Greg, I watched these machine def video's earlier and it explains it all. mach def videos

On my machines the B-axis is the tombstone(horiz) and the A-axis is set for the rotary(vert). B-axis on 5 axis lathe is the head.

I am not having any trouble bringing in solids, that works great. Im trying to get the history to come over with it so i can make edits easier than having to reload a new solid and rechain the whole thing. some of these parts are very cumbersome and only have small change. Maybe it doesnt work as well as it showed on streaming teacher. how do you guys deal with rev changes when you have a solid you cant alter? maybe im barking up the wrong tree with the MC direct.

yes. I tried just a basic extrusion after having all the trouble. no luck. I have tried at least 10 different models.

you can still set the IJK in your post.

I am having trouble opening solid files using Mastercam Direct. I downloaded the latest version for X2MR2 and installed it. Opened SW 06 and started it up, opened my file and I either get and error and it shuts down or it opens X2MR2 like it is going to work but does not bring in the solid. Will it run with SW 06? Im not sure what the problem is but was hoping someone could help.

cool video's, wish I would of seen them when I was trying to piece it all together. surprisingly enough there wasnt to much there I hadnt muddled thru. sure would of saved me alot of time and frustration.

quote: It was neva their fault either. "The first sign of failure, Blame Shifting!"

Hardmill, apologies, I misunderstood. I am so used to everyone trying to change stuff I jumped right on it. I wish we had more guys like that. theres only about 4 of us here that can do the whole deal.

quote: Everyones a programmer/machinist. LMAO!! Thats what everyone thinks they are. Thats a huge problem in a large shop with proven processes.

80+ cnc's and count em 3 thats right 3 programmers!! im so buried it's unreal!! but I wont go into it!!

We have had cells set up for the last 11 years and our production stuff runs very efficiently and guys are able to cross train and learn more machines because of it. It seems that alot larger shops have Lathe Dept's and Mill Dept's and alot of guys are either one or the other a lathe guy or a mill guy and then separated even further by vertical mill and horizontal. The creation of cells has helped to train guys on all types of machines instead of just what they are good at. As I mentioned in my earlier post our shop has been very laid back and I may not agree with alot of peoples personal work ethics but we get the job done! It has been a great place to work. We make some of the most Technical Rich Assemblies for Semi-Conductors in the world and are the sole producer on about 70% of our product line. Our shop has grown exponentially because of this from about 20 cncs and 60 employees when I started 10 years ago to over 500 employees and more than 100 cncs now and this is just this site. We have been bought and sold 3 times and acquired 8 other large companies along the way. Would this all have happened from a small dictator type shop? Not in my opinion. Machining is a very fine skill and cannot be rushed!! There are of course people that will take advantage of this and do less than required. Personal work ethic is what causes this not the laid back atmosphere in the company. Needless to say each larger company that purchases us has to streamline things more and more to get a return on their investment and the employees start to really feel the effects of that. This might be surprising but machinists are temperamental and very arrogant (myself included) when it comes to our work. Some of these things cannot be rushed and added stress only slows production and does not increase it.

I got the company to pay for a years subscribe to streaming teacher so everyone could get up to speed on X2 and it has been a great resource. Very well done and they keep adding all the time so you eventually get more than you started with. Much cheaper than sending guys to training for 2-3 days and they dont retain it all. The video samples from the tips for manufacturing look very good also, just you only get what is there when you purchase it but the price is right thats for sure and these video's do look like more advanced methods.

I was just on the tips for manufacturing site and they have posts for sale, is that something anyone can do, dial in post and sell it?

Is tips for manufacturing better than streaming teacher?

not to sure about the integrex but Im sure it must need the negative to know it is suppose to leave it on the ID.

It's calling out diameter. if you want to leave .1 then you must tell it .05 It does need to be a minus on the ID.

It seems there are a great number of people in the trade that have no desire to advance or learn new stuff. I have guys working here that were set up guys when I first saw a CNC and are still, set up guys. I remember how I used to look up to these guys. In fact recently one such guy came to work here and asked me "what did you do to get where your at take a class or something?" a yes! hello! many classes and many hours spent paying attention and learning from senior machinists and many more hours on my own time studying. If you dont put forth any effort to grow you will always be where your at! Left behind!

Jim, I seems that usually the only way to get something more is to play the quitting game and I hate doing that.

Hardmill, we did finally restrict internet access to the shop floor so more web browsing, they werent looking at anything to improve their skills anyhow. CRFJim, I feel your pain, it is very similar here. Very big shop and plenty of stuff gets pushed to the people who are already doing more than the job description entails.

I could never get the machine def to stop giving me the error once I tried to change it. so I changed this line below from zero to one in my post and all is good. "one_rev : 1 #Limit rotary indexing between 0 and 360? (0 = No, 1 = Yes)" I dont like winding up the pallet anyhow. I was really frustrated with the machine def and the error I kept getting. Is it a bug? All my settings were just like JP showed here.

work starts at 5am, unscheduled coffee and b/s session break till 5:20 then make your way to the machine (if you dont get sidetrcked on the way by more b/s) then run parts at your leisure, make phone calls and read just sit during your long cycle time and dont forget smoke breaks. and this is on dayshift while the bosses are here. off shifts have it much easier. a couple weeks ago a guy got taken to HR and was told he need to be here when his shift started and not leave early for break or lunch and not be late coming back and he told them " I guess I'll have to decide if I still want to work here". part of the problem is the high volume of work we have and the lack of experienced machinists available. anyone that is halfway decent can get away with murder because we need them. its very frustrating trying to get jobs through here. of course these comments are my personal opinions and only reflect a percentage of the people here. but at any rate you could do as you please for a long time without being reprimanded. luckily we have new upper management in house and the ax is swinging and things are changing. so there is change a coming!!

Ditto what gcode said on the VTL view. very confusing till you figure it out. tool orientation also is more difficult because of this.

I have 12 different mill posts and not all are updated to the new coolant so on some I am using V9 style. I guess I would really like to know how to make the new style stay on because I am phasing out the old posts as time permits me to work on them. All my lathe posts are new style and work fine. I had a big problem getting the lathe coolant to work at all when I upgraded but after a fresh mplmaster and a few tweaks my lathe posts are almost bullet proof. I do know if I create a tool and turn the coolant on and save it to my library that next time I call it up it will already have coolant on. I was hoping there was a switch I was missing or something simple.

How can I set the coolant to always be on unless I turn it off? Im sure its something simple im missing.