So what you're saying is that it's a corporate plot against us so they continually rake in the cash by putting out a product that is less then perfect? Sounds like Windows XP .... but I doubt anybody wants to go there. (No offense to any CNC personale here)

Maybe I am not digging deep enough into MCX, but since I have gotten it back in early...July I think it was... it has never crashed on me once. I have had problems running with verify due to some graphics conflicts. What am I doing wrong? Why won't mine crash?

We have the Mill, Lathe and Solids tutorials, and I have been all the way thru the lathe, and thought it was excellent....a few things they could have elaborated on more, but all in all a good book. Mill seems good although I haven't done much with it yet...but some good surface trials and similar near the end. Solids is also good, but you don't have it (man, I remember those days! yack) so don't worry about it.

I would tend to agree that Knurlling is a bit of an art. But I would restrict that almost solely to manual machining. Upon CNC lathes, with what I have done, typically I do between .03" and .05" depth of cut (plunge below major daiameter) and yes, a dwell at the bottom helps to make sure the tool is self alighned perfectly. Myself, I like the multi diamond knurlling tools that spin around and have 2 course wheels, 2 fine wheels and 2 medium. I usually would just lock the little thumb screw on the one I want and when it plunges down, if the head of knurll has moved and, the two wheels still contact and re-align it. The thing I noticed said is that you can go back and forth....I have never had to do this, and the few times I have tried (first part, depth not right) I have junked my knurll completley. I prefer to do this; 1" diam. part, course diamond knurll, starting at Z-1., IPR (example only); G0Z-1. X1.5 (CLEARANCE IN CASE THE WHEEL HEAD HAS SHIFTED) G1X.96F.005M8 (COOLANT!) G04P2.5 Z-10.F.016 GOX1.5M9 Viola. This is what has proven very adequate for me. Hope all this helps.

Not really the answer I wanted to hear...

I wish to lead in on a pocketing toolpath. Not ramp or helix in, lead in. How can this be accomplished? Thanks!

I have done Knurlling on SS, alum, and just regular 4140 ish stuff, basicly same principal for all, I have found. Depending on the steel (SS in this case), go slow, 50 - 200 rpm (max), FLOOD COOLANT!!, and I usually use about a .016" feed. Seems to always give me a good finish on everything. As for the plunge, yep! Just plow'er right in, but slow the feed on the plunge to .005" ish and the when at depth, feed up to .016" or whatever your heart desires. I have never found the pitch? of a knurlling tool to be relevant to the feed rate, just make sure steady contact and good feed across and tons of coolant.

Nevermind...alot of patience and alot of 'ALARM!' and one figures it out eventually.

Howdy, I am trying to drill from my C axis on the lathe (Gildemeister CTX410) right thru the part. I have tried G81, G83 and G87, all to no avail. Does anyone have a fanuc control and C axis that they may shed some light on this frusteration? It would be much appreciated!

I have also had issues with the cutoff, but not all the time. Mostly it comes with the same 'tool collision' that you say Chris. As well, I have serious problems with it when it comes to radius the corners...it always cuts into the part first then does the radius or chamfer.... Just my two cents...

Holes are the same size. Program is using wear. I just don't get it. I am tempted to take it to the machine and try....but I won't be able to for a week yet, so I hope I can get it to verify right by then.

Hey! I have a custom made thread mill that I use somewhat often. Used in a program just the other day on a part that mates to the one I am working on today. Both holes are the same and threads are the same. Program from the other day machines the thread, but todays does not. This is in verify. Any thoughts?

Hanging on....

X2 eh? Huh. Will it be anything like Windows and their major upgrades? Fix a million things only to have a million new things be wrong...for our sake I sure hope not. Ack.

MCX is a fairly new experience, but, IMO it is far superior to V9 in so many ways, but you have to give it some time to fiddle with and get used to the new routine of things. The other thought I had was about you translating solids...something I have learned very recently is that you should actually have no need to trasnlate if you use the WCS for all it's worth. And let me tell you, it works great! http://www.hardmilling101.com/downloads/WC...AL_hardmill.zip There is the linky to it. Download and give it a whirll. Translating becomes a thing of the past. (I assume that is what you are doing with translate...if not...ignore my sillyness)

Hey, Just doing a stock transfer (since stock advance doesn't seem to work??). I move my 'spindle' back about 17" after I machine the front 1" long section and center drill it. Anyways, after the stock transfer on the design screen, it shows me the chuck right where I want it, but when I verify it is way to heck and gone off the part... What's up with that?

On misc values page, I selected the 4th one (Mill cycle G107/G112) and set to 1 (on)...posted and nothing. So I went to the post (MPLFan.pst) and looked for mi4 (mi4 mi4 ) and I didn't find anywhere in my post to activate it from there. About 6 occurances...but no actual on/off...

Mike, I fiddled with that post, and it output the same way as it did with the other post I was using...longhand basically. How do I tell it that I want to use G12.1?

Gcode, are you using a bought post or a custom generic post? If custom generic, which one, so that I might see if my MCX came with it and give it a whirll. Thanks!

Now, maybe I just don't know for sure, but I wondered if it is better to try and get MCX to run a G12.1 on a lathe with C axis (circular interp to cut shapes...hex square ect) or just to have MCX code each line. For those that don't know the diff, it's simple. If you have a hex and want to program using G12.1 you do it similar to what a mill would spit out (X being diameter, and C being radius equivalent to Y on the mill). It's quite simple...if you can wrap your mind around lathe milling. The alternative is have MCX code every single rotation deg. and step along the way and instead of having 18 (example) lines of code, you end up with about 2000. I take that thought from the MCX lathe tutorial book, example #7. Does anybody here use G12.1 thru MCX? Or do you just code each step? Is it even possible to setup MCX to do G12.1? Thanks!

Hey! For this one op I am doing, due to tool clearance issues during a tool change I need to bring the table back to home on Y after every tool operation is finished (right before the M01). How can I do this in MCX, or is this just easier done inputting it into the code myself? Thanks!

If only I had not just changed jobs, Karl. Not to mention lack of MC experience and post building....otherwise be perfect!

I already got it resolved, but thanks! http://www.emastercam.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php? ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=019861

I have been using MCX since abouts July when it hit Canada, other then that, I had all of 2ish hours of MC9 training at school. Yack. As for defining that tool, I understand that I can create a new tool on the fly, but I want an NPT tap, tapered, not straight, and the taps in the system, if I am not mistaken, are all straight.... so I presume I must use an undefined if I want to make it tapered. Welcome to the forum, CDL! Don't know if you are new to MC, but this is sure the place to learn if you are still sorta green like me.

Thanks, I think John hit it on the head. I changed the entry/exit line length (was 0) to .1 and it worked out just fine with no errors. Thanks for all the help!