That works for me too. But sometimes I have hundreds of surfaces I need a curve on to use to drive the part because we don't get a drawing with it. That's when I have engineering put a wireframe on the part with Pro-E. I was just hoping Mastercam could do as good. No biggie really. Just seeing if I was doing something wrong.

Basically, if the material and shape of the part can handle it, crank it up.

Will try these these ideas. Most of our models are IGS. Some are STP. It's not just one customer. It's all of them. I usually know what to expect based on who the part is for

I don't know of any chart that could possibly tell you that because there are so many variables. Even if there were a chart I wouldn't use one. The shape of the part, the thickness of the material, the distance between centers, and the size tool are just a few things that will all play a part in how much pressure you need. Chip load is a big factor as well. And how you machine the part. That's why we make setup parts. Is this in a lathe or a mill?

On models our engineers make they already put the wireframe on for us. It's our customers models that are always a pain.

I often have to put a wire frame on my part models to do 3D contours and such. And sometimes we don't get a DXF with our models so the surfaces or solids are all we have to work with. What is the best way to do this? I usually use CREATE>>CURVE>>CURVES ON ALL EDGES. But this creates multiple curves, needless splines, etc. Is there a better way to do this? If I have the engineer put a wire frame on my models using Pro-E I get MUCH better results. Less Splines, and no duplicate entities. Can Mastercam do the same?

Ok, I will copy my Haas machine and control definitions and set them to use the MPMaster post file and see what I get.

I do a lot of 3D stuff. I always work and program in 3D because I keep all my ops in one program using different views. So I think I am going to try one of these out.

After doing some some research I found out this is actually a Denford Micromill, sold in the U.K. for £7500. This one is sold in the US under the Intelos name I guess. I got it cheap, but it didn't come with the PC or the software to run it. It basically hooks up to a PC via a serial port cable. It looks like it was really never used much. There are no scratches, no rust, no oil, etc. But I have no idea if it runs or not. I found a company here that sells the software for this machine. It comes with a new EPROM to allow it to run newer software with more capabilities I think. Anyway, the software and EPROM are $600. Has anyone ever seen one of these things run? I can't find a whole lot about them. There are a couple videos on YouTube, but not very good ones.

I watched the videos. They look awesome. Will have to get me one of those.

CNC Apps Guy has one. I asked him about it and he said he couldn't do without it. Which model do you have? I have been considering buying one, but am not sure which one I should get.

Precision WorkStation T7500 Windows 7 Professional x64 Intel® Xeon® CPU X5677 @ 3.47GHz RAM 24.0 GB NVIDIA Quadro 6000 w/ 6144 MB X5 MU1 X6 MU2 (developing post) ProDrill V4 Verisurf 5.1 Vericut 7.1.6 :o Holy Crap! That is one bad Mammer Jammer!!! Outside of it being a Dell

That is kind of what I am doing now. I am trying to modify our Haas post to configure the -A- axis positions a little better. But I don't really even know where to begin. The mpmaster post does basically what I want to do, but it is for a Fanuc, which I know isn't a whole lot different than the Haas. The generic Haas post moves -A- to zero at the end of each toolpath. And it moves -A- to machine zero at the end of the program. I would like to remove these zero returns. I also like the minimum and maximum Z depths shown in the program like mpmaster does. Can someone go through a couple examples of how I would go about getting these features into the generic Haas post? Thank you

Ok, so this is just a PDF guide? Are there any other resources I could use along with this that would help with post programming? Because I am going to assume this MP Documentation Portfolio isn't going to be written with someone with my limited programming experience in mind. By that I mean I have never used Visual Basic. I've never used C++ or anything like that other than the HTML and CSS I mentioned. My problem is I don't learn very well from books or reading a PDF. I use them more for reference. I need something a little more hands on I guess to get me started. I'll more than likely have to shell out the $50 myself, so I guess I could use a little assurance this is going to teach me something? I just hate paying for something and not have any idea what I am getting. Thanks.

Is there a PDF, or a tutorial, or whatever somewhere that explains post development or at least editing? What kind of programming could I learn to help me understand this? I really want to learn more about editing post files. We use a modified post at my work and it is so screwed up I am considering switching back to the Generic Haas post and going from there. I really don't know what they did, so editing it may prove to be harder than just starting fresh with the Generic Haas post. I just tried the MPMaster post and it is pretty sweet. Would it be hard to modify this for the Haas? I have built web pages using HTML and CSS. And I know what I want the machine to do. So I know I can learn this stuff. I just need a nudge in the right direction. Thanks.

