I havw a HAAS VM-6 and i run 12000 rpm and 282ipm with a 7/16" 3 flute OSG Blizzard endmills 1" deep 15-20% step over. the boss loves to sound lol. i run out of rpm before i run out of feed.

how does it work if you already own pro+? is there a cost involved to get it working in x6? or is it just a matter of getting it activated?

i dont think it can be machined in one piece. with that boss in the center and size of the thread i don't think there is room for a tool to get in there and cut it with out cutting the center boss also.

yes you can. i do it all the time. you just need to figure out the cutting diameter of the bar and program to that size. just be careful about how fast you turn it. it will not be balanced. so just keep the rpms down.

i dont think you can recover them. once they are gone they are gone for good. but if you were getting loading errors it was probably time to empty out the memory and start over.

yes move your z offset .132 up from top of table. then in mastercam your model with fixture should also be drawn with the base of the fixture at z-.132". and all should be good.

your Z axis zero is not the top of the table. it is below center line by about 1/8". you can find it by rotating table to A90. and A-90. and measuring the difference. once you know that distance in mastercam draw your part to that point. in your case you are using a raptor right? so draw your raptor base at your table zero ( about Z-1/8") the top of the raptor is like 3-4" up from there (depending on the size of your model) and then draw your part as it will sit in the jaws of the raptor. so depending on the size of your part, the top of it should be like 6-7" up from Z0. right? now when you program it it should come out right on the machine. you just have to remember to program from CENTER of ROTATION. and all will be good.

any other questions just ask.

yup sounds like the draw bar is done. the belleville washers are not producing enough clamping force and your facemill was bouncing in the taper. thats what you were hearing. we had same thing last year on one of our older mills. had the drawbar rebuilt and all was good after.

I dont have one but on the HAAS website they have a very detailed drawing of it that would be easy to make a solid from.

we had a bad coolant problem also 3yrs ago too. we switched to Trim Microsol and we love it. they have many formulas made just for hard water too. i think the one we are using is the 685. the b210 was what i used at another shop but it was for soft water.

how did you create the letters? did you use note or letters? you have to use letters to create them. if you use note then you will have to break the note into lines and arcs. if you used letters what i do is window all you want to engrave and create a contour tool path, offset to center, no lead in or lead out. pick you tool, i use 1/32" or 1/16" ballnose endmills, or single lip engraving cutters. set your depth. and away you go. that should work for you. if it does not work, post what you are doing and we will try to see whats wrong

i found full retract with lots of coolant the best for cooling so the plastic does not melt and weld up the holes. nice sharp parabolic flute split point drills. other then that its just plastic. cuts like butter.

i used to use alot of minicuts before i started using OSG Blizzard endmills. the minicuts i used to use on an aluminum housing that was 4" deep x 18" lomg x 10" wide. i used a 3/4" regular length to rough out to 2" deep at 15000rpm and .008" cpt. and then switched to a long series for the rest at about 9000rpm and .005" cpt. we went from 45mins to rough it out to 10 mins. and the tools lasted 40-50 parts. and that was in MC8. so no fancy tool paths back then to help you out.

now i started using the Blizzards and the dynamic tool paths and i run at 12000rpm and .007"cpt for a 3/8" cutter. i can even do full slot at half diameter deep at the same feed and rpm. the boss likes how fast the machine runs and sounds when i start those up.

you are going to need diamond coated endmills at the minimum. and lots of coolant and rpms if the tools need to be small. diamond grinding also will work if you have the rpms for it.

if the parts are all the same i always nested myself. i would flip and rotate and mirror 3-4 parts real tight. then i would array those over the rest of the sheet. if the material is that expensive then it is worth it to take the time to nest it properly. its not hard. just tedious. if you can try nesting the parts so you have a common line between the parts. saves lots of cutting and space. if you need some help or more questions just ask.

rough them out and leave about .100" or so. then heat treat them. then finish. should be good that way. they should stay pretty stable.

last time i did it was in v9. but i still have 9 here and i still use it everyday too. not fully switched over to x5 yet

you used to be able to reverse post the nc file. it was a pain in the butt. but it worked. you had to know the tool sizes and offset your geometry by the rad of the tool. you had to use a post with "re" (i think) infront of the name and it read the nc file and created geo from it. but it is all based on center line of tool. unless you use control offset in your program.

for drilling you have to switch retract to incr. mode then it will start in relation to where you set your top of stock

have a look at the haas vm- series. we just got one in october and they are fast but still accurate. not like the ss. they have fine pitch lead screws but fast servos. we have a vm-6. 64" x 32" x 30" travel with 12k spindle. thrue tool coolant 1000psi. ethernet, more memmory. hard drive. the works. for the money it is great for us.

i treat it like 7075. its a little harder and denser but other wise its just aluminum.

if the baud rate was not fast enough you would just get pauses on the machine. as soon as it got code again it would go. then pause. then go. and so on. but you say it freezes the machine. are you getting error message? if not then i would say it was your machine. i have dnc'd lots and if for some reason i lost communication the machine would just sit there waiting for code. i would reset machine. restart dnc. and restart machine. never e-stop and repower up the machine.

they sell a laser that will tell you what the material is. you just point it at the part. pull the trigger. and it burns a small spot and from the light emitted from it it will tell you what it is. here is a link to the one i have seen in use.

http://www.azonano.com/equipment-details.asp?EquipID=24

very cool. the last shop i was in got caught by it. we made parts out of 7075 instead of 2024 and that laser caught it and we remade them. we then bought one for ourselves shortly after.

you are going to need to flip that a couple of times. i would rough the flange thickness and outside of pyramid. keep it cool. use coolant on it. flip rough bottom of flange and maybe some inside pyramid. then flip and finish top. flip finish bottom. leaving yourself .010 - .020" a side for finish. hardest part will be holding a 4 1/2" square 1/16" thick. cant hold it in vise it will bend. i would use the low temp wax on a nice flat 1" piece of alum. the one i use comes in a sheet like wax paper. lay it down on your tooling plate. put part on it. heat in oven to temp. remove from oven and let cool. hope this helps. let us know how it went.

file is on its way huzway