Hi Rick, I'm always running into goofy font issues myself..I guess that's what I get doing work for Industrial Designers....oh, wait..I'm an I.D. guy too. Run some searches on the forum for "font","text", and "engraving". There are heaps on this issue that we've wrestled with. I've got the ttf to dxf shareware, and havn't really used it,but here is what it does. quote: What it does. Reads in true type font. Allow the user to edit a single character, sentence or paragraph. Change the character height. Change % space between characters. Change the pitch between lines.(-2.000 = Move down two inches) Change the character resolution (Number of points in the file). Then write out the characters as vectors in dxf format. Two methods of writing are provided, left to right and right to left (Arabic) The Layer name defaults to 0 (Zero). Can be changed to anything. Hints. You can also copy text from other aplications and paste it into TTFtoDXF. Try to avoid the use of leading spaces. High-resolution dxf files containing a lot of text can be huge! If the edit line is left blank then the user can scroll through the entire character set to examine each character. To create your first file simply pick File Save as DXF. Enter a filename and select a directory and click Save. Then go to you're other application and load in the same file. Remember that it was written on Layer 0 unless you changed it. Typically it is used to generate a tool path to engrave a sign. A companion program Gcode95 will import the DXF file. Then create Gcode Mcode to control a milling machine or router to create the sign. Download a free trial copy http://www.tarheel.net/andrewc119/index.htm http://members.aol.com/gcodemcode/index.htm Email: [email protected] Fax 704 630 9544

Just another quick thought...(as if my last one wasn't obvious enough!) Can you load a portion of the program into the control, and try running it from there? Just to see if it would run smoothly from the control memory vs. the dnc system. That may make it obvious if you have a posting issue or a drip-feed starvation issue. However it may not determine if the amount of code it still is out-pacing the contol buffer...

I've used an easy way to check for data starvation...while your program is running/dripfeeding, keep lowering your feedrate at the conrol until things "smooth out". If motions get more fluid the slower you go, well then you've got a stavation situation. This also is a quick and dirty way to see how much data you can jam through the cable, but by doing the opposit . Increase the feedrate (at the control) until movements get jerky. Oh, make sure your cutting air for this one!

Hey everyone, I just had a pretty extensive demonstration of Solidworks 2003, and must say that I was impressed. I use our solids add-on in Mastercam for sure, but some of the stuff that Solidworks has is pretty darn cool. I'm no Engineer, and havn't really thought much about getting into those types of programs (esp. Pro-E). However for general design work it seems like Solidworks has a bunch going for it, is managable, and at a reasonable price. What does anyone else think? Any other comparisons, i.e. Rhino? P.S. I'm only thinking of Solidworks used in conjunctionwith our almighty Mastercam.....but never, ever displacing our god.

We've got two horsepower related threads going at once! All us motor heads have hi-jacked the forum yet again! LastCat, keep us posted on how your project progresses. I'm all ears....

Oh, we also have a bit of a "muscle shop truck"... 79' Chevy 1 Ton w/ 454, flowmaster headers. VERY thirsty beast, for gas and rear tires!

The faster you go on a bike, the more those two big gyros (wheels) keep telling you to open up that throttle!! More speed = More stability

"Indicated" vs. "Reality" top speeds? Yeah yeah, speedos have errors, but getting deep into the triple digits you can all about throw 'em out the window...(or off the bike). Not to mention gearing and tire size changes induced errors. Indicated 180 on a Aprilla Mille at the track...Probably was more like 155-160....Now the drag bike I'm gonna be riding will be somewhere's around 170...but in mid 7 seconds!

Thanks for visiting the forum Carlie, and providing a job opportunity. Please pardon our sometimes "antagonistic" sense of humors with each other.... Oh, I use to live in NY state, and it probably is easier to start your own gun manufacturing company than to actual purchase one in the Empire State. Besides, most of the "quality" (hahahaha) firearms manufactures are located in the Ring of Fire in SoCal...Lorcin,Bryco,Phoenix,Raven. Sorry everyone in SoCal! Oh boy, this thread is going to snowball....

p.p.s. That Burns Tubing site is very cool...And that twin-turbo straight-6 is beyond cool! How is the "durability"? What type of racing to these Beemer's see?

They don't have to be super-duper air (argon) tight.....your right, they won't be if they arn't welded up yet! You just have to provide a reasonable backing-gas shield. Here's how I do it: 1)Split the gas supply I built a simple "Y" valve off of my argon regulator...one leg going to my TIG torch, the other with an on/off valve and about 8' of hose. Use the secondary line as your back-fill gas supply. 2)Plug the tube ends You can just use some masking tape to seal the ends of the tubing, or turn some simple aluminum plugs...I've even seen somebody stuff a raquetball in each end of the tube! Whatever you use to seal the ends, puncture a hole in EACH END- one end for gas fill, the other for gas vent. Feed your gas line in one end and fill her up. I leave the gas back-fill supply on while I weld...but make sure you turn up your regulator pressure, because the two outputs drawing from your gas cylinder will probably cause a big pressure drop in the gas flow to your torch/gun. And to come full circle to your question, yes gas leaks out from the cracks, but also note that I have an extra vent in my other tube plug anyway...when you weld your tubing and create a "vessel" A) Hot gas expands Your building positive pressure in your pipes from the back-fill gas supply.... It will "blow out" the last little bit our your molten weld if it does not have anywhere to go...so make sure your vent the assembly. If ya'll hav'nt noticed, I've been a welder a hell of a lot longer than a Mastercammer! P.S. LastCat, Do you ever come down to Portland? I was watching a BMW event a few weeks ago at our track, PIR.