Yeah, I understand it's all in incremental. I am used to the probe routines from running the Haas. I was just unaware that it was basically the same on the Mazak. I kinda figured it should be. But I was being told different. What keystrokes are bothering me? ALL OF THEM Really though it's not so bad. I will get used to this machine and learn to like it. I shouldn't have spoken so terribly about it. Because it really does have some nice features. And the rigidity is really nice. If nothing else at least my ranting brought some help in here so now I know who to ask Getting this probing thing figured out will make a world of difference. No more indicators, no more mirrors, and no more asking a co-worker to hold a flashlight for me! The time this will save means my boss should cut you a check! I love this forum!

Yes, your solution is going to be a new PC. Heck, you can put together a home-built PC using used parts off craigslist for less than $300 that will blow that Acer away. You're not going to find many laptops that will have a dedicated GPU (graphics card). Build yourself a cheap desktop and throw as much money as you can at the graphics card. Buy a professional card like a Quadro. Not a gaming card.

Do you have the one for probing the vise corner? Hitting XY and Z? If not I can just go through all these routines on the Haas and copy them into programs on the Mazak right? Because the ones you listed are exactly the same I believe. So for an X web of 4" width probing 1/2" below the top of part for G54 it would be G65 P9023 X4. S1. Z-.5 right? This is going to burst my trainer's "you don't know what you're talking about" bubble

That is what I thought Joe. Thank you very much. I just knew this had to be easier than it was being explained to me. I just didn't have a chance to explain it to where he could understand. My problem with the control is that everything you do requires 10 more button presses than on most other machines. And you have to press them in a certain order. And certain windows aren't available until you are in MDI, or manual, or whatever. Turning the coolant on manually requires three buttons sometimes! If I had someone like you around showing the control to me years ago I would be better off. I have around 3 years time on Mazak machines. But I have never been taught the Mazak control from anyone that knew a whole lot about them. I can figure most of it out myself. Like moving a program to the HDD for example. I figured it out on my own. I just couldn't find how to run it from the HDD LOL. The Mazak is a steeper learning curve compared to most others I guess. Speaking of running from HDD, can you restart in the middle of a program? We couldn't figure that one out.

I am not sure if we have 9023 in the Mazak or not. I haven't had time to explore this problem and get it figured out. Since you chimed in maybe we can do this now? 9023 more than likely is in the Mazak, but I am not sure without being there looking at the control. I know 9023 is in the Haas I run. If it is in the Mazak, can I just run the same simple programs in MDI that we use on the Haas? I am not at all fluent with Macro programming so looking at them leaves me a bit clueless. In the Haas there is software built in that writes little one line routines that call up the various macro programs that control the probe. You just have to position the probe within .400" of the location you want to probe and hit cycle start after entering a couple values. I have been telling the guy showing me "how to use the probe" this is how simple it is supposed to be. But he was trained by another guy I think and he is just using what works for him. It's just way too much time wasting for me. Can you show me some example probe routines that you use? Thank you for your time.

It has a probe I am sooo sorry to say. But using it requires a ridiculously long process of first setting X Y and Z manually using a center drill or whatever and your eyeball. Then you have to edit the probe routines to tell the probe where to go in X Y and Z before you actually probe the part. It all works in absolute values. This all has to be done without the probe in the spindle because if it stays in the spindle too long the machine alarms out. It really needs to be a simple matter of moving the probe into position and running a small macro program inputting just a few incremental values. But as it is you have to edit positions, clearance planes, retract planes, Z depths, part dimensions, etc. Once I get more comfortable with it I will be ok. But for now it is just faster for me to use an indicator. If they expect me to run this machine much longer I'll be writing some new probe routines.

Interapid? What model #?

It's just poor engineering really. If the door and controller were 2 feet to the left it wouldn't be bad at all. I can't believe those little Japanese guys run these like this. They must have two guys at each machine

Yeah, I've never had a need for one until now.

I can think of at least 20 different controls I have ran. I've ran every machine configuration from manual to CNC. All the way up to 8 axis and some swiss machines. I have just been thrown back on a Mazak after 10 years of not running one and I just had to come here and blow off some steam. I really hope the Mazak engineers are reading! We have a Mazak Nexus 510C-II. The door only opens to about 6" left of center of the spindle. Trying to lean in and see an indicator on the left side of a part is near impossible. And trying to reach your head far enough to see the indicator while your hand is on the jog handle looks ridiculously stupid. So you have to use the remote handwheel and a mirror. But then, the light in the machine is on the right side. So your indicator is in a shadow on the left side of the machine. So you need a flashlight. Now you have a flashlight and a mirror in one hand, the handwheel in the other and guess what??? You need to depress a button on the side of the handwheel to move the machine. So now I need a third hand. So I place my oil covered mini-maglight in my mouth, a mirror and the handwheel are being held with my hands, and I still can't see a ####### thing! This is by far the most ridiculous machine I have ever ran! Don't even get me started on the control LOL Whew, I feel better!