Your help in lathe is needed

[Bill Martel]

I appreciate all the response I have gotten so far.

I am here for the long hall.

Moving forward I would appreciate hearing your top areas of pain.

Many of you have already started helping me out.

I will compile this information and use it as we determine what areas of Mastercam lathe to improve first.

 

Have a nice weekend,

 

Bill

[gcode]

Bill,

we use Mastercam Lathe to program large VTL's

and it does a good job.

The biggest issue I have is how the graphics appear on the screen.

With a typical VTL setup, the user is looking at the part

backwards.

He doesn't see it like an operator standing at the control.

The view is from the back of the machine looking out.

ie.. X+ is on the left side of the screen, but it should be on the right side.

Once you get used to it, its no big deal, but it causes

all sorts of confusion when I'm trying to backplot

something for an operator.

It also forces me to do all my setup sheets in Bottom View

so they look like what the operator sees.

Mastercam Lathe is a good product, but machine technolgy

has advanced rapidily and MC Lathe has not kept up.

Its nothing that can't be fixed though

[kenfromlodi]

Ditto what gcode said on the VTL view. very confusing till you figure it out. tool orientation also is more difficult because of this.

[Columbo™]

Bill, Had one recently and sent it in.

 

Take a looky here

 

Thanks

 

[MIL-TFP-41]

The VTL is a huge issue for me also....it gets even more confusing when programming milling tools with the C axis...

 

sync & wait codes would be nice...backplotting & verifing BOTH turrets working is a necessity...

 

simultaneous spindle/rotary (M90 on a Mori) for drilling holes is something that we do alot & can't figure how to get Mastercam to work with it...

[Jimmy Wakeford from Barefoot CNC]

Where's Don? I know he has some very specific things on canned cylces he would like addressed.

[calnet42]

Lets try putting a lock on tool#'s, feeds and speeds.

Maybe turn the # red? like on line length?

[Don S at Barefoot CNC South]

Here I am! LOL

Canned cycles need fixing they have never worked, canned rough will work sometime depending on part profile, if a diameter is smaller in the back than the front it will crash. Canned finish dosn't even start at the same place as the rough cycle causing alarms, also same crash problem with finish cycle with smaller dia. in the back. What about the lathe tool library certainly not keeping up with the latest tooling types out there. Try and get a round boring bar in verify. Feeds speeds changing for no good reasons when a tool path is modified. Canned rough and finish ID work is just dangerous. Groove cycles will work on some things but contour paths have to be used on others. Try milling a hex on the cutoff side of a part in X axis on a lathe in MC. Where is the new and improved tool paths in lathe? Sync codes for twin turret, twin spindle. If a turn tool plunges VNMG style MC sees that as a crash.

 

More to follow

[mike_f]

thw ability to "face" all shoulders in a profile "toward" the centerline, without having to create seperate operations would be cool.

 

I've always had trouble with part transfer to sub spindle, I now create (2) programs and paste them together, it's easier. then again, I might just need a class.......

[Don S at Barefoot CNC South]

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The tool libraries weren't updated as there are almost infinite combinations of inserts and holders that can make up lathe tools.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Yes this is true, but some of the more common ones need to be added, ID OD undercutting at an angle 45 30 60 degree, Insert drills, Knurling has been around for years not in MC. Also can MC do various types of canned threading infeeds like alternating flank and modified flank,most machines this is a P#? Also why does threading take so long to verify?

There are an infinte combinations of end mills and MC is always adding knew styles, It seems like the lathe end is what it is and thats that.

The canned rough and finish issues have been around for years.

And all the misc ops are great if we had some skeleton code at least one post so we could setup are updated post to use this.

 

This was copied from a past thread

[LEV]

Using cutter comp.(G41,G42) in some cases especially in can cycles causes FANUC control to alarm.

So I stopped using it.

 

Would be nice to have the easy way to delete unused tools from tool library.(sometime if I do minor changes to the tool & want to save it, MC not always ask if I want to keep both, so I and up with very similar tools in library.

 

Lev.

 

-------------------------------------------

X2 MR2 SP1

Mill level 3

Lathe Level 1

Solid Works

[gcode]

quote:

---

If a turn tool plunges VNMG style MC sees that as a crash.

---

???? I do this all the time ????

[Don S at Barefoot CNC South]

I do it to but turn on stop on a collision and it will say a crash now and then also when regenerating.

[gcode]

No... I mean I do it all the time... since V7...

with no crash alarms.

[LEV]

I also have a crash alarm all the time on roughing cycle with 35 deg. cutter plunge option turned on.

 

Lev.

 

-------------------------------------------

X2 MR2 SP1

Mill level 3

Lathe Level 1

Solid Works

[3rdstring]

I've seen the crash alarms & can usualy trace them back to the lead in parameters.

[LEV]

It would be nice to have the ability to renumber levels with increments option in level manager the same way you can do tools in operation manager. That is for both lathe & mill.

 

 

Lev.

 

-------------------------------------------

X2 MR2 SP1

Mill level 3

Lathe Level 1

Solid Works

[rdkllkng]

I use it to programmed two large lathes and a large vtl. Also two Okumas (post is along way from being great on these. It works okay for me.But I have had to jump thru a lot of hoops and afro-americanize it some. I have a lot of ?'s also, Those will come in other posts stay tuned.

Here is the first question. I am grooving wheels. To put it simply put a t-slot in the od of a 30" dia round part. I hook(machine) one side use the Mirror translate, adding new ops and geometry for the other side. Is Mastercam supposed to switch the lead in and outs and direction of chains automtically? It does not. The last system I used Cadra did this(of course it was apt based). Should it or not? If yes is the answer, what is the fix. If answer is no I will just file it under one more hoop!

 

 

PS TOOLPATH EDITOR IS MY FRIEND!!

 

Thanks

Terry

x2mr2sp1

Dresser-Rand

[LEV]

A minor change to one of the toolpaths(sometimes only a click on parameters folder) makes all toolpaths & operations after that became dirty???????

 

 

Lev.

 

-------------------------------------------

X2 MR2 SP1

Mill level 3

Lathe Level 1

Solid Works

[gcode]

quote:

---

A minor change to one of the toolpaths(sometimes only a click on parameters folder) makes all toolpaths & operations after that became dirty???????

---

because lathe updates its stock automatically.

Every operation affects those that follow it.

Its suppossed to do that.

You can turn it off if you want to, but that would be a mistake IMO

[GoetzInd]

quote:

---

Lets try putting a lock on tool#'s, feeds and speeds.

Maybe turn the # red? like on line length

---

A big +1 on that one. I usually just modify the tool parameters and save to the library so I don't have to worry about it.

 

Mike

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I need to be able to support Milling AND Y axis on lower turrets as well.

[LEV]

Thanks for the reply gcode.

 

But, by minor change I meen changing the nose rad. or even speed or feed makes all of the following dirty.

 

 

Lev.

 

-------------------------------------------

X2 MR2 SP1

Mill level 3

Lathe Level 1

Solid Works

[Chris Rizzo]

Sure it must dirty all following ops with any kind of geometric change. Feeds, speeds, and tool #'s are a different story though.

 

It happens with NO change at all too. Occasionally just opening the parameters to look at something, and changing nothing will do it. Even exiting not with the green check but red x.

[mike_f]

The market is full of "groove turn" tools, how about tool paths that support these tools ?.ex:..plunge to a depth, back off a pre-determined amount to allow for tool "flex", lateral cut & repeat as necessary, either zig-zag or uni-directional.

 

+1 for for more pre-defined tool geometry such as insert drills.