I have a little experience using VBA with Autocad, hence I am interested in recoding a VB script to use as a model.

Group, My company has stopped investment in cam software at v8.1, so I don't have v9 in front of me to work with. However, I'm trying to help a guy whose shop does have v9. Does v9 have any sort of VB script recorder, maybe some function which can do something like record key-strokes?

Giving it a second look, you're drilling 3" deep which implies a minmum of 3" thick material, so I doubt that there would be any rigity issues. My caution about carbide tooling applies to thinner plates supported only at the edges.

Hi all, A friend of mine has a top of the line Dell (big$$) with a Nvidia Quattro FX 3400 (sp?) dual DVI-D output video card. Everything runs fine, but there are a couple of tweaks needed. He uses the computer for Autocad. When he maximizes Acad to the secondary monitor, the position should remembered. But the next time Acad is opened, but it always opens back in the primary monitor. The second oddity (Acad still maximized in the secondary monitor) relates to the "bubble help" which appears when you hover the mouse pointer over a toolbar icon. Instead of the little help baloon appearing right next to the icon, it appears at the edge of the primary monitor. I highly respect the general computer savy of this group, so even though this may be an "Autocad" question, I was hoping someone could advise on these odd behaviors.

A less expensive alternative to the drills listed above are Precision Twist "QC" Parabolic TiN coated jobber length drills. Run them in 4130/4140 at 100 sfm, 5.0-6.0 ipm all day long, though you do need to peck them. A 1/2" will run $25-30 each. Another alternative which will run at similar feeds and speeds is the Hertel "Max Output" TiAlN coated jobber length drill. A bit more expensive; around $30-35 for a 1/2" drill. OSG "Ex-Gold" drills are good performing drills which do a great job of breaking up the chips. Because the chips are broken up by the unique tool point design, you can run them without pecking. A 1/2" drill will run you around $80. I've used them all, and they all have worked well. One of the biggest factors in drill performance/tool life will be the rigidity of your set-up. If you are drilling plates suspended across parallels, I would caution the use of carbide tooling. Carbide works best in rigid set-ups.

Thanks guys for the suggestions. I had a guy on another forum who emailed a .pdf document from Uddeholm containing the info I was looking for. For those of you who may be interested, for soft annealed 2714 max. 250HB they recommend a sfm of 525 to 722 for carbide indexable end milling, and sfm of 53 for hss drilling. For pre-hardened 2714 to 380HB, the sfm numbers drop to: 164 to 295 for indexable, and 33 for hss drilling.

Hi all, We are machining some 2714 steel; drilling, slotting, and t-slotting. It seems to be a somewhat tough material to machine. Can any one recommend sfm and feed per tooth for hss drills, and also Ingersoll high-positive inserted end mills or an equivalent? Our inserts are ticn coated. I've done some research, but so far can't find any substantial machining recommendations. Regards, Chris

Group, I have a good friend who is working in a job shop for the first time. He isn't used to the aggressive approach the shop takes when it comes to milling (time is money.) He asked me for some guidelines for milling hardened die steels like A2 or M2. The hardness is Rc 60-62. In my company we have always been on the conservative side with hard-milling. For uncoated carbide we always start at 50 sfm and take light cuts around .010 to .020 deep. Since his shop is much more aggressive than that, I am unable to give him anymore than that mentioned above. Can anyone share some good starting points for aggressive hard-milling with uncoated, coated, flat, bull, & ball nose carbide end mills? I am looking for recommendations for feeds, speeds, and depths of cut for various diameters. The application is mostly 2D work on tool & die components though there may be some 3D contouring also. I am not asking for any proprietary information, just some good starting points I can forward to my friend. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. Regards, Chris

Thanks everyone. Your replies have been forwarded to the tooling engineer. Chris

Hi all, One of our tooling engineers is looking for a machine tool recommendation for rough/finish hard-mill machining of 3D shaped tooling that will go into a turret press. I imagine the machine tool needs to have a high rpm spindle, and heavy duty construction to dampen vibration. Can any of you here share your experiences, both good and bad, of different brand machines you have worked with? The one that comes to mind for me is "Hermle" though I've never run one -- I've just seen the ads in the trade publications. Thanks, Chris

Hi all, As a relatively inexperienced Mastercam Programmer, I have always wondered why Mastercam uses an NCI file; why the "middle man?" I import all of my graphics, and then program off of said graphics. What is the purpose of Mastercam generating an NCI file, and then generating g-code off of the NCI file? At the very base level, it seems that g-code should be associated with the graphics, not a "go between" file. Maybe I just don't properly understand the relationship between graphics and NCI files because of my background in SmartCam Can anyone be gracious enough to share some insights and/or explanations as to why Mastercam uses NCI files, and the different ways one can use them? Many thanks in advance. Chris

