"In my opinion that button has no business being there, especially where it is." LOL, I've dented a few parts in my time. Same crap on our Makino. You have to press the spindle STOP button to release the orientation after a tool change. This button is right next to the spindle start button, and both are above the control. The only 2 buttons in that location. I'm standing at my machine right across from the Makino when I hear that oh so familiar THWAK. Look over and the guy is as white as a ghost. Last programmed feed was 18500 rpm. It's not funny at all, quite serious actually. Every time i see this happen, the operator looks around for the pieces, hoping for just a bit of luck that the Interapid can some how be put back together. I've managed to piece several axial supports back together after a few years. It usually takes 3 or 4 accidents to make one good one.

You can't save out any file type other than EMCX. No solids, iges or dwg output, and thats understandable as you would have a basic CAM package for free. That's not going to happen. I'm currently working on a tutorial at home in the HLE and unfortunately I can't save the geo, so the file will have to be distributed as an EMCX. X6 will not open EMCX files either. People would get the HLE, then start programming as if it were a ligit seat. On the plus side. the HLE has all the functionality of regular MC, with the exception of the C-hooks. It also has it's own folders in My docs, separate from the regular MC folders. IMO, it works good. Derek may have a dealers license. Trying it right now, under save as or save some, you get no option other than EMCX-6 in the menu.

Don't try to limit the tool path. Use the trim function, setting up trim curves just past your desired blend area. I use this technique to force a scallop path to do what I want. Of course it works well with other tool paths. Be aware that you can influence the tool path by creating boundaries. On the flat floors, create a smooth boundary close to the center, perhaps circular , elliptical, or rectangular, with large corner rads, anything but sharp corners. Try to do the same with the outer boundary, even if this means creating dummy drive surfaces. Next, run the tool path in back plot before you trim it. Save the back plot as geometry to a new level. Pick the geometry you want to keep to use as trim curves. Change those entities to a new color then use quick mask colors to delete the rest.

I will look into that.

"Just for the record, I add G187 all over the place to help speed things up or make things more precise depending on the toolpath. You have to if you want to maximize those two things on a haas. Otherwise, like mentioned, you are completely stalling the machine as it tries to hit its targets or you are completely cutting through your targets" I never have used that function and both my roughing and finishing come out fine. No stuttering what so ever. If I need accuracy, I'll make a pick up and set the tool length offset prior to running that tool (to account for thermal growth) and use wear. Piece work, not production. Tool deflection when finishing: If I leave .01 or .02 stock on Aluminum, I never see deflection. Of course, I'm not looking for .0002. Mayby we got lucky here, but I'm not seeing alot of the issues reported with the Haas's.

The strange thing about it is, this guy is anything but lazy. Gotta make parts now.

I use tubing hooked up to a coolant line as well. Works well if you rinse on a regular basis. I usually do this after a few jobs. I don't even like seeing chips on the wall. A coworker of mine waits until bricks have formed and you need a chisel to break them free. This is the problem machine. I run that particular machine about once every two months and it's always the same. Gotta clean the tool holders, collets, magazine pockets, spindle, filters and so on. I can't stand grime, and this thing is a pig pen. He claims it looks like he's been doing battle and keeps managers satisfied. Now he's getting nervous as parts are coming off the machine F-ed up.

What are you guys using to clean their machines internally? Plain water, soapy water, special chemicals? I just finished a aluminum job where the parts were crystallizing in a short time. Nasty coolant with a low mix was the culprit, but the coolant seems highly acidic. I fix the mix and it worked. Growth / crystallizing is taking place slowly and corroding everything, looks green like a copper patina, pushing up covers here and there, rusting everything. Machine has grease ways.

Good thing too, trig was one the good items forced out of my head by my boss a long time ago.

"Personally I am leaning towards the YCM even though the max feedrate is 394 ipm." Back feed rates on all the HST roughing tool paths being limited like that on a new machine would make me take a closer look at something else.

"Anyone have issue with makino before on something like this?" Yes. Timing errors. Alarms out randomly when indexing. No resolution after 6 years. We now force a tool change in MC before a index. Most of what we do is longer running surfacing programs so it's not a major pain, but it's not what we paid for either.

Like I tell my boss... "There's only so much room between my ears. Keep filling it with useless or redundant information and something good is going to get lost." Not saying that was useless data, it actually was a great presentation.

The tool does NOT have to be SCALED. I draw half the tool profile accurately, on center and that's it.

4) open ports 8000 through 8200 on your router, shut off your firewall, then stay in the forum with the message dialog box open. In the morning there will a very large sum of money in it.

Save the beer and pizza. Go to the Emastercam book store and buy the X6 mill level 1 hard copy book. It comes with a DVD that includes video lessons specific to the same 10 projects in the book. There's also an additional set of projects that you can do, with out the hand holding. The X6 Home learning edition also comes with the book. Going through these projects will force you to get familiar with the tool bars and their functions, as well as the latest tool path strategies that come with mill level 1. "Still cant find a way to delete all entities om sure theres something along those lines" Left click in the main view port / display area anywhere next to your geometry. Press Ctrl + A at the same time. This will select everything on the screen. In one of the tool bars up above there is an icon that looks like a pencil. Left click on that or press F5. We can also go old school here. Go to the edit menu in mastercam, very top, second from the left. Left click then mouse over the select all option. Left click again on Select All. Go to the edit menu again and mouse over the Delete option and select delete entities. or F5. Now send the beer to me.

