Search for thread topic "highfeed help". You will find some very good information here. I cut my first highfeed part a few weeks ago, with help from this forum, and it worked great. Aluminum chips were flying everywhere, and I didn't have to touch the feed override knob because it slowed feed where it needed to. There are a lot of variables that affect how fast you can cut a part, but like Mike said you can make adjustments in highfeed to get what you want. quote: slowing down when it plunges in a z negitive and speeding up wing cutting in a z positive motion On the Material Removal Rate page in highfeed, at the bottom there is an "up feedrate scale factor" and a "down feedrate scale factor" that will do exactly this. I still have some tweaking to do with highfeed and will have a chance to experiment on 2 more aluminum parts when I get machine time. Two things that I keep in mind when using highfeed are: 1. Highfeed will cut as fast as possible when it can, but slow down when it has to. 2. The worst that can happen is I will have to turn the feed override knob down. HTH

With your Mastercam experience and some initial 5ax programming in other software, the jump to 5ax in Mastercam shouldn't be all that difficult. A working post for your 5ax machine is critical, though. There may be some training courses offered by dealers or classes offered by a local community college, but nothing that $65 can touch. I don't know of any internet type training available. As far as books, the one by Charles Davis is highly recommended although I've never seen any of the books. If you want some "free" real world advice or have specific questions about Mastercam 5ax toolpaths, this is the best place on the net! HTH

Thanks for the quick response, Ron. Yeah, I could create 3 separate operations and get what I want, but what is the purpose of the "By Contour" and "By Depth" options if it always goes by depth anyway?

In Mill ver9.1 MR0304, I have a Curve5ax path to mill 3 holes on a plane. The 1st cut is at 1/2 depth and the 2nd at full depth. For Depth Cuts I have 2 rough cuts at .375 rough step. "Keep Tool Down" and "By Contour" are both checked. The problem is it cuts all 3 holes at the first depth then goes back to each and cuts at the final depth. How do I cut at all depths before moving to the next hole? Thanks for your help.

Yes, the VM is what I get to when clicking on Cplane in the lower left corner of Mastercam. When I select a named view here I get *n104 for the TC planes for example. I believe the * means WCS is on. In other words when I hit F9, 2 origins are shown, the brown part origin and a blue WCS origin. If I start creating a toolpath using this named view it automatically sets the TC plane origin to the WCS. So I either have to hit Tplane and Cplane in the lower left corner, then Alt-O to set the origins to 0,0,0 before programming OR hit the T/C plane button after programming and set TC planes to 0,0,0. It's not a big issue, but it makes me wonder what I've programmed in the past with WCS on. The post doesn't seem to care, though since I haven't had any crashes yet because of this. Also, I'm using v9.1 with MR0304 maintenance release applied. Thanks for your help.

OK, I got the incorrect backplot problem solved. On that operation I must have chosen geometry with WCS on since the T/C plane origins were set to the XYZ intersection of the lines I used to define a named plane. With these all set to zero it worked fine. But I still can't figure out why in this file when changing the Cplane by clicking Cplane, Named that it turns on WCS. I get *n104 for T and C planes. Thanks for your help.

Thanks, I'm away from Mcam now, I'll delete that toolpath and recreate it tomorrow at work. I may have unknowingly programmed in a WCS. In the tool parameters the T/C planes are both set to the named view and WCS is set to the Top plane. Does the WCS need to be turned off here? quote: this may help post correct numbers This is part of the confusion. It backplots incorrect XYZ, but posts correct. I just recently learned about the "verbose" backplot that shows XYZ when backplotting. Maybe I was better off not looking at XYZ while backplotting, but now I'm unsure of the posted code from unintentional WCS programming. Thanks for your help.

Ron, I have Display viewport XYZ checked and Display WCS un-checked. Richard, selecting WCS off does nothing. Selecting all off sets Tplane to OFF and Cplane to 3D.

I realize WCS has been covered before, but I didn't find what I was looking for in a search. I'm not trying to use WCS but it shows up whether I want it to or not. First example is with a named view, say 103. When clicking on Cplane to select this view, I get Tplane *103, Cplane *103. Is there a way to change the Cplane without turning on the WCS? The workaround I've found is to click Gview and select the named view from there to get Tplane 103, Cplane 103. This works, but it would be nice to stay in the iso view and just change the Cplane. Second example I just found is in backplot verbose mode. I have one 3D contour operation, using a named plane, that shows WCS coordinates when backplotting. All other operations before and after, some using the same plane, backplot the proper XYZ with respect to the origin. This 3D contour operation does post out correctly, though. How do you turn WCS off?!! Thanks for your help!

