Charles: I'm an old M-14 user also, and always have been a huge fan of it. I carried one for two years. I carried the M16 when I was in the Army in RVN. I didn't like it nearly as well as the M14. I just saw an article in the National Rifle Magazine about a new version of the M1A-1, I don't remember all of the details, but the thing that I remember most is that it was shortened.

Laying off here.

I have a bit of advice if anyone is from Northern Indiana or Southern Michigan and plans to attend IMTS. Driving to McCormack Place can be a bit of hassle at times. This is a way to reduce it a little bit. The last time we went (2002), we drove to South Bend Regional airport and took the South Shore Train into Chicago. It took us right to Dearborn Street Station where we caught a cab to McCormack Place. Train travel time was slightly under 2 hours and cost about $20. The cab was $7 each way for 2 people, and took about 10 minutes. On weekends (and during the Auto Show), the train stops at McCormack place. Too bad they don't stop for the IMTS. I think the last train leaves for South Bend about 8pm. If we go again this year, we will take the train.

If you are using the "CANNED CYCLES" in Mastercam V9, you may have a small glitch when trying to use a canned lap rough and canned finish cycle. It is especially a problem if you choose the highlighted tool path on the second paramter page. If you use a different tool for the finish, the post will sometimes throw the code for the finish cycle to a spot in the program that is after the M2 command. It was a real challenge to figure out what was happening. If this has happened to anyone, just don't use the "canned finish". Choose a normal finish and rechain. It works like it should then.

We had a WFR "workforce reduction". All of us who had been in our CNC cell were demoted back to our old jobs. We were basically a maintenance job shop that was operating within the frame work of the engineering department. We were making consumable parts and cloned OEM parts that were no longer available. We were doing parts for a total of 13 plants company wide. We had over 1100 part numbers that we produced, and in the last 4 years had saved the company over $5 million dollars for spare parts. We merged with another company that didn't do this kind of stuff, and since their CEO became the CEO of the merged companies, we aren't doing it now either. The WFR came about because we had to save $100 million dollars in merger expenses. We still have the machines, 3 lathes and 3 mills, Mastercam, and 4 very talented people(blush). What we don't have is very good attitudes.

I quit smoking after one week when I was 14 (1960) and cigarettes were only 20 cents a pack. My buddies were bumming so many of them I couldn't afford the(their) habit. I guess I was tight even back then.

You guys are going to hate me, but it's too bad it is in California. My company eliminated all CNC operations two weeks ago. So now I am full time as a manual machinist again. Being back in the stone age really sucks.

Chris is correct. I almost always forget to turn on my retract points. The first time I do a backplot I find the error. But, it only takes a minute to turn on the points and regen. It works every time.

Keep your head down and stay safe. I know what you guys are going through and you are all in my thoughts every day. Jenks, "THE BIG RED ONE" vet, 1968-1969.

Welcome to the group. These are great bunch of people to help with any problems. I spend most of my time just being a "sponge", but on occasion I'll ask for help which comes quickly and with many different opinions. With all due respect, I think your dealer gave you the best advice. I have to use V7.2 once in a great while and it seems like stone age compared to V9. I can't even remember what V6 was like. Upgrade to V9=GOOD!

There is a button on the tool parameters page "Ref. Points". You can place the approach and retract points exactly where you want them. It works well if you didn't add advance and retract points when the operation was chained initially, as it allows you to locate approach and retract points without rechaining. I had the very same problem yesterday. I was making bronze bushings with a bore of .5015", and the smallest hole my 3/8" bar would bore was .500". By using the reference point I was able to get the tool out without gouging the bore of the bushing.

Some of the parts I've gotten in the past have come in on an AUTOCAD file. The part was drawn inside of a template that had borders and title blocks for printing. It also had company logo. I was playing around, and accidently found that the logo was geometry and was readable with the dxf converter. I was able to make an engraving program from that.

Try the "THE HOME SHOP MACHINIST" magazine or "MACHINIST'S WORKSHOP" magazine. Right now one of them is running a series about building a radial aircraft engine. These are both really excellent magazines that shows off some of the talent that is out there in garages and home shops all over America. They are also great learning tools for the beginning machinist. The web page is WWW.villagepress.com/workshop/ & WWW.villagepress.com/homeshop/

Now I remember what I hated most about dayshift. It was getting up at 2:00AM in order to be at work by 3:00AM. NEVER AGAIN!

