I can definitely see your point. I will stick to forced tool changes between multiaxis operations on the Matsuuras then For the Haas I have found some "workarounds" that seem to really smooth out the process. Main one being under "feed rate control" in a multiaxis toolpath I will have checked "custom feedrate for clearance blend spline" and "replace rapid with feedrate". and then under the multiaxis link settings I'll have it checked to output feedrates as well. I'll usually have them set around 50-100 inches per minute (with butt puckered and hand on the feed stop button) to first prove it out and if the motion is smooth out at the machine I'll up it to 200-250. Essentially this will force all of the multiaxis toolpaths to stay in TCPC during relinking (while in that operation) but during the actual multiaxis linking moves it does swap back to dynamic work offsets (haas g68.2) so I am still technically rolling the dice a bit. Now really thinking about it I'll probably stop using the multiaxis link on the haas just for standardization's sake though especially since eventually I'll be too busy to prove out every single multiaxis program. Appreciate the insight!

That is just crazy I tell you. Crazy talk.

Remember getting berated for using the eraser and not rolling the pencil well enough. I still have a drafting table, that thing is heavy!

I just did an undercut fillet with a T-slot cutter the other day. I used Flowline, with Direction and Depth Limits, and it worked perfectly.

take a look at this file ajmer_ihs_SPIRAL.mcam

Thanks, I'll give those settings a shot on monday. At least I was on the right track, with the arc filter settings.

I typically do not use those 5-Axis linking strategies, or if I do, I use them sparingly. Transition from operation to operation can be tricky. You can get wild unpredictable motion. Much of the motion is dictated by machine parameters (wind/unwind/rotary axis rollover, etc...) In a multi-pallet production environment where unattended operation is the main goal, safe and predictable is your friend.

Although my toolmaking apprenticeship, turned into Modelshop/R&D, that quickly turned into the DO at the age of 21. I was REALLY fortunate that my mentor agreed to take me under his wing - he told me "I don't think I can make a silk purse out of a sows ear, but I think I can make a sows ear purse out of you" But we'd hit it off early during my apprenticeship - while work experience in the DO, he gave me my 1st job which was to copy an existing print. Mylar, 5H and 2H pencils, rule ("we don't call them rulers in here as the Queen of England has F'all to do with this job") square, protractor, compass and the most important thing eraser - and away I went. The part was the base of an instrument which was square with the 4x corners turned off, and everything was about the C/L - and I thought I was doing okay when he said "that top right quadrant - tatty - have another go at it"....so the eraser got a hammering and 15 minutes later "that's good, but it shows up the bottom right quadrant - have another go at that"....so out with the eraser again and 15 minutes later rinse and repeat for the left hand side.... End of day I remember him saying "the cleaners will love you tonight - look at all that mess on the floor" But yes, printing was my downfall - CAD was a godsend. There's 2x real arts to being a drafty from a "picture drawing " perspective - neat printing, and the most important one having the initial visibility of first laying the job out in your head so you know you can then get all views and all dimensions on the sheet. As with everything now, things change and it's a lost art - but we now have the other extreme where "everyone can use a computer", so everyone thinks they can be an "engineer"!

You guys are great- we are working on all the above. Thank you

Did a file get posted somewhere? Am I blind? I'd like to give this a shot as well

my drafting teacher made us memorize the factional tables from 0 to 1 by 1/64th We achieved that, then he demanded 1/128th. That knowledge really helped me in my early days as a up and coming machinist. I worked with a guy once who could do that in Mastercam V7 ( no solids) He would design and draft up B/P's for fixtures and tooling that looked like they came out of the Boeing engineering department.

Back in high school we had an old German welding/ drafting teacher, much like G-Code describes (drill Sargent/ taskmaster). He would make students cry. I still remember everything he taught us (well I think I remember!!!). Yes drafting with a T-Square and Vellum paper! I had an employee retire after nearly 40 years, he didn't use computers.... he would make "quick sketches" (his description) that were nothing short of works of art. Everything neatly scaled, shaded and sectioned and dimensioned immaculately.

I changed the Arc Filter Settings and it seems better (took a while to generate though). Not sure how it will behave on the machine.

Being young, I've always thought it would be fun to go back to the time before CAD/CAM, but only for a couple days. I have a feeling I would get sick of it pretty fast.

I liked that drafting class and at one point even looked at going to a tech college and making it a career. My dad was a petroleum engineer, working at the bleeding edge of modern tech. This was in 1971/72 and he told me it was a bad idea. He said there was this new tech coming and in 15 years there would be no drafting jobs. He was right too. By the late 80's AutoCad and it's kin had decimated the manual drafting industry. I'd have never made it as a draftsman anyway, My penmanship looks like a drunken chicken scribbling in the barnyard dust.

You missed the bit then where he said "Listen up G, in 53 years time you'll thank me for this NOW PAY ATTENTION"

Yes, C++/CLI is the .NET Version of C++ that can be consumed at the c# level You can add a Winform to the C# Project by choosing add new item and choosing a new winform, you need to right click on references and click add reference and select System.Windows.Forms first

Terry is trying to cut straight walls that are in the shadow of overhanging geometry. You ignore the overhanging geometry and develop a toolpath that cuts the desired straight walls only Then you create avoidance geometry to make the tool tilt and avoid the overhang It is not easy and it's a lot of work but it can be done. You would only go to all this trouble if you did not have a multiaxis license. This doesn't help Terry a bit because he has to build this part on a 3 axis machine.

Thinking of going to a 32" curved monitor. Pros Cons

This is happening to me, and all I am doing is unshading the solid, and it disappears. I have uninstalled mastercam and reinstalled. Did not fix the issue.

Could you modify a duplicate solid (remove the upper portion that is overhanging the undercut area (make the model shorter by that amount)). Then surface it with a lollipop mill?

It will tilt...but it won't go into undercut range! Because the undercut range cannot be calculated...the calculation core does not support calculating undercuts (HSM supports) My English is not good, I think it is better for Colin Chally72 Aaron to explain... Having a tilt function does not mean that you can enter the undercutting range!....Tilting and undercutting are different

you can big foot it and force it to do what you want there will be nothing automatic about it.

Thats Mastercam From a right side view on a Vmc A0 is at 12 o'clock From a right side view on a lathe enviroment...C0 is at 3" oclock.... hence the 90 deg difference ....been that way forever