Probably magnetic vortex coupled with the moons current cycle plus position of mars. Try again at a full moon and all should be good. HTH!

Just used one of these on a job that reguired a flat bottom in an OD angled radial groove. Seemed to work OK. http://internaltool.com/products/mill/59/n-c-counterbore

Probably got an infestation of cabinet gnomes. A rare species never seen in person but known to unplug important cables on expensive machinery. Good luck!

How is the presetter data entered into the cell controller? Manually? Over the Network? RFID? QR code?

If you need to fit into even tighter spaces these things are super-cool! https://www.wto-tools.com/en-us/products/ultra-high-speed-spindles Check out edge precision on youtube, he is making his own right angle heads that these fit into for a job...might give some inspiration! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZBFmSeU2rE

#4 Import from excel option?

I have done something like this but have the image on a Windows Deployment Server so I can Install it on any new computer hooked up to the network with network boot.

Anyone ever try this with mastercam?

At some point I hope someone builds some sort of universal compatibility/emulation layer for windows programs so they can be run in linux. Probably a pipe dream tho! If anyone had any doubt about where software is going/has gone heed these words: "Software in the past was about solving problems in the real world. Now, the only problem it solves is how to get users cash from their bank account into (INSERT SOFTWARE COMPANY HERE)'s bank accounts faster and more often."

What is the cuter comp error you are gettting? This will help a bunch. Quick things I can think of: Do you have a Linear move when applying the cutter comp? If you do then is your lead in line long enough to apply the desired comp value? Have you tried positive and negative comp values to see if those work? Sometime for milling on C axis lathes a different comp offset is used for a milling station as opposed to a turning station. This could br different for face and radial Live tooling. This is really machine and builder dependent. I haven't programmed a cy axis lathe in a while but I did 1000's of cy axis lathe programs years ago. These were on mazaks tho. Hopefully someone smarter than I can help you out!

I have no experience with other TMS software but I have a feeling it will be about the same. Why will a "MASTER-ASSEMBLY-LIST.toolDB" on a server not work to get started? One thing to not overlook is how things are named in any system. I have created a simple "structured text" language as a common way to name all of my tooling. This makes automating thing alot easier in the future. Good systems start from the ground up and naming conventions are (IMHO) a fundamental of any good TMS. EX:

Yup. Already implemented and running V2 in my shop. Well worth the few months of developments. Even added ERP cause why not!

Typical. It seems like you should be the MGMT! -- Hopefully someone in the future will read this thread and get a bit more "context" to make a more informed software purchase decision and save themselves lots of time and $$$$$

hmmm..... to me that's an admission that they have LIED or at least jaded the truth to get you to buy their software. Tell that to the sales rep face to face and see how he responds lol! If it was my business I would ask(Demand?) for my money back! Or atleast some of it.

Yes....Value to the people selling you the software. I would love to see a facility where this software was fully implemented and working Super Duper Awesome and everyone is riding unicorns and shooting rainbows out their backsides....but i'm not sure this exists? Maybe at the Zholler MFG facilities possibly....? If so then it seems like an in-house solution that the sales guys got ahold of and made into a "product"

In a previous life I worked at a shop that bought the TMS software. $$$$$$$$$ Within a few weeks it was apparent that this software is not the easiest to use or is even feature complete. I asked for a mastercam interface and the latest they had was X9 (we were on 2019) The software is incredibly powerful but extremely difficult to use. The Demo's look great but once you get the software installed and in use at your location it becomes obvious that you need a full time person to champion the system. They will need to regulate it like GOD HIMSELF and smite the heathens who do not follow the system. /rant This leads to a greater question about tool management software.... If a software is very powerful yet very hard to use, is it really useful at all? By the time you shell out the $$$ for the software and all the $$$$ time and effort $$$$ to implement it, you would be better(IMHO) ahead hiring a developer to be on staff full time to develop In-House software that fits the needs of your organization. Nothing is better than custom software designed exactly for you and your operations workflow. Alot of the time the optimal workflow is disregard in favor of appeasing the software gods. A Simple DB(SQL, Excel, ETC) + Mastercam Net Hook Functionality = Simple effective tool management It just takes a little more imagination than buying software and assuming that it will solve all of your problems. But hey, what do I know, I'm just some guy on the internet! \rant

Awesome. Just awesome. I love this forum. Thank you for all that gave input. -- I am not on 2022 yet but will be moving over soon. The unified multiaxis path and options look great.

Dylan thanks for the explanation. Yes the math and algo's are always more complex than It appears at first. -- Surface step over based on cusp height producing a variable step over would be a sweet feature. I see how this would be complex to implement tho. Maybe consider it a challenge? Does any other software have variable step over based on surface cusp height?

https://www.amazon.com/ULTIMATE-GD-T-POCKET-GUIDE/dp/092452023X/ Not a course but a great reference for all of the peeps in the shoppffice.

Thanks for the input! I will probably just live with the extra passes since this is a 1 off. -- Maybe this might be an area for an enhancement request.... Possibly something like a "Remove/Combine Tight Passes Less Than (Value)" i.e. remove/combine passes where the distance to the next pass is less than the specified distance. Using the max surface step over as the maximum distance for the next pass. With those two inputs it seems like you could tune the toolpath to get the results for a wide variety of applications. Hopefully that makes sense to someone!

Hey EMC Crew! Is there any way to get Morph between 2 curves to not add so many passes in an internal radius that is close to the cutter dia. This is using Mastercam 2020 Surface Radius is .260. Using a .500 Dia Lolipop tool. As you can see here there are alot more passes in the internal radius than the rest of the path. This is using "Exact" stepover calculations. However either option will generate the same extra passes on the internal rads. Is there any way to get it to not add all of these passes to the internal radius? My guess here is the part of the toolpathing algorithm is trying to calculate an exact stepover on the radius sruface but there is some tolerancing issues with the calculation making it think it needs to add all of those passes to get the desired stepover on the actual internal radius surface. Thanks in advance!

Damn. I guess I'm not cool anymore. xxxx.

YOUZ GUYZ are all WONG! MACH3 is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One thing to not overlook in the beginning is the quality aspect of things. Sure you can do the work and make the parts to spec but how do you prove to your customer that you are committed to quality. You can make super expensive parts on a really cheap machine....just be sure you can check them properly. I took this to heart with my own shop this year and bought a 2017 Wenzel Cmm with a Revo 2 5 axis scanning head on it. WAY WAY WAY overkill for my shop and current work but in a few weeks I quickly came to realize that if a CMM has to touch a part, It costs 2x to 10000x as much just because you have to CMM it. Pretty much the same parts, same types of tolerances, same machining, same everything, just that the CMM "Blesses" it and now its worth its weight in gold. Not only will you be able to make higher value parts, but with a CMM and the proper use of it, everything is on easy mode. When you can analyze your parts with that level of detail you can quickly and easily overcome mistakes and shortcomings of your lower end machines you start out with. Once you can CMM a part, comping it into spec becomes childs play. Additionally, It speaks volumes about the shop and philosophy if your highest end machine is associated with quality. No one will give a second look to my 2014 VF-4SS but they will be very interested in my Wenzel CMM with 5 axis scanning.....

THIS! This would be the best april fools prank to play on/at a machine tool dealer/apps departments! or a hilarious test for new apps guys!