David, Can you use a 4 axis post for this, like mpfan or mpmaster? Jim

David, In my modified mpgen5ax post I have pang_output : 2 and haven't seen the windup problem you are getting. Jim

There's something in config not exactly what you are describing, but maybe what you want. In the Start/exit tab there's a checkbox to delete duplicate entities in File/get so when you open a file the duplicate entities are deleted.

Hi germ, I put a file on the ftp called g-4-axis-j.mc9 as an example of how to get mastercam to do rotary feeding. I created cross sections of your part using create curves, slice and then created a revolved surface of the larger outer contour half of the part (minus all the .392 rad slots) and used the flow 5axis with just 4th axis activated. Where I work though, I usually write rotary feed programs manually with bull nose endmills and a tilt under the rotary, or sometimes have special endmills made with angled ends, we don't have high speed capability and need to keep nc file size to a minimum. Hope this helps.

I am experimenting with 5 axis swarf toolpaths and want to incorporate a z axis shift for a tilting rotary horizontal machine. I sent a zip file to the FTP's mc9 folder called swarfshift.zip which contains a swarfshift.mc9 file and mpgen5ax based post files called bosto5x with a z axis shift of -7.200. The geometry is an arch shaped surface to which a swarf toolpath is applied. If you open the geometry a green pt is at the part zero and a blue pt at the secondary axis pt of rotation. The green pt with attached line is where I expected the center of the tool to be at the top of the arch with 0 axis shift in the post and the nc output matched this expectation. The blue pt with attached line is where I expected the center of the tool to be at the top of the arch using the -7.200 axis shift but the nc output in this case was y +7.200 and z-7.200 from what I expected . Sorry for the long winded explaination but hoping if anyone can see if I did something wrong here? Thanks Jim

Winnie, Don't forget to include teh HEFFALUMPS AND WOOZLES that scared my kids when they were younger.

Ernie, Check the FTP in Files_to_be_converted_to_MC folder for caduses.dxf It's only an outline but maybe you can use it. HTH Jim

Ron teh Crazy Millman, Your contributions to this forum are very much appreciated. The fact that you have put much effort into getting a working post for a Thermwood gives the rest of us encouragement to try getting it to work for our own applications. Everyone's responses to the recent 5 axis post questions have been very informative to me, and I will continue to offer my "best guesses" if I think they will help. Jim teh "this is a great forum"

Hi Smiffy, I did what you said to post all the operations at the same time instead of individually on a part of mine, and saw the same thing. What DavidB said about brk_max_ang being set to 5 made sense so I changed that to 90 and since all of my toolpaths were less than 90 deg apart , it got rid of all the 5 deg increment rapid rotary moves. Jim

David, With the part WCS set to top, you will have to create the c/plane and t/plane normal to the specific feature you want to drill/mill. Once you've established that (I always write down the c/plane number created in case I have to go back to it) go ahead and make your toolpaths (other than multiaxis) and the post should output both rotary positions once the way you want. Then you can work on the next feature you want, by creating a new c/plane, t/plane for that. Jim

Not only did Coach Brown win both NCAA and NBA Championships, so did Richard Hamilton ('99 NCAA champ at UConn) I like what Coach Brown said about showing kids the right way to play the game. Jim

David, You're on the right track. For your primary zero degrees rotaxis1=vecx would mean at 3 oclock top view, I think CCW positive direction should be rotdir1=-vecy not sure about secondary, you'll have to test it to see the output, if rotaxis2=vecx gives you the proper tilt zero deg position, but rotdir2=vecz is the wrong direction, change it to rotdir2= -vecz. Cheers, Jim

Hi again David, I'm thinking this means that the primary rotary 0 degrees is vecy which is at 12 o'clock position looking down from the top view, and rotation positive direction is rotation from vecy to vecx so the table would actually rotate counterclockwise for positive angular motion, but I'm not sure . HTH Jim

I'm here too. I liked the nickname a forum member gave to someone a while back "squatting dragon hidden email" Jim

Thanks especially to Glenn Stephens for providing the slideshow. Codebreaker, Gcode, and Millman, you might want to take a look at it if you haven't already. Jim

Codebreaker, If I am understanding, your primary starts -90 away from where you want, and goes in the wrong direction,. Try changing the primary to rotaxis1 = vecx #zero rotdir1 = vecy #direction If that goes in the right direction but is 180 from where you want to start try this instead rotaxis1=-vecx rotdir1=-vecy HTH Jim

Thanks David

Jay, I can't seem to access the 5axisgenericpost.pps file from the Text&Post folder on the FTP. (page not found) I can get to stuff in the MC9 folder, though. If anyone could email to me, my addy is [email protected] Thanks, Jim

Hi David, I've used the mpgen5x pst for a horizontal machine with a tilting rotary for 5 axis positioning and also rotary feed on fixed tilt angle toolpaths. The changes I made in the post were mtype:0 rotaxis1= -vecy #zero rotdir1= vecx #direction rotaxis2= -vecy #zero rotdir2= vecz #direction Experiment with those combinations and I think you'll find what you're looking for. As long as you're just positioning and not doing 5 axis toolpaths, you should be o.k. without the axis shifts (I'm still trying to figure that out, will take a look at the .pps file soon) Jim

Hi Michael, Maybe you could try breaking up the solid into surfaces and reverse the normal direction of the trouble area surfaces before creating the wireframe of the holes? HTH Jim

Welcome to the forum, You could check out the educational division of the Mastercam website. They have some Emco Posts there for downloading maybe one of these would match your machines format. Jim

Hello Martin, Kennametal makes a good tap in their series K-NI STI for the 5/16-24 STI thread. I agree with everyone about the J thread distiction, use a regular UNF STI tap, but the minor dia of the hole is larger. Kennametal doesn't show a 3/4-16 STI tap in that series, would probably be better to generate with a thread mill. Jim

I drew it up in Mastercam and measured .00013 for the 1" ball e.m. also. Now if you would go to a bigger tool a 2" ball e.m. at .023 steps would leave .00007 cusp height so maybe that's what the Heavy Metal's boss was thinking. Jim

Patriots will win 19-6

congrats Millman. Nice pictures of your family. Jim