more 5 axis bother

[phill heward]

im trying to do what should be an easy job but im struggling all day with it.

i got a square block 47mm square and 65 long. im trying to turn it into a 46mm square with radiused corners 8mm rad i think.  trying to do it rotary wise with an8mm ballnose as i dont have a cutter long enough to do it as a 3 axis job.

all looks fine on mastercam (although im still very much clueless on it and manage to bulldoze my way through and get it to do a few things now)

but on the mill instead of tilting the table and rotating the chuck with the cutter near vertical to the axis, the job axis stays vertical to the cutter, the chuck rotates a few degrees, stops, feeds in y, rotates a bit more, stops etc................

ive tried a few different toolpath types but it always does more or less the same thing on the machine

[Aaron Eberhard]

Were you hoping for continuous rotary action around the center of rotation?  

If I'm interpreting correctly, you're saying that it's moving the Y axis on the flats, and only rotating around the radiused corners?

 

Can you post a Zip2Go?  I'd be happy to take a look.

[phill heward]

yes im trying to do a continuous rotary, its doing a combination of y and a bit of rotary. nowhere near 90 deg, more like 0.3deg, ive not looked at the numbers but its a tiny bit of each .

the main thing im trying to do is get it to tilt so the cutter is normal to the rotation axis, ive not got it to tilt at all yet

how do i do a zip to go? and what do you want to see?

another question, im almost certain im trying to use the wrong type of toolpath, is there anywhere with a chart describing what toolpath type to use for which type of cut? or more specifically what all the varioius options do on each cut parameters page etc. so far ive only been able to pick up a few ideas off youtube but there still so much i need to learn.

[Aaron Eberhard]

Gotcha!

To create a zip2go, go to File > Zip2Go.  It'll create a mcam-content file that includes your post processor along with the file. 

Sounds like you want to either lock the toolpath to 4 axis, or at least Rotate Around Axis. 

Our generous hosts here have put their training materials out for free:

You should still have my email address, right?  Go ahead and email me the file.

[phill heward]

ok, ill have to login on the other pc. the mastercam is on a different machine to wht im on now. also im using x8. they cant afford to update it yet.

 

[Aaron Eberhard]

1 minute ago, phill heward said:

ok, ill have to login on the other pc. the mastercam is on a different machine to wht im on now. also im using x8. they cant afford to update it yet.

 

Ah, yeah...  There's going to be a lot of differences between X8 and now.. That's from 2012...  A whole lotta differences.     I'd imagine it's tough to find YouTube videos showing the older interfaces and such, too..

 

Maybe contact in-House and see if they still have a multiaxis training manual they can sell you from that version?

[phill heward]

you mean mastercam uk? I tried that..no hope. im dead to them unless we pay the 10k plus to bring everything up to date.

I have found a few useful vids that have helped. everything ive been doing for the last few months is all 3 axis. wouldnt say im getting the hang of it but am able to get the work done one way or another. 

I wanted to try going in to 5 axis a bit on this one mostly to try learning it a bit.

I also have another turbo impeller coming up in a month or so.

 

[JParis]

X8...What? Aaron, you mean you don't have 10 versions back ago still installed?

What is this world coming to....

[phill heward]

id love to get this up to date but its not happening anytime soon. I just have to work with what i have

[Kyle F]

 

14 minutes ago, JParis said:

X8...What? Aaron, you mean you don't have 10 versions back ago still installed?

What is this world coming to....

just a few years ago we had x7/x9 still on our PC's haha

Now I only have back to 2021

[JParis]

10 minutes ago, phill heward said:

id love to get this up to date but its not happening anytime soon. I just have to work with what i have

That was kind of  my point, I likely missed the mark a bit...it is going to be VERY tough to find anyone that still have a version that old still installed...I don't want to speak for Aaron but I think he was alluding to that by suggesting looking for an old X8 book.  The interface and abilities have changed GREATLY since that version.

