Mastercam and makino S33 : good idea?

[isca63]

Hi

 

The workshop I work for is thinking about buying a new vertical machining center, a Makino S33.

1)

Is in your opinion mastercam 9 or X a good cam choice for this machine?

 

2)

Is S33 better suited to moldmaking (our main job)or do you folks out there suggest other models from makino?

 

Thanks in advance for your suggestions

 

Bye

[Thad]

At this point, I don't think you can buy V9.

 

I'm not familiar with that machine.

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

Thad

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Nothing wrong with Makino at all.

 

As for Mastercam, you are FAR better off migrating to X because of all the new Surface Machining Routines.

 

JM2C

[Carl Hessig]

Makino has a new high speed graphite/steel mill the E33. If your building molds your making electrodes, either copper or graphite and the 40,000 rpm spindle would be nice for that. Also would be great for hard milling. It looks to be more rigid then their SNC64 which is what we have. Makino makes good machines which need lots of Gcode to run and Mastercam is good at making that.

If your just looking for something for general machining the S33 would do the job as long as the price and machine size fits your needs.

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

Carl

[HevyMetl]

You MUST upgrade to the 20K spindle if you are going to hardmill anything small. You need the RPM's on the small tools to keep your SFM up. The S33 has the same great control and Makino SGI as their other machines. I am currently in the middle of a cost justification on a S56 for 60% base 40% hard milling work and I think bang for the buck the Makino machine leads the way. Mastercam works great for our SNC64 and the new HS toolpaths are awesome in X. I can already see improved cut times and surface finishs. I can wait till I really understand some of the linking options and start uisng it to its full potential. This is what MasterCam needed for the Mold area of manufacturing to allow them to compete with some other packages dedicated to mold surface machining. HTH

 

By the way Welcome to the Forum.

[tooljockey]

Makino is the way to go. I haven't heard anything negative about any of their product line. Also, their customer service/support/training is second to none.

 

As Carl said above, we use MCX to program a Makino SNC64 with a 30K spindle. We machine about 70% graphite and 30% hard metal in this machine to produce molds, and it has become the center piece of our shop.

[isca63]

Thanks to you all guys,

I'd like to have a direct impression of the makino S33 from users already working with

 

bye

[Jake Statz]

We dont have a S33 but we do have a S56. This is an excellent machine. It give evtremly good surface finishes and runs fast and smooth with the SG-I High speed turned on. 20,000 RPM Spendle is recommended. We use both Version 9 And X. no problems with either. Good Luck