha!!

[adbuch]

Doug - I did the same. I really couldn't tell any difference, except that some of the pdf files are now displayed from within the video manual. Maybe that was a different person shown assembling the table? I'll have to go back and watch the original video manual to compare. I generally watch selected portions as needed with the sound off, and just read the text - normally when I am trying to answer a question for a fellow Plasmacam owner. In any case, I don't see anything that would make me want to update the video manuals at my Design Edge computers.

David

[rdj357]

I have dual monitors and can't get the damn video to come back. Same black screen crap as before only now I can't drag it from one screen to another to get it back. I suspect restarting will get it back until I do the wrong combination of things again.

Same boring crap that has made my classes a success for 5 years running. LOL


PlasmaCAM has indicated on the owner's forum that they have included safeguards this time to help prevent people from accidentally overwriting their older version software accidentally. I stand happily corrected BUT still recommend being careful to watch and read all warnings and instructions if installing this update disc and you just want to do the video manual only.

[adbuch]

Robert - I don't know if it is your dual monitor setup causing the black screen. I have never had that problem with any of my single monitor systems - I've got Design Edge installed on 4 computers - one for table, one for pipe cutter, and two here in the office for design work. Yes I agree that for many folks the Video Manual seems to be hard to follow and understand. I personally have no problem with it, and have studied it several times "front to back" when I was first getting my Plasmacam set up and cutting about 7 years ago. But that's why they have teachers in school - to explain the material in detail to the students with examples - and the text book is normally used for reference.

The one great video that really helped me out about 3 years ago was this one where I had asked you to demonstrate your techniques for file cleanup on a file posted on this forum. Thanks for that!

David

https://www.facebook.com/learnplasmacam ... 0346275313

[rdj357]

....

I personally have no problem with it, and have studied it several times "front to back"

....

Thanks for that David, I try to help as much as I can both online and in person. I tried to do online only but found that people lacked the personal touch gained from an in-person meeting. You are correct 100% that *some* people have no problem with it. I'm one of those also but the fact is (and I've studied this by reading books on the subject, surveys and feedback, and discussing with professional educators) that people learn in different ways. If your mind is wired to learn predominantly visually or even audibly then you can gain a ton of information from the video manual natively. If you are a kinetic learner then you are lost before you even begin. If your ability to infer more complex combinations of tools and functions is not something you got from heredity then chances are you will struggle. It's not a matter of being smart, dumb, ignorant, or savant. It's just how our brains are wired for better or worse. My classes have been built around the fact that people learn in different ways so the same information must be presented in different ways over the course of a workshop. I'm absolutely certain that the fruits of my labor and research are not perfect, not a single thing in my life to date has been! I just try to convey the information, concepts, and best practices in a way that is easy to understand and that can be taken home to the shop to start cutting. Once there, the practice and recollections of what we covered in class and how we did it can be the foundation of the learning process. I love seeing people learn new things whether it is the person who's owned their table for 14 years before taking my workshop or the person who hasn't even taken it out of the crate yet.