Hi all, I'm an infrequent poster, but had to chime in I grew up under the influence... under the influence of growing up a 1/2 mile from Mr. Norms Grand Spaulding Dodge in Chicago, one of the premier hot spots in the country for Mopar muscle cars in the 60's and 70's. My older brother's friends owned a '71 Hemi Charger, a '70 SuperBird 440 Six-Pack, a Dodge Demon with a Mr. Norms dealer installed 340 Six-Pack (extremely rare and collectable!), and a friend with a '69 Olds Cutlass with a really hot Rocket 350 (he rebuilt his 350 in his bedroom in the 3rd floor apartment he and his mom lived in. True story!) All of this infuenced me to buy in order: a '69 Dodge Charger with a built 383 Magnum, a '70 Plymouth Barracuda (I blew the original 318 racing a Camaro down I-55, so I threw in a 360,) and a '71 Dodge Challenger. The Challenger was a nice car -- Plum Crazy Purple, 340 SlapStick Automatic, 15' Ralley wheels, Hemi style Shaker Hood, black "Elastomatic?" bumpers, all stock. I sold it right before the muscle car "craze" hit in the early 80's for $2100. If I would have kept it a few years longer, I would have been able to triple or quadriple my selling price easy. During this time, I wanted to piece together a 426 Hemi. I started by buying a nice set of heads, but before I could go farther, I met my bride to be. I eventually sold the heads to buy her engagement ring. Do you know what her birthday is? April 26th -- 426! Another true story. Now days, I too have been snake-bit by the Factory Five Roadster. As soon as I buy my wife her house, she says I can go for it -- I mean, I told her I'm going for it The beat goes on... Chris

Hi all, You can down load a free raster to vector program at: http://www.wintopo.com/ The free version works well, and allows you to save the vectors as dxf files, so you can use it for any cad/cam platform which reads dxf files. -Chris

Chris M: I have two controls/machine types in mind; Fanuc16mi/Okuma & Howa vmc, and a Fadal vmc. I don't know much about the Fadal. Tony: Thanks for the info -- I will try to make it.

Hi all, When running a long program as in finishing a die or mold, if you lose a cutter for whatever reason, how do you pick up your milling cycle where it "left-off"? Have any of you dealt with this sort of problem? Thanks, Chris

Hi all, I have some 3D machining & misc questions. I am running v8.1 -- If I program relatively shallow contoured surfaces with a flat end mill, or a “bull” mill, will MC’s output produce an accurate contoured surface? I am thinking of using pencil tracing to remove the material that was missed in the inside radii or fillets. -- This question arises from my lack of knowledge in multi-plane programming: Is it possible to program multiple faces of a block where each face will be run as a separate set-up on my VMC? Right now, I rotate my block around and re-save the file with a different file name for each face I need to program. If it is possible (and I strongly suspect it is), how do I display the face I’m working on so that it shows as the “top” surface in “Verify”, the same way it will be sitting on my VMC? -- Can I “hide” tool paths on different layers, so that face #1 is programmed on layer 1, face #2 is programmed on layer2, etc? As always, any help you may give me is greatly appreciated. Chris

Unfortunately, there are no easy answers here. China has a tremendous population from which they can draw a workforce. I saw a special on PBS recently about the market revolution China has undergone. Their state run companies were hemoraging money, so one of the top government officials stated that all state run companies had to become profitable within three years. The condition of some of these companies was so bad, it would have been cheaper to shut them down and continue to pay the workers. This was in 1997 I believe. The end result has been massive layoffs and high unemployment. Its amazing how alike we all are in that many chinese industry workers are facing the same problems that we are -- loss of benefits, health care, and no jobs to be found. A large part of the problem there is that in the former paradigm, workers had no incentive to improve either their job skills or their productivity. They were assigned a job by the state, and all they had to do was show up. So many of these workers have absolutely no job skills. I think the biggest problem with China is the government there. Before Clinton pushed to grant China "most favored nation" trade status, we had something to hold over their heads when it came to human rights or any other issue, like the chinese government subsidizing the steel supplied to companies in China, or software piracy. Now that they have this trade status, we are almost powerless to do anything about anything -- read the latest Forbes about Microsoft's problems there. Semi-OT: For those of you who thought Clinton was so "great for the economy" -- I hope you still don't feel that way as you watch much of our work head to asia. I won't even go into how China was caught trying to steal our nuclear technology, or influence our elections. Back On-Topic: I believe our greatest hope lies in pressuring our politicians for policy changes which will make it more expensive to produce products overseas. The biggest drawback to this is that many american companies want to produce there. Its all about the almighty dollar. Just remember: Dude! Your getting a new Dell! Its only $699 because its being made by asian workers making around $.30/hour! Sorry for the long, semi-political ramble.