Mike: Yep that did it. From the little Help popup it made it sound like you had to run in Turbo to save an STL. Yeah I use 5-axis ops often and also found that Verify can be deceiving when you can't use TrueSolid, let alone not being able to save an STL. 5-axis Verify Can I get this from my dealer? Thanks, you've covered everything very well. I appreciate the time you've taken to help me learn something new.

quote: If you are using the WCS, you can leave the model alone and just use one STL file. IF not then you must use a different one for every op I'm not using the WCS so I will be using different STL files. How do you save an STL file in Verify with ops that are not in the top plane? I get this "Warning TrueSolid Turbo:3-axis moves in top view only". With a little help from my dealer, I was on my way saving the 1st STL file in Verify with my 1st 3 ops in the top plane. The problem is the next 6 ops in a non-standard plane don't show the material removed in verify and can't be saved as the proper STL. Can Mastercam save STL files representing partially machined stock or do I need to model each in Solidworks for example and import in for stock? Thanks for your help

Michael: In our 5ax post for a Quintax router and xxxxor control, this is the start of a new operation with the tool in the vertical position (B-axis = 0 in my case) and it is asking where you want to start the primary axis (C-axis = a value between 0 to 360 in my case). For our post, this flag comes up when B ends in a non-zero or non-vertical position in the previous operation and starts in a vertical position in the next operation. Most of the time I just put this at 0, but if later in the program B rotates and C would need to be at say 90, for proper position I will set this at 90 to save a position move later on. It's not very clear as to what operation it is looking at and usually takes me some investigating to put in values that make sense. HTH

From what I understand our machine has very low servo lag/following error. So I would be using highfeed to slow down in corners and to speed up when cutting little or no material for example. I'm sure our machine can accurately take a sharp corner with little or no servo lag, but this is too fast when actually cutting because of chatter, flexing etc. In our xxxxor manual for G51 Look-Ahead it says: quote: "Usually a program consisting of very small movement blocks (CAM,digitizing,etc) runs very slowly. With the G51 feature, high speed machining is possible for this type of program. . . ....because the CNC has to analyze the machining path ahead of time (up to 50 blocks) in order to calculate the maximum feedrate for each section of path. The programming format is: G51[A]E A(0-255) Is optional and it defines the percentage of acceleration to be applied. When not programmed, the CNC assumes the acceleration value set by machine parameter for each axis. E(5.5) Maximum contouring error allowed. Parameter "A" permits using a standard working acceleration and another one to be used when executing with Look-Ahead. The smaller the "E" parameter value, the lower the machining feedrate. When operating with Look-Ahead it is a good idea to adjust the axes so their following error (lag) is as small as possible because the contouring error will be at least equal to the minimum following error....." We normally turn G51 on at the start of every program to smooth out the incremental, stutter-step type movements. I might have to turn this off when using highfeed, I'm not sure. Should Highfeed, Adjust Feed on Arc Moves, Filter and Look-Ahead at the Control all be used simultaneously or if you use one don't use the other for example?

Thanks Don S and fennex, I'm reading through the Highfeed Apps Guide now. To get everything dialed in, it looks like I need to cut the test circle and get the Material Removal Rates defined as close as possible. For MRR I'll start with values from past aluminum jobs that pushed the router pretty hard, but still cut OK. Does this sound reasonable? Also, I will be using STL files to define the stock. After running Highfeed on all operations in one plane, do I need to create a new STL file to use with Highfeed on operations in another plane? I also use G51 Look Ahead at the control - a xxxxor 8055M - if that makes any difference. Thanks to everyone else for all the suggestions so far. Keep 'em comin if anyone else would like to share their experience with highfeed.

Don S: My email is [email protected] Dennis: Thanks for the suggested settings. I always use "Computer" comp here. I will do what I can to get the test circle cut. The test circle, from what I understand, is cut once at a low feedrate for accuracy then recut at gradually higher feedrates until it gouges into the sides produced by the first cut? Or do you start over with a new block of material at each feedrate increase until the circle is out of round or measures incorrectly? fennex: Thanks, I'll check V8 at work tommorow.

