got overhang? 20hp cuts with 80mm cutter on 27" devibe extension and #50 big plus spindle

yeah that's sad, my HP laptop ran 5:40 but I want Motorsports-X's box coming in at 4:09 seconds cheers! Len Dye

Predator PDM now that's a plague I would avoid full-on.. what a kludge! Unfortunately some Jr engineers bought into this package about the time I returned to work here. I had written my own PDM database that included form based set-up sheets and work instructions but it was too late. The biggest mistake other than buying a POS software was the entire emphasis was getting the documents in PDM with total disregard to the content that was being put in PDM or the value thereof. We totally missed a golden opportunity to re-visit the way we document jobs. After 3 years I wouldn't even call it 1/2 way implemented yet and its' a major cluster-f @ck to maintain. Documentation of the machining operations is one of my pet-peeves in this trade and I'm a firm believer this is best way to address the current skills gap. With solid standard operating procedures and comprehensive work instructions it addresses so many factors in the shop like setup reduction, scrap reduction & training needs. Len Dye

That's the 1st time I've heard anything negative about Ellison. IMHO you can't beat Ellison service here in the SoCal area, no other distributor even comes close except for maybe HFO but that's for Haas machines. Doosan machines offer great value if you're not going with a high-end machine, they've been around quite a while now, have a broad product line and they buy more Fanuc controllers than any builder now too. I'd be leery of relatively new machine tool builders thou. How long has Samsung been making lathes? And they haven't figured where to put the window? Don't they make phones that need the optional fire extinguisher? I can see how Brother got into machine tool building because they bought so many machines it would be better in the long term to develop their own. However their product line is very narrow most likely just machines that they use themselves. Cheers! Len Dye

FYI There is a Fanuc #5000 parameter that dictates whether the control compensates by moving the tool or shifting the coordinate system. This setting is the reason that you see machine having a tapered move when only 1 axis is programmed, regardless if you programmed compensation perpendicular or not. We have several vintages of Mori Seiki machines here and they were setup different by Mori but I've since corrected them so they don't taper. personally I'd have chit fit if my code had 3 X-axis moves in a row, I would have to totally re-do it.. no doubt! Cheer! Len Dye

Here's part of an old write up I had on MT machine Reading and Writing Offsets to Macro Variables Offsets cannot be read from the Mori Seiki Tool Offset screen in the standard Format. By using a G318 (write to Fanuc variable), or G319 (write to P-code variable) command supplied with the machine, offsets can be read and later re-written to the P-Code Variables. G318 Command Format:(Reading P-Code macro Variables to Fanuc macro variables) G318 A_. Q_. A_. Address of common variable to write data to. #100-#149, #500-#531. Q_. Address of P-Code variable to be read. #11000 to #13399. G319 Command Format:(Writing common variable data to P-Code macro Variables.) G319 A_. Q_. A_. Address of common variable to read data from. #100-#149, #500-#531. Q_. Address of P-Code variable to be written to. #11000 to #13399. Calculating P-Code variable address:Offset data variable addresses (P-Code variables) are obtained in the following way. X-axis Wear #[11000+((H-1) X 10)] H: = Offset Number Z-axis Wear #[11001+((H-1) X 10)] Y-axis Wear #[11002+((H-1) X 10)] Radial Wear #[11003+((H-1) X 10)] X-axis Geometry #[11004+((H-1) X 10)] Z-axis Geometry #[11005+((H-1) X 10)] Y-axis Geometry #[11006+((H-1) X 10)] Radius Geometry #[11007+((H-1) X 10)] Tool Tip Geometry #[11008+((H-1) X 10)] Tool kind Geometry #[11009+((H-1) X 10)] Ex: Geometry Offset data (X-axis) for offset number 5. #[11004 + ((5-1) X 10)] = #[11004 + 40] = #11044 Hope this Helps! Cheers! Len Dye

are you sure the machine has a HD? other than parameter #3404 bit 2 there are only a few parameters associated with the Data Server that start at parameter #0900. Double check the parameter settings are the same between the different machines Len Dye

probably you'll need to change CW & CCW as well as reverse the "I" output too if you're using I & K but you should write a little test program and find out what it needs. Cheers! Len Dye

for X- on your Mori change the following line in your post: dia_mult : -2 #Multiplier for output on X axis (Neg. switches sign of X) a value of 1 is for Radius programming, a value of 2 is for diameter programming and a -2 will output X- on diameter Hope this helps! Cheers! Len Dye

Make sure your I/O Channel= 5 on your Settings page (same as parameter #0020) Also parameter 3404.2 indicates if the P is a file number (=0) or program number(=1). Typically we have it set to program number and on the HD the filename will be O1234 with no file extension so we would call the program with a M198 P1234 hope this helps! Cheers! Len Dye

yes Jaydenn that's very important, thanks! Unfortunately I found this out the hard way where the program had neither the G90 or a G91 on the G10 line so it depends what mode the machine is in when it reads it. The program ran fine for months then one day a big SUPRISE Cheers! Len Dye