Hi all, I know MC specifies Visual C++ for writing chooks. Is there a work around which would allow standard C++ to be used instead, for chook developement? Chris

Hi all, To get the best possible finish when machining complex surfaces with a ball em, it seems to me that the rpm of the em should be adjusted depending on how shallow or steep the surface is. For instance, a 5/16 ball em at .023 depth of cut on a flat surface has an effective cutter dia of .163". The same cutter cutting .023 deep into a 45 deg surface has an effective cutter dia of .304". At 250 SFM, the first example should run a speed of 5858 RPM, and in the second example 3141 RPM -- a significant difference. In addition, to maintain a constant chipload, the feed would have to be adjusted to the rpm. I bring this up because I am new to 3D machining, and I wonder if I am over-thinking this, or do some of you take the time to make these type of calculations? I just want to get the best surface finish possible, to keep polishing to a minimum. I know the highfeed function will automatically calculate optimum feedrates according to the amount of stock being removed, but it doesn't adjust cutter speed at all, even though the conditions are changing quite a bit. I appreciate any comments/input you might have for me. As always, thanks for your time with my questions. Chris

Hi all; the 3D newbie here, My part has complex surfaces which end at a vertical plane. These edges need to kept sharp because this part is one of many die sections which fit together at the vertical walls, and the surfaces continue from one die section to another. My thinking is that I can keep the integrity of the edges by extending the surfaces past the vertical planes where they end, so that the cutter paths will flow smoothly following the surface projections. I cannot figure out how to accomplish this. MC keeps telling me I cannot extend trimmed surface edges. Can any of you offer some advice here, maybe a step-by-step to create an extension which follows the surface form? Is there a better way to keep the edges from becoming erose in appearance? Many thanks for any advice which will help me "cut my teeth" in this world of 3D machining. Regards, Chris

Aren't there any utilities out there which would allow you to program a standard windows keyboard with hotkeys for commonly used commands? There's a program out there called "Autohook 2K" which does this for Autocad.

Hi all, I have little experience in 3D machining, so I would like ask permission to tap into the knowledge base here. This is my first real attempt at 3D machining, so please forgive my many questions. I am machining soft A2 tool steel for a draw die boss which will produce a shape similar to the flip-up part of a cell phone, so it has relatively shallow surfaces across most of its shape blending into steep surfaces at the edges. The piece will be hardened after milling. I roughed it out with an inserted end mill using planar cuts, semi-finished it with a coated 1/2 carbide ball end mill using a parallel zig-zag tool path, and I finished it with an SGS Zcarb Tialn coated 5mm ball em, also running a parallel zig-zag tool path, at a 45 deg toolpath angle. The roughing and semi-finishing ops left about .020" stock. I ran the SGS ball end mill at 6000 rpm (which is the maximum for my machine) and 20.0" feed for the finishing passes, with the maximum step over set at .005" (slightly less than .0002" maximum scallop height). The "tolerance" was set at .001 The finish is not bad, but it shows a "checkerboard" pattern when you look at it against the light, and it seems to have some shallow (less than .001) grooves across the flatter portion of the surfaces. These "grooves" are in the same direction the finish passes ran. -- Do you have any input as to which strategies are best for "fine-finish" finishing? How much "tolerance" should I specify? I would like to achieve as close to "mirror" finish as I can, to minimize polishing. -- Would I be better off hard-milling the finish passes after heat-treat? Can you recommend how much stock to leave & speeds/feeds? -- Am I on the right track, or can any of you make some suggestions which may provide superior results? Thanks for your time with this. As always, any help is greatly appreciated. Regards, Chris

Thanks all, I appreciate all of your input. I'm sure other questions will arise as I go through this.

Thanks Jeremy, that took care of moving the block. Now, can anyone help with those annoying cursor trails?

Hi all, Please forgive the nature of these questions as I am fairly new to 3D programming. Situation: Programming with V8.1 on a block imported from an IGES file generated by Pro-E. After creating a bounding box in Job setup, I found that the Stock Origin lies at X0, Y-.17327, Z0.43636, with the Z thickness at 1.83076 - I tried translating the block "between pts" from X0,Y-.17327,Z.43636 to X0Y0Z0. It moved to X0,Y0 but still shows a Stock Origin of Z0.43636 . What am I missing? Why won't it move in "Z"? - When hovering the mouse over the surfaces of the model, it leaves an annoying cursor trail. I can't find which setting in the config file will turn this off. Can anyone help here? Thanks for your time with this. I will be working more and more in 3D, and have to sharpen my skills in this area. Chris