I've worked 2nd and 3rd shift for 31 out of 35 years. The only time I worked days was when I was going to school and some classes weren't offered during the day schedule. The last time I worked days was August 1980. I have been on 2nd shift since that time. I would not have it any other way.

I'm on Atenelol. The only side effect is that it lets me take a nap at the drop of a pin(sic). I don't really consider that bad. The best thing about it, is that it is so inexpensive. I'm supposed to walk 1/2 hour each day, which I manage to do most days. I'm also supposed to lose a little weight which I am doing. Anyway, the BP is under control.

I can never get enough of the French, NOT! I was fortunate to be serving in the US Army in 1967. I was stationed in Germany with an engineer batallion. The French "asked" NATO to please leave. Unfortunatly for me I was TDY'd for 6 weeks to help move stuff out of the Nancy area. The total time there completly sucked,I was never treated so badly in my life. Well, that is not exactly true. When I got to San Francisco in 1969 on my return from VietNam, those xxxx made me feel quite unwelcome too. Anyway, I have hated the French and all things French ever since.

I came back from vacation last year and found a new KDS 19" analog/digital LCD display on my desk. The colors are bright and crisp, lines are sharp. I'm really glad to have gotten it, I can sit it at the back of the desk and not have to wear my glasses in order to use it.

For 10 of the last 14 years, my company gave us lump sum raises because we were paid higher than the average in the community. Now thanks to their benevolence, we are near the bottom of the community wage scale. It doesn't matter what job you perform in this company, we all are paid at the same rate of $19.85 per hour. Our wages now compare with the duck and chicken slaughterhouses in the area. In the rest of the community, which is heavy into biomedical machining, you can't even get a CNC button pusher for less than $21/hr. And programmers, well, you don't even want to know. Merit raises were taken away and replaced with a 1% lump sum based on the prior years wages. You got one if you could walk on water. 3%, I'd be glad for that.

I also get this glitch showing up at any time. I just close out of MC(9.0 sp1) and restart and it is usually OK. Sometimes, I will have to close out and restart several times. I believe this glitch was noted on the forum a long time ago and at that time the comments were that it would be addressed in V9.1. Being a tad bit of a procrastinator, I haven't loaded the new version yet, so I don't know if it was fixed.

I always define the stock. But, defining the stock can cause other problems that I won't go in to now. I think it is operator error(myself, because there is no one else to blame).

Thanks guys. I am using the supplied bars. No custom tooling at all. When the tool is defined, it does show the point back from the front. I guess Mastercam just doesn't recognize the little bit sticking out in front of the tip. It is just that I always start my tools .100" off of the part. The point is then read at the tip of the tool, which is back from the end. It is this habit that gets me in trouble. I did stick a note on the tool description and it now draws my attention to the fact that I have to allow more for clearance.

This is basically a lathe question. I have a problem that has bit me several times and you would think I could remember how to prevent it by now. When using a reverse boring bar I keep forgetting that there is a portion of the bar sticking out in front of the point of the tool. So, when I assign my enter and retract points I make them too close to the stock, and bingo we have a crash possibility. So far I've been lucky, and one of us has caught the glitch. But, my luck can't hold out forever. Is there any way I can put a message(note if you will) into the tool description that reminds me to allow for the excess length? I've made a "band-aid" fix, but some of you may have a better idea. On the parameter page of the tool, on the TOOL NAME line, I added "check overhang". It ain't pretty, but it gets the idea across.

Reid Tool Supply Co. @ www.reidtool.com has many items in their catalog drawn in Autocad files and is downloadable. They also have a CD that is available for a nominal fee. I also use the Mitee-Bite clamp web site. All of their products are downloadable. As James Meyette also said, McMaster-Carr is also good. But, as a word of warning! Check the dimensions of anything you download. I once downloaded a Mitee-Bite clamp from a web site other than Mitee-Bite's and designed a whole fixture around it. The clamp was drawn wrong, and my fixture was nothing but scrap.

You are running the same computer configuration that we do, and we have no problems like yours. Personally I had a similar problem, but no one else did. Everyone could print off of my setup, but I couldn't. Somehow my user profile had become corrupted right in the middle of a print job. It took one of our IT people to finally figure out what had happened.