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rdshear

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Everything posted by rdshear

  1. quote: I think we will see that Vista is going to be like Windows ME.I was actually one of the people that bought the ME "Upgrade" on it's day of release. Needless to say, I went back to Windows 98 less than a month later. I currently have Windows Vista Premium on my laptop (came with it). I also have XP on three desktops at home and Linux on my old laptop. To date, I have seen no Microsoft product I would even put in the same trash can as ME. Personally, as I said in another thread, Vista is OK. Power hungry... Yes - Different... Yes - Annoying at times... Yes - Here to stay... I would say Most likely.
  2. quote: Rick what kind of feeds in the control defs. should I be looking at. Mine is set to feed in minutes not feed in seconds. Or am I in the wrong spot. It's a fanuc 18i controller. The setting in the control definition is the feed tab on the side and select mill. There is a rotary section there that will allow you to choose unit/min, deg/min, or inverse. You need to make sure that is set to what your control expects. The other thing to be sure of is that your post supports the output you choose. Your reseller, the provider of your post, or maybe someone else here should be able to help you with that.
  3. The main thing I noticed was that the rotation of the C-axis is only.001 degree on both of the moves you pointed out. With DPM feed, as the ratio between rotary and linear change so does your feed when both axis reach their destination at the same time. This provides a constant feed at the tool. You will notice in your code snippet, that your feed gets much higher as you approach the other end of the rotary/linear ratio. I didn't do the math on your code, but I have seen very similar outputs that work fine. It really depends a lot on what your machine needs. The settings for DPM, Inverse feed, ect.. are in the control definition of your machine in MasterCam. You need to make sure it is setup to output what your machine expects. Your reseller could probably help if you aren't sure what to change. Hope this helps some, Rick
  4. I notice more issues in Lathe than Mill. We had used control comp here all the time for critical machining. Then, I started programming for lathe. Believe me, Lathe is a completely different beast. In lathe, I only program control in finish passes. Using it for anything else is a struggle. I don't want to get into the control vs. wear battle. I see value in both. I guess I would be considered a "Moderate" when it comes to comp. JM2C Rick
  5. You might want to check that the linearize helix is not checked. Also, you can check the control definition for your machine to see if Helix support is turned on.
  6. The current version of the post processor reference, last I knew, is for V9. It was stated in another thread some time ago that they are working on an updated more current reference. I do not know if they have finished it or not. However, if you are planning post updates, and you do get the V9 reference CD, be sure to also read/reference the post processor update files that were installed with the version you are running. This will give you information on what has changed since those CD's were published. Happy post editing Rick
  7. quote: Maybe they'll give us a Mill/Turn forum when MC fully supports M/T? Ouch! That's a bit harsh quote: Just so everyone is clear! On the lathe the part spins and the tool is stationary. On the mill the tool spins and the part is stationary. Funny, we have lathes where the part and the tool spins. We also have mills where the tool and the part spins. Depends a lot on how many axes (plural of axis I had to look that one up ) your machine has that determines what is moving when, whether it be on a lathe or mill. As to the issue of the topic, I could go either way. I could see the benefits of splitting lathe and mill into subsets of the Mastercam forum. I can also see the point that -- this is an all encompassing (except wood workers ) Mastercam forum and as such doesn't need broken down further.
  8. quote: What about the Mill/Turn machines? What category do they fall in?I guess that would depend on what you use it most for!
  9. quote: So many cool things on lathe side I wish we had on mill side.+1 that... I started working in lathe about a year ago. The boss wanted to start progamming an old retrofitted VTL. I was in awe of lathe when I started using it. Stock recognition was a cool feature. Then I started learning the work arounds to try to get things to work the way I needed them to. I don't want to get into a "Type of comp" debate, but we program with a lot of control comp here. At least in mill. In my limited experience isn't a fun thing trying to use control comp in lathe. It seems to work well in finish passes but not so much in roughing. I would like to see a lathe section on the forum.