One suggestion I might have for a book to is try Ebay...I have seen older training books available on there

4 minutes ago, Kyle F said:

 

just a few years ago we had x7/x9 still on our PC's haha

Now I only have back to 2021

I haven't had X9 on my system since 2016....as of right now I only have 2024

[Aaron Eberhard]

1 hour ago, JParis said:

That was kind of  my point, I likely missed the mark a bit...it is going to be VERY tough to find anyone that still have a version that old still installed...I don't want to speak for Aaron but I think he was alluding to that by suggesting looking for an old X8 book.  The interface and abilities have changed GREATLY since that version.

One suggestion I might have for a book to is try Ebay...I have seen older training books available on there

I haven't had X9 on my system since 2016....as of right now I only have 2024

Yep, that's exactly what I was going for

I can't even run X8.. The oldest I can run is 2019, because I'm on a software license.

1 hour ago, phill heward said:

you mean mastercam uk?

No, I meant In-House Solutions.. They're the Canadian reseller for Mastercam and the gracious host of emastercam.com.     They still list X8 training materials on the website?

https://www.emastercam.com/store/category/161-mastercam-x8/

 

[JParis]

27 minutes ago, Aaron Eberhard said:

I can't even run X8.. The oldest I can run is 2019, because I'm on a software license.

As I have no need to go backwards, I completely forgot that limit when you're on a software license, as were here.

[phill heward]

thanks Aaron, ill order those manuals if they still available and plod on until they in a position to upgrade .

the problem i have it id never touched a propper big boy mill ( or any version of mastercam) until a few months ago, im having to learn everything from day 1, oh and theres no help available other than what i can get off the likes of here.

i been a machinist since the early 80s but mostly on manual machines, done some cnc (haas tl1 and xyz 2 axis mill) and could look at a drawing and convert directly to gcode in my head.  its so strange but this is the first time ive been in a position to do the full range, design it, model it, cam it, machine it, build and test it, repeat it.

[gcode]

17 hours ago, Aaron Eberhard said:

I can't even run X8.. The oldest I can run is 2019, because I'm on a software license.

I still run the same USB Hasp I had back then so I assume I could still run X8 but I would HATE it.

At some point it gets cheaper to just buy a new license than to update an old license that's been off maintenance for years.

I don't know  how MC dealers in the UK roll, but with my  dealer that would certainly be the case.

edit..

Occasionally Mastercam will have "come back to Jesus" sales,

where they wave some penalties on old out of date licenses. 

They usually do this as part of the sales pitch when a new release comes out.

In this case that would be version 2025 due out early this summer.

However, I have no idea if they will do such a sale this year.

 

 

 

 

[Aaron Eberhard]

5 hours ago, phill heward said:

thanks Aaron, ill order those manuals if they still available and plod on until they in a position to upgrade .

the problem i have it id never touched a propper big boy mill ( or any version of mastercam) until a few months ago, im having to learn everything from day 1, oh and theres no help available other than what i can get off the likes of here.

i been a machinist since the early 80s but mostly on manual machines, done some cnc (haas tl1 and xyz 2 axis mill) and could look at a drawing and convert directly to gcode in my head.  its so strange but this is the first time ive been in a position to do the full range, design it, model it, cam it, machine it, build and test it, repeat it.

Well, the offer is still on the table to do remote training if they'd like to pay for that like we talked about in Oct., just expect lots of cursing as I try to show you something that your software won't do for another 6 or 7 years     

 

But I'm guessing that the brass isn't exactly hip to spending money on training if the software is that far out of date.   Sounds like people who don't understand that paying someone to struggle through something for 40 hours is not better than paying to have them trained so they can solve it quickly and save time every day...

[gcode]

1 hour ago, Aaron Eberhard said:

But I'm guessing that the brass isn't exactly hip to spending money on training if the software is that far out of date.

It wouldn't be wasted, the principles are the same, we just have better tools in MC2024 than we had in X8

[Aaron Eberhard]

1 hour ago, gcode said:

It wouldn't be wasted, the principles are the same, we just have better tools in MC2024 than we had in X8

Agreed, but generally the mindset that hasn't updated software in 12 years probably isn't the type to value the latest techniques and training