Drag and drop the file to and from where ever. I do not use Internet Explorer and had to figure this out as well. Add it to favorites. I'm using IE 9 for this. Opera gives me grief with the FTP. Check and see if these settings are correct: In IE: Tools, Options, Advanced, check the box next to.... 1) Enable FTP folder view (outside of Internet Explorer) 2) Use Passive FTP (for Firewall and DSL modem compatibility) 3) Always allow MCM access to Paypal Account Apply changes. ftp://mastercam-cadcam.com/ user = mastercam pass = swiss To view this FTP site in Windows Explorer: press Alt, click View, and then click Open FTP Site in Windows Explorer. HTH, MCM

Bob, just to let ya know, I'm not raggin on you specifically, I see this all the time with others jumipng on the bandwagon then distorting the topic. I like and hate the Haas at the same time. And I agree, I wish there were more American manufactuers doing this.

"These are real world jobs I am doing this with, I am not sitting around dreaming of ways to make the Haas look bad..." Your efforts here speak otherwise. "This job will be programmed for the Makino and we'll see if the Haas can keep up." Of course the Haas can't keep up. What's the point? You have a new machine your amazed with and proud of. I get it. From the picture it looks like you just wasted about .50 x 1.00 x 18.00" worth of material in under 30 seconds. Real world: Multiply that by the number of parts per day, per week, per month, and you could have purchased the right size material to begin with. Start with the right sized material and the Haas becomes an economical and competitive alternative. All that's really taking place here, intentional or not, is that your bashing one of the few remaining American made machine tool manufactures, that actually has a presence in what's left of our trade schools. With a price spread like that, the comparison is apples to oranges. I use a Haas VF series, Super VF, Mini Mill and a Makino S56 at my place of work and my preferences are as follows. Ease of use, quick setups, training the new guy and general tom foolery, the Haas wins hands down. High accuracy machining, high RPM's, and rigidity, and reliability, our 250K Makino wins. The Makino is expensive for general purpose use in a piece work Job shop. But she does hard mill nice and I can eliminate EDM and grinding options. That's where she shines. Problems with the Makino? You bet!. HSK holder shanks, tool magazine and the spindle need to be constantly cleaned. The laser pre-setter never worked right. The index unit is a sham and takes up way too much space on the table. 3 more Haas machines for the same price of this single Makino would have easily out produced this in our environment .The Makino is better built. Every Haas in the building has different issues with it. The Makino rarely need maintenance.The PS95 has caught my eye with it's pricing and list of standard features and is no doubt the superior machine. " I also had my Haas puke at the worst possible time and that was the final straw. " I do feel your pain.

I see this with other paths as well. Where does it actually" MARK the invalid arc endpoint"? How do you see it?

When you need to get fancy, c-bore, cfer, major dia, and minor can be done in one shot with a revolved cut. Got a bunch of holes? Revolve as a solid, not cut, then xfrom translate, then boolean remove all of them.

Facing, Dynamic as the method may work. In backplot you can see the distance traveled as well as the time (see Ninja pics above) and compare all the different tool paths strategies. My usual method is to bisect the geometry, that is to say create center lines, use 2d contour and chain the lines in both directions, using a negative stock to leave by a small value, just past the radius of the insert. In your case this may yield only four moves. In other shapes I"ll multi-pass then use the trim function.

"we looked into machining some similar stuff a while back and got costings for a 3mm OSG CBN endmill to do the job - $900 each !!! that poo pooed the job straight away" Used correctly, CBN tipped tools pay for them selves. We've got a 2mm ball x 12 mm min length tool that we use only for finishing hardened tool steels, typically 60 -64 rc. That same tool, yes, the original tool, is over 6 years old. The cost savings from not burning, grinding or finishing with high end carbide has been amazing. It was either OSG, Nachi or Polkum at $400 a pop. The key here is a knowledgeable sales rep who can get you in the zone right away.

"The only solution I find is to extend my surfaces but then I end up cutting air. Any suggestion?" Don't extend them that far....... ??? or trim them back to a distance that suits your needs. Directional controls will work and are often my first choice but can crude up an otherwise pristine tool path. The options found in the advanced/gap settings, Tangential Line length extension, work as well but with even less satisfactory results. Both methods can gouge a part so be careful and study the back plot / verify. How far I go with surface extensions really depends on the type of work I'm doing, or if I even fell like messing with the surfaces. I often extend surfaces to get a smoother tool path. Not all parts, just the trouble makers. It's the nature of the beast. Untrim the surfaces, extend them, then trim back to one another if possible. If I even have the slightest hint that this kind of monkey business is going to take too much time to get the results I'm looking for, I'll go to SolidWorks and extend the surfaces there with greater control over what I want, then import them back into MC. Some parts are ba$tard$ to work with no matter what you do. One other note. If it's a one off part, or an expensive tool, sacrificing a few seconds of air cuts here and there VS smooth entries and a good finish, I'll take the air cuts. At full throttle they don't take up that much time and it will out perform the sharp moves, beating the tool, part and machine up. IN Sf Blend, 2D instead of 3d, will stop the hop.

This sounds like a video issue on the PC. Either your using onboard video, have bad drivers, or ATI grapics. I believe it's Windows that makes the sounds, not MC. You'll have to check your sound scheme in audio settings, test a few things in windows without MC running, like minimize, maximize, critical error and so forth.

Go old school. What size radius is the third arc? This is critical as quite a few sizes will fit in there tangent to both arcs. Add that number to the radius of the existing arcs, then make 2 concentric circles of that size (at same centers as arc 1 and arc 2). Where the two circles intersect will be the center of the 3rd arc. This works even if the first 2 arcs have different rads. If you don't know the value of the 3rd radius, just make something up and change it until you get satisfactory results. Good practice either way for more serious curvature work down the road. Anybody got a compass? Mathamajical vernacular aside, I just noticed that LaszloK said something similar.