We have 3 HDM 690's, I really like them. Seem very solid and accurate. They have the dowel pin holes in the bottom for locating on a subplate with a 2x2 pattern however the bolt position of the ears does not match that same pattern which sucks since tie downs still need to be used. Otherwsie they are a great vise and would happily buy more if needed.

1:19 here Dell Precision M6500 Intel Core i7-920XM Quad Core nVidia Quadro FX 3800M 64 bit XP Pro X5 MU1 Mill 3, Lathe 1

Had same problem with our post originally, was advised to change that and it worked for our turning paths but our milling paths then had negative values and didnt before. If you have live tools do be cautious of that. If not you will probably be okay. We finally had to have a custom post made that took alot of editing from In-House to get the code for turning and milling to work from the same post and was emailed a document on how to set it up for either, I have attached it. It may be specific to our post setup but does work for us. I have heard that alot of other VTL users are having troubles getting their toolpaths correct for instance if you have a right turret machine, your toolpaths will actually look on screen like it is a left turret machine, however ours is not like that and that problem may have been changed in X5 as it was a while ago I read that. Using Mastercam with VTL setup.doc

the forum is not the place to air grievences with your reseller.. please take this up with them. post edited by gcode check your PM's

Personally I refuse to use Mastercam's design interface unless it is something extremely simple. I have always used 3d instead and have little time with Mastercam design but I usually find myself screaming obscentys at it because I wish it was more like our CAD software. My company has Autodesk Inventor and it is so much faster and user friendly to create models and geometry with, and they import seamlessly. Have used solidworks previously and it is a nice program also.

I do not know this as fact but I have heard if you draw your tool as a custom tool, it will recognize that corner radius. Let me know if you try this and how it works out.

I will have to look into that option. Sandvik and Iscar are supported much better in my area than Seco is in my opinion.

We have got a '97 4020A that I am planning a part to run on it that will be a large stainless plate that will machine out some deep pockets with islands, and remove over 50% by weight of the material so I am looking into cutting this with a high feed tool such as Sandvik 210 cutter. The machine is fairly new to us but seems pretty solid on X and Y but the Z axis screw had a lot of play and will soon be replaced. According to the paperwork the max cutting feedrate is 250ipm 375ipm with feedrate over ride set to 150%. I am curious if anyone has ever had any luck with trying to sustain 200ipm+ for an hour or two on a machine like this or if the control 88HS can even process blocks fast enough? This will strictly be a roughing operation so if it overcuts a little it will not hurt anything but if it starts to cause machine/tool damage that is a problem. I am going to try to run a kinematic test I was told about on it which envolves cutting a large circle then a square set at a lower level within that and then a diamond shape at a lower level with in that at a conservative feedrate, then blue the profile and adjust the tool diameter offset slightly and keep pushing the feedrate up until it starts to machine the bluing away and then it is over traveling. Or is this just all a lost cause and this machine can't handle anything close to this?

Evidently no Predator users here...?

I am trying to use the backplot feature with the Predator Editor and DNC our company purchased and am having no luck. Since very little info if any comes with the software about how to use it. I see there is a part where it says you must define a "predator header" block to show 3d solid models in back plot but all I am after at this point is simple wire diagrams. Anyone with some expierence with this, your help would be much appreciated as I am finding out support from Predator is terrible here with our salesrep.

I have heard google sketch up is okay and free I believe. Might also look into NCplot, not sure what all it can or cant do, but I know a free version is available.

We have the Sumitomo's also and I choose them for heavy interrupted cuts in steel, but in stainless I am getting better life out of the sandviks, maybe it is possible material or cutting conditions? I don't notice a big difference in tool life but the sandvik is longer but the price of the insert may not justify it either.

I turn a lot of large stainless parts on a VTL and some of them are flame cut and not flat or round so we get some nasty stuff, the best I have found so far is Sandvik 2025 grade. Dont have much problem chipping but the edge wear gets pretty bad. Am still looking for a better alternative. Got some Iscar IC3028 grade inserts in to try, but havent got to run them yet.

You doing anything for relocation or good beni's/salary that might pursuade a guy to move? Hope everything is spelled correctly

Had the same problem you are getting with that error. Had my IT department look into it and after quite a while he found it was something to do with the security permissions on the computer. Not sure how he fixed it, but if you havent tried that I might be able to get him on here to tell you.

We have a Peddinghaus PCD1100 Beam Line drill, that the operator recently quit and no one else seems to know much about it, so they come to me since I run the machine and turning centers and I don't have any experience with that or a siemens control but I am having trouble setting up some of the parameters in the peddimat software and displaying what the spindles are actually turning and feeding on the screen, someone that could answer a couple questions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Do you use a spring loaded live center or can the ball screw handle putting a little force on the part for the face driver?

quote: If you really don't need a lower turret, do not get one. It increased programing complexity even if you're not using it. Also, go with a sub spindle even if you don't need one now. I would def go with the NT over the beta if not for reliability alone. Mike Mike we are looking at getting something similar but have also thrown in an Integrex E series in the decision process. We are considering a lower turret since we do a lot of shaft turning with a lot of stock removal and balance turning should speed things up a bit, but you suggest getting the Sub spindle, we will probably do most of our work as one piece between a face driver and center, is it possible to use the second spindle like a tailstock? I would like the second spindle for those occasional jobs where it would be handy just to trade the part off and finish in one program and set up, but I am not going to trade that for not being able to turn the whole length of a shaft in one setup. Whats everyones thoughts as this would be our first true mill/turn machine? Thanks!

Joe You probably are looking for a full machine simulation setup like Predator Virutal machine which is much more than just the editor capability wise and was told the price is $1000/axis. A simple backplot capable editor would most likely just show your toolpaths whipping around the part not necessarily true rotations and offsets of the pallet however my experience with either is very limited. thanks for the replys so far guys

We are looking into getting a new editor with backplot capabilities to check some toolpaths on our mill, lathe, and live tooled VTL. I have talked to both companies and are in the process of evaluating the products. I am curious what you would recommend and how their support is for each if you have experience with either. Does Predator have a plug in for Mastercam like Cimco does? Would also be looking into using that companies DNC software aswell. Thanks for the help!

We have a live tooled VTL that is large enough to handle that for you. I will send a PM.

Thanks for checking that out Brian. I am not as good with editing and reading posts and using the debugger yet as I should. I'm still finding new features in Mastercam everytime I actually get to use it and not need to hurry up and get a code out.

Brian please try a Surface High Speed path. I just tried a normal surface roughing path and was able to output the G112 correctly there so I am thinking that it just does not work with the Surface High Speed paths. I guess I will switch to a normal contour surface path, strange the High Speed paths will not work, I did not notice a difference in the paths just the amount of control I have over it. Thanks for the help!

Sadly, no Y axis but a full contouring C. Yes this is on the face of the part. I will look through the post a little bit later and check those values you had mentioned.

I need to mill some 3D surfaces in a part using our live tooled VTL. I tried posting what I had to see the code and it will not output a G112. I have the misc value #4 set to 1 like I have always used. This is on the surface high speed rough and finish waterline toolpaths that it will not work. It will output fine for the contour path I have in the part though. Also noticed some sort of a bug in verify while watching a tool run compared to the toolpath shown in backplot which is unhandy. Any thoughts?