  10. quote: As you begin to grow accustomed to your Spaceball, keep aware of what fuctions cause your fingers to leave the Spaceball and mouse most often, and THOSE are what you should be putting onto the Spaceball.Racerx: Very good suggestion. I'll do that. I've already added several of what JP has based on his suggestions. quote: I have a SPaceNavigatorI thought about getting one of those, but the price on my spaceball was right (FREE). If I find it to be as valuable as I hope, I may just invest in a more modern version of the spaceball that is USB or if I'm really feeling frisky a space pilot. quote: you should give him another try I actually have in very limited usage. Normally on small projects. I'm still gunshy on a large model especially if I have to use surface toolpaths. Those were what I had problems with corruption of the MCX files and inability to regenerate toolpaths that were good, after only a slight change. Thanks everyone for the suggestions, Keep em coming...
  11. I rarely if ever use the 1st 4 of what you have your buttons set to. I'm embarrased to say I haven't even explored some of those. I rarely change my WCS. When I 1st went to class to learn Mastercam a couple of years ago, I cam back all excited and started programming a part, creating and changing to a different WCS for each setup on the job. The file got so large and cumbersome that it started doing weird things. I gave up on the WCS and ended up just moving the part and starting a new file for each setup. The others I use on a regular basis and are great ideas. I'd just have to be careful of the Delete...
  12. I just got a serial spaceball model IBM 6094-051 which I believe is equivalent to the 5000 serial model. It has 9 buttons on one side and three on the other. I have the drivers installed and it seems to be functioning just fine in X2 MR2 SP1. I was just wondering what shortcuts you find to be most productive on the buttons, or how you have it setup? Thanks, Rick
  13. I periodically back up everything important, reformat and do a fresh install of all my software. It almost seems a neccessity sometimes with windows. As John said, there are a multitude of things that can cause bottlenecks in a computer. If you don't know or suspect a problem area sometimes the easiest thing to do is start over. If things are still slower after that, hardware would be the only other factor.
  14. I haven't noticed the problem, but I mainly work with solids that have true lines and arcs as the edge curves. I'll definaltely be keeping a closer watch on them though. Thanks for the heads up.
  15. I keep my setup sheet, ops manager, and level manager on one, and Mastercam on the other. Works well for me.. I hate using just one monitor now that I've gotten used to two. Now I want Bigger...
  16. I'm not familiar with the edge curve bug.... What is it? I use edge curves often on solids for my toolpaths. Is there something I should be looking out for?
  17. I haven't tried that. Does that only work for 'V' shaped threads or will it work with buttres and square threads as well?
  18. I had thought of a custom drill cycle. If I'm thinking right, I'd have to "drill" each point (start location) and maybe use some of the drill paramaters to pass the threading depth and pitch? The only downside I see to that method (assuming I could get it to work )is the number of points I would have to create and MC not knowing the type of tool. It would have to think it was a drill for a drill cycle (right)?? Ideally, a custom groove would be nice. I thought of maybe setting a misc-int to direct a manual groove to a custom thread cycle. That way MC would generate the start point (possibly) and the tool type could be accurately defined ?? Is my thought process correct on those?? I will most likely have to do this job by hand but I would love to come up with a way to make this process easier. I'm the only programmer in the shop who programs for this machine. So it's kinda my baby. So far I've been pleased with what I've made it do... This is really my last big hurdle.
  19. Much simplified, here is what I need to figure out at minimum for each pass. code: 1 L X+16 Y+1 R0 F MAX 2 ; X TO CUTTING RADIUS 3 ; AT THE ROOT OF THE THREAD 4 L X+15.3217 R0 F MAX 5 ; SYNCHRONIZE CHUCK AND TURRET 6 L M50 7 ; MAKE PASS ON THREAD 8 CYCL DEF 18.0 THREAD CUTTING 9 CYCL DEF 18.1 DEPTH -8.625 0 CYCL DEF 18.2 PITCH .5 1 CYCL CALL 2 ; PULL OUT 3 L X+16 R0 F MAX 4 L Y+1 R0 F MAX The only thing that would change pass to pass is the 'Y' ('Z') at line 1 and the 'X' at line 4. Is this even possible through Mastercam or is it something I'll have to live with manually programming?
