Haas sent me the model. They said I could share it on here. So anyone wanting it... Click Here

The vertical sharp corners in the "V" prevent this from being doable. If those can be rads then a custom tool could be made to achieve this in one shot I would think.

I'll let Webby know to add you. Welcome to the forum.

Face, drive around it, cut the step, drill and tap the hole. Flip, face to size, cut step. Stand up and drill and tap the remaining holes.

I haven't tried helix bore. I use circle mill and love it. For a hole 150% the endmill diameter or so I am usually around a 6 degree angle. But it depends on how much room the endmill has to move, how deep the hole is, the material, etc. The harder the material the shallower the angle. I slow the feed down on the entry, then get after it on the way around.

Lamps are filled with oil Edit: I know, those are Lantern's right? LOL

Woot! That sounds awesome. I haven't used the calendar on here yet. That sounds like a good idea though. I sent you a PM. Thanks.

If this were a production job I would say maybe I would use radius mills. But you still have the issue of the radius mill running into the female rads and there would be hand blending involved. Which is why on a production job I would probably still surface these rads. But if you used a 3D contour and blended off it could actually look pretty good. Can ya do it?

Yup! Thanks.

Yeah, there was a video on here of that and I thought someone mentioned it was going to be added and I really thought it would be in X7. Does anyone know where that video or that thread is?

Haha. I can't even get light bulbs in my machine!

As Colin said the shape doesn't matter. I noticed the differences in your part. But rather than model up a closer part (based off of a picture) I just made a shape that would give you an example that would work.

If you guys want to do something really complex for the next project I am game.

You will never use anything else.

How about we make "Suggested Requirements"?

I agree Bill. For this one... if you can imagine what the part is, program accordingly. Like the guitar project... I think we all know how nice they look. But wood is very easy to work with. So a large step-over is OK since the part will be sanded to perfection. olpaths. I love programming. And I love the challenge of really, really complex parts. I spend way too much time getting a toolpath to bend to my will sometimes. But I learn from it every time something finally works exactly the way I wanted it to. I know a lot of people don't have time to sit and program in their free time. So that is kind of why I was just saying do what you feel comfortable doing. If you start saying "this part has to be programmed complete" people might not want to take that much time. I think it is better to see a quick and simple approach to program a part than to not see anything at all. Step-over's and surface finish are all easy enough to correct in the toolpath parameters. The actual toolpath itself is what I am wanting to see. But certainly, as these projects come around we can add some specific requirements. I just didn't want to demand too much from everyone and make this more work than it is a learning experience, or even "fun". Does that make sense?

Thanks guys.

Well said. You and I think a lot alike. We just use different toolpaths to accomplish the same goal I think. I probably spend a little too much time on my programming. But having the toolpath follow the part features is important to me. And where I work, how good the part looks is almost more important than the tolerances. So I go out of my way sometimes to make a toolpath follow a shape more closely. I don't use a finish contour when a finish flowline will give a better result. That kind of stuff. One thing I have learned so far... Blend is awesome. I have used it more in my programming and I get some really good results with it.

Time isn't what is important here. At least for me. It's technique is what I am looking at. But no, like I said it took me longer than it did some of these other guys. But I went at it a little differently. I don't remember if MCM said how long he spent on it or not? Because his program had a somewhat similar approach because he broke up the different features of the part and programmed them individually. But I wouldn't concentrate on how long it takes. At least until you don't consider yourself a rookie any more

I think he was wondering how it could be machined with a 3 axis. Here's a start... That is just a 2D Dynamic Core mill toolpath to rough out the area around the part. A Flowline up the outside profile. Then a Surface Finish Contour to surface the part using a 1/2" x 1/32" full rad slot mill. I created a solid the shape of the bottom of the part extruded down 1/8". Then I translated that lower solid down like .03" creating a .030" gap between the two solids then used them both as drive surfaces. That lets the tool try to get in between the two parts but not completely separate them. You could drop that solid down a little more and create some tabs between the two if you wanted to have less blending to do when the part was done. Cycle time - About 9 minutes with a .001" step down on the surfacing path. About 5 minutes with a .002" step down. Probably not the best way to produce 100 of these, but hopefully that gave you some ideas?

When you bring up the tool manager and highlight a tool the toolpaths that use it are highlighted in the operation manager as well.

Is that cat all black?

I want the part model. I will program it complete. 3 axis. I have cut that stuff. I think it would be a fun part to program.

Microsoft Security Essentials here too. Best there is. Been using it a long time and not one time have I had a problem. And it doesn't bother you all the time either, unless you have a problem. If anyone knows how to stop crap from hacking it's way into Windows, it's Microsoft. Think about it. Oh, and being a conspiracy theorist, I am a firm believer the virus companies are creating these viruses

My boss brings out crazy jobs and asks if we can make it (only 4 axis here). I always tell him we can make anything. So it really depends on things like everyone said - material, quantity, and tolerances are key factors into the quote. Can it be machined? Of course it can.