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left coast lefty

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Everything posted by left coast lefty

  1. left coast lefty
    Thanks for the info Roger! We have X4 ready to go, just waiting for management to give the go-ahead. Dan- It actually came out close enough just now. My first try was on the Demo at home. I should have known better. The outside chained continuously like I wanted, and the numbers look good. Thanks to all again!
  2. left coast lefty
    It is an STP file, not STL. I can import it as a solid or surfaces similar to a parasolid. Tried it both ways, but still garbled. I'm about to try again here shortly. Thanks Dan.
  3. left coast lefty
    Thanks again Dan. As I mentioned above, I tried Silouette Boundry,it was close, but the arcs were broken into irregular sections. I'll try again and check the settings.
  4. left coast lefty
    Create-curve-slice definitely requires surfaces here, the prompt says "select surfaces or curves". I imported the STP file with only surfaces and got a similar jumbled mess that I got with Solid-to-2D profile. My guess is that I'm doing something wrong with plane selection. Could somebody describe this process a little clearer than the Help file? Maybe I'm holding my mouse finger wrong! Thanks to all once again.
  5. left coast lefty
    Thanks guys! I'll check it out ASAP.
  6. left coast lefty
    I spoke too soon. Silouette Boundry was the way to go. It wasn't perfect, created some partial circles with lines where arcs should have been, but way better than Create Boundry. Thanks again.
  7. left coast lefty
    Dan- I tried Create Boundry, but when I set the resolution to .0005 the system crashed. It was .01 by default but it came out too disjointed. No surprise. Any hints? Thanks in advance
  8. left coast lefty
    Thanks Dan, I'll check them out tomorrow. Snehal- We have X4 ready to go but not yet installed. Thanks for the tip. Once again, thanks to all!
  9. left coast lefty
    Thanks, cqualls, I know how to do it that way, but I was under the impression that 2D profile would simplify the process. CNCme- I have one solid, top view, a part which amounts to nothing more than a simple flat disc with a symetrical scallop around it. The process produced a wierd shape over only half of the part. Do I need to create an axis? Thanks guys.
  10. left coast lefty
    I am getting all kinds of nonsense when trying to create 2d profile from a solid that was an STP. It takes forever to process and the result is a mess. I'm a rookie in this area. Any help would be greatly appreciated. X3- MU1 GeForce 9800 GT
  11. left coast lefty
    Make sure you have the latest version of software installed. It is available on the Southwest Industries website. There is now a "post request" feature at the top of the Forum page. I'm not sure it works in MX2, but I believe you can change the resolution to .0002 by entering Service Code 70. SC 68 will change it back to .0005. I know it works in MX3. Mike S. is correct about the lead-in/out. Be aware that that situation also applies to any move in the program less than half the cutter size, unless comp is turned off.
  12. left coast lefty
    Retract amount has no effect. In fact I just noticed that if I toggle toolpath display after backplotting, the rapid move line in question disappears. Thanks
  13. left coast lefty
    They were transformed. Also I had rotary axis enabled, and checked 3 axis. The first toolpath the part spun properly, then not so much on the next two. I have heard recently that there are issues with transformed toolpaths, but that was with Mirror which is easy enough to get around. "Rotate" is a necessity. Thanks, Jay.
  14. left coast lefty
    Yes, rapid moves are turned on, indicated by the red line. If I turn it off you cannot tell there might be a problem. Thanks
  15. left coast lefty
    When I backplot this radial milling, it does the first two locations fine, then this: href="http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii101/leftcoastlefty/?action=view&current=toolpath.jpg" target="_blank">[/url] It is a simple 3 pl, 120 deg. apart pattern, but why does it appear to plough through the part? The posted G code looks OK, but I have not tried it yet. X3 with MU1, also does the same on the demo at home. Thanks
  16. left coast lefty
    Thanks, John.
  17. left coast lefty
    When I use transform mirror on an already mirrored event, this: web page Looks OK, but the toolpath does this: web page I set the control definition to do multiple nesting. Any ideas?
  18. left coast lefty
    San Leandro.
  19. left coast lefty
    Thanks again guys! It worked putting "0" in the Woff#'s in the View Manager. Also, under Transform Operation Parameters, Types and Methods, Work Offset Numbering, selecting "assign new" and then zeros will affect the outcome. Still working on the various combinations. Sometimes we actually want to force G55, G56 etc. for some applications.
  20. left coast lefty
    Thanks guys. I'll check it out tomorrow. I never got an alarm, just unwanted Gcode.
  21. left coast lefty
    Many thanks to all. I will try these tomorrow morning at the shop. I have the demo version here at home, but it's not quite the same.
  22. left coast lefty
    Using the generic 4axis Fanuc HMC post, G54 is forced to G55, G56, and so on in transform rotate toolpaths. We have looked all over but cannot find anything. Does anyone know how to set the machine or control definitions to deal with this? The toolpath looks good. We just want it to stay on G54.
  23. left coast lefty
    I have done lots of surfacing with a DPM Prototrak. Do you have the latest post? Usually the problem is it will create a large number of small XY moves as it will not arc in XZ or YZ. I have made parts with 6 or 8 separate programs since there is a maximum 999 events (on the older models). Just curious- why would you want two straight vertical mill moves anyway? If that is what was posted the MC toolpath my have to be modified.
  24. left coast lefty
    I have a Prototrak DPM V5 (3 axis) and the thread milling feature is totally foolproof. If you try to do it on an MX3, you would have to use the Helix function and it will be a pain in the butt.
  25. left coast lefty
    Prototrak MX3 should have a "pause" in the program menu, provided you are in 3 axis mode. The tool will go back to the reference plane and wait for the operator to press "go". A "pause" can be inserted just about anywhere, as long as the next event is in absolute mode.

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