  20. If you are running about 2300 RPM... 325*12/3.14*.5299 = 2344 RPM 1(minute) / 2300REV/Minute = .000435 minutes/rev times 2 revs = .00087 minutes or .05 seconds You can substitute your actual RPM to calculate if my guestimate is wrong... Rick
  21. I have a very unique situation. We have a VTL that the owners retrofitted with a Heidenhain Mill control. I have successfully converted a lathe/mill post to run every aspect of the machine except one. That is threading. While the machine does thread, it is a VERY crude process. This is accomplished by changing the start point of each pass to "step off" the thread profile. Here is some sample code from a thread I cut a little over a year ago. code: 7 ; KENNAMETAL BUTTON TOOL 8 ; #A3SSR200626 WITH 9 ; #A3R218106P00DF INSERT 10 ; .218 DIA BUTTON TOOL 11 ; TAUGHT ON X AND Y AT THE C/L 12 ; OF THE BUTTON. 13 ; 14 TOOL CALL 4 Y S45 15 L M3 16 ; Q1 = THREAD PITCH 17 ; Q3 = X DATUM SHIFT AMOUNT 18 ; Q4 = Y DATUM SHIFT AMOUNT 19 FN 0: Q1 = +0.94488 20 FN 0: Q3 = +0.48 21 FN 0: Q4 = +0 22 ; 23 ; LABEL 1 WILL STEP OFF AT A 45 24 ; DEG 25 ; ANGLE USING DATUM SHIFTS TO 26 ; CHANGE THE X/Y POSITION. 27 ; THIS LABEL IS USED TO ROUGH THE 28 ; THREAD PRIOR TO THE FINISH 29 ; PASSES 30 ; NOTE: ALL TOOLPATHS ARE AT THE 31 ; C/L 32 ; OF THE BUTTON TOOL. 33 ; 34 LBL 1 35 L M3 36 ; SHIFT THE AMOUNT NEEDED 37 CYCL DEF 7.0 DATUM SHIFT 38 CYCL DEF 7.1 X+Q3 39 CYCL DEF 7.2 Y+Q4 40 ; GO TO SETUP POSITION 41 L X+16 Y+1 R0 F MAX 42 ; X OVER TO C/L OF THE RADIUS 43 ; OF THE ROOT OF THE THREAD 44 L X+15.3217 R0 F MAX 45 ; SYNCHRONIZE CHUCK AND TURRET 46 L M50 47 ; MAKE PASS ON THREAD 48 CYCL DEF 18.0 THREAD CUTTING 49 CYCL DEF 18.1 DEPTH -8.625 50 CYCL DEF 18.2 PITCH +Q1 51 CYCL CALL 52 ; PULL OUT 53 L X+16 R0 F MAX 54 ; DECREMENT X AND Y 55 FN 2: Q3 = +Q3 - +0.1 56 FN 1: Q4 = +Q4 + +0.1 57 ; IF Y IS BELOW OR AT ZERO LINE 58 ; RUN 59 ; AGAIN 60 ; OTHERWISE CLEAR DATUM SHIFTS 61 ; AND EXIT 62 ; LABEL 63 FN 12: IF +Q4 LT +0 GOTO LBL 1 64 FN 9: IF +Q4 EQU +0 GOTO LBL 1 65 CYCL DEF 7.0 DATUM SHIFT 66 CYCL DEF 7.1 X+0 67 CYCL DEF 7.2 Y+0 68 LBL 0 This code was hand written as I'm sure you noticed. What it essentially does is change the start point of the cut, sychronise the chuck with the infeed, and make a pass. I then manually program the pull out, and move back up. Also, if you are looking at the code, think of 'Y' as 'Z'. My question is: Is there any way to get Mastercam to automatically change a start point and repeat a cycle to achieve something similar? As you can imagine, we do very little threading on that machine. But I have another job with 22" dia square threads 1/2" pitch I have to program. I know this won't be the last time either. If I can figure out how to get MC to do the work for me it would be great. Thanks in advance for any help you can give, Rick
  22. Back when we manually programmed our machines (Heidenhain Control), we would program our subroutines inline as we went. This made the program much more user readable. When we went the CAM way, that somewhat went out the door and we don't even program subs. We try to keep the programs as easy to follow as possible - mainly for the guys who've been here a while and were accustomed to programming by hand. Having the subs at the end of large programs makes it difficult to follow as it goes along. I would like to use subs, but since I can't put them inline, I just don't mess with them.
  23. I hold down the CTRL key and tick the items I want to backplot/verify - bypassing the ghosted items. This seems to work well for me. YMMV Rick
  24. ...Hijack... GO Colts!! Now back to your regularly scheduled topic

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