I do all of that in MC. I never repost. I never set offsets, I never re number tools. When creating a program I often post one part first, prove out all the cutting parameters, then I create all my translate and transform ops. Then I post those. So I do have two programs, but I don't find that to be a problem. I could just as easily just run one part from my big multi part program, but I'd rather not have to keep skipping sections of code while running the program so I'd rather just call up a different program for that. I do like macros, I do use them. But I don't use them for things like multiple parts, fixture tracking etc for the reason that it's hard to tell what happened if there is ever a problem. With everything inside the program it's easier to toruble shoot than trying to get operators to be honest about how/why/if they fat fingered something. I mostly use them for inspection, offset calculations (part and tool), or automation.

IMO you don't. I make a program one time and never repost it unless I need to edit the cutting data or create/remove tool paths. I avoid running partial tombstones as there as the benefit does not out weigh the faults for my situation. My production multi parts programs are usually sub 30min per part, the longest is 1hr/part and the shortest is 5min/part (not per tombstone), so by removing 1-2 parts for a partial tombstone there isn't much in the way of time savings, and when you factor in having operators d1ck around adjusting fixturing to run partial tombstones, change macro parameters etc the benefit ceases to exist.

I think there are reasonable odds it was never finished, which is a shame. I think it is something they could make a popular add on.

I use Hannibal Carbide for TSC reamers. For non TSC I usually get pretty good selection from Morse for HSS reamers that have carbide flutes.

I've had better luck maintaining hole size with straight flute coolant through reamers with the correct speed and feeds. Right hand spiral are more inclined to run oversize.

This is In Houses forum, it would be cool if they could post some info. I do have a couple videos of it they sent me when they were developing it looking for input, but I was asked not to share the videos so I won't unless In House gives the go ahead. It certainly showed some potential.

Can anyone from In House confirm the status of this nethook?

24" diameter? WFL is your machine tool builder.

I'd be curious to see how far it got. Last time I saw it was summer of 2014. It didn't have anywhere near the power of Gibbs. The big draw back to this nethook was that it copied your groups, which made a mess, particularly if you ever needed to modify something. So if you programmed one part, with all tool paths inside one group, and you set the tombstone manager to make 100 pcs, the nethook would create 100 copied tool groups in your ops manager.

You haven't said the size of work you need to process. If the parts aren't large, you can't beat Index for quality and thermal stability. R200: G220:

Yikes. You can modify your post so that the post calculates and writes your offsets in the control for you. For the programmer, it feels like you are programming from COR. For the operator, they run it like they set an offset for each side themselves.

I think Colin was saying it's doable, I was interested in having it done at one point. I probably should have followed through with that.

I hear ya, but if it's not a production part, and if it isn't going to shave much time off if you are just doing 1-4 pcs, why risk it. I've never tried to shave 20min off a 8-16hr cycle and shot myself in the foot by not being able to hold tolerance from the high feed rates...

Sure you can hack and slash it together, that is not the point of the conversation. Why does cam software that was released in winter of 2003 have substantially more power in this arena than the latest version of mc, 14 years later? JKermit83, I am familiar with your problem. I prefer to keep all of my transform or translate operations in a single respective tool group, instead of grouping them by tool number like you have, I just find it easier to navigate the program. Don't forget that you can add notes to your transform ops which makes them easier to track when you have dozens of them.

Keep in mind that for small pockets like the one in your video, the difference between 400ipm and 800ipm back feed in regards to cycle time is totally dependent on axis acceleration. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that in that small pocket that you machine can't get up to 500ipm. You might not save any cycle time and just cause accuracy issues. It's at least something to be aware of.

That is a very impressive cut. Interesting to see how high the Y axis load was and how low the spindle load was. I can't think of any other 500mm machines that are 50k lbs, maybe a Niigata?

I'm sure the Okuma boys can correct me, but doesn't Okuma run a heavy duty line of HMc's called the MH line or something like that, and the light duty version is the MA line? Or the opposite of that?

Or, he has yet to learn a very valuable lesson

The same way you verify/machine sim a hmc with multiple stock in MC, you don't!

It's not like they couldn't have come up with something different. Aside from that, I'm not sure what year Gibbs actually came out with the TMS, but based on the 2004 release date all MC needs to do is wait 3 more years for the patent to be up Then they would only be 20 years behind. In software, that's no big deal, right?

For the most part, these Macro's are hard earned and built by the people using them. Rarely are people willing to part with this stuff for free, not just because of the time that went into building them, but also because of the amount of debugging and training that is involved in using them for different controls, different shop culture etc.

Slow down when reading my original post. ALL of the Translates should be in their own tool group, then ALL of the Transforms, should be in their own tool group.

Sounds like a money maker

I wonder if you misunderstood my method? I can run one part, all parts on one plane, all parts all planes, first part all planes etc in just a couple clicks of the mouse.