I tried that but it keeps unchecking it like it doesn't recognize it. I tried the rest dynamic and selected the drill operation before it and it seems to work. Still like to know how to tell it where to enter without having a drill op posted before it.

Can someone tell me how to make my cutter enter a pre drilled hole with the dynamic tool path? Basically I want to drill a hole, rapid my endmill to depth, and then start the trochoidal motion.

Anyone using inserted cutters with a dynamic toolpath? We have a bunch left and the boss won't let me get any Hanitas till theyre gone. I need to rough a pocket three inches deep in 316 SS. One inch with Sandvik inserts. Step over, entry, depth of cut...? any advice would be appreciated.

Im going to be holding on to over an inch of the thickness in two vises.

Its a pretty good size part. 3-1/2" x 5-1/4" x 24". I mainly need advice on depth of cut and feeds and speeds.If its as hard to hold as you say can I take full depth and width. What kind of feed rates am I looking at?

Im about to mill some UHMW. Any advice would be appreciated. Milling a couple bosses 1.25 tall. Using a 1" 2 flute HSS end mill for most of the operation.

I have a pretty simple but pretty stupid question. I need to circle mill some holes in 1" plywood and Ive never milled a piece of wood let alone a piece of plywood, any tips? I don't have any special tools or any special approach. I was just gonna take a 3/4" high speed 2 flute and circle mill. My mill is limited on rpm's so Im kinda afraid its going to want to tear.

Did you say a Modern Art of Milling class? Two sandvik reps came to my university last year and did a pretty intensive demo on the modern art of milling but if they offer some kind of class that would be even better. Am I understanding you correctly?

I am about to tackle some 316 stainless parts and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for tooling and cutting parameters. I will be doing some pockets ranging from 1" to 2" deep. We just got mastercam and before we had done everything with inserted cutters but I would like to get away from that and go with dynamic. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Ha. Thanks. I found the page to use the G54 and I found the tool length offset page (soft key from the tool data page) but I think my sequence of operations is off. I start by bringing all of my tools down to the 123 block and touch the top. Teach zero on the tool offset page (the haas i used to run had a tool length offset button to push)and put an incremental value of -2 in the offset to bring the offset down to the actual table. This should set all of the tools to one reference point which is the table. Where I go from here is where I think I am doing something wrong. I would like to be able to put an offset in the G54 to tell it the Z offset is set at the table. This way all I have to do is measure the height of my setups and put that value in the z offset shift. I am trying to eliminate touching the top of parts during setups. Eventually I would even like to have a fixture plate that will repeat my vises so I don't have to edge find either. What step am I doing wrong. Im concerned because Im not actually doing the setups and I need to be able to give clear instructions to the operators.

Can someone give me the run down on setting tool and work offsets for mastercam programs on mazak mills? We just got mastercam last week and I can't get my tool length offsets or my WPC for my Z right. All of my mastercam experience has been on Haas machines. Its been a year since I've done a setup but before on the Haas I would set the tools off a 1-2-3 block on the table and use a Z offset for my Z zero. I don't like setting tools to the top of the workpiece because if I machine a surface on the part I no longer have my reference to reset tools. If anyone could give me their step by step process it would be greatly appreciated.

I have some questions regaurding surfacing. Is it better to use a big tool or small tool? What guidelines do you follow for step over and down for roughing and finishing? Do you use a certain percentage of the tool? And what guidelines do you follow for surfacing plastic.

Not sure if it fits in this forumn anywhere but I have a question about shrink fitting. I need to fit a shaft into a ring. The shaft is too long to freeze so I am relying entirely on heating the ring. The hole is just under 3" and the O.D. is 3-15/16" diameter in 1045 steel. I found the thermal expansion coefficients but Im concerned that since there is a hole thru that it may expand more. Anyone with any experience in this area would be a big help. I plan on heating the ring to between 300° and 400° and expect around .004' to .005" expansion as it is with the standard formula but again I wonder if it will grow more since it has a larg hole thru it. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

We are using an SMW ACcu-Smart 60 indexer and we are having some issues with it. It doesn't seem to index to the correct position. When trying to index it 90° we a have to program it somewhere around 89.85°. Doesn't seem like a lot but if we don't compensate this little bit it will scrap the part every time. And its the same every time we set up the indexer. I want to just contact the manufacturer but I can't find any info on them and this is the only indexer I have used so I'm not that familiar with it. Has anyone experienced problems of this sort or has anyone heard of this brand and model?

Three years? Thats amazing

Oh. Well its a .220 radius and Im using a 7/16" cutter. Not much to helix. Its the only tool I could find with the right LOC, 2 flute, HSS, and in my price range. (which isn't much )That is my plan for the other bigger radii though. thanks

Not much to hole on to. Plus this way two parts will be done at once.

The reason I didn't want to just drill it is because it is actually two pieces of plastic clamped in a vise and I will be drilling on the seam and I didn't know if my drill would walk. I am actually creating a radius on the side of a part. The part is symetrical so I am doing two at a time. Thats also why the tolerance is so big. It is a .22 radius with a plus or minus .030".

What do you mean by just fine? Id like to hold that dimension as close as I can obviously. How much of the tolerance do you think I would use? I wasn't sure how big to pre drill either. Thought of using the endmill almost like a reamer, just take out a little but I wasn't sure how consistent I could expect to hold the pre drill size.

I have to put a hole thru 2" of polyethylene and Ive never worked with it before. It calls for a hole to be .440" but it has a plus or minus .060" tolerance. Can I just plunge a two flute HSS 7/16" endmill thru it? I would probly pre drill it and try some different sizes but I would think .060" shouldn't be a problem.

Whats the best carbide drill you have used for the price? I am drilling about an inch deep in 316 stainless. Holes are around .390" diameter. Ive been just using TiN coated HSS but I'd like to find something faster and with longer life. Or do you suggest something besides carbide for my situation? Oh yeah, I need to hold a couple thousandths tolerance too.

I've done that but I just thought Iscar would have more tools. Im not at work right now but I believe there are either 36 or 38 tools listed total. Thats not many when you consider all of the different sizes and types. I mean between endmills just for specific materials such as aluminum and stainless should constitute a bigger tool list I would think.

Can someone give me the rundown on how to use the Iscar HEM feature on X5? How do I know how much to factor? And some info on the tool library that comes with it and editing? Can you get tool files directly from Iscar?

Anyone know where I can get an after market oil mister for a mazak vertical mill? We have an air hose that we rigged up ourselves so something as simple as a dripper that we could attach in front of the air hose would work.