We run Seco insert mills here in steels mostly but they move right along.... I know they have inserts for aluminum too. My local Seco Rep is very helpful too.

SCM USA In georgia has Routech routers too. I used to run them at the last place I worked. They are 5 axis.

Kevangel, It is have taper on the two edges aligned with the vise jaws in the x axis. I have ruled the head or anything on the machine being out. I sunk a part all the way into the vise and milled above the jaws. It milled square with in .0002".....

As long as I faced the part and did not face the back side just saw cut it or something all edges would be square to what was machined in that operation.

a teach function to create macros so that you can create a macro to run inside mastercam?

Planet I have not looked into that either..... I will check that out. OUr stuff is all new with the machines....We do only clamp down using the two screws....and have vises set side my side. We have a maintanence schedule to take them off once a month to be cleaned under them.

We have an old vf-1 2 vf-2's and a brand new vf-9. They are good machines for the money. The 10000 rpm spindle with two speed gear box is nice too.

As much as I am not a chevy fan..... Just kidding. I will check into that one and check the hard jaw flexing. Aren't Kurt vises supposed to pull the movable jaw down towards the bed? with tha angled knuckle thingy? I have not checked snuggness of that either... Thanks guys I will look into those two.

A new symbol, circle U, was added to profile tolerance. In the past, a design engineer wanting to specify an unequal profile tolerance on the drawing would draw a chain line in the applicable area. Two arrows were shown to displace the tolerance zone. In the new standard, the circle U symbol follows the toleranced value in the profile feature-control frame. This announces that an unequal tolerance is in effect.

Could that be in Unrestrained state?

Yes, we have tried finish passes and all sorts of other tricks too. the average plate is only 10-14mm tall. So i am not reaching down the length of a tall part to need reduced shank tools

Yes, we have tried finish passes and all sorts of other tricks too. the average plate is only 10-14mm tall. So i am not reaching down the length of a tall part to need reduced shank tools

I was thinking the same on the soft jaws with the corner radius from the end mill, how erver small it would affect the holding of the part. THat is why i had them try running the parts with stock hard jaws from kurt with paralells. No change in taper. I am leaning more towards tightness of the vise. I just have to figure out what we can do to make acceptable parts and still hold it in the machine without launching it.

thanks g code

all our production work is sent out. We do one offs almost all the time. so we use the vise for 90% of our work, and we use 16 common tools so we hardly ever change the standard tools. We just add the extra drills and reamers. it works out really well. except for the taper on those two edges. i did the indicator thing first before the load cell. i ended up with .0005 to .0008" movemoent. I used two indicator on the bottom close to the jaw and on the top edge of the part. It is just driving me crazy..... By the way. I think our biggest problem is most of our parts are aluminum. So they flex or bow easily.

ken, I actually went out on the assembly floor and got a load cell to check the tightening pressure when certain foot pounds were applied. i had one guy tightening to around 400-600 psi repeatedly and one guy tightening to 1200psi inside the jaws. the weird thing is that you get almost the same taper on those edges between the two guys. Just for fun i got the handle and puts a lot of torque on the handle, not sure how much. but I got it up to 5000psi. I did that just to see what it would go up to. I think it is definately bowing the part. I think tightening and then loosening for finish is not a good answer for us, but I will look into it.

Has any one tried to use a Gameboard add on keyboard like logitech's g13?

We used the same tools holding by 4mm and then sinking the part down inside the vise 38mm gave us no taper. I don;t think my problem is my tools. if it is my tools I am not as worried about that. I am getting .0007" wall taper in a 14mm tall part. The taper is only present on the edges that are aligned with the vise jaws. The other two edges square with the vise jaws have no taper.

So...... we have a cnc cell here that runs kurt vises. we hold our parts on shop made vise jaws that have steps for the part to sit on like paralells. I am getting taper in the zdirection on the edges that are aligned with the vise jaws. We have tried different tooling, climb vs. conventional cutting, finish passes. I also check that the guys were not over torqueing with a torque wrench and then again with a load cell to measure force on the jaws. I also had them run the parts with standard Kurt hard jaws. Nothing seems to change the taper except for clamping on a huge chunk of material way down inside the vise, and machining up above the jaws. This is how I ruled out tooling and the head being out or something weird. So My problem lies in the vise...... Any one have any Ideas? Thanks.

It was sort of sneaky how I found it but it is in there. under customize, and the the category you scroll down and x+ is there... That is how I added my button

Peter have you updated to X6? i just did that and the new X+ starts to save it as what ever your mastercam file is named.

Not sure if any one can help me or not. We work off from a net work where we save our Solidedge part files. I have read only access to that. I open the solid edge .par file from there. If I remember to save the file, to another location where I store my Mastercam Part files, it is great and the x+ set up sheet works flawlessly! Unfortunately, I don't always remeber to save my part files. When I post my code I have my post automatically trigger the set up sheet so all I have to do is check ok on the Set up sheet dialog box. When the set up sheet makes the .html it tries to save to where the solidmodel came from, which is read only for me. My question is, can I change the way x+ saves the initial .html to where I am saving my .nc file instead of where the solid model came from? That way I can save after my initial post. I know I should save it first. But sometimes I forget. Thanks

I would think if you knew the major diameter, and you know the picth you could turn that into and angle. then figure out what you need for a relief angle on your tool bit? Just an idea.

We use sd-20 here to remove xxxxm. You have to let it soak for a bit, but it gets stuborn stuff off. I am not sure if that helps you out.

Could you try a Dynamic rest mill in the corners to remove most of the material? I just milled a 2mm slot on 4140 rc 28-32 with a .070" endmill I bought 10 endmills, I have used one.