Like with any cutting operation you got to find first: what material are you cutting what is your tap made of is it a cutting tap or a form tap? For aluminum with a HSS cut tap I do about 50sfm or for tool steel I would use 5-8sfm. With these sfm find your RPM. I don't know if your machine needs inches per minute or inches per revolution. The sample below is for ipm. For 1/4-20 tapping aluminum (50*3.82)/.250=764 this is your RPM then divide by tpi to find you ipm 764/20=38.2 so your rpm is S764 and your feed is F38.2 In any case if you need the feed for ipr format is just a simple operation 1/20=.050 so your rpm would be S764 and feed F.050 There are too many variables to expect mastercam to give you the right feed and speed all the time. Just find the correct SFM for the tool you are going to use and for whatever material you will be cutting.

Some times that problem has nothing to do with the code but instead is your live tooling holder. Check how much play your cutter shows when you wiggle it., maybe the live tooling holder is the problem. That happened to me already couple of times.

What happened is the part is strong and well clamped on one end but the other end is a tall, thin wall so I get push of on that end. My options are to run it at normal feed but that will cause push off on the weak end of the part or I can run it slow to eliminate the push off but that will increase my cycle about 25 minutes which I don't have to spare. For the reasons above I want to start cutting at 72imp and gradually slow down to 24imp then on the back side start at 24ipm and along the cut gradually increase it to 72imp. and so on to all the 6 walls of the part going back and forth like that. I can do the variable feed manually on the 2d toolpaths but 4 of the walls require swarf application toolpath and on those I haven't been successful with the variable feed. Any/all help would be greatly appreciated.

Is there a way in the toolpath settings to specify a variable feed for a chain? for example at the start of the chain I want to start cutting at a feed of 24imp and gradually increase the feed so at the end of the chain the fee would be at 72imp or vice versa. I know how to do it manually by braking the chain in segments and then assign a feed to every segment but I want to know if there is a faster way as I am going to have to do this to a good number of toolpaths. Thanks in advance.

Same thing happened to me after a windows10 update. I just did it all again.

When using a chamfer mill mastercam uses the minor diameter to calculate the path. To avoid this start with a square endmill definition then under Tip/Corner treatment select chamfer option.

If all you need is machine this part then is probably simpler to just create a new plane. Otherwise if what you really need is to move it the I would use "Transform Dynamic" that is probably simpler and quicker.

I guess is a preference issue. I like to do exactly that, only because I don't like to see the G41 or G42 everywhere but only where is needed. So If I see a G41 or G42 then I know it is a finish pass. In any case with the machinist we are getting now it is safer to use computer or wear. Also and as a mater of fact many programmers don't know the difference between the compensation choices.

On the video that I watch, it was X7 and it was used to create wire or trim chains when in the middle of a toolpath without having to exit the toolpath window. https://cadcamstuff.com/262/how-to-pit-stop-in-mastercam/

I am using Mastercam 2018 and I can't find the icon for "Interrupted Mode" command anywhere. Does this command still exists? and if so please tell me where can I find it. Thanks.

I need to research into this function and my first thought was to come this this place and ask. Have anybody used this function of Okuma already and if so please share your experiences. Also is it something I would control via G|M codes or is it something with the machine parameters and a switch on the control of the machine, I will research also at other places but I am trying to gather all the info I can from all the good places I know of. Thanks in advance.

We just got an Okuma MA-500 Horizontal. We previously had 3 Cincinnati Horizontal 4 axis. Because this is mainly a job shop, the decision was made long time ago not to program from center of rotation, instead we do like in a VMC from a known corner of stock, then for the rotations we let the control to track follow the position of that corner. For this to work we need to input the shift amounts (distance from part origin in XYZ to the center of rotation) on the offset page and set the control to track the rotations. We were told that to do this on the new Okuma MA500 we need to use the following routine: CALL OO88 XX=00 YY=20 ZZ=0 BB=0 SBB=0 HH=1 PP=10. We have been trying to make it work like on the Cincinnati Horizontals but we are either doing something wrong or the machine is not calibrated because the tool is not following that corner. Does anyone knows and could explain to me how to make an Okuma Horizontal 4 axis to follow the XYZB corner origin at any angle. The goal is to have only one work offset and let the control figure out the compensation amounts. I think for Haas machines that will be G254 Dynamic Work Offset (DWO).

We just got an Okuma MA-500 Horizontal. We previously had 3 Cincinnati Horizontal 4 axis. Because this is mainly a job shop, the decision was made long time ago not to program from center of rotation, instead we do like in a VMC from a known corner of stock, then for the rotations we let the control to track follow the position of that corner. For this to work we need to input the shift amounts (distance from part origin in XYZ to the center of rotation) on the offset page and set the control to track the rotations. We were told that to do this on the new Okuma MA500 we need to use the following routine: CALL OO88 XX=00 YY=20 ZZ=0 BB=0 SBB=0 HH=1 PP=10. We have been trying to make it work like on the Cincinnati Horizontals but we are either doing something wrong or the machine is not calibrated because the tool is not following that corner. Does anyone knows and could explain to me how to make an Okuma Horizontal 4 axis to follow the XYZB corner origin at any angle. The goal is to have only one work offset and let the control figure out the compensation amounts. I think for Haas machines that will be G254 Dynamic Work Offset (DWO).

Talking about software, as anybody hear about CIMATRON... supposedly is like super good and easy to program anything with it. I just did a quick search and they are with 3dSystems and GibbsCAM. Just wonder if anybody had any experience with it. If anything I will try to learn NX since there is plenty of good jobs that require NX experience.

Any machinist can make that money in Houston. Very different from other cities in TX where wages are very low.