quote: that is why I prefer the carboly cutter over the kennametal We started plunging some years ago with carboloy 2" plunger and it's a real hammer. The only problem is that it touches against a material on retract which can destroy one edge of the insert. Currently using iscar also 2" which is a lot more free cutting. I found that all plungers like full engagement. That makes them stable and quiet. I use it a lot also on rough conturing when i have to remove lots of material. Works great. Run it dry with air. It's fascinating to watch it run. Seems like everybody wants to take a peek. When chips fly it sounds as if somebody is throwing rocks. Wish mastercam could make it a little easier to utilize this tool with plunger specific toolpaths... Regards, Mark

Some of our older machines do not have rigid tapping so we use G85 (feed in feed out) Also with heads like this adjust R a little higher then normal (R.25) Next thing I do is run rpm a little higher than calculated. For example fo 2-56 S650 F10.8 G85G99X.1Y.3052Z-.14R.25F10.8 Hope it helps, Mark

Another thing to tell your insp. people is that even though hole size will always be a little bigger that after cut thread, thread itself will always be much stronger when formed. Mark

There is another issue called quality. We have similar situation at our place, except we are at the receiving end. Once we are almost done with a work our costumer sends in more work on which we don't even quote. Some we loose money on but some are a money makers. They always try to keep our competitors shops busy but majority of their work always ends up here. The reason: quality They never (almost) need to inspect our parts. If a dim. is out of tolerance by a .0001" then the part is clearly marked. If their inspectors decides that they can live with that they buy it, if not they get it for free. We do a very small "lots" 2-20 pcs. and it doesn't involve any 3d work but the tolerances are TIGHT. I know for a fact that our competitors think we are giving kickbacks but nothing could be farther from a truth. Sometimes we are more expensive but it saves our costumer a lot of headache and time. So before You grab a sword You must carefully take this under consideration. Regards, Mark

Just to let you know, it works like a charm... Mark

Big thank you for your help. Regards, Mark

O'k now, I greatly appreciate your help but without soundng too stupid (wouldn't be a first time) what do I do with this file? I understand its vb script and I know I can run it from within mc, but how do i do it? Kind regards to guys from CNC Software Mark

Wow did you just do it Mick? THAT IS quite amazing...I'll try it first thing in the morning. I'll also look into a full version of cimco edit. Thanks CadCam Big thanks to everyone Regards, Mark

quote: Also don't forget about the 'I' Thanks Roger I remember this, thats why i'm looking for something that is fool-proof. As for vb scripting i just wish i had time to learn it... The solution to change X G2 G3 ... one at a time works good when done one program at a time, this way we can visualy check if all looks good, but doing hundreds gives me headache just thinking about it... Mark

quote: Is there a parameter on the machine to change the x direction. No, it is hard wired. quote: I'm sure you could find a text editor with macro capability We currently use cimco editor that came with mc. Anyone aware if upgrade could handle this task? Mark

I was thinking about doing it this way also with g2 and g3 codes but we have hundreds of programs like this so i'm looking for a little better "fool-proof" solution. Mark

We have a bunch of old programs we run on a mori lathe which have an opposite x axis direction then our new mori. Is there an editor that could handle flipping the program from x- to x+ together with adjusting G2 and G3 codes. Any suggestion will be appreciated. Regards, Mark

Oooops... How stupid do you think I feel now... +1 to Pete Heyer

Great purchase, especially if you ran secondary operations after a lathe. A lot of a work we do require .001" geo tolerance (true position) sometimes without a luxury of a maximum material condition so having an exact location is a must. WE have MP 10 probe from Renishaw installed on mori sv-50 and it does a great job. It takes just a few lines of code and it touches of a part, writes it's location in g54.. offset and runs the rest of program. However I would hesitate to use it to measure a part. Works great, is fast and beats a cr.. out of indicating a part manually. Your control propably have some build in probing options, but if you have time to learn macros then you can do some really cool things with it. There is a company that does custom macros and sells books and software if you are willing to learn. I haven't taken a plunge yet but James Mayette from this forum recomends them so its good enough for me. Do a search on this topic for their web site... Regards, Mark Banaszak

