An IGES file is a pretty universal file type that in my experience, most versions of programming/design software are able to convert.

open control panel regional and language options customise number digits after decimal try this i found this in another thread

Neurosis what you are talking about sounds like would work awesome for alum/mag prototypes that we build.Interested to know what rpm you are running and how much stepover.Also interested what does this chip thinning calculator tell you.

I suggest using ccleaner as well.The only time i have ever had any install issues has been due to an issue with the registry,Ccleaner does an excellent job at this and is a free download.I use this after every uninstall.

We have a makino s56 with hsk 20,000 rpm spindle.We do use carbide tialn cutters and bullnose etc.I will run some bullnose cutters at 15,000 rpm 150 ipm when finishing but typically when ruffing mostly will 2d pocket and create my own boundarys and ruff with 1/2 flat about .200 stepdown and 50% stepover at about 90 ipm say at 5 grand.The 3d ruff and 2d highspeed seem to take so long compared to regular 2d pocket toolpaths.I'm just thinking generally that this is too slow and have not tried dynamic milling yet.Im not really having a problem with anything,just looking to improve cycle times and wondering how other mag/alum protypers go about ruffing their parts.Ive heard some parameters that seem ridiculous and havent had the gonads to try them myself yet mainly cuz i havent got the time to be experimenting with such tight deadlines all the time.Im interested in this dynamic milling and wondering how hard you can push the cutters with this in regards to depth of cut,stepover,and feed rates. For example say you were going to ruff an 8 x 4 inch pocket 2 inches deep with a 1/2' 3 flute flat em with some bosses and ribs etc.Makino S56 20,000 rpm spindle,and you were 2d pocket with ramp entry,what depth of cut,step over,rpm,ipm would you use?

I should add that most these parts are all drafted with a lot of bosses and ribs and everything has to be picked out down to .030 rads with cutters hanging way out.Use 2d pocket for most the ruffing then highspeed waterline for sidewalls and horizontal mach for the flats.

Our shop used to do orders of maybe 25 or less protypes at a time but lately we have been doing orders of over a 100 on 3 different parts at a time.Cycle times werent as big a factor as they are now.Most of these are fairly complex and we cut them either on Makino S64 or some older Fadals.Typical run times average 3-5 hours per part.I am looking to reduce these cycle times but have not had much time to be experimenting with these expensive parts.Typically when ruffing we will pocket or area clearance with 1/2 em .200 depth of cut at 100 ipm.I am looking for some kind of high speed milling charts or so that would recommend depth of cut,stepover,ipm etc.Typical cutters are 3 flute high speed ems.I've been wanting to look at the highfeed machining opton in mastercam to run our Fadals faster but workload doesn't allow for a lot of experimenting,just trying to keep the spindles turning and getting the job done at the moment.Appreciate any advice.Been reading some of the forums here about dynamic milling and seen some videos on youtube.Just wondering what the other prototype guys are doing here.

ok done deal thanks

finally going to get the time to upgrade to mu2.Do you guys recommend installing mu2 over the top of mu1 or should i uninstall mu1 first?

We mainly build single or 2 cavity molds.Been using a 6 flute .500dia. Fraisa thats holds up extremely well.We have used just this single end mill on several inserts.We are not holding .0002 but the taper is less than .0005.Will do a semi finish cut leaving .007 per side then a finish with the same end mill taking it right to zero.The block is square and to size in less than an hour plus is already setup and on center for hard milling.Is just a different approach as everybody is used to the traditional method of grinding all 6 sides and then going to the mill.

I am just wondering how many toolmakers out there are now squaring blocks in the cnc mill vs squaring mold inserts on the grinder.We have done it in the mill recently for blocks that were too tall for the grinder and just kinda thinking that maybe this approach is more efficient no matter the size of the block.

Are you suggesting 2d countour with ramp enabled on the lead in/out or would you suggest the helix bore?

I also work with aluminum/magnesium prototypes and build mold inserts.Our shop has 2 Makino S56 machines with HSK 20,000 rpm spindles.These machines have been running 24 hours a day the last 2 months without skipping a beat cutting prototypes.They will run 18,000 rpm 120-150 ipm with all the accuracy you need.Many of our prototype programs will run for 5-6 hours to cut 1 side.We use Powergrip press-in holders although these particular holders require a lot of shank...

