Looking to buy a used CNC Router. It will be used for making the parts in the slideshow.( Sun Visor, trucks & Buses) One sheet at a time, as needed, not high volume, but lots of variety. All are made from 1/8 or 3/16th tinted/ clear, lexan, plexi, acrylic. http://s149.photobucket.com/user/timex_timex/slideshow/work/VISOR I am looking for recommendations. I do not want to wind up, with an orphan machine. Something that I can't get prints, parts or service for. Need to have a tool changer. I already use Mastercam, for the VMC's we have. If you looked at the parts, do you have any thoughts on the router module? Any and All. recommendations, advice, experiences, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks tim

BINGO!!!! quote: Our seminars are not meant to replace training classes, but to show what tools are available. What's neat is to see the synergy created by getting the customers together. I learn allot from the customers also. (It was Travis that showed me trim-divide back in v8) I learned MC3 the hard way, making variations of the part from the print. I was hoping that my reseller was doing an area intro to the new features we have been told are coming in the latest version. Do I need a Mill 1 2 day seminar, on how to use MCX to perform a Surface Contour- No. So I will not push the class issue, my guys already know the nuts and bolts of getting it done. Instead I will watch the forums, print anything that should go in a notebook, as cool new things to know, and when I have enough info to make it worthwhile, I hand out copies. I'll take the dinero and let the guys spend 2 hours @ day, just sitting and playing with it, before letting it loose in the shop. Thanks Tim H.

I did e-mail, Mastercam, and recived this response. quote: Hi Tim- Until now, I was not aware the XXXXXX was charging for the Mastercam X update classes. Unfortunately, CNC corporate cannot tell XXXX what that can and cannot charge for their services. My question to you would be is this training class? Do you know how long the class is? Many dealers are doing free seminars. These are not training, but rather a 3-4 hour overview of what's new in X in more of a demo environment. If a dealer is offering a 1 or 2 day training course, I could understand why they would charge for it. It may be worth it to call XXXXX to express your concerns and see if they plan on doing anything for free, and to see what your options are. Please let me know if I can do anything else for you. Thanks- XXXXX XXXX XXXX CNC Software, Inc. Corporate Sales 860-875-XXXX [email protected] I respect that. And I followed the advice, to call the reseller, who informed me that the free seminars WERE held Aug 4th, for potential customers, more of a dog & pony show for new sales. Outlining the new benefits of MC X over the last version. Since we are current because of the maintenance agreement, we were not invited. I asked about doing a user group over-view, that I would be happy to put 10 sim #’s down for a group meeting. I was reminded that I have already received a discounted seminar price of $395. per person, for a Total of $1580. Thanks Tim H. [ 08-08-2005, 03:34 PM: Message edited by: TimHollis ]

I am writing to express my total disappointment with the up-date class. I have 4 people I had intentions of sending, and I am point man for couple of other registered local area users. But after discovering that it will cost $395. per person, I don't know. That is the discounted price. As a member of emastercam.com, I read with anticipation the coming release of Mastercam X, along with all of the open invitations for the Roll-Out Seminars, being offered, for free in various parts of the country.. Of course since I am located on XXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX and my only, reseller is XXXXXXXXX, I am obligated to deal directly with them. So if I want to send the guys to find out the latest and greatest about Mastercam's biggest release in years, I should just pony up another $1500. for that privilege. This after putting together one of the most intense company sponsored in-house training programs around, Design, Solids, Mill & Lathe, in this area. Plus keeping the Maintenance contract current. Would you push the company to pony up the $1500, to send the guys to an up-date class?????? Thanks Tim H.

quote: joe m We don't have the DNC set up yet. I see the Yet.... How long do you have the machine? And take the time to give as much detail as possible, especially the actions you have already tried. Tim H.

