1 hour ago, gcode said:

The advertisement mentions software to help program it 

I just noticed that. They are offering a subscription service to their code generator for the tools. 

Looks like tools designed specifically for chip thinning. I would like to know more about how they programmed it.

7 hours ago, KMartin said:

You can move the the tool .015 buy hand when clamped in spindle .

Any help on a fix . Up not down .

Just the tool or does the spindle face move as well. I ask because my experience with HAAS was that when the Z axis guides/ways get some wear the head droops and you get chatter when face milling, especially in Y+ direction.

My $.02 on Mastercam MT. I was recently involved in a large project that required 50 parts numbers to be programmed and set up. Another programmer did the initial programming and I just tweaked the programs for small changes needed when proving them out. I worked with Quan and Chris from Mastercam to get the post dialed in to the point that it is virtually post and go. The minor edits to code were almost always from alarms where the Okuma was reading ahead and not liking the change of state of something. Other than that the code was very solid and made good parts. Before that project I was reluctant to recommend existing Mastercam customers to upgrade to MT. Now I would definitely recommend it over buying and learning new software. Additionally I can say that a lot of the functionality I was asking for were already slated for next years release. It is definitely an ongoing product from Mastercam and will continue to evolve. 

Okuma makes a version of the Multus that is specifically designed for blade work. I'm not sure if they import it in the US. Google - "Okuma Blade T400"

No fancy dynamic offsets on this old girl. 

 

We are currently programming each face with it's own work coordinate. It's a pain, but it's kinda nice for getting used to things. The numbers the operator is seeing on the screen make sense and can be checked with the print.

 

I can see where programming from center of rotation will make us programmers job much easier.

 

No matter how it runs, at least it looks good now. We stripped all the front panels and doors off, beat the dents out, took them to car wash and cleaned them. Then we sent them to a local sign shop and had a vinyl wrap put on them. Here's Mutt and Jeff trying to remember how to put it back together...

 

I have a coordinate rotation macro for Okuma horizontals that is similar to dynamic offsets. if you are interested shoot me a PM

Chiron does it all the time. 

As far as a do it your self approach, I saw a customer machine once that had a pneumatic chuck on the indexer that was fired by M code. They used a coolant activated gripper in the mill spindle to pull the bar forward after cutting off the last part and letting it drop. This set up just had a tube for the bar stock. For a bar feeder you would most likely need a fixed table type machine. 

This video shows a 2.0 diameter * 2.0 deep full slot cut in Ti going Y+ direction in a MA500. Not many machines have the rigidity and axis power to pull off this cut. 

I'm sure the Okuma boys can correct me, but doesn't Okuma run a heavy duty line of HMc's called the MH line or something like that, and the light duty version is the MA line? Or the opposite of that?

The MA500/600 are the heavy duty machines. A MA600 with a larger Matrix ATC is upper 50k lbs. The MA500 is a beast.

The alternative is an MB5000. Those are in the 30k lbs range.  

Doug do you do a lot of below center milling on the main and sub? I was running into issues and found keeping them parked under either Spindle was the safest place to avoid problems. Only use the Center position for restarts.

I have found that the restart can be tricky depending on how you set up your program. Sometimes I just put the machine into individual mode and run through each turret separately to finish the part, or at least to get it to a good restart point for both turrets. I have not done a lot of below center milling but in what I have, I have had to watch the back of the H1 spindle for interference with the lower turret BMT blocks. 

I typically set up the lower turret for G20 HP=4 as the middle between spindles, G20 HP=1 for under main spindle for transfer, and G20 HP=8 for all the way to the right. I had the post folks at CNC modify my Mastercam MT set to output those G20 positions fro the three different turret park cycles as well as using G20 HP=4 for all home positions between tool changes. I set the upper G20 HP=4 to the middle as well. I also make sure to set the parameters to use movement order and set up X first and Z second on all G20 moves.  

