Jack, quote: I’m just curious about the scientist; please tell me this guy is from Boeing! (I have never had the pleasure of watching an expert view my parts though a microscope and dictate an analytical prognosis – hopefully, he wrote down his notes, developed his thesis, prepared a kick-xxxx PowerPoint presentation, and goes around the country advising the rest of us about how we should be machining their parts. – Sorry guys, I didn’t buy this then and I sure ain’t buying it now! The only pictures that I have posted are of trochoidal cut sausages – wow, nine customers have actually bought them, sight unseen; speaking of pictures Kath, who is that lovely young lady pictured with you? – At least I have the guts to ask! Smoke some more crack. Paul McGarr

Dan, That's an awesome thought. I've mentioned that to a few people in the past. I'm assuming that you are talking about the "printers" that build up several different layers of high temp wax creating a part that you can actually hold inb your hands. Am I right? I spent some time thinking about that, and my concern is that the adhesive that I would like to use might clog the ink (glue) jet nozzle(s). You have a valid point. We found a company in the past that said they could do this for us, but the failed to provide us with acceptable parts. You must have a good idea of what I'm trying to do because you are right on. Do you have experiance with this technology? I've looked at it in the past for rapid prototyping, but not for printing glue. The last time i looked into this technology, there was a comany named "Sanders" that was the leader. This was about 5 years ago, and I think they were bought out. If I could inkjet glue, that would be the best solution yet. I am assuming that there would be a significant amount of time required to prove the process though. This forum is a tool that I am grateful to have. This topic has no relevance to Mastercam, yet all you guys continue to give advice. Thanks. Thanks, Thanks again, Paul

I think you would be better off taking advice from others, as I don't do much 4 axis machining. I thought I might be able to help, but now I am assuming that you need some "low profile" tooling to eliminate excessive "Z" clearance. Good luck, Paul McGarr

Mikee, Thanks for the input. A couple of questions though... You say 80 in/min without missing a beat. In your opinion, would it draw a .236 diameter at 80 in/min? I wouldn't expect so, and that's ok. At the price of the pieces I am working with, I can afford to spend some time working on "drawing" 96 circles. I'm glad to hear somebody is using this machine. I am begining to thin I might need to go this route. I have some research to do though. As far as oil goes though, I was just making a point about the fact that I will be using this in a clean room, and can't afford a mess. It sounds to me that you are saying that this machine has no oiler?! That seems kind of odd to me. My bridgeports have oilers. They are manual, but they are there. Does the Haas really depend on someone pumping grease into fitings? Either way, I don't mind. I'm just looking for info. I wouldn't let extra mantainence sway my decision on this. Thanks for your input. Paul McGarr

Rekd, Details? What kind of work? Are you fixturing? I don't do much 4th axis machining, so maybe I don't understand your simple question. I do a lot of fixturing, and understand the importance of proper workholding in general. Provide a problem, and I'd be glad to help. Just the other day I bumped into a post mentioning "invert-a-bolt". I'm sure that you have heard of this, but it reminded me that there is something to learn everyday. I plan on using, or at least trying invert-a-bolt in the near future. Paul McGarr

Thanks Peter, I will check that out. I've never heard of it. I'm done for the night. I will check back in the morning. Thank you all for your input. Keep it coming. BTW: Where's James? He's usually involved in everything. James, What would you do??? Thanks again, Paul McGarr Innovative Microplate 1998 Westover Road Chicopee, MA 01022

I'd love to build my own. I'm sure it could be done, but the catch is that I have only a couple of weeks to provide a solution. I can't spend much time designing something that I'm sure exists. I can only hope that I can find the "perfect" tool for this application. as I mentioned, I've considered the Hass tool room mill. That will work, but it would be overkill. On the other hand, I could put it to use after this job ends. Advice to all of you...Don't get involved in work with a scientist. The last time I did this I had a customer come into the shop and mount a microscope to the table of my VMC. He would look at my cuts with the microscope, and advise me on what he thought I should do to proceed on the cut. I had all I could do to stop from milling right into that F***ing microscope. My ten hour day felt like a week. Paul

Charles, Funny that you mention that. I've heard the name "MiniMill" over the past year or so, and I opened up the Haas brochure today. I was hoping I'd find the solution I needed, but I didn't. I actually considered one of their tool room machines. at 20k they are not a bad deal. They are a little too big though. I must say, at this point, I might go that way. I am not a Haas fan, but for what I am looking to do, I know it would work. I hope I dont need to buy a machine of that weight and size to get this "tiny" job done. I WILL give them a call though. They would be the ones to make a machine like this. Maybe next time around Hass! Paul

It sounds to me like a problem. I agree with James. Removable media would work if the program was self contained, but most applications these days are not. Remember DOS? I guess there were some benefits. Can't you just bring your SIM and a copy of your Mastercam CD with you? Better yet, get a laptop. Paul

