We're in the very early stages of considering entry into 5 axis machining. Anyone have experience and/or an opinion of Fryer Machine Tools built right here in New York? http://www.fryermachine.com/products/5-axis.html

http://www.osborn.com/usa/en/products/atb-products.html Look for internal finishing brushes.

You're welcome. See also, they're a distributor for many of the top tooling brands.

Five Star Tool Company http://fivestartool.com

Temporary suicide. It can be revived with a new code. First hand experience here.

And don't ever try rolling back the system clock thinking you're going to outsmart the hasp. You will end up calling your dealer after discovering the hasp will not work at all, and they will laugh at you after you tell them what you did. Then they will send you new update codes to use after you fix the clock.

http://www.sturdell.com/ 316 L isn't listed on their site but is available upon request. Is where we get it from, with certs.

We're heading towards using shrink fit tooling in the near future and so far I've been pretty adamant about the need to use an induction heater. Our main use of the tooling would be for slender long reaches when cutting mold cavities which isn't an every day thing making it difficult to justify the expense. Now someone whose opinion I've always highly valued, that's you Joe, says he's using a torch. I've got a turbo torch sitting in my garage at home, great idea. You guys who are using torches, are you using temperature indicator sticks (commonly used by welders) to get close to recommended temperatures without over heating much which should extend the usable lifespan of the holders, or, are you just winging until the tools fit?

I'd rather not be teased with a preview. Would much prefer the MU1 release itself. Thanks!

I'd take a Roku-Roku high speed mill over a Makino any day. Says the guy who has a Roku-Roku in his office. In the end however, you're going to need both high speed mill and sinker edm capabilities. The edm will follow the high speed mill pretty quick, too. After you subcontract out some edm work and it comes back late and not done right manglement will discover it's better to do it in house.

When I (as a sys admin and MC user) start having locked file issues after Mastercam crashes, at least I'll know where to go to have someone to shake my annoyed finger at.

CNC Software, please don't do this. Thanks.

I frequently have different tool diameters defined as the same tool number and have had this cleanup routine do its thing and leave me with missing tools and dirty operations whether I click yes or no when prompted. And it's not consistent. I wish there was a way to disable this, umm, "feature". I've never had a problem with tools until version X7.

To get accurate results, you need to test the 1GB file several times from several different workstations due to caching on both file servers and workstations. Also, anti-virus software, if running on file servers. If it's configured to scan ALL files, don't, that's beyond stupid. If it is and IT won't change it, at the very least have IT create an exception for Mastercam files. (e.g. .mcx-*) There will be a difference in performance.

Uh oh. Now you have me thinking. Since Mastercam creates a my mcamx7 folder for each user on each users first launch, you should be able to delete the existing my mcam x7 folder, and the Mastercam X7 key and all it sub keys in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER to force Mastercam to "think" it's running for the first time as that user again, which will create and populate the new my mcamx7 folder. I did that when we switched from roaming profiles to folder redirection (which changed the location of Documents folders) as it was much easier than editing the configs on all the installations.

Your IT guy and the corporate IT guy need to collaborate about the drive mapping. To me, Mastercam appears to be looking for something which may not exist due to where the U drive was mapped during the install and after. What that something is, I don't know. Try the Mastercam logging utility, it may help.

Sounds to me like your IT Department is redirecting the Public Documents folder (under which is the 'shared mcamx7' folder where your install appears to be looking for the missing files) and probably user profiles, to a mapped network drive for backup purposes. My experience is Mastercam isn't happy with mapped drives for certain things. Especially when installed in part at a "fake address" which no longer exists. I suggest your IT Department use folder redirection instead of mapped drives for user data and public documents. When doing that, Mastercam uses the full UNC paths which it has no problems I'm aware of with. After doing so, reinstall Mastercam. But before that delete all references to Mastercam X7 in the registry. Good luck with that though. Sincerely. Many IT personnel couldn't give two flying hoots about their users and care only about doing as little as possible themselves. Once you get your problem resolved, get some new IT people who know how to properly design a network and give them time to slowly implement it. Source: I manage an IT Department.

Personally, I can accept a bad release every now and then. For whatever the multitude of possible reasons it may be, it happens. It's the response to getting the bad releases fixed which is important. Mastercam X7 isn't the only CAD/CAM system having problems this year. We also use Cimatron, and their most recent release, E11, was riddled with all sorts of nasties more so than Mastercam even. However, unlike CNC Software, Cimatron has been very diligent about responding to its customers needs and released a steady stream of patches over a period of four months since its release to fix many of the bugs. The last one nailed it, it appears to be a very stable system now. Here's a snapshot of their updates timeline. Note the dates which are within no more than a couple days from actual releases.

Nope! I recently deployed 4 new seats of v25 mill/lathe for our ProtoTRAK guys, however. Personally, I wouldn't touch that stuff from a remote desktop on the moon.

I want from using Olmsted Engineering's Acu-Carv for machining foundry patterns to Mastercam version 3.21 for machining injection molds, in 1992. I thought I died and went to hell. Mastercam version 5, the very first version to run on Microsoft Windows, is easily the worst piece of software I've ever had the non-pleasure of using.

I have to chuckle at all the people whinging on and on about X7. As someone who used Mastercam version 5, hands down the worst release ever, the warts in X7 are a walk in the park.

Can't help with the simulator, but under the \Mastercam root install directory\common\Editors\Pfe is the pfe "programmers file editor" which can be copied to another computer and is more than capable of handling large files.

FYI; The ATC arm is cast iron with no coating or paint and there is no way to lubricate the moving parts without disassembling it. Ours corroded easily and quickly thanks to toilet water in the coolant tanks and condensation during our very humid summers. If yours is sticking I highly recommend taking it apart, say once annually, to clean and grease it. We added zerk fittings to ours and will give it couple pumps of grease every few months. Re-installing the arm is as easy as manually jogging the ATC to 52° (maintenance menu) , sliding the arm on to the shaft, snapping it on to a tool holder in the spindle, tightening the collet, installing the locking plungers, springs, and bottom plate, then jogging it back to 0°.

Yeah, we took it apart. It was corroded, outside and in. Coolant issues. Have complained loudly and often. Plus we have a blithering idiot who hoses down machines with straight tap water. Is a (mis)management issue well out of my control. :sigh: :banghead: Anyway; Apprentice is scrubbing corrosion off moving parts with scotch-brite as I type. Our new Mori and Mitsubishi mills have the same type of ATC arms and they both have grease fittings. This one, and eventually the other Nexus is getting them too. If you ever have to take the arm off, it's held on to the shaft with an expanding mandrel / collet ring. Appears I need to manually jog the ATC to under the spindle and magazine, locate the arm using a tool in the spindle, and tighten the ring. Damn. I was really hoping it was keyed. The parts manual isn't that detailed. Worst case scenario, call in a tech.

Have a sticking plunger on the tool changer arm on a Mazak Nexus 510C causing it to throw tools and am in the process of disassembling and cleaning it up. Anyone else had a problem with this, and did you add a grease fitting to lube it? Where? Also, any ideas on how to install it in the right location since it's not keyed or otherwise positively located?