Marty, Did you import a finish wall contour operation? Thad

Looks like a pretty slick feature! Keep us posted, Stefan. Thad

Simtech, I'm not sure that would be such a good idea. Along with the color settings, you'd be inheriting all the other system defaults with that .cfg file...the default: post processor, directories for various file types, "number tools sequentially"....etc. I'm glad you brought this up though. I would also be interested in hearing of some other color schemes. I just use the defaults, myself. Thad

Quickmike, I've cut a few Kirksite dies. You're in for a real treat. It cuts like butter. It's easier than cutting aluminum. On our Fadals, we took about .250 per pass at about 300 IPM. Make sure you use coolant though, because the chips can get hot and stick to the tool. Have fun! Thad P.S. It is very dense (heavy).

Rob, I'm with you on this one. We had to do the same thing. Perhaps you could call the programs just by a single number, and eliminate the "oper." Then you could just type the number and be done. Just a thought. Thad

Ideally, you should be giving them the feed rates that they need. Just a suggestion... Thad

Jay, I think Motty means that the geometry that made up the pocket were at different depths, therefore he couldn't chain the pocket. Thad

Me too, James. I've probably used it 50 times without a problem and now it's messed up on me once today and once yesterday. Just one of those things? Thad

Some of my operations just disappeared on me for the second time in 2 days. This is the first time this has happened in my 5 months of using MC. Both times, the operations disappeared right after saving them to the ops library. After saving the ops and returning to the ops manager, not only were the ops gone, but the geometry that I had used had returned to it's original color. The only ops that disappeared were the ones that I saved to the ops library. The rest of my ops were still there. Has anyone ever seen this before? Thad [ 10-17-2002, 02:58 PM: Message edited by: thad ]

[ 10-16-2002, 02:23 PM: Message edited by: thad ]

I'm still unclear on your problem. Does your tool library say 10,000 or 5000 RPM? Thad

Before you import the tool, you can see that it is set to 5000 RPM...but then when you import it, it imports 10,000 RPM? Thad

[ 10-04-2002, 10:37 PM: Message edited by: thad ]

Sorry, I can't help you with that. Good luck! Thad [ 10-04-2002, 06:25 PM: Message edited by: thad ]

I don't fully understand your question. Does this give you what you want? Main menu, NC Utils, Def. tools, Library. Right click in the white area and select "convert a library to text." Select the library and you're all set. Otherwise, perhaps you could give more information. Thad

quote: PDG to the rescue once again. How's that for service? OUTSTANDING!!! Thad

quote: Ok I will bite. Thad you have V9 and went back to using V8? So I am wondering your reason? The method that we use for helixing holes does not seem to work with V9. It worked fine with v7 and 8. With v9, it will do one 360 degree helical move, then do a straight Z move down each increment that it would helix, until it gets to finish depth, and then does another helix move. Backplotting looks fine (sometimes), but posts out what I mentioned above. I sent the file to my dealer who determined it was a bug and recommended I use the helix option until it gets fixed. I was getting weird things there also. When helixing multiple holes all in the same operation, when verifying, it would show a helical move on some holes and the Z plunge move described above. I don't remember now what the code looked like. We helix holes on EVERY job and I need something that works EVERY time. I reached a frustration level with this and the other "keep tool down" problem that my dealer reported to CNC Software in early July (still no response), that I decided to go back to a version that got the job done for me. But just like the topic of this post, now I have to deal with using the setdir chook on every job because v8 doesn't remember the path where it saved the last nc file. It did in v7, not in v8, and then it does in v9. Who makes these changes and why? It's give and take, I suppose. Right now v8 does the job, so that's what I use. We'll see what v9.1 brings. Thad

You're not the first person to mention this. Unfortunately, you can't change that. Apparently, CNC Software thought we would much rather have it default to "number of steps," otherwise they wouldn't have changed it. It's one of the things that I've enjoyed since moving back to V8. Thad [ 10-02-2002, 11:25 AM: Message edited by: thad ]

When I need to print out a portion of my file or maybe just a small file, I use File, Next Menu, Hardcopy. Try that if you want it on a an 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper. Thad

Thanks for the link, Keith. I did a search for the variable names in that link and came up empty. I looked around the drilling section of the post. It didn't seem like something that I could do myself. I'll work with my dealer on this one. First, I'll have to figure out exctly what it is that I want. Thank you all for your replies. Thad

Just curious...is a post covered in any way under the license agreement of the software? Thad

G78 looks pretty good. It's a variable peck drilling cycle. I would define the initial peck size (Q) and the "reducing value" (K). But there is nothing to tell it the smallest peck size to use. I NEED to have the ability to define the first peck depth. I also NEED to define one of these two possiblities... Ability to define the depth of the rest of the pecks (all the same peck depth) OR the ability to define a reducing value and minimum peck. Thad

My primary concern is a Toshiba boring mill with Tosnuc 888 control. We also have an Okuma VMC with Fanuc 11M control, but we're concentrating on the boring mill first. Possibly a G77 or G78? Thad [ 10-01-2002, 11:11 AM: Message edited by: thad ]

Just read the help file on this. It appears that changes need to be made to the .pst and .txt files for this to work. I'll contact my dealer. I can't believe that MC doesn't have a standard drilling cycle to do this. Am I missing something? Thad

I would like to use a drilling cycle that allows for a first peck depth that differs (deeper) from the rest. If I select "custom cycle 9" these options are available. When I post it, I get no drilling cycle. Here is my program: % O0001 ("DIE") N100G53 N102G80G40G90G44 N104G73Z46. N106G57H901 N108T18 ( "TOOL NUMBER: 18 " ) N110(drill 2.375 m60.3 dia magic drill) N112M06 N114G173W-4.0 N116G11I0J0K0 N118G01F300.0X31.375Y-10.875S1700M03 N120G43H18Z6.5 N122M08 N124G80 N126G10 N128M09 N130G40G80M05 N132G73Z46.M19 N134M30 N136M00 % Is this a post problem? How can I get my desired output. Using V8.1.1...ignore my sig. Thad