Thank you!!!!!!!! I call the guy over, who wrote the posted code down, and gave it to me. I asked him to show me were he comes up with this stuff. All I'm going to say is.... I should have gone and looked my-self, before pushing the help button. I can't thank you guys enough!!!!! I'll spill some Presidente in your Honor!! Tim H.

I need help, on a Haas Lathe. Need to turn a thread, 3/8 NPT x .600. What I have is not working.... G76 X.5676 Z-.6000 I-.0146 K.0555 D.022 02 I'm just not getting a good thread. Any help would be appreciated.. NPT on the Haas Lathe, this is the 1st time for us, I feel like an idiot! Thanks Tim H.

Also, I forgot to add.... I posted a Help Wanted add, on the Mastercam Web site, for a Lead CNC set-up person. I hired 1 guy, who started this past monday. He responded through the Mastercam ad. Thanks to everybody at Mastercam & In-House Solutions, who just sold me a ton, of educational materials, for my in-house courses I'm teaching. Except from my re-seller. The support I receive from every-one involved is truly exceptional!!! Thanks Again!!!! Tim H. [ 05-17-2005, 02:30 PM: Message edited by: TimHollis ]

I have a question and need help. Color Code, on blocks of A2 or alloys like QC7 & or 6061. In the past, I have noticed that materials being delivered had a color mark on them. Red for steel, blue for aluminum. I am getting ready to have the guys paint our 4 Deburring Down Draft Tables along with their respective filters, and the Time-Savers, along with all of the storage buckets for the waste, from the process. Everything for steel, gets painted red. Everything for aluminum, gets painted blue. Somebody asked me why, those colors. I explained……………. In the past, I have noticed that materials being delivered had a color mark on them. Red for steel, blue for aluminum. I called our supplier, who confirmed they have their own color-coding charts, that are internal, each supplier, makes their own. Does anybody, know if there is a standard to the visual color markings for identification, on the alloy’s and steel????? I have searched on and off. For awhile, and cannot find a clear guideline. Any and all help, is greatly appreciated. Tim H. Adding.... Yep, somebody did a little deburring of some steel parts on the aluminum table.... Shazam!!! The survey said..... Duh... I didn't know, that could cause a fire!!!

Oh Yeah. Sent to Haas tech support. Using a new VF-2 mill with 8 megabytes of memory and the Ethernet option for communication. We use MasterCam as our CAM system. We are having problems downloading files due to their size. Small programs are transferred almost instantaneously, but recently it took 10 minutes to download a 2 MB program at the VF-2 control. The machine would not even accept a 5 MB file. We need the ability to download large files. What’s the best way to implement a drip-feed system? Do we scrap the Ethernet card and revert to an RS-232 system, or go to a third-party drip-feed system? and the survey said!!! Dear Tim: We were able to download a 7.5 MB file in 9 minutes via Ethernet, so you should be able to get similar results. There are several things that may be causing or contributing to your long download times. If your company’s computer network is busy or overloaded, it can increase your download time considerably. Also, there must be sufficient memory available in the Haas control to accept the program, and provide buffer space for the download. It’s possible that the 5 MB file was larger than the amount of memory you had available. The Ethernet option is about 10 times faster than a serial port, so you don’t want to go back to RS-232. Please keep in mind that DNC from a PC to a CNC machine via Ethernet is not the same as transferring a file from one PC to another. To free up additional memory, you can delete old programs, or save them off the machine. And remember, it’s not how many programs, but how large they are that matters (ten 200K files take up the same amount of memory as one 2 MB file). Sincerely, Haas Applications geez!!! who would have thought it!! Tim H.

Just found out, from Mark H, in the Off Topic Forum, that Mastercam always you to post your job listing, on their website for free, here..... http://mastercam.com/camzone/Employment/default.asp Just scroll down and hit post. Thanks To Mark H, and the people at Mastercam. Tim H.

