I'm machining a solid though. That toolpath is chained with all 2d geometry.

I like the 2d dynamic toolpath. I'd like to use the same type of concept on a solid. How can I get a 2d high speed toolpath to cut for bottom outside of a boss profile using 1 inch max depth with .030 stepover?

Hello everyone, I'm drilling a 1 inch dia hole through the outside of a 9.5 OD tube with a .875 wall. I need to put a 1/16 rad on the ID side of the hole. Any ideas on tooling to do this from the side I drilled the hole from?

Does stl xform work? I click it, select an stl file, and then nothing happens.

sorry, i meant z in the lathe D+ z- plane

Yesterday I tried to use lathe stock preview to get a 2d profile of my lathe part at a certain state (by selecting surfaces and save geometry, 3/4 view.) It put the geometry on the screen, but then after i closed the dialog box and tried to translate part of it in Z, it would not move. I had to save my file, shut down mastercam, and open it again. It will move when I reopen it. Can anyone repeat? Also, X3 was fine about deleting geometry. In X4 when I delete geometry I can see ghost geometry in the select color when i zoom in or out. The only way to get rid of it is to close the level and reopen in again. It is really discouraging.

The engraving toolpath would work on this. I assume all geometry is drawn at the -.020 depth. The engraving toolpath would work. I haven't look at the file though. I've used a 7 degree with a .005 tip. You just want to get as much out as you can with a bigger tool. Check out the engraving path if you haven't yet.

I'm talking about the rotary 4th axis under multi axis toolpaths.

I can't seem to get the tool to cut towards the x+ direction in this toolpath. We have our rotary on the right side of our table and want to cut a little auger blade from the left end of the part towards the right end. Any ideas? I really want to use this toolpath.

Found out what it is. Need to point custom all folder to mcamx3/chooks folder

What about a forward facing boring bar with a 35 degree insert? Kennametal makes one thats .75 diameter i believe. I use a 1 inch bar to rough out stuff i normally would have to use a face grooving tool for. I don't get the chatter and the long wide chips wrapping around the tool. The tool im refering to stick straight out from the end of the bar minus a 5 deg clearance angle. I have a left and a right and can rough from one side with one and then the opposite side of the groove with the other. I use lathe rough, and select facing as the direction. Usually I draw in a 45 degree line on the non cutting side of the profile. You will have to make a custom tool profile because mastercam doesnt have any of these tools in its kennametal library. PS- I'm not at work so i can't pull up this file. I'm just going by the shape, I dont know if the size of the tool I mentioned will fit

I'm trying to find some very thin tapered metal shims. A guy that used to work for us had some that he used for getting stuff flat to surface grind. We have a bunch of parts that need something like this, but the guy no longer works here. Anyone have any ideas about these, if they are available or know where to get them? They went from .002 to .025 or so. Saves tim from stacking shimstock. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe you could subtract each of the halves out of another solid block with them in the closed position. I think its boolean remove. then you'd be left with a solid from whats inbetween. I don't know if theres any way to measure the thicknesses of that new model but its worth a shot.

Ok, let me start off by saying that I am posting from my phone. I'm saying this because I haven't searched the forum to see if this has already been answered. We only have Mcam Lathe right now, but my question is on gcode mill programming. We need to do some subprogramming with rotary positioning. here's and example of the sub. O1000 X0.125 Y.0.0 Z0.100 A2.5 Z-.125 X2.000 A-2.5 X0.125 Z.100 ok very basic and some stuff is missing, but just trying to convey the path ok so if i want to repeat this pattern every 36 degrees, with my initial work offset using g55, do i do this? g55 A0.0 m98p1000 g55 A36. m98p1000 any ideas?

Ok, let me start off by saying that I am posting from my phone. I'm saying this because I haven't searched the forum to see if this has already been answered. We only have Mcam Lathe right now, but my question is on gcode mill programming. We need to do some subprogramming with rotary positioning. here's and example of the sub. O1000 X0.125 Y.0.0 Z0.100 A2.5 Z-.125 X2.000 A-2.5 X0.125 Z.100 ok very basic and some stuff is missing, but just trying to convey the path ok so if i want to repeat this pattern every 36 degrees, with my initial work offset using g55, do i do this? g55 A0.0 m98p1000 g55 A36. m98p1000 any ideas?

You can still ask people about Mastercam X and up and they will tell you it is multi-threaded. Or was that the next version is going to be multi-threaded? I don't think people really know. I know it definitely isn't. It should have been multi-threaded before X.

Maybe it is the stock recognition tab.

Have you clicked on the adjust stock tab in the toolpath parameters? I think thats what it's called. I use it every day but when I'm not right there, I can't think of it. In there you will find a few options to further tell it what part of stock you are cutting. Using "Use stock for outer boundary" seems to work well.

Well, right now we have the x2 demo so i can try out all of these toolpaths. I first used the rotary 4th axis toolpath on the part (think of a mixer blade) and it was exactly what I needed to do. The parts are a max of 5/8 in diameter and the best way to machine them is to start at the far end and work my way through the blade so i keep the thinest part away from the cut. I'm saying once I cut part of the blade, I don't have to touch that part again xxxx it will flex there. The part will maybe be an 1/8 inch at its thickest point. I experimented with using rotary positioning on some of the surfacing toolpaths, but they tend to machine the whole thing on one side and then rotate to another tool plane to do the other side. I will check out that chook you spoke of and see if it helps. I just wish I could get that toolpath seperately because the many 5 axis toolpaths that come with the multiaxis add on are useless to us.

Does Cnc Software offer only 4th axis rotary toolpath as an option to add on to mill level 3. We are interested in getting into a mill package but it seems like we would waste alot of extra money to get 5 axis toolpaths when our shop doesn't have that capability. It would be nice if these were seperate. Any comments, or am I confused about the add-on?

ive machined butress threads with a kennametal top-notch tool.

ive machined butress threads with a kennametal top-notch tool.

Some one may have said something similar to this, but maybe use multiple tools for the same roughing path. If you are turning a long part or something and one piece of carbide wont make it through te whole cutting path. A way to tell it to use 1 then 2 then 3 at every inch in diameter or every 4 passes. Something like that. I don't know if thats a stupid idea or not, just posting it.

are you sure you didnt enter another function at the same time as analyze distance?

No offense taken Ron. The shop I work at makes great products and does very well at it. I just have to move slowly to get this stuff implemented because they don't really know much technology-wise past 1989. They did buy Lathe which is comparably priced to level 1 mill. I really need to get level 3 to do the things I want to do. I guess maybe I should try to set up a demo or something, but then again they don't really get what is going on. I'll keep trying. even if were talking 20,000 dollars (random amount) we will make it up in a year I'm sure. Doing alot of production aluminum jobs right now, and thye started out using 30 deg high speed tools..... We are moving in the right direction and i'm trying to plant the software seed in the right heads.