Okuma offers cryogenic as an option. They have partnered with a company called 5ME for the cryogenic tanks/hardware, etc. I believe they still have a 800MM table 5 axis VMC on display in Charlotte that has the cryogenic machining option. 

http://www.okuma.com/cryogenic-machining-systems-can-extend-tool-life-and-reduce-cycle-times-1

Okuma has had it for years. We use it when needed. It's not a magic bullet but it does help with harmonic chatter issues.

TL=V2*100+V2 should give you TL=6060 if V2 is set as 60

Try MT=V2*100+1

Just tip your head 90 degrees and its like you are running a vertical machine

I have not tried on a P300M but I did try X7-8 on a P200 a few years ago. It worked ok for simple toolpaths in 2d using backplot only. The simulation did not work. 

You need the hobbing function to be able to do this. Without the hobbing function the slight error of spindle speed mismatch will eventually turn your straight tooth gear into a spiral tooth gear. The hobbing function also gives you emergency retract stop button.

If you cannot get the option now I would look at a full form type cutter. We have used good results. 

and it doesn't take a very big brain fart to turn a half million dollar jewel into 20k pounds of scrap iron

I hate having to hand edit code or cut/paste into finished programs. You have to make an edit to a tool path that is too cumbersome for hand edits so you go into Mcam, edit the tool path and repost. Then you have to remember to do all of your hand edits again or just cut/paste the new tool path code into the existing program. You do this enough times and you will eventually miss something. 

EuroTech's have the same capability.

 

NCSIMUL can verify these with no issues. Nice to pick on a cut in the graphics and see the line of code and tool cutting right in places verses the Auto-diff process you have to use in Vericut that is not anywhere near the same. People keep throwing out other CAM for these machine, but then fall back to the old hat for Verification in the same sentence.

I know that in Esprit the Mcodes for Axis sync, Axis composition, and axis superposition are handle as sync codes. However I do not know if the verification shows the superposition moves or not. I do not really work on the Tsugami's, we have dedicated AE's for Tsugami.

Back to the original post, In Tsugamis that function is called superposition. It's a Fanuc control function that builders can implement. There is an M code for each axis to activate and deactivate. The control does the vector math in the background to "chase" a part after a moving tool. It is a common function in Swiss style machines. 

Would this remove the maximum value of 9999.9999 degrees that I currently have? And allow for unlimited continuous rotation in one direction?

You would need to have a line of code for each rotation beyond 359.999, but the control would look ahead and run as a smooth continuous rotation. The catch is that if you are going to do continuous full rotation loops, IE;

G01 X-1 A360

G01 X-2 A360

G01 X-3 A360

For this to work you would need to program those moves in G91 incremental. Otherwise the control will look at its current position and not move A because it is already there. Some CAM software posts have the ability to break up rotary move greater than 180 degrees. That works as well. 

The other way to set up the machine is set the Multi-turn parameter to ineffective. This requires a direction M code (M15/M16) and your largest single move can only be 359.999 degrees. A continuous cut for more than 359.999 degrees would need to be broken up into one command line for each 359.999 max move.

Thanks, guys

 

Doug, that looks interesting; do you have any customers running this?

 

Daniel, do you run / have you run the CIMCO product yourself? What did you think?

 

John, do you know who the reseller / partner is for that product?

 

We are planning to use MT Connect with P200 and newer OSP controls for now, and connect the Fanucs and the older OSPs down the road.

 

C

Chris, we do not have any customers running it. In April we were getting ready for our open house and I thought with all of the buzz about IIOT this year that we should have a company that handles machine monitoring be involved in our show. Scytec was the first company that responded to my invite and was willing to come and participate. I know he left the show with some good leads but I don't know if any of our customer have purchased. 

At our last open house we had Scytec out to display their product. It looked to be a through product for monitoring machines. One guy was able to connect to a few different machines the morning of the show and have it up and running before customers started showing up. In the newer Okumas they use the MT connect app. For older machines they have a plc Brick to transfer the status.

 https://www.scytec.com/