G-Wizard Setup User Guide

G-Wizard Machinist's Calculator: Setup

G-Wizard's setup page contains all of the parameters it will remember each time you start up:

Imperial/Metric Units

Select whether units throughout the G-Wizard will default to Imperial (inches) or Metric (mm).

Machine Configuration (Profiles)

Machine profiles let's you create new custom profiles for your machines.

Note the buttons next to the Machine Profile Selector:

- Simple is for creating profiles that have the minimum information needed to make G-Wizard work. Creating these profiles is quick and easy.

- Advanced is for squeezing the maximum performance out of G-Wizard. A lot more information is collected.

Here are all the different kinds of information G-Wizard can use. Most of it is on the Advanced page.

Name: Call it whatever you'd like, but keep it short

Type: Lathe or Mill. Router users should choose "Mill".

Make and Model

Spindle Type and Size: e.g. "CAT" and "40".

Max. RPM: Your spindle's maximum speed

Max. HP: The maximum horsepower your spindle will produce. G-Wizard will keep your cuts within this limit.

Coolant: What kind of coolant does your machine use?

Tool Changer Slots and Change Time: Use chip to chip for change. Calculator doesn't use this information but G-Wizard Editor does.

Max. Feed: The maximum feedrate of your machine. Sorry, G-Wizard only tracks one, so if you have different maxima on different axes, you'll have to choose one.

Max Rapids: G-Wizard Editor uses this information, for example to calculate how long it will take a program to run.

Travels: What are your machine's axis travels.

Acceleration: What is the maximum accurate acceleration of your CNC? This is used by the interpolation calculator to keep feedrate within this limit so you get an accurate hole. The number is usually determined through experimentation.

Machine Weight: This is used for Rigidity compensation by G-Wizard Calculator.

Spindle 0-max rpm time: Used by G-Wizard editor to figure program run time

Min. word time: A measure of how many blocks your controller can execute.

Coolant on/off time: Used by GWE to figure program run time

CNC Controller: Used by GWE

SFM Adjustment: The value, in percent, by which to multiply SFM. 100% will simply used G-Wizard's recommendation. 200% would double the recommendation while 50% would have it. There is also an SFM adjustment available tool by tool in the Tool Crib.

Tool Life Estimate: The biggest contributor to Tool Life is surface speed, according to Taylor's Tool Life Equation. This line tells you the contribution your SFM Adjustment makes to Tool Life. In the screen shot, setting SFM to 80% results in 6x longer tool life. You can get crazy with it. Setting it to 10% predicts 100 million x longer life. You should take 100 million as the tool will last a LOT longer! Because the numbers get silly after a while, I limit the results to be no more than 1000 times longer life.

Chipload Adjustment: The value, in percent, by which to multiply chipload. There is also a chipload adjustment available tool by tool in the Tool Crib.

G-Wizard remembers all the profiles you create. It also remembers the profile you last selected in the Feeds and Speeds calculator and brings that up each time you restart G-Wizard.

Editing a Profile

To edit a profile, select it with the "Machine" dropdown menu, change whatever fields you like below, and press "Save".

Creating a New Profile

A new profile is created any time you change "Name" to a name that didn't exist before and press "Save".

Deleting a Profile

To edit a profile, select it with the "Machine" dropdown menu, change whatever fields you like below, and press "Delete Machine".

Warning: You can't get it back and there is no "Undo"!

Reverting to the Default Profiles

To revert to the default profiles, press "Reset".

Warning: This deletes any new profiles you may have created!

Tool Crib

Tool Cribs and Tool Tables are accessed via the Setup tab. For more information see the section on G-Wizard Tool Cribs and Tool Tables.

Files Tab

The files tab shows you the directory where the various preferences and setup files are located, and provides buttons to reset these files to their defaults. If you press the button, you will lose any data in the file associated with the button. To reset a file, press the button and exit G-Wizard. The next time you start G-Wizard, the file will have returned to its defaults.