I imported my tool library from x6. when I first started using x7 it was all there. now nothing at all. library is empty. I was going to post a question about it this morning

for the sync error your top rail and bottom rail have to have same number of corners or timing marks if you will. take for instance a square top and a circle bottom. you would have to break the circle into 4 pieces to correspond to the four corners of the square. the breaks in the circle have to be close to the breaks in the square. you could do any shape to match up to any shape. but the tool paths get complicated when the timing is too far off. but after you understand the timing of your corners the sync error will make sense. hope that helps, that's how I was explained it and I was as clear as mud after that.

ok thanks guys. I will look at getting a cutter made and reverse engineer the ones I have. the boss is leaning that way for cost and so was I when I saw the cost of replacement jaws.

anyone know where or if there is a cutter available to cut the pocket details on the new style chick vise jaws? we just got 7 1040 vises and now the boss wants to save some money by making our own jaws. but they changed the design from the last time I used chick vises and now I have no clue where to go or what to do. or does anyone know where we could buy no name jaws for them for cheaper than chick? I am really hoping there is a cutter available for making our own.

a120 is your limit but do you have any comp in your g54? that would put you over the limit.

we were using fastenall for all our hardware but by accidentwe sent a rfq to our DGI rep and he filled the order for 25% less cost and we have been using him for everything since. that used to be doall.

are you using the diameter of the cutter at the tip? that's the size you have to use. when I draw out my cutters that way I am within .010" of good size. I am assuming if you made a custum tool that's what you did. but you never know.

we just got a Wasino L5-J3 lathe new to us. lol. i an looking for some help setting up a post for this beast. what post should i start with or is there a post that would work right out of the box? it has live tooling on 2 stations i think only for face milling. i dont think it could hold holders for radial work as the tools would hit the ways and guards. it has a FANUC system 6T control on it and it can do can cycles for turning. i also need some help getting my post for my HAAS VM-6 set up for high speed machining. i am looking to set up a MI for my roughing and finishing setting. is there a post with that in it already that i can copy and paste or can someone help me with what i need to insert and where i need to insert it. Thanks in advance for all the help.

i live in kingston ontario and last year made 65k with 350 hours ot. if it was not for my wife and her salary we would have a hard time making ends meet. i have been doing this for 15 yrs and everyday i learn something new. i can run anything manual and i have not found a machine i could not program yet. my bosses love me and would be hard pressed to find a replacement for me. they can't even find me a good aprentice that wants to work and learn. we have hired 10 people in 3 yrs and not one could last more than 3 months. and we are the highest paying shop within 75 miles. i think i am very fortunate to have made it this far and have the experiance i have. but salary is all relative to experiance and willingness to work and learn. i would love to further my career and make more money but like it has been said here before it comes with more responsibility and strees. i know i can hack it but some can't and that is what is holding them back.

im with ninja on this. yes there are better faster stonger machines than haas. but they do have there place and they do fill it very nicely. i have a vm-6 and it is 2 yrs old now. we have had service here 4 times now for it. 1 was a software upgrade, 1 was a way cover i crinkled because i did not see a 123 block that feel off the table, and 3 was a reamer that welded in ss part and pulled out of spindle and then rapided to next hole and then into next hole. cost us a spindle. they only time we had to call service for a fault in the machine was for a loose power wire to the spindle. i caused a over heat alarm. yes i have seen haas repair guys fixing alot of machines in my time but they are much better now then they were years ago. i used to work in an all matsuura shop in ottawa area and we had the service guy in alot more then i see the haas guy now.there are lemons in every machine brand just like in every car brand. just because you but i bmw does not mean you will not get a lemon. just ask my dad. but they are less likely.

i have a vm-6 at my shop and i have the same kennametal face mill and i run that cutter at 7500rpm and 380ipm at .100" deep 60-75% radial cut all day long. like it has been said by others every machine has a sweet spot and you just have to find it and use it there. im not knocking makino, i would love to have one and find out just where the sweet spot is on that machine, but Haas has a spot in the market and they fill it nicely. makino has a very nice spot in the market also and they are a very nice machine. but for small shops that dont have the capital to buy something that is $45k more the haas gets the job done. just have to do it differently than on a bigger stronger machine. just my 2 cents

one of my waterjet custumers had a repeat job in lead that we cut for him and then he had some smaller holes to drill. very nasty stuff. they always handled it with purple nytril gloves and one of his guys still got lead poisoning. had to get treated for it and was off work for a while. he never touched the stuff again after that. they always used gloves, masks, and never used coolant, so as not to get any in coolant tank. and someone still got sick from it. not nice stuff. but if you still have to do the job use hss and a little tapping oil. very soft gummy will not hold tolerance and very soft, dents very easy.

