What about a probe used like a CMM?

Does anyone know anything about selling used carbide inserts? We have coffee cans full of used carbide inserts that our old programmer has sitting around. I'm trying to consolidate our insert inventory and I feel its best to just get what we can out of these as scrap and get rid of them. Does anyone know where to get good scrap prices on carbide, and is it worth doing?

When using the active reports with 2D lathe it tries to show the part as well as the tools home position. How can I get it to just show my part and it toolpaths without zooming out.

When trying to make a tapered id thread using the box format i have to make the thread look like it is cutting from a smaller diameter to a larger one to get the code correct. If it looks like I want it to on the screen it posts like bakcwards. Also it shows the retract line moving up in z(top tplane) which is should only be x and y moves. Does anyone use this format or can they recreate this? x3 mu1 Lathe

I need there to be 4 keyways 90 degrees apart. I got the lathe finish pass to look good, but I can't get it to do more than one keyway. I'm thinking about using a caxis toolpath such as face contour. Any ideas?

I am boring plastic on a lathe and I want to make it so the chips don't push back into the spindle. I am trying to get it to rough it out in the x dimension. I tried -89.0 degrees with plunge parameters set and a bunch of other things. I also tried using a line in the same direction and chaining that instead of the bore. Any ideas?

I think that a programmer needs to be ambitious, hard working, and mostly open minded. This forum is also vital. I worked as a machinist through high school, a cnc operator and programmer at the machine through college while I was going for a bachelors is Manufacturing Engineering and I still have a ton to learn. I do the scheduling where I work which is vital because with out proper workflow a good program doesn't mean anything when you are running 10 - 20 lot sizes and need quick set-ups which means a different program everytime, to account for tooling especially in lathes. Also I have worked with some amazing machinists and gcode programmers, but unwillingness to change or be open minded to new tooling and methods has held them back tremendously. Most importantly is this forum, because without this a 2-3 hour part could easily become a day or twos work just trying to figure out how to do something.

Thanks for the replies. I found some cutters but I'm still looking into finding one for the .501-.502 width. Now in MC what is the best way to program it? I could just use manual entry because my post isn't set up for any canned cycles. What is the best way to attack this?

I'm hoping to broach out 4 .501-.502 keys 90 deg. apart. They are .254 deep and 1.375 long. They have a radius groove for relief but then there is a shoulder behind it. The bore is around 4 11/16. Does anyone know of any good tooling for this job? Also is this feasible. We have a keyseater but with it not being a through key it will be tuff, also there are bolt circles but they can't be put in untill its keyed. So if I key it on the lathe then I can put the holes in.

When posting for a rotary part I am getting an M9 and M8 at random parts in my code. My post outputs M08 and M09 for coolant commands. N15 G54 X-10. Y0. ( TOOLCHANGE POSITION ) N20 T20 M06 ( TOOL - 20 3/4 FLAT ENDMILL / TOOL DIA. - .75 ) N25 G43 H20 Z10. N30 A0. N35 G0 G90 G54 X1.654 Y1.939 S800 M3 N40 M08 N45 Z4.1875 N50 Z2.2875 N55 G1 Z1.6375 F7. N60 Y2.5015 N65 G2 X.654 Y3.5015 R1. N70 X1.654 Y4.5015 R1. N75 G1 Z1.7375 N80 Z2.6375 F15. M8 N85 G0 X2.9665 Y5.064 N90 M9 N95 Z2.2875 N100 G1 Z1.6375 F7. N105 Y4.5015 N110 G2 X3.9665 Y3.5015 R1. N115 G1 Z1.7375 N120 Z4.1875 F15. M8 N125 G0 Z10. N130 M9 N135 X.659 Y2.094 N140 Z4.1875 N145 Z2.2875 N150 G1 Z2.1575 F7. It is a Countour 2D in mill 1 on a Haas VMC post. Also for rotary is it correct that my WCS should all be the same and my tplane should change?

Why is my tool trying to rapid through my part for my caxis side drilling? It does this in backplot too. It is posting correctly. I am using Caxis cross drill for two holes 180 degrees apart. I am using C for my rotary.

It is a 2" id and 6" od ring that is 3" long. and in the center of the ring is the groove. I was thinking an Iscar face groover using a zig zag pattern

What is a good tool for a 3/4" wide 2.5" deep face groove out of 1141 H.R.? Also is this feasible? Right now it is being milled out and then finished on the lathe with a small boring bar. I don't see why it just can't be grooved out.

I called the Okuma guy this morning the problem was that it just needs a straight feedrate like a mill. When it was giving me F values of up to 100 it was out putting 100 ipm. So that was the problem. Now do I need to have my post changed or can I fix this in the def. manager? I have a .psb so no luck in doing it myself I guess.

1117c, soft stuff, with a 1" seco insert mill (.004 - .007 chip per tooth; sfm - 700; ap - .336) I wanna take her nice and easy till we see what she can handle.

So what should I set this as?

It didn't slam into the part, it just tried taking too much. Also I forgot to mention that I set my feed for 3.0 ipm and as it got to the center of the flat it was going up to around 50ipm, with a different feed every couple of lines. Is this how the post figures out the change in feed for the part or should the control do this?

I am milling a flat on a 10" diameter part. The flat is .75 deep and from center the dimension is 4.4375. I tried using a 3/4" endmill, with multipasses set at .075. The first cut took off the tip of the part nicely. But on the second pass it sounded horrid. The machine is an Okuma LB470M. The cut seemed to have tried to go in more than the .075 but I may have been decieved. Is this too much of a cut for a full 3/4 deep cut with a HSS endmill? Also is there any reason the code could be wrong, it looks good but I know Okumas are somewhat different than the rest. I have a Seco 1.5" insert mill should I have used this with depth cuts instead? The reason for the cheap endmill was cause this is my first contouring path on our caxis.(expected the worst) Is there anything I should remember when contouring on C-axis? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You all for the replies, what gcode said was what I was thinking of doing but I wasn't sure how my toolpaths would react to the change. My Z will be the same so the z depths will be fine. Once again, Thanks.

I made all of my toolpaths for a mill part and now i realized that I need to change my zero. What is the best way to move my origin and have my toolpaths not get messed up?

Finished face of the part is Z zero here on all one side programs. On turnarounds we set our first side zero as .09, so that when we flip the part the finished size is Z 0. This means that all Z#'s on the first side are +.09. We have all Okuma lathes so we don't have the G54, G55 ability, but we haven't had any problems yet.

Colin, How do you set your stock for your second side? There are alot of parts that I do that it is useful to see where I'm overlapping or for such things as clearance for milling and turning. Or do you just figure that all out inside your head, because most of the time I use this only for graphical representation only. Also, I do agree with you that Stock flip needs improvement, they have the right idea cause the stock recognition is great but I've had some parts where its bitten me in the behind.

Stock flip is useful and works well once you get used to it. I use copy to another level and I dont blank my geometry. I also creat a second toolpath group if I'm doing 2 seperate operations. If I need to make a change I just Move the red arrow below the operation that I am altering, and just regen each operation seperatly. I have had no problems using this method. As far as facing the second side it is so qucik to do a facing toolpath that I dont even worry about copying it.

How deep is the thread? That is a big lead so depending on the diameter of your major and the depth of your thread you will need to watch your tool clearance below the insert or else it may rub.

Ron thank you for the info. I have noticed some weird things like that when using the circle mill toolpath when using solids.