Good Morning, James M. As almost always, you are correct. There is a sign-on incentive, outstanding, medical benefits, the right starting pay, for the NY,LI area, and an unlimited opportunity to grow in almost any direction. Lead set-up man, CNC Mill/Lath area. Over-see 4 machining centers, 2 lathes, and 7 employees X 2 shifts, Be able to modify programs thru Mastercam, for efficiency. Proprietary Metal Shop. I just don't want them to waste offing the perks on a bunch of guys from a employment agency, getting scared, and then when the right guy, does come along, the grass won't be green enough for them. Thanks Tim H. Thanks Tim H.

Good Morning. I got some hits, and sent them through. Also called my re-selller, who put the word out, should have thought of that one 1st. Anybody have some thoughts for finding talent? Thanks Tim H.

Just kicking it up for the weekend, this is really a fantastic, opportunity for the right person. The right person would also get to play with... · Sheet Metal Shear Amada M2060 · CNC Punch / Laser Amada 2510 Apelio w/ Automatic Sheet Feed · CNC Punch Amada 358 Vipros · CNC Brakes- 4- all Amadas · Spotwelding Machine Amada ID 40ST · Welding Robot Panasonic PanaRobo VR-005 A2 · Welding Robot Motoman · CNC Router's All the latest toys. Thanks Tim H.

Position is located out in the middle of Long Island, NY, in the Central Islip/ Bohemia area. Looking for a lead set-up person, for small CNC Area. Who can solve problems on their own. Must be experienced programming in Mastercam and in setup in the following types of equipment or similar... · CNC Lathe HAAS TL-1. · CNC 4-Axis Mach. Center HAAS VF-3 . · CNC 3-Axis Mach. Center HAAS TM-1. · CNC Milling Mach. Bridgeport EZ-Trak · CNC Bridgeport Lathe EZ-Path SD with PowerDex Turret Competitive pay. Great Health Benefits. Multi-national company. No relocation. If interested, please e-mail me. Thanks Tim H. Individuals only, no headhunters or agency's please! [ 03-22-2005, 02:58 PM: Message edited by: TimHollis ]

I had a customer back in the states, big company, that had just gone from ACAD to SolidWorks. The 1st job comes along in SW, I quote on it and get it, I ask for a 2d print with all the critical dims called out. I’m told that they are going paperless, and nobody but me is asking for 2d prints, get with the times. So I IGES out into MC7 at the time, and deliver the molded part, it’s accepted, and I got paid. Same exact thing for the 2nd job. 3rd job comes along, this time by CD, the file is to big to send by e-mail, a lot of details, a lot more complicated than the 1st two. I tell them on the quote, must have 2d print. 2 days of telephone calls, e-mails, with the designer, and me saying all along, no print, no steel gets cut. There are too many attachment points that look critical for sub-components for assembly. Plastic Shrinks, and I have to figure this into the steel cuts. I get a call from the VP of Engineering, a guy who gets $ 180,000. @ year. He basically tells me I need to get with the program, NONE of the other vendors are asking for prints any more. Tells me I should invest in more modern software and GET UP TO DATE. Oh, we need the part in 3 weeks, we have to assemble this thing for a show. The quote said 6. Fine, I make the part, I drive the 50 sample shots over, 3 weeks later. I’m sitting in their conference room by my self, and in comes the companies President, VP, VP of Engineering, the Designer, and the Purchasing Agent. They explain this is part of a product, that is going to revolutionize their market, and their all excited, because I’m holding the last component needed for assembly. I open the box, and start passing out the samples. The V.P. of Engineering yells at me, while holding the part in his hand. WHAT THE F*CK IS THIS! IS THIS A F*CKING JOKE!!!! I sit back and tell him, no, it’s the part you sent me. My part’s are about the dimensions of a pack of cigarettes, it was supposed to be about the size of a book of matches. Oh Sh*t!!!!!!!!! I, pull out the P.O. showing where I had to have a 2d print, I pull out a copy of all the e-mails between the designer, and the V.P. of Engineering, reading out loud, the responses, which were not very professional. Their own Purchasing Agent, backed me up, all the way. And then, I pull out the original CD with the file. We go to the V.P of E’s office and he opens the file, and starts pulling dimensions off the solid, a veneer in 1 hand & a part in the other, my part is hitting all the numbers! Seems the designer liked to work big, and forgot to set the final scale, before burning the file! I sit down in the chair and in about 4 minutes I pop out a 2d print from the V.P.’s printer. I hold it up, and ask him, why can’t they do that from a solid, when they want it quoted. It seems the B.S. line I was getting from everybody, was coming from the Designer, who did not know how, to make prints, in SW, and the V.P. was a true believer. The President looks at me and say’s, I’ll pay you 3 times the quote on top of the original price, I need parts in a week, you can have a check today for the full amount. The V.P. of Engineering, jumps in with, that will blow the budget for this out of the water. The President says, not at all- It’s coming from YOUR CHRISTMAS BONUS!!!!! You should have seen this guy’s face! I lost it, the V.P. of E, says- what! and after a few seconds is stuttering like Don Knotts, lost in space. I start laughing so hard, I had to leave the room. I’m in the hall with the V.P. and the Purchasing Agent- howling away. The President and the V.P. of E, are going at it inside, people are starting to poke their heads out of their offices and look at us like we were crack addict's that wandered in from the street- I'm still laughing so hard, that tears are coming down my face. I CNC'ed the first 50 pcs, and sand-blasted them. Took my time redoing the mold. They got their parts, and I always got 2d prints after that. [ 12-11-2003, 06:37 AM: Message edited by: TimHollis ]