Well, I don't want to buy junk. I was a little concerned about that in the first place. I've seen a lot of reference to "hobby", and that's not what I want to see. I need a small CNC that is well built. I can do this job on a larger machine, but it's a one tool basic operation on medical parts that I would like to run in a class 10 clean room. I can't have big oily machines in there. I can't imagine that a drop of oil or coolant would be acceptable on a test plate that a lab will be using to test DNA! Let me try to explain what I am going to do... I have a piece of polystyrene that I have machined 96 holes through at .236 dia. I need to apply a glue in rings around each of these holes in beads of .005" wide x .005" tall concentric to the hole within .002". I know it sounds smiple, but it's not. I will not be turning the spindle on at all. I will mount a special dispensing system to it and I will control the on/off of the dispensing system via M codes. After I apply the glue, I lay a sheet of .040" thick glass with 96 individual gold sputtered microwaves on the glue and cure it in a high intensity ultraviolet light under vacuum. This is where I need accuracy. When the glass lays on top of the rings of glue, the glue displaces inward towards the hole in the plate. If it displaces more than .002" in to the hole, I throw it away. The plastic piece is worth about $600, and the piece of glass is around $1000. Neither of wich can be cleaned. Expensive stuff to throw away. I'd love to go into more detail, but I can't really get into specifics. Most importantly, I need an accurate, clean, reliable, and small VMC without spending $100,000. Remember, the whole part is 5" x 3.375" x .500" approx. Thanks, Paul McGarr

Anybody use 'em? I'm looking to dedicate a "tiny" pc controlled vertical CNC milling machine to a specific application. I have never used one of these, but I know that one would work for me. I need only 6" x 4" travel, but the machine needs to be acurate. I need to meet positional tolerance within .0005. I'm simply hoping some of you have used them before, and can recommend a high quality one. Spindle RPM and horsepower are NOT an issue. I dont even plan on turning the spindle on. Cost is not really an issue within reason (between $5,000 and $20,000) TIA Paul McGarr

Thanks to everyone for all your help. I tried the menu chook, and it works well. I will let you know how I utilize it when I finish. I've been browsing this forum for quite some time, but I never got involved. I will make an attempt to spend a little more time here, and actually contribute. Thanks again, Paul McGarr

Zero, Whats the name of that chook? It's possible that there is a version for nine available. Paul

Almost there... Here is a section of my mill9.txt file that I know how to change. (77 - graphics view) 837. "Graphics View" 838. "&Top" 839. "&Front" 840. "&Side" 841. "&Isometric" 842. "N&umber" 843. "N&amed" 844. "&Entity" 845. "&Rotate" 846. "&Dynamic" 847. "&Next menu" For example, if I change line 845 to read... 845. "&Bottom" I see "Bottom" in the graphics view menu, but when I click on it, it still brings me to the Rotate menu. I agree that I need to use "gvbottom", but I dont know where to put it. What tells mastercam what to do when someone clicks on menu item 845? It seems that there must be another file involved, but I cant find it. I'm betting this is fairly easy to do, but knowing where to look is key. Thanks, Paul

I see the area in the mill9.txt file where I can change the text to anything I want. I can enter "&Bottom" in place of "N&amed" and when I reload Mastercam, I see the new text, but obviously, when I click on it, It still acts as "Named". Do you know what associates those menu entries to a particular function? I don't see the magic link! The more I think about this, the more I'd like to figure it out. The possibilities are endless. Am I beating a dead horse? Thanks, Paul McGarr

ATTN: James Meyette, quote: You would have to modify the Mill9.txt file to do what you are asking and I do not suggest that unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing. I've done a bit of editing older mill.txt files. Is there any documentation on doing this, or do you just give it a go? I'm confident in my ability to understand the file with a little direction. I would back up the original file just in case. What you are talking about sounds EXACTLY like what I want to do. Thanks for the idea about using the tool bar, but I don't use the toolbar at all. I find it time consuming, and a waste of valuable screen space. Of course, that is my opinion. Any help with editing the mill9.txt file would be appreciated. Otherwise, I will consider this topic satisfied. Thank you all, Paul McGarr

Mastercam Version 9 I use tool planes when I program. I would like to be able to pick tool planes such as "back", "left", "bottom", etc. from the tool plane menu. It seems time consuming to have to select "number" and type "4" for bottom. I would also implement this to Gview and Cplane menus as well. I would like the menu to contain the following values... Top Bottom Front Back Left Right Is this possible? Thanks, Paul

I've tried the latest mpmaster post, and it handles subprograms fine. What I need though is for the post to handle NESTED subprograms. For example, I have a plate with three groups of identical cavities in clusters of eight. I can program one cavity and use the tranform toolpath to get the array of eight, but each group of eight is on another symetrical pattern that I would like to use the transform toolpath on as well. I need to transform a transform toolpath. The mpmaster and fanuc posts show an error saying that they do not support nested subprograms. What do I do other than buying a memory upgrade for my machine? Thanks, Paul

Just to be more clear, I really should have said subprogram instead of subroutine. Sorry

Does anybody have a mill post processor that can handle nested subroutines?

Looking for anybody who has a post processor for a Mikino EU64 Wire EDM, or any other Makino Wire EDM. We are considering buying Mastercam Wire if I can find a post for our machine. I am semi capable of writing posts, but not from scratch, and I am pretty new to Wire EDM. Suggestions? Thanks, Paul McGarr