Nothing! We are an in-house supplier and we are caught in the middle of a spending freeze. We aren't that expensive either, just time and material.

When I got up at 11:00 am, we had about an inch of snow on the ground and it was still coming down in huge flakes. On the weather radar there was a small band of lake effect snow (from Lake Michigan) stalled over us. The band was about 10 miles wide and about 40 miles long. It quit snowing a little after 2:00 pm and has already nearly melted away.

CAUTION! What follows is a very wordy reply, but I really felt it was worth passing on since I learned all of this at Hard Knock University. Upper case that I use is not yelling, just my way of describing a parameter that needs to be changed. I was having the same problem with the HAAS code and it made me nuts. I was having to manually write all of the entry code. And, I was being yelled at by the operators on a daily basis. With my fragile ego I was ready to do serious harm to someone. I finally took the time to make a set of exercises to learn how to make cutter comp work every time. The following is the stuff I learned, but as a warning, it is 2D level 1. I don't know if these tips would apply to 3D. I know it would be better if I could post the parameter pages to the FTP, but I can't. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx FOR A RECTANGLE POCKET: As someone else mentioned, 1. Break a line in the middle and start your chain there. 2. I use LEAD IN/LEAD OUT. 3. I leave INFINITE LOOK AHEAD on. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx FOR A CIRCLE TOOL PATH (not a contour) This is my favorite 1. I change the ENTRY ANGLE to 0 2. ENTRY/EXIT arc is set 90 3. Check START AT CENTER 4. Check PERPENDICULAR ENTRY 5. Compensation is WEAR 6. Compensation is LEFT I have found that it doesn't seem to matter what the cutter diameter is as long as it is smaller than the circle. I have used a cutter only 1/32" smaller than the circle and it always works. It makes the prettiest little "D" shaped tool path you could ask for. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx SLOT, with radius on the ends equal to the slot width. (the slot is wider than the cutter) 1. I break the right end radius in the middle 2. I put a point in the center of the slot (where the X and Y axii intersect) 3. LEAD IN/LEAD OUT is ON and set to PERPENDICULAR. I generally use 100% 4. COMPENSATION is set to "wear" 5. DIRECTION is set to "left" 6. Start your chain with the point, then pick the upper half of the radius. If there aren't any geometry problems it should go all the way around the slot.

Peter, First I know you speak the truth about the dimensioning issues in 9.0SP1. I really must load the new version. It was biting me again today when all of my drafting notes were turning into some kind of elfen language. Yes, your wife would most surely be a distant relative. There are at least 3 variations in the spelling of the name Jenks. All of the families in the Northeast and basically this side of the Rocky Mountains are descended from Joseph Jenks of Lynn, MA., no matter which spelling is used. He came to the colonies in 1640. The Jenks families in Washington and Oregon came from a later migration which I think was in the 1840's or 1850's.

I don't know if this will help, but I will give it a shot. When the tool manager is showing(when you are selecting a tool), the title blocks over the information can be resized by dragging the block divider with the mouse. I have resized the tool name block so that it will show all information in that line. I have given my tools names that help me choose between tools with common parameters, i.e. same dia.

In reference to the video of the boss, we had a supervisor and one of his female employees fired for making videos on the premises. The videos were not family-oriented either. And, before you even ask, I didn't get to see them.

I never turn them off; I use them as a tool all the time. But, having said this, there is a problem. I find them turning themselves off. I know, I know, you are all saying this can't happen, and that I must be sniffing coolant fumes. I swear it does happen! Not 5 minutes ago I was using the dimensioning to aid me moving things around on a fixture I am building. I dimensioned a feature in X & Y, moved it and the dimension did not regenerate. I went to Screen-Configure and sure enough regeneration was turned off. I figured someone has been using my seat(said Poppa Bear), so I turned it on, saved the configuration change and went back to work. I made another change. Same scenario as I described in the previous paragraph. This happens a lot and just drives me nuts sometimes. We are still using V9.0SP1, but the newest release is in the desk drawer just in case we get around to loading it before V10 is released.

My name is Wayne Smith. I use the name "jenks" to honor my great-grandfather 14 times removed. Joseph Jenks of Lynn,MA, is credited as being the first machinist in the colonies, having come to Massachusetts in 1640. He was at one time ironmaster at the Saugus Ironworks. He is credited with receiving the first patent in the colonies. He had the first wire dies in the colonies, and various other "firsts". He is the only tradesman to be listed in WHO'S WHO'S. His sons and grandsons went on to found much of the metalworking industry in Rhode Island. They (sons) were asked to leave Massachusetts, as they were not puritan enough.

I started with Lathe 7, but didn't really like it. Redoing anything was such a pain. It seem easier to use the Okuma IGF. Then came Lathe 8, and I haven't written more than a couple of IGF programs since. The only reason I would do it (use IGF) is if I was having a problem with MC. I usually would find the MC problem was me. I would have to say that the only thing I really ever have trouble with is the grooving processes. There are just so many variables that must be contended with from job to job. Still in all, MC lathe really works well.