Maybe for setting you TLO? Just a guess on my part. Tim H.

Corey "Big Bear" Bratton aka mold100 You should go read my last post, that I just put up, on Free Trade Zones. I know exactly what you going though. Bucket, any idea how much in time and cost, your wearing on your sleeve there???? Very Impressive!!!! Tim H. [ 12-01-2003, 06:43 PM: Message edited by: TimHollis ]

I’m going to keep writing, but I want to put a few of my thoughts down here. Harryman, linked the story by the American Machinist, which I think everybody here should read, it's 1 page. He is the 1st post at the top of this page. I was that guy!!!! When I had my own place, I used to take pride in the fact that I could get the job a customer had quoted over-seas about 90% of the time, sometimes I had to walk away 10%. When I stole one from over-sea’s, it usually meant, that I would have do the mold myself, on nights and weekends, to deliver in 1st shots, in 4 weeks. By not paying the overtime, to the guys, I could still do it for a buck, (people think owners are the highest paid! Ha!!!!) There was always this burning driving desire to complete the job ahead of schedule, under budget. And spinning handles in the shop, always made me feel better about it. My guys in the tool room, would be working on their OT projects, and would all be going home before 8pm. My best friend at night, was the 2nd shift Forman, he always kept filling me up on Duncan Donoughts coffee, and called me to come sit and have lunch with him. Allot of times, we would walk-out to the parking together and say goodnight, My 3rd shift Forman could never get over the fact, that he would say goodnight to me at 12:30, and see me walking back in at 7:30am. When I look back on how I used to feel, instead of pride, or a sense of accomplishment, I now realize, how ignorant I really was. I really had no idea of what I was fighting, when winning that job, and keeping it from going over-seas. When I think back, all the money I paid, to turn a company from 2 people to 80 people, in 8 years, it is mind boggling. And then to see, how my government, who does not have to worry about running at a profit or loss, who’s only source of income is through tax revenues, utilizing it the way it does outside the U.S. It made me very mad at first. Then I began to research and try to understand why. You guy’s are defiantly not going to like this one. Without FTZ, certain U.S. companies, could not compete in the manufacturing area. Just the cost of salaries, on 800 people, is enough of a difference to make some companies take notice. Lawsuits & Liabilities, are virtually non-existent, the cost of industrial property per SqFt, is enough to make you think twice. So to compete with the Asian Rim, some companies, MUST go off shore, and set-up a Twin-Plant. Some types of manufacturing will always need to be State-side. Then there is Specialty shops, and JIT, that would not benefit from this type of operation, YET. I love fresh milk, here all my milk is ultra-pasteurized, from Puerto Rico, in half gallon containers, once opened, and then it needs to be refrigerated. I never thought I would by milk by the case, usually a month’s worth. I store it in the pantry, and always keep 2 in the fridge. things change. Medical Students FROM the U.S., a huge industry by it’s self. I asked them, why they come here for their education, and the answer shocked me. For $ 8000. U.S. dollars a year, that gets them full tuition, books, room & board. Once they do their residency, they can take the boards back in the States. Fully funded and operated by a sub-division of Harvard Medical Schools. Ok, enough of my ranting, I’m going to finish this up shortly. I apologize for getting off the track. Thanks Tim H. [ 12-01-2003, 06:13 PM: Message edited by: TimHollis ]

