3 hours ago, jjones61 said:

First, Congrats!! 

That photo brings back a lot of memories...my first 5 axis programming was doing exactly that...trimming out plastic parts...on a Motion Master! (I did have about 10 years of 3 axis programming experience prior tho...starting out by jumping directly into full 5 axis is kinda like hopping into an F15 and trying to go for a joyride!!)

For what it's worth I used the curve toolpath for probably 95% of all my toolpaths. I would just pull the wires off the inside edge of the part and then create and edit Tool Axis Control lines until it looked good in backplot.  There may be a better way but this was simple and I like simple! 

Another thing I would strongly recommend is learning how Tool Center Point  (which btw, is G48 on the Fagor controllers )  works and how to use it...that will make your life a lot easier! 

One  more suggestion then I'll quit my babbling...instead of offsetting your wire to control the toolpath depth change the vector depth (Parameters/Collision Control). If you put a negative number in it will lower your toolpath.

Again, congrats and keep plugging away at it...it will get easier!  

 

we used to use the Moldplus addition to MC for generating geo and vectors for trimming parts like this! you can just move your tool around as needed for clearance! I'm not even sure if the newer version use Moldplus? it was a great tool.

On 1/9/2020 at 3:41 PM, Steelab said:

Just figured out a Nesting order trick that has helped me to make sure that things are machined in the order I want because I've noticed that sometimes Mcam does weird things when nesting...

 

- For initial programming I assign a new ascending tool number for each operation(regardless of if it's the same tool)

- I nest using the Tool number: Ascending Sorting Method

- I then go back to the operations and re-assign the tool numbers so each tool only has one tool number 

 

By doing this when I post the code the tool numbers are updated but the order is still as it was with the ascending sorting method.

 

This allows me to nest many different parts while maintaining the operations manager cut order and minimizing tool changes.

 

Not sure if there is a better way of doing this but it sure beats having to replace tool numbers in the code editor...

 

One project this saved loads of cut time with was a 5 axis nest(was actually a 3+2 converted to 5 axis) that when nested normally was re-positioning to each faceted face of each part, after doing this I was able to stay on one plane for all parts before re-positioning for the next plane.

I'm very interested in this comment!? My reseller has claimed this is not possible?

2 hours ago, medaq said:

Well what did you post to have 2-3 hour post times? Could be network traffic? today on a Saturday is lighter than the rest of the week?

that's not likely. I only have 2 other employees that use the server and that's sporadic. When I post large size molds, marine parts or front and rear caps for buses it almost seems that when the file gets to a certain size it really bogs down. Hypothetically a file with a 120mb post should take 20 minutes then, but it may take 40. That's  not verified, just me thinking out loud! but it seems like the system stalls for larger files? maybe just my imagination and impatience!?

17 minutes ago, C^Millman said:

I am posting 60 to 80 mb files in about 15 minutes. You need to post locally then save to the network. Never I repeat never try to post across a network with a post that is just asking for major trouble.

Just tested a file where my post file ended up being 65.8mb, 1,816,625 lines of code. It took 10 minutes locally and 10 minutes to my server. No noticeable difference? 

One thing I've never seen discussed is posting code. I deal with slower toolpathing speeds by trying to use high speed toolpaths as much as possible. this at least allows me to continue working. My bigger issue is when i go to post I may be shut down completely for  2-3 hours sometimes. any suggestions?

Are you leaning towards a pod and rail machine or a table? are you making 5 pc doors, passage doors or simple pressed doors?

I have 2 - 5 axis machines and and a gantry with 2 - 5 x 12 tables. all Onsrud. I always buy machines with a priority on service.

1 hour ago, David Colin said:

I used that forever but as you said, slow click could be a little tricky sometimes but i noticed a nice improvemeny in 2018.

Now you can click on F2 key and it will replace slow clicking (as you can edit a cell in excel for example).  

I tell my guys that it's not a "double click" it's clicking on it twice!

I dont't think I saw this anywhere in this thread? the ability to right click/hold and drag a toolpath and copy before or after insert arrow has been a huge time saver for me over the years. All i have to do is go in and make minor changes such as geometry selection, tool angles, ect, ect.

maybe zip it?

grey I think means it is being used by a different toolpath. such as a translate or convert. therefore it will not post. the yellow ones will post

when creating geometry if you right click the selection button in the ribbon bar you can select multiple times. Hit esc to quit. used MC for 7 years before discovering this.

Can you use surface rough pocket? you may have to add a surface in the hole

a blend  might not work on a multiaxis part...try morph between  curves which is basically the  multiaxis version of blend

moldplus is a great add on if you do a lot of surface work. easy fix with it

I do a lot of foam cutting like this for my customer. I use 2flt high spiral carbide end mill with a high sher on them. I run them from 100 to 300 ipm at about 10,000 rpm.

this is a soft foam. Not Renboard type stuff?  that pic looks like pretty hard stuff?

no glass in it...I'm not sure of the exact composite of the foam? its a customer supplied part.

Is this foam for investment casting?

 

As fast RPM as possible, and like MTB says, diamond coated positive super sharp geometry.

 

I cut a ton of that stuff when making big wax investment masters for 1metre diameter impellers for water jets on a Deckel DMU125P.

Thanks guys...I passed the request on to my tooling guy. It is not a casting.

Brandon...I have found the tutorials they sell on this site to be very helpful. I went from zero to 5 axis and the tutorials are very useful. I usually get all applicable tutorials with each upgrade and go through them again. I always find something useful in them.  hope this helps

sorry that's the only thing I can think of foam isn't the easiest to cut at the best of times

I should clarify I suppose! I can get it to cut okay...just not fast enough! I am looking for any tooling/ application advice. I thought about dipping it into liquid hydrogen to freeze it?

1/4" ballnose

no coolant

I am cutting a 60 durometer EVA foam. It needs ball work done to it. The problem I have is the finish is not "clean". Very hairy still. I am going 100 ipm at 20,000rpm with a .010 step over. any and all advice is appreciated!

open a blank file

go to System Config/Files

uncheck "restore NCI of file open"

close System Config and try to open the file

No luck with that. I closed the part to check on a part going into production and when I tried to reopen it the darn thing crashes immediately.

Any suggestion on a file that I saved, but now every time I try to open it MC crashes? I have a techy person here trying to save 5 days of work.