It is overall cycle time and cost. No different than picking out what material to use. We are building many of our gages now out of 440 ss instead of TS because we can skip anodizing. The 440 cost more up front but it is either a break even or cost savings in the end. You also have to look at things such as capacity, machine usage, maint., multiple set-up times, turn around time from heat treat, price of coolant and disposal, etc... There are hundreds of factors that go into it, not just spindle time. .02

jimp, Send me your file and I'll take a look at it for ya.

You can use the updatepost c-hook. this will create a generic machine and control def with it. Depending on the type of work u do, how old the post is u have, etc.; u may be better off with a new one.

quote: I have placed a file (LU25-337.mcx) onto the FTP site in the lathe directory. I would have added a link, but don't know how.FYI, taken from the UBB code page on this site. quote: If UBBCode™ is enabled in a forum, you do not need to use the code to create a hyperlink. Simply type the complete URL in either of the following manners and the hyperlink will be created automatically: Automatic hyperlinking (no UBBCode™ required). Simply type the URL, as in or Use the code, in either of the following manners: For automatic hyperlinking, notice that you can either use the complete http:// address or shorten it to the www domain. If the site domain does not begin with www, you must use the complete http:// address. Also, you may use https:// and ftp:// URL prefixes in auto-link mode (when UBBCode™ is on). When using the UBBCode™, a hyperlink to the URL will automatically be created. The link will open a new browser window when the user clicks on it. Note that the "http://" part of the URL is completely optional. Also note that you should NOT use quotation marks inside the tag. Attempting to do so may cause an error message. HTH

quote: Dumb Lathe question There is no dumb questions on here. That is unless u r asking for a post!

If slice will get all the geo in one shot it work best (imho). you may have to rotate the solid to miss holes and what not. quote: In the create dropdown menu there is a create solid to 2-d profile toward the bottom, this works very good extracting the 2-d geo. from a solid part.This takes a lot of horsepower and isnt the most accurate. it works good on odd shaped part that u need to rough out with lathe and finish using other geo, like a millturn. I prefer to do multiple slices and rotate them onto the same plane (top) and trim them into one if possible. We are currently running tests to see how accurate a spline we can generate from a solid using different techniques. After generating the spline, we pull a points table and run it through a Wilson-Fowler spline routine to check for deviation against the original spline that created the solid. It is not complete, but the "solid to 2D profile" is not looking good right now. .02 HTH

I will hvae to try this tonight. I got a new HP notebook wht the 8600M GS card and it is doing the same thing. Let u know tomorrow what I find.

I believe there is an old thread that has a number of creative ways to do this. Including using toolpath geo. HTH

Michael Have u ever tried climb milling ur threads? It's hard to see the cutter go to the bottom of the hole right of the bat, but we have had great results.

quote: If it wasn’t for those stupid positive length offsets…mkd, could u expand on this please? Thanks

quote: What do you mean by fewer crashes? Not the control by itself. It's our other machines are Fanuc interfaces or OA and the programmers/operators will move from one machine to another. So we tried to stay with a similar interface. Of course this will change when our Hermles come in.

quote: You paid for an operating system when you bought the laptop. There is a serial number associated with it. If you can get your hands on a Microsoft Win XP Pro disc you can format & reload the OS using that serial # to get rid of all the crap. If you use the disc that came with the laptop, you just reinstall the crap. Do it now, before you get to settled into the laptop.Has anyone done this with Vista? I am having the same issue of getting rid of the "crap". Bought it on Monday and still setting it up.

40 degrees

quote: Mastercam runs fine on the x64 OS but overall its way more trouble than its worth. SolidWorks is buggy, Cimco Edit doesn't run right I had to bag my Zone Alarm. What kind of trouble? 2 of our comps are running dual Xeons with XP Pro 64-bit and they have been the most reliabe for us (and yes I know MC doesn't take advantage of the duals...yet ). I have also read on the forum that out of the guys running Vista, the 64 bit has been much more stable than the 32. I just got a new laptop at home and will be trying it out personally on Vista 32 bit maybe next week.

Is Ohio considered part of the "Midwest" or East Coast? Welcome either way.

quote: Ask the Apps guy how to turn off the CRAPPS interface so you can use straight FANUC. If they tell you they can't do it, wave the flag and demand it. Tell them the rest of the order hangs in the balanceSage advice. This is how we run our Mori horizontal. Much easier and fewer crashes. The purchasing engineer didnt require it with our Mori millturn and the guys are frustrated and double scared of it.

We r the same here. It is pretty common in large companies. IT can give useres temp admin access for installs and updates. quote: That card is junk for Mastercam.. you'd be better of with onboard Intel graphicsHope you have better luck updateing hardware then we do.

Sound exactly like what my ATI card did I used to run (had it before I began using MC). Do a search on the forum and u will find a link for a driver and instructions for the video card settings. It has been covered mor than once. The 9800 pro bit the big one last December and replaced it with a Nvidia. Won't go back!

Sound exactly like what my ATI card did I used to run (had it before I began using MC). Do a search on the forum and u will find a link for a driver and instructions for the video card settings. It has been covered mor than once. The 9800 pro bit the big one last December and replaced it with a Nvidia. Won't go back!

Yes, expect a big and long learning curve.

quote: The other stuff is pretty useful but I could do without...most of it should have worked that way to begin with.. So far, it's not blowing my skirt up... quote: I *did* chuckle to myself when I saw the translate bug fix was touted as a new feature.I agree. With the number of computers we have to upgrade it is hard to keep up. We don't have all or comps on X2MR1 yet. I will prob update my comp but will wait 'til X3 to update the entire shop. Now THAT I can't wait for.

quote: With .01 left on walls and 0 on floor the tool stays up above the actual geometry in all the pocket areas.FYI. Stock to leave on floors will accept a negative number. I know it's a work-around, but -.010 puts the EM on the floors.

What version? SeeSticky

Make sure and delete duplicates. Check for overlaps. Also try squashing to make sure it is all on the same plane. HTH

Thanks ernie. Really appreciate this handy tool.