Part 1 of CORRUPTION. The rumors on the streets are that key members of Hippo*s (DR’s President) cabinet were involved in Pepegate and international drug trafficking, illegal alien traffic, smuggling of weapons and money laundering, has now been confirmed by the declarations made by U.S Ambassador Hans Hertell that members of the cabinet have been denied entry into the U.S. Specifically, they were intercepted at Miami Intl. Airport, had their visas stamped "Cancelled" and shamefully return to DR. What is even worse, is that President Bush alarmed by the situation, has now approved a plan to send 8000 troops to our border, not for a military exercise to train our troops to interdict smuggling and drugs, but to stay permanently and continue with the plan to merge both countries. The plan involves cancelling the entire foreign debt of both countries. The U.S. has given up on Haiti, a drug state where even Aristide is the angel of the pack is in trouble. The opposition to Aristide is part of the Colombian Cartel. In addition, the rumor has it that the attempt on the life of a member of Hippo*s cabinet in Navarrete was directed at him (Hippo) and it was a-------hit!(better known ADC). The whole thing was worked out to happen in this town in the middle of a protest against the "apagones" to place the blame on FALPO leaders. I doubt very much that Hippo would resign. The PRD party is now totally involved in corruption, something that even Hippo has stated himself. They are used to scandals and would not let their thirst for money and power be slowed by "minor" and "isolated" incidents", which is how they perceive it. The last corrupt PRD president who resigned, used suicide, or so they say, as his way of resignation from the corrupted world that involved him. Just think...when President Antonio Guzman shot himself in disgrace, his inner ring of personal aides included such luminaries as Hipolito Mejia, Hernani Salazar, Eligio Jaquez, and the rest of the gang that now airbags Hippo himself. Hippo was involved in a scandal of his own during the Guzman administration. It would take much more to have George Bush send an executive order to fire Hipolito. There are too many big people involved in all the criminality being covered up. As was described by the magazine Ahora, the construction going on in DR cannot be justified with the number of loans being issued by banks, specially the Savings and Loans Associations, which are used to avoid taxes. All you have to do is look around and see that most of these luxury towers recently built have not been selling. Many have large numbers of empty apartments. They are not profitable as an income producing entity. The only answer for all this development is laundering. -Hippo has now admitted, while in Spain, which we never doubted, about 8000 troops coming to the border to establish order is ABSOLUTELY TRUE!! But he even says there is MUCH MORE!!! and that he will explain when he gets back. For those who still doubt the U.S. efforts to merge the two countries, here is something that Hippo will tell you when he gets back. Right now there are suspicious movements going around not only in the border but in the town of Azua. Yes Azua, many kilometers from the border!!! The plan is to establish another Vieques in DR. In other words, we are ready now to build a U.S. military base right in the heart of our south. But even more, the Beata Island could also be used for military and air exercises. The Naval Base at Las Calderas which is not strange to U.S. usage in the past will be a key to the whole link. The occupation by U.S. forces is a fact. And the purpose will be more to facilitate Haitians into imigrating and crossing the border than stopping it. The U.S. will use the excuse of the drug traffic, money laundering, smuggling and terrorism in addition to their failure to control the situation in Haiti. Hippo will welcome lots of foreign aid which will be used to keep the PRD in power. Tim H [ 12-01-2003, 02:41 PM: Message edited by: TimHollis ]

