Laszlok, Dgriffiths is correct. We didn't need to drill holes and had good pull on the tool. Due to the depth of the cavity, we did cut a slot around the part from the bottom to help out. No hole drilling thru to the part though Stuff is a mess to cut and a bit expensive but nice results. Do a google search for metapor or portec.

Thanks in advance.

___________________________________________________ how about useing textured material thats what we do on our formed covers and stuff __________________________________________________ That's what they ended up doing for this run after all but the were looking for a special moldtech type of texture as opposed to the sheet material (engineers brain fart I suppose). I was hoping somebody might have tried texturing and had better results than we did. Thanks anyway though.

We've recently cut a couple of tools out of Metapor material (basically air permeable aluminum) made by Portec and have acheive some great results tool wise. Here's the catch. The project engineer needed/wanted a textured (moldtec type) finish. We did some research, found a place that said they could texture it, sent it out, it came back screwed up and we hand to recut the cavity (female tool). Sent it back out , had 'em try again, still got crap back . Anybody know of/use a vendor that textures this type of material? Any leads would be appreciated.

It does work but you will get a piece of geometry for every line of code. If it's a complex part, it will be messy and hard to decipher. If it's something simple (i.e. 2d engraving or contour) it won't be so bad and will only require a little cleaning up.

This might sound crazy.....but I knid of miss designing electrodes and cutting steel (more the electrodes). It was kind of like pcs of a puzzle fitting together, once you saw the finished part it all came together. I do mostly prototype parts out of plastic, aluminum, modulon, etc (ocassionally a fixture out of steel). I did enjoy mold work though. Sorry to go off topic cnc_works2000. Seems like Moto GP is the guy you want to talk to.

Hey Micromold, I've yet to actually use Moldplus myself but have seen an older version in use and it was pretty slick back then (around ver MC6-MC7 times...?) and from what I can see it looks like it's got a lot more features/enhancement. I saw a designer use it to split sufaces to creat core/cav. Seemed to work well on a fairly complex parting line.

"Precision workstion 370 pentium4, 3.4 ghz Intel EM64T" It's the 370 instead of the 380 but it is 64 bit processor.

A few years back, I work for a company that used pro-e to slit core/cav and everything else was MC. I designed and ran my own electodes from the geometry the mold "designer" gave us for the core and cav. I was looking at the latest version of Mold PLus online just yesterday and though "boy...wish we had that back then"

I've got the FX 500/600 and have issues with it so I'd advise a better one. I'm trying to get an upgrade thru our IT but man what a bunch of bs just to get what I need.

I running one now. I've got graphics card issues but other than that it's running Ok.Got it back in Nov. P4 3Ghz 1 gig ram. I forgot to add....the Graphics cards a Nvidia Quadro FX500/600. Edit.. My bad guys I just realized that this one isn't the newest 64 bit Intel it's the P4 model like the now 370

excellant advice Lee stevieboy, Sometimes planing ahead and drawing/squashing your boundary geometry to a separate level/color pays off. I tend to even do this for pocket chains etc., and name the level accordingly.

Good morning and welcome!!

Bradst, Yup. That's him. Small world is right, kind of funny who you meet along life's twisted roads. My apologizes also to everyone for the hi-jack.

Bradst, I bet I did work with TH seeing as he was from then Wisconsin area. We both worked for a company called Hartzell at the time. Last I knew he was down the road a peice in Sunrise Fl working for Moto. I haven't talked to him in years though.

I've done a few electrodes myself. Used mostly uncoated carbide as opposed to diamond due to $$$. I was in put in charge of running a test between uncoated, diamond coated and cryogenically treated endmills all on graphite (poco-3), all on the same surf, etc., etc.,. The cryo held up best, and didn't see alot of difference between coated and and uncoated (once the coating breaks down...well, you're back to where you started) and certainly not enough to justify the cost. 'Trodes can easily be polished. We used 400 to 800 grit and even some times would just rub lighty with a piece of steel wool. Most tool paths were multi surf at 45 deg (this was back when it was MC Ver6.1) with a stepover of .003. Well, that makes it .08 cent now.

Is this for an EDM electrode or is it a composite graphite?

Kudos Gunther! Just had a chance to download and try c-hook. Very cool. Thanks a bunch. I usaully don't use set-up sheet 'cause I'm the only grammer/operator here and MC's was not what I needed. This is great! No more scribbling on sticky notes for me.

You could create a new wcs or just rotate the operation before you post. As far as setting mc to display Y axis as right to left I'm not sure if you can do it. Never had to. I did run an Agie wire machine for a spell that was set up the same as you say so I feel your pain.

I'm with Lee and Paul on this one also. I even do it on multi surf too after rough pocket if I want to rough down with bigger step over and faster feed, leave stock for the finish pass . I don't trust anything that gives me an error message.

Not Sure what you mean? intersections ploints? not try to be smart a** , just trying to help. Do you mean intersection planes for surfaces?

G'day Mate! Welcome aboard!

IMO if you got your job done and the part came out correct then there is no "right way/wrong way". Is there a more efficient, faster, easier way? Well maybe, and if you keep coming here and asking question and reading posts, all that will come Alot of the guys here are really good and eager to help. I've been using MC since V5.1 and have probably learned something everyday since I joined this forum. Al

Did you try exporting an iges out of Wildfire to bring into MC. It will be just surfaces and might need some patching but should give you something.

We're still on WF1 at the moment but going to WF2 soon. The exploerer was done on 2001 though. Good catch Al