I never really thought about it before but John's method makes sense. I never leave a hub by setting my minimum and maximum helix radius to 45% of my cutter diameter but I have been cutting CW because it is the default setting. I think I will switch to CCW.

Harvey Tool makes a nice selection of engraving cutters. The come with 30 40 60 and 90 degree included angles and .005 .010 .020 .030 flats. They also have them with no flats or radius tips. I haven't tried them but most tools from Harvey are pretty good.

jeff, This system will be used primarily for mastercam. Here is another system I like it is just a little over my price range: Precision T5500 (System Identifier: 0GE5J0Z2) Precision Workstation T5500 Tower Genuine Windows 7 Professional System Price : $3,069.00 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Memory 6 GB DDR3 ECC RDIMM 1333MHz (3 DIMMs) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hard Disk Drive 300 GB Serial-Attach SCSI 3Gbps 3.5-in Cabled Hard Drive (15K RPM) 2nd Drive 146 GB SAS Hard Drive 3.5(15K RPM) 2nd Drive 146 GB SAS Hard Drive 3.5(15K RPM) 450 GB Serial-Attach SCSI 3Gbps 3.5-in HotPlug Hard Drive (15K RPM) 2nd Drive -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Video 1 GB NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800, DUAL MON, 2 DP & 1 DVI -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Software Upgrade Windows Live 64BIT Operating System DVD Trend Micro 16.6 PC-cillin 30 Day -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Processor Processor: Quad Core Intel Xeon X5570 2.93GHz, 8M L3, 6.4GT/s, turbo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hardware Upgrade Dell USB 6-Button Laser Mouse Desktop Chassis Configuration w/ 1394 Card 125V Power Cord Quiet Key Keyboard Bezel Precision T5500 Power Suppply Chassis Intrusion Switch Primary Heatsink SAS 6i/R Controller Card - For Connecting Internal SAS Hard Drives -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Media Bay 16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Certified Refurbished Certified Refurbished -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Base Precision Workstation T5500 Tower

Thanks for the links gcode. Another question I have is at work we us windows xp 32bit if I use windows 7 64bit at home will my files be compatible on the 32bit work system.

Heres one sytem I am looking at. This does not include the monitors. Precision T5500 (System Identifier: 0GXF6BT2) •Precision Workstation T5500 Tower •Genuine Windows 7 Professional System Price : $1,329.00 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Memory 4 GB DDR3 ECC SDRAM 1066MHz (3 DIMMs) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hard Disk Drive 320 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Video 768MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800, DUAL MON, 2 DP & 1 DVI -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Certified Refurbished Certified Refurbished -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hardware Upgrade Integrated Intel chipset SATA 3.0Gb/s controller 125V Power Cord Quiet Key Keyboard Precision T5500 Power Suppply Primary Heatsink Bezel USB Optical two button mouse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Processor Processor: Quad Core Intel Xeon Processor E5530 2.4GHz,8M L3,5.8GT/s, turbo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Software Upgrade 64BIT Operating System DVD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Base Precision Workstation T5500 Tower -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Media Bay 16X DVD ROM Drive

I was looking to buy a new computer for mastercam so I can work at home when needed. I'm going to purchase it from the Dell Outlet. Here are some general question: Windows 7 Ultimate or Professional? 32bit or 64bit? Quadcore or Dualcore processor? Are two 768mb quadro cards as good as one 1.5mb quadro card? Would it be better to purchase the computer with one 768mb quadro card then add another one later? If I go wth a 64bit operating system I was thinking about just starting with 4000mb of ram then buying more when it drops in price. I'm looking to spend around $2000 for the entire system and want dual 21.5 or up monitors. By looking on the site this seems possible if I go with a single quadro fx1800.

Streaming Teacher!

Thanks for th replies. The guy who hooked up the machines is coming over next week to explain how it works. I'll let you guys know what he says.

John, Yes I am trying to access the drives on the CNC from the shop computer. I know it can be done because it has been done before. Hopefully we can both get it figured out. I am going out now to see if our machines have USB ports. Thanks for the reply.

I work in the milling department but need to help our lathe departmnet start to save their mazak lathe programs. All of the programs are made at the machine and need to be backed up on the shop computer. The machines communicate with the shop computer via ethernet cable. I know the communication network is working properly because they were backed up once previously. The guy who did the backup is hard to get in touch with. The machines we have are: Integrex 200SY with Fusion 640MT control Integrex 200IV with Matrix control Integrex 100IV with Matrix control Quickturn 200SMY with Fusion 640T control. To me it seems like I should just be able to access the hard drives on the machines and copy the programs to the shop computer through windows explorer. The problem is I can't seem to pull up the hard drives for the machines. Do I need to get the machines set up any specific way to be able to access their hard drives. Any help is greatly appreciated

Dan, First of all there are two types of Fadal tool changers. The umbrella type hold the tools in a vertical position and put the tools back in the same pockets every time. The side mounted random changers hold the tools in a horizontal postion and put the tools back into random pockets every time. We have both kinds here but our fadal with the OI control has the side mounted random changer. If this is the changer you have there are two ways to fix it. Either through maintenance mode which is dangerous or with the hand crank on the top of the machine. I reccomend calling Mag Fadal or the reseller you purchased the machine from and they should be able to talk you through the process.

