Whenever we have to do threads in hard materials,we just send it out to an edm shop. they have a sinker edm and the threads look great.

There are a few threads about peck tapping around november of last year, try doing a search. HTH

What are your current allocations set to?

Thanks ProductDevelopmentGuy for the info.

Most of my customers send me file in .dwg format. Can anyone tell me how to set the plotting defaults so that I don't have to change them every single time I want to plot a drawing? Even when I keep Acad open and open multiple drawings,I have to change the settings or click on "previous plot". I think it is trying to import the plot styles that were set by the engineer when they drew it. Basically all I want is to open a file,hit plot and select the window entities to plot and hit "ok" Without going through all the extra clicks. It's pretty annoying when I have to open 10-20 files and plot them all. Thanks.

Thanks Scott, I'll try that.

I put it in the "files to be converted to" folder. name is suzuki_logo.dwg

I've tried the screen/blank/unblank. Yes,in the level manager # of entities per level 0. Turned all levels on. still nothing. tried exploding in acad,nothing. hmmmmm. going crazy here. I'll see if I can post the file on ftp. It's a government job, a suzuki logo that a friend wants me to machine for him. I got it from the logotypes.ru webpage.

David, Instead of minimizing, how about trying the "show desktop" icon in the quick launch toolbar next to the start button. That way you can easily get out of the program you're working on and move to another. HTH.

Sweet icon Elad.

Thanks MGIRLING!!! That did the trick. I had the cut depths set to absolute before BUT I had zero for minimum cut depth and a -.03 for max. I knew it was something simple but just wasn't looking in the right place. Thanks again.

the file is named 1.063 dia groove and I put it in the mc9 folder on the ftp site. thanks.

Hi all, I am having a very stressful time trying to find the problem to my program. I am trying to machine a .5315 radius in the top of a part with a 5/8 carbide insert ballnose. My first depth of cut goes about .227 deep and then it starts the depth of cut that I had told it to do which is about .03. I am about ready to "fix" something with my hammer if I cannot figure this out. settings are: max stepdown .03 stepover control .1 total tolerance .02 the cut depth is the default setting "incremental and .01 are the values in the boxes. How can I get this first cut to be reasonable about .05 or so???

Thanks MarkH but that didn't fix my problem. I tried using explode and all that good stuff but I still cannot get anything to come up in Mastercam. Being that I can see the part in Acad,is it just a setting problem that I have and have to figure it out? Or could there be a possibility that the file has been somehow write protected and therefore cannot be saved in that manner.

I have converted many files from autocad but I am having problems with a particular file. First of all I have a file in Adobe Illustrator,then I am exporting it as a .dwg file so I can have a cad version of the picture. I am able to view it in Acad2000,but when I use Mastercam to convert from a dwg to mc9...I get nothing,no entities at all. All levels are turned on and I even tried changing the background color. Nothing. Is there a certain setting that I might be missing? Has anyone else had this problem? Please help.

iowajim62, How big is your large mill and what kind of work do you do in order to charge $200.00/hour? Is that the going rate in California? Whew I'm glad I live in Michigan. Here we only charge $65.00/hour and our biggest cnc mill has a 30x60 table while our biggest lathe has a capacity of 36" dia x 10 feet long. By the way, a lil advice to you guys, never buy a Leadwell lathe,the machine is a total lemon. I have had just about everything go wrong that can possibly go wrong and can you believe the $#@! turret actually fell of the machine!!! I mean not even during a cut either. The base plate that holds it on was cast iron and was c/bored to leave 1/8 wall and after a couple crashes, it just had enough. Sorry to ramble on guys,I was just surprised about the 200/hour rate that's all.

can someone tell me how to change the default settings for stuff like the constant surf speed,feedrate,and rpm switches? I am referring to the values that are in the windows that pop up directly after I select a toolpath. I looked all over,but couldn't find nuttin.

I absolutely love NHRA Drags. I travel every year from Detroit to Indianapolis for the biggest race of the year, the US Nationals. I try to explain to people just how loud these rails are,but they just don't know until they experiance it first hand. The final race of the season is this weekend in Pomona. Go Larry Dixon and the Miller Lite team!!!! Wuhoo!!!!

AIALMFAO! Good one Keith!

I just got an older Mori Seiki mill with a 10m control and NO books. nice huh? My question is: can anyone tell me the parameter for changing the Z axis position on the program check screen to read in Absolute? Right now it shows the position from home position. Very annoying!

EWWW tape punches, too many bad memories!

Can anyone tell me how to plot a drawing that is "scaled to fit" my paper size?

Peter, The plunge parameters tab in on the lower right side in the rough parameters window.

Thanks guys, I'll try that. UGH! not looking forward to it though.

If the time comes to where my job needs more than 4 decimal places to be accurate enough to be good, it's time for me to find a new job! LOL