LOL Stork James obviously making up for his reduced post count by covering equal real estate with the USC piccy in his sig

Chuckles are you using pilot or reamer type ? Reamer type will give best results as the pilot type require clearance and will always be suceptible to chatter.

quote: for those that really need it Well robk we don't all have Harleys ya know BTW, I tried Modify > Trim > Many ... Not the desired result

acp WELCOME

I am with Code Breaker and Andrew on this one. I came from an engineering background, but was in and around the shop from day one. I am not a machinist, but if I have to I can set up and run a job (just don't ask me to make rate). At my current employer over the last 10 years I have had 3 in house CNC machinists go for formal MC training. One is a wire programmer with limited programming abilities. One is an excelent setup guy but due to major computer phobia, never grasped the whole programing system thing. He uses MC to download my programs to the machine and occasionaly uses the editor although foro some reason prefers notepad. One did pretty well, and could do most 2 1/2 axis stuff, but his mastercam toolpaths were pretty poor. He did alot of edits at the machine which, with better mastercam toolpathing would have been unneccessary. MCPGMR on this forum also worked for me and side by side with me at another shop. He started as a machinist, and is a very good programmer. I recently had an experience with a guy who went to a trade school for a year or so and suposedly learned mastercam and cad there among other things. He had much shop experience, but he was not a CNC guy prior to his schooling. No Go. I have told my boss that if he wants another programmer, he needs to comit to hiring a seasoned, experienced programmer that can come in and start on day one making good programs. I don't personally know any programmers that come from Engineering backgrounds other than myself (I know they are out there). I would definately not rule out the possibility that these guys can be trained to make parts. Especially if they are generally sharp and have some general shop exposure. Now if they don't know the difference between an endmill and an edgefinder, well you've got a long training project ahead of you.

Hey I have an Idea ... try Combine views. Actually Threept82 I use Combine views as a matter of practice when Importing Iges models from my other CAD system for exactly this reason. Now as for the "Can't get no trim" problem ... No MasterCAM function I know of will solve that, but maybe one of the Guru's knows.

Welcome

normale! Welcome.

+1 on the Haas units. We have a couple of the 5c units that have been around for years. Sent them back for reconditioning and control upgrades a couple of years ago. They still work great.

Have Fun Ron I am out of here from 23rd to the 3rd. Back to Philly for som thermal shock. Merry Christmas Happy Holidays and a safe New Year to everyone.

If you have a PC at each machine, you don't really need anything but the mastercam communications. There used to be a free version of the stand alone communicator, but I don't see it any where. Does anyone know if it's still around.?

Check me here if I am nuts. I never noticed this before, but doing a 3D contour (I am using a ball mill), the “Stock to leave in Z” field does not work, it should be greyed out or sumfin'. You have to change the “depth” to affect any Z stock allowance. CAM teh "where's the stock"

quote: Actually the rpm calculation we use is (sfm x 12)/(diameter x pi)= rpm On the floor I use: SFM X 4 / D It is close enough (I usually round down) and I can do it in me head. 4" Cutter = SFM, 2" Cutter = 1/2 SFM etc.) I think the original question was to calc spindle speed and maintain chip load and feed rate. CAM teh keep it stupid simple

Hi guys, sorry I'm late ... did I mis anything I too have drilled with ball mills for various reasons. In this case however since everyone seems to be "defending the practice" I am surface machining a feature which is a blind conical hole with a spherical diameter point. The depth is critical. I wanted to spot the bottom of it with a short dwell to pretty it up a little and make polishing a bit easier. So even though I was using a drill cycle, I really wasnt drilling per se'. As for dragongirl ... ya ever have one of those mosquitos that every once in a while buzzes in your ear ... rather insignificant but annoying nonetheless.

+1 to the guys above. Also are you using v. 9.1 ? surfacing support for undercuts is much better in 9.1 than previous. I had best results when using Surface Contour.

quote: LoL, poor dragonxxxx(z). Thanks I forgot to spell check.

That fixes it. Thanks Kevin.

what? Draqueenbirdtalker(z) ... ya never been drilled with a ballmill ?

quote: Birdy told me... u can edit the tool and change the center of it to the tip of it instead to the center of tool.. You should hang with different birds, cuz' Birdie was wrong.

Thanks t Unfortunately I verification was a must on this one, so I lied on the drill depth for verify purposes then changed it back, but that is an accident waiting to happen. CAM

I never noticed this before, can someone duplicate it? I am drilling with a .125 ball end mill. Both backplot and verify apear to comp the tip to the center of the ball (tool is displayed .0625 deeper than it should). If I change the tool in the same tool path to a drill it is fine, then change back to a ball mill, it is too deep again. The .nc code seems to post the corect depth though.

Why is "On selected curve" not an available option for tip control when using 3 axis output. CAM

quote: but again i was busy with rked, Amusement Friday

What are they going to switch to ?

there is a section in the new mastercam notes that overviews the justification by highlighting the enhancements of the MR's. My suggestion, if you are getting heat already, don't roll out X without giving it a thorough test drive.