Our shop does not have a jig grinder or wire machine.We currently job out all jig grinding/wire edm.We are considering finishing ejector/core pin holes in our Makino S56 with 20,000 rpm spindle.Just wondering if anybody else out there is doing this and what methods/cutters you are using?

thanks for your help,gives me some options to explore tomorrow...

the above thread link is another link to the thread chart from the previous reply

Yes i am drilling with a #43 circuit board drill that drills right on size at .089.I have not tried roll form taps.I think i will try some sample holes drilling at the bigger tolerance that shows on that chart and see how it fits the go-no go.Thanks for the chart link,that will come in handy in the future.

Currently I am working on a magnesium prototype which the customer requires 4-40 threads minimum 14 full threads which is equal to 350 deep plus the lead of the tap.My problem is that going beyond -.275 I start breaking taps resulting in scrap parts.I have tried several different styles of taps.Spiral taps seem to work the best but still break beyond -.275.We put in a M0 before the tap to blow chips out of the hole and add oil.Last thing i tried was to tap -.275,do a force tool change,blow out the hole and add more oil and then tap again to the full depth.This method worked pretty good except for that 8 holes out of 64 were bad holes in that a no-go gauge would enter the holes,threads being too big.This was on a Makino S-56.The lead-in of the tap would not always pick up the previous position.The rigid tap must not be accurate enough to tap the same hole twice altho it appears to index every time.Run time on these parts are 4 hours and we have 60 parts to do so i cannot be breaking taps and really do not want to hand tap these parts. Appreciate any suggestions anybody has with different tap styles/parameters etc...Currently using OSG spiral taps at 250 rpm.We also do a lot of tapping in similar parts with smaller metric taps that we have to do a lot of hand tapping,so really would like to figure something out.Talking with tooling reps has not been much help.

Previously i found a link here somewhere that had quite a few videos illustrating some of mastercams features and various tips n tricks.It was probably over a year ago that i had actually seen it but found it very usefull for some of mastercams features that maybe do not get used very often?I think it maybe had videos showing some of the c-hooks as well.Anybody know if that link is still around?

We have 2 Makino's that both have a 20,000 rpm HSK spindle and we went for the press in holders over the shrink fit.For hard milling i use the press in holders.No runout and the load time is faster than the shrink fit in my opinion.Althought for long reaches i believe the shrink fit has more options.When cutting mag or aluminum prototypes we use er-16-20 collets.When hogging these protos,i like the Nikken millchuck as it seems to dampen it a little bit.The only side lock holders we use are in our older Fadals and i never grind a flat on the tools and have never seemed to needed one.

thanks for the advice,that helps.I never tried creating curves and i think maybe i was grabbing too many surfs at one time because it just never seemed it would generate a toolpath.

I understand what you guys are saying.I dont have experience with either of these 2 toolpaths to know when they are applicable.Perhaps i will have to make time and get to know these 2 toolpaths and look at the sample files.Unforuately things are always so busy and hectic there is not a lot of time for learning and experimenting although i learn new things every day.

I am a moldmaker and have been programming with mastercam for 5 years.Currently using x3mu1.I have never used the finsh blend or flowline toolpaths and i feel that i am missing out on a lot not utilizing these toolpaths.I have tried a few times but never been able to generate a toolpath.Im able to get everything done with parallel,countour,scallop,rough pocket,etc. or the high speed suite of toolpaths. My question is this and may be hard to address in this forum.I would like to know which situations these 2 toolpaths are best suited for and if there is a tutorial anywhere or some tricks to get these toolpaths to work correctly. I must admit that i have not played with either of them much because as you guys know,we are always under the gun to get things done and timewise its easier for me to stick with what i know.Appreciate any help anybody has out there.

I ran the setup sheet program by rt clicking operations manager on a file that contains 17 operations and 5 tools that took 10 minutes to run.Seems extraordinarily long compared to other versions of Mastercam.Ran the program on another file containing 67 ops,10 tools,and I quit this setup sheet after 20 minutes and a white screen.Is there a faster way to print out a tool list or does something have to be changed in config somehow.Setup sheet program is set to GUI under toolpaths in config file.File usage mill setup sheet is set to mill.set under the files tab.Never had this issue with X2. Running Mastercam X3.Windows XP,2 GB Ram.

i also had this issue but noticed that when i saved the file after changing nc file name then reopened the file,the changes would take effect.its like the graphics isnt updating itself withing the program until you save then reopen it.