OMG i would kill myself if i couldn't import operations and planes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a setting in the windows registry that adjust the minimum drag before it starts to drag and drop. I charged mine to 100pixels so i have to really want to dragndrop something. This has helped immensely with inadvertently doing something stupid HTH

There is also a number of ways to overclock one of being you can throttle depending on how many cores are used. The way my system is set up if i'm using all 6 cores its 4.4ghz but when i use 3 it 4.5 and when its only one core its 4.6 (i've gotten it to run stableish at 4.8 but i'd rather be slightly slow and not have lots of random crashes) Another big thing is what is your ram speed? you can overclock that too! The system is only as fast as its slowest component! Hell check out the new SSD's that fit in the M.2 slots, why not raid 0 them for fun so you get a whopping......2500 mb/s read/1500 write!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Bob, One thing i am currently implementing is an automatic tool length check against the tool length in the vericut tool library for our i-700 cell. Thought this might be applicable to your shop The general way it will work is as follows: -Vericut tool lib is an xml file, contains Assembly OAL = approx tool length on machine -Custom program reads xml file and converts that into a macro program with the necessary data that lives on the machine control. (this is run a specified intervals to keep up to date) -Instead of calling an M6 for a toolchange i call a custom mcode that will call the tool length checking macro + toolchange. (Or use the regular tool call with the check afterwards, might make adding to legacy programs alot easier???) -In this macro it will compare the tool# and check that the length is within .125(or whatever value i want) -I will also have a /9 block skip on the length check lines to override this check if necessary -We use tool group numers(fyi) Hope this helps someone out. I love to make things as bullet/idiot proof as possible because sometimes i'm a big idiot and i love having my xxxx saved by automation!

So now that there is hardware passthru for virtual machines this is the future of cadcam rigs: MORE CORES CAPTAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How are you doin 5 axis stuff? G43.4? Did you change the parameter that deals with locking the coordinate system to the table?

Has anyone here had any personal experience with these machines. They look pretty trick!

It seems like there should be a pause adaptive quality toggle switch. I hate it when i leave verify open but i'm not using it, it just consumes all my computers resources. It would also be sweet to be able to set processor affinity to the verify or the mastercam session individually instead of it just to mastercam.exe

What machine/control is this for? for our Variaxis I-700 with matrix 2 this works: G00 G17 G20 G40 G80 G90 G94 S18000 M03 M133 M131 G54 A-90. C0. X3.0 Y0.0 Z1.0 G61.1 R.001 G05 P2 Z-.5 G01 BLAH BLAH BLAH MILLING BLAH BLAH

LANG!

We have looked extensively at the Zoller TMS Software and are most likely going to be going that route. It really does everything you could ever ask for in a Tool Management System but it goes so much further than that with NC management, Presetter integration, stock locations, setting sheets, etc We went down to the LA Showroom for an action packed more intense demo/evaluation and it only solidified our opinions on what the software is capable of but mostly of what it can do to our shop in general. The one thing everyone seems to overlook when pursuing this kind of system is if the culture of the shop isn't there to support this type of system it is a waste of money. We are spending alot of time on the actual naming conventions and data structures that we will implement once we actually purchase the software. Talking with Zoller, the culture and back end nitty gritty are the things that many shops totally miss the boat on. The software is only as good as it is setup and maintained. Alot of shops purchase the software but never fully implement it because of a lack of big picture planning. You really need a champion to spearhead the project otherwise it will fall through the cracks and be a total waste of money. These types of systems can take years to implement but when they work its the best thing ever!!!! What are "no more/fewer questions about any job" worth to your organization? If you ever plan on going with a presetter this system makes even more sense. It integrates seamlessly with the whole line of Zoller presetters. If you are on the west coast i highly recommend getting in contact with Andreas Diel @ Zoller and getting down to LA for a proper demo of what the software is all about.

Ha but how does much does a spindle cost....... Having programmed with vericut for a while now i can say it is worth every penny!

How is using the onscreen keyboard and keypad? I have used some of the demo controls and really dislike not having a physical keypad to key in values with. The Highspeed milling in mazatrol is sweet! We are an all mazak shop with lots of simple mazatrols parts that the guys on the floor program. It would be great for them to be able to program sweet roughing paths instead of bothering me! Did you get the spec on the new encoders they use. They have a crazy amount of steps per rev its nutz!

Man you guys all got it wrong. I use g53 machine co-ordinate to program everything in lol!!!! This is all ridiculous! Don't feed the trolls!