I'm just wrapping up a project, then I'll finish this off. Tim H.

Gee all you VB script- cut & past- post processor- pro's should have helped him out by now!!!!! I had the same thing, I got rid of it, I couldn't let the kids at the pc untill I did. And I tried all that ad-blocker, spam stopper, and trogan finder stuff, I could. 1, when you launch IE, and you see you home page has been reset, BEST GLOBE-SEARCH, LUCK PORNO-FINDER...,... click on TOOLS, then Internet Options. 2, Ctrl-C, Copy the full address in your home page box, it might look like this http:// 100%90%&80%&70%&50%&40%&30%20%&10% It will not look like what your used to seeing for a web address. 3, Ctrl-V, past it into Windows Explorer, and search all files containing that TEXT. 4, Go have a beer, this will take awhile, up to 15 per gig. 5, When you see the files listed for a match, Left Mouse Click- OPEN WITH, use WORD_PAD, or MS-WORD, some files will be to big to use NOTE_PAD. re-name the original file starting with OLD, just in case, you have a fat finger mistake. 6 Click on the tool bar on Top of the word processor, in the program and select FIND, past the F*cking address in there, and click find. 7 Everytime it shows you where it is, usually in the middle of a whole bunch of funny looking code, delete it out and type, what you want your home page to be, http://www.msn.com, for example. Save the file with out OLD in the name. 8 You should definatly find it in a Windows User Data file, and some other places. 9 It took awhile, but I finally got the string out, and eventually was able to edit out the offending re-direct string it-self. Which had a mille-second countdown timer written into it, for activation to re-direct. 10 If you found it, got it changed, reset your IE TOOLS HOME PAGE, and re-boot, and if the computor start and runs the way you want, save the OLD file names onto a disk, and deleate them from your drive. It's just like looking for matches of NC-Code. If you have trouble understanding this, e-mail me, and I will send you a better explination. Thanks Tim H. [ 11-24-2003, 09:45 PM: Message edited by: TimHollis ]

I'm still only playing with SolidWorks 2003, I got 2004 last week, but I’m waiting to finish my current project before upgrading AGAIN!!!!!!! Anyway, what I do like about it…… I can take the Virgin Solid Part. And with a couple of clicks using their Mold Tools, create everything I need. I create my core and cavities, usually in this order. Core Half- Core side of part- the whole part- cavity side of part- cavity. Stack-em, explode them, hide different layers-folders. Has all the usual ops, auto draft-shrink-scale about. Associativity, changes made apply to all files. There's lots I don’t like, the biggest being that it looks like they have gone to yearly releases. Every year a new version, I don’t mind change, but I’m uncomfortable with a major yearly upgrade to the new version. The dreaded (This file is a newer version- please contact your re-seller.) This week, I’m going to upgrade to SW2004, and as soon as I have some time, I’m going to evaluate Mold plus. Thanks Tim H. [ 11-22-2003, 09:49 AM: Message edited by: TimHollis ]

I'm looking for some beginner info stuff, to introduce them to CNC programming basics. I want to move them from the ... Measure twice- cut with axe stage.... Please, can anybody point me in the right direction. Thanks Tim H.

I did the web search, and did not find what I was looking for. For all areas of the shop. Can anybody recommend some beginner books-or cd- vid's available in Sanish? So far, I found one 15 vidio, course- $ 4500. Thanks Tim H.