Create seperate geometry that has .375 corner radii and use it for your first operation.

Mark, There are two ways to convert splines to arcs in X4. If you want to convert true circular splines into circular arcs use edit/simplify. If you have a spline that is not circular and you want to break it into arc segments use edit, trim/break, then break many pieces. HTH

Colin, I tried the to batch option with a simple contour operation and a surface finish parrallel just to see if it worked. Both toolpaths started generating right away. I was at home on the HLE of mastercam. I don't know if that makes a difference. I will try again at work and see if I get the same result.

I am getting the same result. I thought if you checked the "to batch" button the tooplath was not supposed to genertate itself. Maybe I misunderstood how this function works.

How about a secure remote access feature. Sometimes it's easier to help people by showing them what to do instead of trying to tell them by typing.

Do you have maintenance. If so upgrade to MU3 it is much more stable.

cormigu, By looking at your file you are going to need to create three tool planes. They will all be rotated about the X-axis. When doing four axis work on a vertical mill always set Y0 and Z0 at the center of rotation. X0 can be in a location of your choice. The way you have your origin set up looks good. To create the planes set your WCS to top and your tool and construction planes to top. Then do the following: 1. Select planes on the bottom tool bar 2. Select rotate planes from the drop down list 3. Enter 7.5 in the about X field 4. Hit the green check Now WCS should still be set to top but your T/C plane should be rotated about the x-axis by 7.5 degrees. If you select gview = cplane you should be looking right down the center of your first hole. Now you can create your drilling toolpath for that hole and it will be on the correct angle. For geometry select the center point of your arc. Be careful to set your clearance to a safe height. Set your top of stock at the top of your hole and use .1 incremental for your retract or the tool will want to plunge to .1 above the center of your fourth axis. Now repeat this process for your other holes rotating about X to the correct angles. I'm not sure how you came up with your hole axis center lines. I usually use the hole axis c-hook. My angle of 7.5 is only correct if your hole axis is correct. I would program this part for you and send you the toolpaths but I am working off of the home learning addition this weekend.

I have been using mastercam since V6 and I am currently signed up on Streaming Teacher. Their video lessons are excellent. They cover most of mastercams features in great detail. Even advanced users can get a lot out of these lessons. I have been watching the videos and keeping a note book. I actually learned a lot of things about mastercam that I did not know. I do wish they would cover more multi-axis and advanced multi-axis stuff. They are a little pricy but well worth it. Before that I was on eapprentice and their lessons are good also. They are a less exspensive alternative to Streaming Teacher.

Josh, I am using the latest mpmaster machine def, control def, and posts. They were not updated. I make seperate machine defs, control defs and posts for each machine we have. In this case one is set up to post T1 H1 D1 and the other is set up to post T1 H1 D61. If I start a new file with new toolpaths everything works perfectly. When I program a job using one machine def then later replace that machine def with another one it won't recognize my diameter offset settings. It seems to me that if it can reconize them with a new file it should be able to recognize them when I replace the old machine def with a new one. overthecrossbar, I will look into that tommorrow. JMC, I agree!

The only values I want to change are the D values not the T or H values. My tools are not assigned sequentially so I do not wish to renumber them. It seems to me when you load a new machine def the D values should change automaticaly to match the way that machine def is set up. Just to clarify I want my T numbers and H numbers to be the same for both machines I just need different D numbers.

I have a part I programmed for our Mitsiu Seiki horizontal mill. This machine uses T1 H1 D61. I now want to run this same part on our Kitamura. The Kitamura uses T1 H1 D1. I make a copy of the MCX file and replace the Mitsui machine and control def with the Kitamura machine and control def. Every thing works great except I am still getting D61 for my diameter offset even though my Kitamura machine and control def are set up to output T1 H1 D1. The only way I can get D1 is to open up the parameters for every operation and click on the tool and then it changes to D1. This can be tedious when you have a lot of operations. I think the diameter offset should switch automatically when you load in the new machine def. Does anyone know how to get this to work. My settings for tool in my control defs for each machine are as follows: Tool offset registers Mitsui Add to tool Length=0 Diameter=60 Kitamura Add to tool Length=0 Diameter=0

Rich Thomas, I never new that. I just tried what you said and it worked. Thanks for the info.

When verifying toolpaths against your solid model make sure to set your tool tolerance and stl tolerance to .001 and move your verify slider to the highest quality level.

You definately get what you pay for. Here is an example. I just got a job up and running. I tried it on two Fadal 5-axis machines and the parts came out like crap. Then our Kitamura opened up so I reprogrammed it and moved it to that machine. I was able increase the feeds and speeds and the parts are coming off the machine are perfect. Trying to machine complex parts with a cheap machine can be very frustrating. I really don't like it when I make a part and I know the program is right but the parts are coming out wrong do to some issue with the machine. Then you have to try to tweak everything and you go home at night wondering if something is going to go wrong with the job. Now that I moved this job to the Kitamura I can sleep easy knowing that it will run hassel free.