Here is some code of how my header looks just so it makes a little more sense what i'm trying to do: O0091 () (CUSTOMER:) (Part#: REV: ) (MACHINE: VARIAXIS i-700) (OP: of ) (PROG DESC: ) (MCX FILE - ) (POSTED:07-21-2015 10:08) (VERICUT VERIFIED:7.21.15 10:15AM) (PROVEN: BY:) G91 G28 Z0. G91 G28 X0. G91 G28 Y0. G90 G53 G00 A0. C0. M98 H1 (G10 WORK OFFSETS) (PROGRAM WORK OFFSET COMP) G91 G10 L2 P1 X0. Y0. Z0. A0. C0. (G54 SHIFT) M98 H2 (PALLET WORK OFFSET COMP) M98 H3 (PROBE ROUTINE) (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) (-->**SAFE RESTART HERE **<--) (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) ( T1001 - FM - 3.0D x .031R ROUGH-AIR - 5FL) #1=0.0 (SEQUENCE TOOL WEAR D COMP - P100 X ) M98 H650 (FACE TOP) (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) (-->**SAFE RESTART HERE **<--) (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) ( T1006 - SPT/CHMF .397D x 90 CHIPTIP CARB ARBOR - 2FL) #1=0.0 (SEQUENCE TOOL WEAR D COMP - P101 X ) M98 H660 (OUTER CHAMFER) (****) M9 G91 G28 Z0. G91 G28 X0. Y0. G90 G53 A-120. C0. M05 G53 C180. G04 X2.0 G00 G53 A0. C0. M30 N1 (****************) (G10 WORK OFFSETS) (****************) G90 G10 L2 P1 X-12.40157 Y-23.6218 Z-17.46997 A0. C0. M99 N2 (*************************) (PALLET WORK OFFSET COMP) (*************************) (G54 PALLET SHIFT - USES G54.1 P54 VALUES) G65 P9005 S54. T.01 (INPUT ERROR CHECK) G91 G10 L2 P1 X#71061 Y#71062 Z#71063 A#71064 C#71066 M99 (----) N3 (********************) (MANUAL ENTRY/PROBING) (********************) (PROBE ROUTINE) #1=150. (PROBE FEED) G0 G40 G80 G90 T120 M6 T1001 G54 G0 X0. Y0. Z5.0 G65 P9810 Z1.0 F#1 G65 P9812 X4.5 Z-.5 S1. G91 G28 Z0. G91 G28 X0. Y0. G90 G53 A0. C0. M99 (----) ( ************************* ) ( * T O O L C H A N G E * ) ( ************************* ) N650 T1001 M06 T1006 ( T1001 - FM - 3.0D X .031R ROUGH-AIR - 5FL ) G65 P9005 S100 T.010 (INPUT ERROR CHECKING) #1 = #1 + #[70001+[20*99]] (SEQUENCE TOOL D COMP = P100 X) #10001 = #[#3020+41000] + #1 ( FACE TOP ) G00 G17 G20 G40 G80 G90 G94 S12000 M03 M133 M131 G54 A0. C0. X-4.2625 Y2.0999 Z1.00001 G61.1 R.0015 Z.50001 G01 Z.33668 F300. X3.9625

I know about the drill cycle probe stuff and about the inspection plus. I am not doing inspection just setting offsets and such but sometimes it is complicated with the math and such that a manual entry is the easiest option. I have it working really slick but only if a manual entry is the first operation posted. Looks like this is the way it will remain. I would like to be able to extract alot of info in the prwt for future uses such as automatic calculating 5 ax clearance moves based on your stock definition. Also just for xxxxs to see what can be done. As always thanks for the help!

i use the pwrt to compile a program header with m98 loops for each toolpath and use the manual entry for probe stuff. So if i don't know there is a manual entry operation i can't make a m98 call in the header to loop down to that toolpath code.

ya i love arguing on the internet!

Thanks for the info colin. That is kinda disappointing. Is there a way to tell if there is a manual entry operation when you pre-read the nci? looks like i'm looking at a nethook to pre-read the nci and grab the comments maybe? or i might give up?

I'm wondering if its possible to capture the text from a manual entry when doing the preread of the NCI file. I tried add the following to the pwrtt$ postblock if gcode$ = 1005, "TEST1005", e$ if gcode$ = 1006, "TEST 1006", e$ and it doens't trigger anything. i've looked in the nci and it is indeed there so whats going on? help!

Yes it can be done but with alot of time and effort. Well worth it in the long run tho! I love being able to do exactly what i want in the post and not waiting for someone to implement something that could take a few minutes to fix/change.

As long as I learned something from the experience i guess it was worth it to break that drill. Might have saved alot more expensive and longer drills in the future!

Thanks for the parameters. Im thinking piloting deeper for the 25xD is a good idea too.

I toned it down to 300sfm and .005rev and all is happy. Cycle time for these features dont matter as much as making these long drill last. This is the original drill. It should last for along time in aluminum i would think but xxxx does happen....

Drills are all held in quality shrink fit holders. All really good points to consider here. I talked to a Guhring rep this morning and he thought that the 500sfm for the 25xd was a little hot and the drill probably started bowing and then kaboom! I'm gonna tone it down a bit and not break anymore expensive drills! Thanks for all the replies and insight!