Everday. I have some that change speeds and feeds by less than 1 percent, just to show they know more than anyone else. Like I give a rat's butt, you don't get any credit for what you do anyway.

I am with jballs on this one. The 90 degree spotdrill is the simplest way to handle this task.

I'm still waiting for Drag-n-Drop library compiling new libraries. I hope that function is on MCX [ 01-28-2004, 04:11 PM: Message edited by: jenks ]

I told all you guys and gals it was a stupid question, and I was right. Today as soon as I logged on I went through the change attributes procedure, and when the attribute box appeared it had none of the boxes checked. Last night I had cleared all of the checkboxes before I logged off. I am thinking it must default to the last picks. I know there are other pick options in other parameter pages that work this way. [ 01-28-2004, 03:57 PM: Message edited by: jenks ]

Something new has started happening to my (shared)system running v9.0sp1 which is confusing me and causing errors. If I want to change an attribute I click: SCREEN-CHG ATTRIBS The attributes box would pop up and I would put a check in the box for each attribute I wanted to change. Now in the last couple of days, when the attribute box pops up, all of the boxes are checked. It was not doing it before. It is confusing the crap out of me, because I haven't been used to it working this way. I have been forgetting to turn off some of the boxes so I keep chasing my tail for changes that used to be simple. I know someone has changed the defaults, but I don't know where. I just want to know where to turn off the boxes as a default. MAIN-SCREEN-CONFIGURE-CAD SETTINGS-ATTRIBUTES doesn't get the job done. I know it is a stupid question, so I apologize in advance.

Random thoughts about me and Canada. My wife and I took a belated honeymoon in Toronto in 1971. Spent the days downtown and in its environs, and spent a couple evenings at Ontario Place. We have traveled a lot and still remember it as one of our best trips. I have a good friend at work who is originally from St. Catherines, Ontario. I had a boss from Sarnia, Ontario. He was a real ****head. Apparantly even Canada raises them. My company has just merged with a Canadian company. Our new CEO is a Canadian lawyer. I don't know if they are as evil as American lawyers! If I couldn't live here in the USA, Canada would be the next choice. Last but not least, you gotta love the people who bring you the Red Green Show.

I remember watching the good Captain. I think I was 10, because we got our first TV in 1955.

Eeyore is correct. If the look ahead is turned ON, the chain will not go around the "4". This same type of problem will occur sometimes if you are trying to mill completly around a profile. It will only see the first and last segment of the chain and then take the shortest path.

This is rule of thumb that I use with a Haas control, which I believe works like the Fanuc: First, zero out the tool diameter. Run the part, if any adjustments are necessary do the following: HOLES: To make the holes bigger use a negative value, such as -.001. To make the holes smaller use a positive value, such as +.001. OUTSIDE CONTOURS: To take stock off the contour, use a negative value. To make the contour bigger, use a positive value. ISKANDER has a very good idea about the 100 x 100 contour. I used a variation on the idea to get comp operation perfected on every type of operation that I use. It worked with pockets, circles, OD contours, it took some effort, but the end product was worth it.

Split square 30MM blocks from Naval Bronze with an M24 x 3 Trapazoidal thread between the splits. Plus a lot of M6 holes all over it.

I'd go to Michigan in a heartbeat! But, darn it all, I don't know anything about molds.

2435 hrs (-/+ 7.5) The overtime is mandatory, but we are allowed to get someone to fill in for us if we don't want it. Thanks be to the young ones! I'm getting too old for the hours I used to have to work. 11.5hrs a day for 7 days a week for 45 weeks. But on the plus side, I also got 8 weeks vacation last year.

This same topic was covered at MMSONLINE.com (MODERN MACHINE SHOP Magazine) in one of their forums. If I remember correctly, the Fryer got trashed rather badly. Myself, I don't know Fryer from anything, but we love our VF-4, and will soon be buying a VF-1.

We don't do ID/OD, but we just picked up a new Blohm (German made) surface grinder at IMTS2002. It was a really sweet deal, we got 30% off because it was a show model. Old grinder was 27 years old, they have really come a long way with all the bells and whistles on the new ones. We program on the floor as it has a fairly friendly conversational program. [ 12-10-2003, 06:12 PM: Message edited by: jenks ]

I like the choices on live365.com, Celtic & Folk, although I can no longer listen at work. My employer has blocked all streaming. It's really too bad, since we have a satellite connection that is really fast.

Buckethead, thanks for making me feel better about what I do. I too have no 3d programming experience, and program all of our lathes and mills. I would dearly like to learn 3d, but I doubt if it is going to ever happen. There just ain't any time, since there are just two of us here programming, and we are running 24/7 most of the time. Not to mention the fact that I am on the fast downhill slope to retirement, having been doing this since 1970. [ 11-27-2003, 08:34 PM: Message edited by: jenks ]