The way understand the way you want to mange the tool is that it lasts 100 minutes but after 50 minutes of cutting to want it use a wear value of .010. If your machine doesn't have tool life management on the CNC control you can set up a "poor mans" cut timer or parts counter using macro programming. On a Fanuc control you'll need the Fanuc Macro B option though which most builders provide. You'll want to set up a timer for the tool you want to adjust the offset for. You'll use 2 different macro variables, say #500 for time in the cut and #501 for the cumulative total time. You could do all this with just 1 #500 variable but the statements get more complicated so by using 2 #500 & #501 variables is code cleaner and easier for me to explain. For example at the beginning of the tools' 1st cut you'll start the clock with a statement like #3002=0 to set the clock to zero and at the beginning of the 1st cut another statement like #500=0 to set the current time in cut back to zero. At the end of the cut you will stop the clock with a statement like #500= #3002 which will save the time from the internal clock to variable #500. NOTE: if you want to time multiple cuts where the timer is turned on and off while that tool is being used you have to reset the clock back to zero with #3002=0 again then to stop the clock after cutting and add that time to the other cuts you want to have a statement like #500= #500+#3002. Now at the end of the tool you will want to add that time to the cumulative time with a statement like #501=#500+#501 Now #501 has the total time for that tool so now, just as you suggest in your example, at the beginning of the tool change it would look like this M6 T10 IF[#501 LT 50.] GOTO1 G90 G10 L11 P1 R0.01 N1 M3 S5000 G0 G54 G90 X0 Y0 G43 H1 Z1. M8 #3002=0 #500=0 cut... cut... #500=#3002 #501=#500+#501 G28 G91 Z0 M1 So with this example each time the tool is called up with more than 50 minutes on it the tool will use the adjusted offset from the G10 line of code. When you replace the tool with a new one you would need to set your #501 cumulative time back to zero with a MDI statement like #501=0 or go to the Macro page and set it to zero there. Also you will need to manually set your Wear offset back to zero. Also note that you could set up an alarm to alert the operator when the tool gets to 100 minutes with a statement like IF[#501 GT 100.] THEN #3000=1(TOOL LIFE EXPIRED) and the machine will alarm out or if you don't want an alarm but just want to warn the operator you can send it to the message screen with no alarm with a different #3000 but I can't remember which number it is off hand but it is possible not to alarm the machine out and even possibly call up a spare tool just like Tool Life Management as well. The Fanuc programming manual has a time counter example in the Macro section for 5 tools however it starts/stops the clock with a M3/M5 M-code macro that uses #4120 which is last T command, not necessarily the T that is in the spindle, so be careful. I wouldn't recommend using it though. Which a little effort you can learn macro programming with a challenge like this from the Fanuc book but the language is questionable and it doesn't go into much detail and doesn't explain things very well. A better book would be CNC Custom Macros from Peter Smid Hope this helps! Cheers! Len Dye

wow I guess I totally missed getting my point across then.. have fun with your Future Based Machining thou... Len Dye

I guess I'm a nobody, I prefer to draw my own geometry to dictate the toolpath the way it needs to be not the way MasterCam decides it wants to create it, it's called control, but then again I'm old school. For me it's not about how fast I can create code but rather getting the technique proper and not wasting time at the machine. If I spend a little extra time in the CAM system it doesn't cost the company hardly anything in comparison to wasting time at the machine with some program that took only 30 minutes to create. But then again I don't work for a mom & pop where the owner is looking over my shoulder constantly so I understand many guys are programming parts they'll never see again where it's more important to just crank it out. I do know though there are a lot of programmers out there that are either lazy of just don't know cutting strategy and have to take what the CAM system gives them. We had a couple of parts that we farmed out to an experienced programmer that used all these new school paths. Out of the box it was 16 hours cycle time and after weeks of trying to get it to run we finally got to do a little optimization and got it like 9 hours. After reprogramming with proven strategies it was under 3 hours. With our current orders it was close to 1,000 hours savings for the machining, for each part! Other than just a bad cutting strategy in general the biggest factor in the savings was a 6 meg file vs 300K and the fact that the large file cut air most of the time repositioning itself for the next cut. I found it interesting that the large file only had only a couple of minutes of rapid time where the more efficient program had like 10 minutes of rapids. A 300k file will execute much faster than 6 meg file.. IMHO, other than Mill/Turn and doing some edge breaks, Esprit blows donkeys in comparison. Cheers! Len Dye

We read the work offsets in with at the beginning of the CNC program using G10. Every job has G54.1 P1 for B0, P2= B90, P3= B180 & P4= B270 then P5 etc for odd angles, it's always the same . for every job and less confusion because every job has the same work offset/B-axis table position scheme, furthermore pretty much fail safe reading the work offsets in with each job. In this case where they're doing tombstones work on different faces, the operators would only need to edit the G53 B work offset at the beginning of the program because one time the fixture may be B90 then next time its' at B270 or whatever Cheers! Len