does your machine use the little ramp type switches at end of travel to tell it where home is? is so move the x axis ramp about .025". depending on which way your out will depend on which way you move it. in or out. the little ramp tells the machine when you hit me go until you find the next home marker on encoder and thats home. some times they are set real close to the marker and just a little dirk or vibration and it moves just enough to tell it to find the marker just before the one its supposed to find. we had a machine here that did exactly that, but ours was .100".

turns out the file they sent was not the right one. it is a much older version and not to be used. so i had to get them to send me a print i could actually read and draw it all from scratch. but thanks anyways guys. it worked great.

thanks guys will look right now to see if they are good.

i need some help. our custumer sent us a new pro-e file and i can not open it. our version of pro-e will not save as some thing i can open in mc4,mc5, mc6. it is locked or so our drafting guy says. can someone help a guy out and have a look at this for me? i can email you the zip file. i would need it saved as a x4 or x5 if possible. thanks proe_3719-1208_main_05_0.zip

are you running program in dnc mode? if so i have had that problem. will not shut down at m30 if i dnc program. but i dont dnc much any more because new machine has 16meg mem and the hard drive opp and i have usb. old machine only had floppy

i have a sandisk usb drive and i dnc from it all the time on our Haas and never had a problem. i have dnc'd a 16meg surfacing program and not a single missed character. and that was on our 4 yr old TM-2. not our newer VM-6.

yes it is possible. you have to use the highfeed button and then you set it up to what you want to happen. you tell it the min feed you want. how much you want to reduce feed per step. set your angles to tell it what corners to use it on. little bit of trial and error at first but it is very easy to figure out. i used it alot on our waterjets too slow down in corners to let the jet catch up and cut a cleaner corner. if you need more help just ask. Bob

i have a VM-6 with a tr-210 on it and i just run the box stock haas trunion post. works fine for me. not a single problem. but if someone post some tweeks fr it i will sure be reading to see if i need to update my post or not.

i import into mcam then convert using raster to vector. then i redraw on different level tracing the center line or outline of logo, depending on what i want to engrave or machine. its not hard just labor intensive. depending on logo and how dirty it is it could be minutes to hours to get it good enough for a tool path.

i have an auger to program. it is 13mm outside diam, 5.5mm minor diam, 16mm pitch with 3mm flat. how would i draw this so i can program it. im my searching today i found reference to the rolldie.dll. how does it work and what do i need to draw to get it to machine that auger? would that be the best toolpath for this? or is there something else? i am using X4. any help would be great. thanks

we got a couple of used machines last week and they came online this week. first one is a 1979 devlieg 4k-96 jig mill with a new in 2008 xxxxor 8040 control on it. is there a post available for this control or what would be a good post to start with? also how would you go about programing this thing? the quill is "z" and the table is "w" for what would be the "Z". how would you go about programing for this? i never programmed someting like this before. other machine is a Rambaudi with an old Heidenhain tnc 150 control. would this control even take g-code from mcam or am i stuck programing at the control? if it can take g-code is there a post or what would be a good starting post to work from? it is just xyz and 4th axis. if there are posts the boss and i would be very happy, as i nor the boss like standing at the control programming while the machine is stopped. would much rather program and get machine up and running then work on next program. Thanks

tried it this morning and it worked like a charm. thats John

how do you setup mcamx4 to load different config files at start up? i called my retailer and i am still waiting for him to call me back. so i figured i will put a call into the real help desk and get an answer. i am looking to setup icons on my desktop for my lathe config and mill config. how do you set the target string to call up the different configs? i thought it was c:mcamx\mcamx.exe/mill.config and same /lathe.config. but does not seem to work. i must just be missing some little thing. like no "/" or maybe i need to use something else.