Try stop bits "1" at your pc and "2" at your machine. That should take care of it. Regards,Mark

That is a good news 'Rekd We have a maintenance on our seats of MC but when it comes to updates I need to do it myself. As for windows you have to admit that it is getting better Iskander teh Owl, not quite there but much better than what it used to be (WIN 95 anyone???) Regards, Mark

I saw this problem coming. Some of MC users are excelent machinist and programers but are not hardware and software experts. I think MC should make it a little easier with coming V.10 to update users software. Sort of a one click update button in help file. Something like microsoft has done with its windows op system automatic update. It begun to work quite well for them in xp version. Just my 2 cents. Mark

Check your fax LNDCAD. Hope it helps. Regards, Marek

Will fax it on monday.

We still have P-G/Symbolic Fapt Turn. Let me know your fax # so I can make a copy of couple pages concerning xs and zs and fax it to you. Personally I haven't used it for years but believe it concerns setting direction and position of a cutting tool

quote: Could you make a way to have entities visable, but not pickable? And to toggle that attribute on and off? (Pick/NoPick) Great idea kathy. It gets my vote.

Thread cutting works great especialy on larger dia. Tool life is also excellent. It's recommended to cut from the bottom up (but sometimes it's more convenient to go from the top). Here are some samples of programs : (1/2-14 NPT) Z.1 G1Z-.1714F20.0 G42D13X6.360Y-1.2F7.0 G2X6.410Y-1.25R.05 I-.160Z-.2429 I-.160Z-.3143 I-.160Z-.3857 I-.160Z-.4571 I-.160Z-.5286 I-.160Z-.6 X6.360Y-1.3R.05 G1G40X6.25Y-1.25 G0Z1. O211 (NPT 1/4-18) G0X.0Y.0 Z.1 G1Z-.3888F10.0 G41D30X.070Y.0F1.0 G3I-.070Z-.3332F1.5 I-.070Z-.2777F4.0 G1G40X.0Y.0 G0Z1.0 G40X0Y0 M99 I used a lathe tool in this one (reverse spindle direction) O3003(ACME THREAD TOOL 10 pitch) G0X.2Y-2.071 Z.2 G1Z-.31F15.0 G41D3Y-1.971 G3X.0Y-1.771R.2 G2J1.711Z-.41 J1.711Z-.51 J1.711Z-.61 J1.711Z-.71 J1.711Z-.81 J1.711Z-.91 J1.711Z-1.01 J1.711Z-1.11 J1.711Z-1.21 J1.711Z-1.31 G3X-.2Y-1.971R.2 G1G40Y-2.071 G0Z2. G40 M99 Samples are for different controls and materials, but you get an idea...

This is getting better... Thing I like about current government is the balance Bush introduced with Chaney, Rumsfeld and Powell. Talk about teeth and brains... By the way, if they (arabs) hate US so much how come the lines at a US ambasies are so full of people willing to emigrate here...

Go for Mori, Okk or Matsuura I'll take any of them used, over any new Haas or Fadal. They 'll be good for years. We have some 20 year old mori and kuraki and I can't remember them ever being broken. Except when the lighting strike fried one of the boards on a kuraki. But we've never pushed them to the max so I'm not sure if my advise counts.

quote: I don't get all this about Bush lying. Virtually every intelligence agency on earth believe Sadam had WMD Lying? How about tens of thousand of dead Iraqis and Iranians killed by his chem. weapons. That is a well documented fact and that is what prompted UN resolutions concerning Iraq. Nobody was wrong. He DID have them. The question remains where did it all go... Bush might not be the most eloquent man we have seen in politics, but he will get my vote this coming election. His hart and soul is in the right place. I'll be voting as a naturalized citizen for the first time this year.