I have 3 aluminum mold inserts to cut on our router next week and would like to try out the Highfeed option or at least the Adjust Feed on Arc Move. There will be a mix of both 3ax and 5ax toolpaths. I will have just enough time to setup, cut and get the parts off before the machine is turned back over to Production for trimming. I haven't cut a test circle for the cornering acceleration values in Highfeed and don't know if I will have time, but I have ballpark values, probably conservative, that might work. The aluminum we've cut in the past has turned out fine, but I have an opportunity to use Highfeed and would like to see how it works with our router. I like the idea of adjusting the feed when needed, reducing chatter in the corners, etc without keeping a constant hand on the feed override knob. My questions: This is from the Help menu quote: For examples on how to use the Highfeed machining, see the HFAPP_V9.DOC file in the MCAM9CHOOKS folder I don't have this file on my PC anywhere, where can I find it? What values if any should I change in Highfeed, especially in the feed rate smoothing options? Or should I leave all at the defaults? Is Highfeed too much to set up correctly in this short amount of time? Should I just use Adjust Feed on Arc Moves now until I have more time to experiment? I don't have any experience using these options so I'd appreciate advice from anyone who does! Thanks.

still here and busy as ever

Well it looks like it was the collet. The problem 1/4 collet has 6 "fingers". The new precision type collet (as well as the extension mini collet) both have 8 fingers. It makes sense that this more evenly distributes the pressure on the cutter shank. The edges don't feel as sharp on the new collet either. Keeping my fingers crossed, we've now been running for about 3hrs with no breaks. Thanks for all of your help. No more "economy" collets here!!

A solid holder would be something new for me, but it may be worth a try. The spindle has always ran CW. The cutters have always been diamond-cut burs, we have tried about 3 different brands thinking the cutter was the problem.

I would probably try 12000rpm and 100ipm as a starting point. You may even have to slow this feed down depending on how well the part is held, chatter, desired finish, etc. And yes, this only applies to white plastic. Your black, clear and other primary colored plastics are a whole different ballgame. Good Luck

Having a problem breaking 1/4-in cutters for no obvious reason. Can anyone give me some direction? We are running production parts held on vacuum fixtures across our router. The material is +/- 1/4-in thick glass-reinforced plastic and the cutter is a 1/4-in diamond-cut bur with 1.625 stickout. The feed and speed is 100ipm and 15000rpm. These are proven programs and have ran hundreds of parts, we have good vacuum, everything is rigid, etc. It doesn't matter if the cutter is brand XY or Z, if it is new, slightly used or well worn, they all break. They break at random...either right away, in the middle of the part, after 2 or 3 parts and even with the feed turned down to 50%. Here is where I get puzzled. We put in a brand new holder setup (ISO30 taper, ER collets), including holder, nut, pull stud, .25-in ER32 collet and cutter. The cutter broke after 6-in. We put in another brand new setup, except this one had a 3/4dia 4-in extension in a .75-in ER32 collet. The cutter had the same 1.625 stickout except is was from the extension collet (.25-in ER16). This cutter has ran with no breaks for about 10hrs now. Why? Is this just a fluke? We can't run the extension on all parts, this is just a temporary fix to keep running for now. We haven't actually measured runout yet on the spindle, holder, cutters. If we had runout problems with the spindle, it seems we would see breaking/chatter with our dozen or so other tools that run routinely. Also, wouldn't a spindle runout problem be compounded with a 4-in extension? I am going to try a "precision" type collet that should be here this afternoon. Any other suggestions?

quote: I have almost 40hrs in three days Been there done that.....on salary though. Thankfully it only happens occasionally. quote: I was always told to work half days, the other 12hrs I could do what I wanted. LOL, I like that. It doesn't seem so bad if you look at it that way. Just curious, why don't you have Mastercam listed under the CAD/CAM Systems on your website?

Welcome to the forum. Take a look at Quintax routers. We have a Quintax with twin 5x5 tables that is used for trimming plastics, machining foam patterns and some aluminum. With the right tools, I'm sure it will cut wood just fine. I believe these all come with a xxxxor control. We have the xxxxor 8055M control and it works nice. We use TCP (Tool Center Point) programming and the touch pad option helps here for finding tool pivot lengths. The teach pendant is nice to move the head around for finding origin points, leveling and squaring workpieces and doing machine checks. A good working post is a must to start off with, you can modify it for your needs as you go. One of our former production managers went through your plastics program at Pittsburg. If you want to make the drive to Osborne and see a Quintax in action, let me know and I can probably arrange a tour. Good luck in your search.

.....and this thread This didn't solve it for me, but it's worked for several others and easy to try.

Check out this thread There are some tricks that might work for you. I save-as STL in Solidworks. This got rid of the watertight error for me, never had it in V8.1. HTH