Yeah, it's been a while. So I have something i've never come across before, ROPE THREADS. Specifically: ROCK DRILLING EQUIPMENT - LEFT HAND ROPE THREADS. I'm not yelling just emphasizing the particular information I have. I don't know what size I'm going to have to do yet, but they will be internal on a 2-axis lathe. Can anyone help me with figuring out how to do this with Mastercam, or if it's even possible? Thanks!

If your're doing multi-axis locked to 4-axis output, try morph between curves or something like that. Sorry, it's been a loooong time and i'm trying to go from memory. Pick the 1st one by the tailstock, the 2nd by the rotary. That should make the path start at the 1st one and move to the 2nd one. Sorry if i'm off course, but i've had exactly the same problem and was able to solve it, but it's been a year or so since i've had to to it.

Give your reseller a call, they can hook you up with the Active Reports Tutorial. I don't have an answer to your question, but the pdf's should help you out.

can you watch the load meters when the tool is in that position? Anything suspicious there?

Keith has it, but double check your parameters for clearance, depth, etc... If i remember correctly, i had to do some more monkey-ing for my Haas post to get the other parameters correct. At least on the drilling cycles, I know i had to make more adjustments.

Yeah, post-it notes are so lame an unprofessional... Wait a minute, who put these damn things on here.....

Well, that explains it. The machine doesn't want to run those parts. Problem solved. Don't run those parts on it. Next time, hold up the print and ask first. If you get a , move on.

Organize, standardize.... Like you said, with only 25 pockets, it's hard to load standard tools in the machine and keep them there. However, with only 5 machines, it's pretty easy to have all of your most commonly used tool (endmills, center drills, chamfer endmills, c'sinks) loaded, measured, labels and located in one common spot. That way, they're always ready to run and never need measured. With common fixture plates, vise locations, etc.. you can also save time on offsets. I've done this for a few machines, especially on things that will barely fit in the machine. Set up a standard programming template with vise locations, fixture plates, etc... for each machine. When you program the part, locate it in the program exactly where it will be in the machine. It can be dangerous if you don't do it right, or get sloppy. However, it can be a huge timesaver when the work is done in the background correctly. Set-up sheets must explicitly detail where the fixture/vise/stock will be located. Either macro the offset in the program to set it in the control or comment the location in the header. The operator should never have to set an offset. Just start the program and watch closely. You can also run a dummy drill cycle to place a center drill at the zero location 1.00 above the part with an M00. The operator can scale the height, eyeball the x/y zero and go to town. Again, lots of work in the background, but once it's done, it speeds things up. I find the biggest time consuming part is guessing, when setting up a job from someone else. The more information you can provide to take out any guess work will save time. It's not just a 3/4" endmill, it's a .750 3-FLute, Onsrud endmill, 1.625 LOC, 0.030 corner radius,MFG# AMC704160. The operator should never have to guess.

Did you jiggle the wires? Seriously, could be something dumb, like a bad plug, wire, connection at the drive. Just guessing.

you got it to work and it sounds correct. You don't or shouldn't have to draw the whole diameter of the tool, only half of it. Sometimes it just takes redoing it the same way and it will work. I dunno. It does become easier the more you do it, though. Glad you got it.

^^^^^Nice work on your end^^^^^^ Will that be the next add-on available for purchase from CNC Software??

WOW, the things that happen to us..... Are there any macros or settings being loaded, run by the program or canned drilling cycle within the control (in the background) that could be throwing a curve ball? Anyone (operator) mess with the machine parameters or settings?

I think James is one of the most helpful people on this forum and he is genuinely trying to help with a "workaround" for now. That being said, it seems like the same bugs keep getting ignored because of "workarounds". The post edit would work, but I, for one, am not a post expert and would not be able to make the fix. Now you have a file that can't be posted to another control. Mastercam files that NEED to be linked to specific "workarounds" to not crash a machine can be a VERY DANGEROUS situation. I love the software, personally. I can always get done what i need, but it is becoming less trustworthy to me. The longer you use it, the more comfortable you should be with it. I find myself never wanting to update to new releases, as they seem to require more time consuming tricks to work correctly. Why am i more afraid of the posted code with every new release? Like it or not, that's the reality. Again, please don't take your frustrations with the software out on James. He is only trying to help and will be less likely to with snide remarks. We are all on the same team here, trying to be successful in our professions and make a living. All we can do is work with what we have now, and keep pressuring for bug fixes that are long overdue, and in some cases, becoming too risky to have around at all.

If you have the time, can you program some incremental rotations back and forth and run in a loop to see if the problem happens in the same spot consistently? Just on the center drill is weird....

I see you have it set for canned cycle. Does it output the correct parameters for the canned cycle? Another thing, sometimes there are settings in the control that adjust how the canned cycles are interpreted. The passes may be starting .03 bigger than the part diameter or more, cutting air basically, because of a setting in the control.

standard 60 thread or acme or other? Plain steel or aluminum or other? If aluminum or plain carbon steel, i would say you're fine. My only concern would be harder material with a standard (sharp point) 60 degree threading insert. You may want some light cuts in that case to avoid blowing off the insert tip. just guessing here...

agreed^^^ A minimum retract/distance, followed by x/y movement toolpath would be more usable than the x/y/z given, since it gouges. My question is this: are other machines gouging with the same settings or is changing to a feedrate giving better results on min. retract?

1st time it happened to me was 5 years ago, on a Haas. Yes, they dogleg. Not sure if you can change a setting for that. It's been Full Vertical Retract ONLY ever since.... Same thing, verify won't show it, but a broken endmill and F'd up part are pretty clear.

I have nothing, sorry. Not being a DMU guy, just thinking something was getting hung up (chips, maybe crack in something) that would force a load and make the A stall out.

Have you tried delete all blanked entities, might have been moved there.

not a DMU guy, does the load meter spike while trying to rotate?

file>>open user folder>>config

It's been hit or miss with me. Some work awesome, some not. It takes many trial and error on the settings and sometimes it still wont' work if your file suks. Can you post our pic and i'll give it a shot? I just did some awesome boxes for my kids for Christmas using art to engrave them. My reseller helped me out and we were able to get things to work out pretty sweet! I'll post pics when i can....

I run my tool tolerance @ .002 and STL @ .003 and that has helped out quite a bit.