I have I nice vid of X4 dynamic pocketing a big ally block on a Prototrak 2axis SMX1500 mill running flat out at 4k rpm and 2000mm/min feedrate. But this was 2009/2010 and I am soooo last Wednesday....

Dang - nice burn for the UKerrrrs! Granted I had to leave, but I'd like to think I could, possibly, return, IF i wanted to....

IF you're connected to the interwebz, try rolling back any updates. Then if this works, unplug from the interwebz and NEVER plug it back in....

I mean, well, if only, by now, there was, a graphical toolpath editor....

Not really. Have you a sample file to prove this?

Geeee g....your guys must luuuurve you....

If you change your path to flowline and direction to this, you will save much time and boss will be velly velly appy

I distinctly remember Incog saying you were She/Her....

That's a few years ago now G. His daughter must truly be an expert by now, and I guess nearly left school

I did have a play years ago after watching Derek Goodwin's weekend dive into setting FBM up. I was doing a lot of prototypes for one customer who was absolutely useless - and I wanted the 1xclick to just be able to make the part so when the design finally "worked", it could be properly 'grammed. But as always, time and other things beat me.... I just looked at youtube and there's a IHS "deep dive" that maybe worth watching, as that is a year old so would be way more current than Dereck's. BUT.... perhaps have a talk with Pete @ Theebyte - he writes custom solutions and for the right application, truly is 1xclick. [email protected]

I had a couple of Feeler drill/tap machines with F control and 60metre/min rapids. I had to always rapid retract clear of the part because if rapid down in the part, close features would get clipped at 100% rapids. The ACC/DEC was so fast, the path was not "that" close (servo/open following error). There was no parameter to close this down. High/max feed within/close to the part is okay but not always as fast as 10metres/min.... Whatever happens, NO ONE mention his name 3x times....

But roughing is "usually" the fast part....it's the last 20ish% finishing and the small tools needed, and any surfacing/ramping faces, and the surface finish requirements, and the feature tolerances etc, which can take the time and catch one out.... :shrug:

Hahahaha "No Bid"

Ok that's cool, you're already doing it. Can't beat internals (no snickering at the back! )

"She gunna ring like a church bell DingDingDingDingDing"....

Just talking out loud....How big is your control memory Jake? Because if you can, you can't beat running internal sub progs - ones that stay in the 1x main program. This way no one forgets to save the subs at the end of the job run, because they're within the prog.... FWIW, after going round in circles with this back in the day, we decided to just use 0001 for 1st sub call and 0002 for second etc. Because the subs are saved in the folder with the main prog, and the sub header also stated "SUB FOR PROG NO XXXX", so there was never any issue with potential mixup. Obviously later controls and 8 digit prog numbers would allow better file numbering (ie all subs to start 5xxxx for example)

THAT, is a bonus!

No one, a b s o l u t e l y no one, will give you any work at all, without you being up and running, and even slightly established. I will also say - they won't even sit you down to discuss, without you being up and running. The hardest part of this game, is not doing the work (although that can have HUGE problems), but it's getting and then keeping the customer.

But what market are you going into? If R+D/Prototype, you have to go a long way to beat Prototrak lathe and Prototrak mill. Conversational heaven. If you're going into a mix of low volume with also 'grammin on the machine, Siemens takes a LOT of beating (more capable than Prototrak but support and 10 year service/support?) If you're chasing volume, controller becomes less important IMHO. Although Fanuc for MTBF, is always #1. Whatever controller you choose, you need a bullet proof mastercam post. And remember if you are stood grammin at the machine, the machine isn't running. And when you're talking to customers, quoting jobs, grammin jobs, delivering jobs, and invoicing jobs etc, your machine may also not be running. And if spindles don't turn, you don't earn.... And unless separate machine budget, you need Inspection equipment to verify what you're making....and then ISO approval to probably get but that's another day! Good luck!

My reply was aimed at your 1st post sentence We were also told we should have Fanuc come in and do a servo-tuning for this option Having had 3x far smaller and lighter VMC's from a MTB that did have "figures" in the control, my experience of running lookahead made the machines on direction changes, beat itself to death. The cabinet sounded like someone hitting it with a mallet when changing direction (mechanical shock - acc/dec), and the finishing (bottom of the cutter) was like a ploughed field. But only on direction changes. You have many many more lbs of inertia - hence my suggestion.

The fastest, the safest, and overall the easiest way, is to get Fanuc in. Specify n the PO, EXACTLY what you want them to do. They can plug their laptop in which monitors all the servo loads etc and then they can tune your machine accordingly, allowing for the table mass/inertia (acc/dec) etc etc. Just entering random numbers into the control when everything is currently 0, is a total waste of time.

Was....11x with 3x different languages mixing between 2ax lathes and 4ax mills. And ditto #Rekd™ Somedays were gravy with the vast majority of repeat work and then the phone would ring. Usually, on a Friday morning....

+1 for milling the thread core but in steel with the same tool, I'd rough the C/B undersize too. The less work the tool has to do, the sweeter the parts will run

Yep where possible - talking predominantly aluminium. For steels I'd be running a bull mill - say 0.5 (20 thou) corner rad on the tip as a strengthener. Only talking chamfers or angled walls.

I would also use the "up and down" as often as possible - on average (neck out) you get a better finish for a lot less toolpath travel (= less cycle time) @Jake L nice explanation