Ok, here's another "trick" that I'm using... Well, it's not really a trick, per say, just a nice way of doing things... When butt joining pieces of tubing, I have swaged (flared) the receiving tubing. The mating pieces actually "plug" together. If you follow the route of exhaust gas from the port, it will always be traveling into a flared tube. Sure there is a slight transition internally, but it is always in the "smooth" direction, never flowing against a sharp lip of a tube, or roughness of an over-penetrated weld. Also makes welding nicer, ensuring there are no gaps to fill with weld, which invarialbly are less-than-smooth on the inside....make sense? oh, this system will obviously only work with butt joints, and not in the situations where multiple tubes and saddles join...

Go Sabre's..... oh wait, that was four years ago... I'm still bitter about them getting robbed by Dallas in the 99' cup. I grew up in Buffalo! I think that the Devils' depth and own ice will prove victorious....

LastCat, Make sure that you back-purge the assembly before welding...cap-off tube ends and fill assembly with argon. The unshieled backside of a stainless weld will get "sugared"....which basically looks like a big crystalized and porus stalagtite. Not the hot ticket for maxium flow. I'm building my bike headers the old school way...i.e. turn the computer off and cut & paste some parts!

I also am in the midst of building a turbo exhaust/header, but it's for a four cylinder bike, and it is totally symetrical...lucky for me. (Also lucky for me that I'll probably be riding the bike....7.8sec 1/4 mi.)! I was thinking of how I could use Mastercam to aid in the coping/fitting of tubing. Maybe making patterns and the like. I don't have a whole lot of experience with 3d stuff, and was thinking that solids might make sense. Alternately, tubing manufacturers must have some type of trick software for fabricating complex forms...anybody have any knowledge/experience with Mastercam or other systems in tube fabricating?

Since were on collets now... Another HUGE issue is using drills with a stamped size label!!! The stamped label is invariably upset a couple of thou, giving some nice runout right there. Might as well pack the collet full of chips, too. I'm always after my tool vendors when they send me drills with stamped markings, and frequently get the B.S. of how hard it is to get the printed labeled bits... Anyone have a favorite supplier of drills with PRINTED labels? Sincerely, Pissed in Portland

Ezra, I think I know what your talking about. When trying to flip my x and y axis about z.. There is a 50/50 chance that it is going to come out the proper way. If you hit "NEXT" the graphics gets all F@$#ed up, and you can't tell which way your z is going...right? Well, at least that's what I've experienced. Everyone else, When I am creating a new view, I will actually draw the axis I desire on my drawing...just a couple of short lines labeled x,y and z. Then go into the WCS manager... > right click on System View 1 > create > select menu > ENTITY Then select the labeled lines that you just drew, X first then Y. If Z is'nt in the right direction, hit "next". Be sure to label the view, so you can find it! Oh, this way you can also re-set your origin for that particular view, since is is a user-defined view.... good luck

quote: Never, EVER, under any circumstances tell Rekd he's wrong. TOOL, not Godsmack, Rekd. Gotcha!

Are you using the same cable as before, and just have a new computer? Stupid question, but are all the other settings the same as your original box (handshaking, x/on/off, etc.)? Are you DNC'ing from within Mastercam (post>send to machine), or opening CIMCO and transmitting from there? I went through a brief period of super slow DNC myself, and found that for some reason my DNC settings from within Mastercam were always defaulting back to 19200 baud, every time I tried to send something, even after I just changed DNC settings back up to 38000. That was about 6 months ago. If I remember, I think I just re-loaded Cimco, and things straighted out. Also, I have found that using CIMCO directly is a much more stable DNC system. I send through a 25' cable to my Haas at 115000 baud, and have yet to have an error. Oh yeah, search the forum for DNC...many past posts have hit this topic, too.

We've got a few Mitsubishi AQX's 1". Not a bad cutter, plus the replacement warranty! However have been trying out some of the new ISCAR stuff, in particular a 2" plunge/face mill, and seem to like it a little better for hogging material out. Our machine is not really rigid enougt to take full advantage of the AQX, but can get more material removed via the ISCAR plunging mills.

Hey thanks Trevor, I'm going to call my dealer tomorrow. We used a different book in class here...written by two indepenent authors (DR. Lin and DR. Shui?) It had a bunch of errors in it, and was vague on some details....I'd trust something directly from CNC though.

Volume II handbook? Is that a regular CNC Software book, or something new from San Diego CAD CAM?

Long hair won't fit under my helmet, and it's on alot these days...race season!!! Besides, if they don't go for the job, I have more time to develop parts for my bike! Now if I could just get paid to do that....

I may not have an answer to your original post Mark, but I certainly can sympathize. We are currently sweating out a quote to a customer who's reply was, "that's way too much, we can afford half that price." My inital response was, "when the cashier at the grocery story tells you your total, do you say 'I'd like to pay half of that"? After my knee-jerk anger subsided, I found myself also questioning the validity of my own quote, especially how it pertains to the rest of the industry. Granted we are not clerks at a mini-mart, however our intellectual services (programming, sourcing, knowlege, etc.)do cost money, contrary to what some customers may think....however desiring my customer's business, coupled with enjoyment of my job, I sometimes hesitate at writing full-price quotes. Unfortunatly for our particular job we did a fair amount of prototyping and development that went "unbilled", with the flawed anticpation that costs would be recouped with the production run. Needless to say we are not going to back down on our price, and am anxiously waiting the results of the customer's efforts in trying to get the same service for "half the price".

What are the first "symptoms" that you see (or hear) when the Haas spindles go south? I'm waiting anxiously for something to go on our machine. haha