"Not to disparage anyone, but if you can't do 5 axis work, then you are not experienced enough to contract. Most companies are not going to contract out the 2-3 axis stuff"

What a bunch of BS. How many shops out of one hundred have 5 axis mills? How many out of one hundred have mill turns?

There is tons of both average and sophisticated 3 axis work out there, and if your work is above average, throw out some freebies, check out the shop and get a feel for their tooling and processes. Good business people will like your attitude and willingness to work with them.

Heh, $65 an hour. My current hourly wage is less than half that. If only I could work at home for my hourly wage in my spare time, doing three axis work, I'd be on it like flies on $hit.

Point is, don't let theses peeps discourage you, go for it. I know, you still have to figure in hardware and software cost, but on the flip side, this would be one of the cheapest businesses to start up.

I manually save my .nc files and .mcx files in separate directories with no effects on the logo. I also create the set-up sheet before posting, as a quick check on speeds, lengths, coolant and so on, logo still appears. IE is the browser.

Cqualls, have you tried the Novex in D2, M2, A2? If so what results did you get with these?

Nobody here has asked what make of machine your running. Rigidity and HP are so important. We use Walters alot at work, Haas verticals, and I typically rough with a large radiused insert and have had good results.

Opinion. OK. That monitor looks good. Some nice systems were put together in the benchmark post that you were referring to. If there are a few local PC shops in the area, you should be able

to get competitive pricing on a decent

build for under 1500. The benefits being total control over the components that could also be easily replaced. As John stated, bus speed 1st, then the video card as even the simplest surface can take some time to generate, which also means if you don't like the cutter path or goof something up, you'll be regenerating them often until you get it down.

I never have any files in my common/temp folder. How and why do they get there?

Colin, in those 3 brief responses, you've answered and solved more problems and issues I've had with surfacing since I've been using MC. (8 month's). A folder in the FTP that solely relates to surfacing tips and tricks would be awesome. Thanks for the help. I'm actually looking forward to my next surface now, lol.

I'll try that. I usually extrude the circles into another surface then trim them to create a hole that I can create a curve on. This works great for creating splines. Thanks for the tip.

Heh, OK, just saw that last one John. I'm done throwing rocks for now. Gotta mow the the lawn, now that I've been humbled by the Master. Later.

6 year olds. What were they thinking when they pulled that stunt. What's next, Bert & Ernie help assistance?

"You just don;t know how to use the tool you have in front of you."

That's exactly who they are targeting with FBM, guys like me.

I'll validate that statement up to a certain point. As stated, 8 month's of mastercam experience with no support other than this forum and the book that I purchased, is but a drop in the bucket compared to what is required to obtain power user status. I've done pretty good so far with MC.

Speaking of tools, I do know how to use the spell checker

That's probably a good thing. With FBM added, I believe more people will venture in through the door and take a stab at the 3D work, which ultimately is good for everyone. Once the masses can use software without putting in a lot of time and effort, more complaining/feedback then occurs. Not wanting to give up the sales momentum and hype, changes and enhancements get made quicker. A large percentage of MC users probably do not go into the 3d machining realm that often, so the ability to develop skills in that arena is stymied.

"Power users are not likely to cede control of their programming to FBM."

Flame suit on.

Heh, I've been using MC for about 8 months now, and the power users, all of them, (which I do have a tremendous amount of respect for) have been steering me towards Solidworks and Powermill to do the jobs that MC can't. The power users that are using Mastercam have already ceded control of there programming, hence the irony. Power users and Mastercam. Jumbo shrimp.

I personally would prefer that MC strip all CAD functionality out of its software and focus on the CAM side of it. We're already seeing the alliances with Inventor and Solidworks. Just a matter of time before MC evolves and gets focused on what it is actually supposed to do, MACHINE.

Hello. Is there a way to stop the surface extrude function from breaking up the surfaces? I'm extruding circles and the results are giving me 2 surfaces in the length.

"Could be that I´m not using at 100% something (in this case video)that I´ve paid for? "

Not being mean spirited here but if you have no video card in the computer and your using any type of CAD/CAM product and having trouble with video and slow speed in general, you are getting 100% of what you paid for.

You do not necessarily need a Quadro, they are way over priced. Save some cash and buy the regular version Nvidia. Check this link and read up about what is decent.

Here's a link to the same topic.

http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...=1;t=029818;p=1

Ditto dott. Also check the drill runout. Get it within .002 tir.

40 sfm/.0025 feed, .03 peck.

.09 peck in D2 is way too much

Thread pitch x Rpm's = feedrate IPM. Helicoil threads have the same pitch as the standard tap.

Are there multiple levels with quite abit of geometry? I've had the same thing happen to me when I tried to rotate and position all the levels at the same time. I ended up rotating one, or just a few of the levels at a time to get it to stick, and that worked good.

Hey Kaesyn, Welcome aboard. I'm right next door. Going from surfcam to MC is going to keep you busy for awhile. This forum is going to be your new home for quite sometime too, lol.

Maybe you can offset the two large corner rads of the burnout, trim them some at each offset, then use a negative stock value to pick out the material. Re-machine might come in useful here also.

-.-

It works in X. All your going to get is a back-up of the NC code, which is probably what your after and all you need. You don't have to save the NC code to the Mastercam system either, you can store it anywhere you like, just as you would with any other type of file. (Reverse post? Interesting.) Select receive in the mastercam editor, pick a location. As for how your machine tool is set-up, can't say much, but there has to be a send command somewhere. If you used mastercam to send it, your 90% of the way there. Too many variables here, you'll need to be more specific.

8 months of Mastercam, over 90% of my programs run good right out of the gate. The remainder usually require tweaking of some type for irregular tool shapes, or feeds and speeds related to excessive tool length/ low rigidity in set-up. Yes, there's the occasional programmer error. Anybody in here who says they get it right 100% of the time, is long overdue a visit from Murphy's law enforcement crew.

We used several approaches, one piece runs, one part at a time with multiple parts, multiple parts on a tombstone, all faces tooled up and holding parts. Pneumatic fixturing. Tombstones with a top plate. Angle plates where the gussets are machined to hold parts. This is where the Horizontals start to shine. Never used a probe either and it still worked good. Program calling, well that's a matter of having a operator that can read numbers and letters and can use the keypad. Sub programs get a good work out in these scenarios. Nobody here has mentioned compound angles yet? Horizontals truly are the next logical progression in a growth oriented shop.

Nosserov, I would look at some of the available tombstone designs out there, then make it yourself as a first project for the horizontal.

As for the one off parts, some good examples are large castings such as engine blocks, trans housings, pumps, you name it. I worked in a shop where 90% of the horizontals were doing this type of work. One main advantage in this scenario would be number of tools in the magazine and a multi pallet changer which helps to keep one part in the oven at all times and allows you to leave multiple jobs set-up at the same time. Got a night shift? Have the nubs run the simple work while the other shift runs the more detailed work.

I've had that problem also with alot of geometry on multiple levels. I usually end up rotating just 1 level at a time.