There comes a point in every tool makers, machinists,programer etc. career when he or she realizes that cutting material is all about sound. I mean feeds and speeds are the foundation, but there is more to it than just numeric values. Some complex milling set ups have a high affinity for developing chatter harmonics. Sometimes there is no way around it. If one were to apply recomended chip loads and surface footage to this setup. The result would be a squeely co-worker call followed the inquisitive probe by the op. manager that is rivalled only at the proctologist office. I have been experimenting with tones generated by the cutters in an ideal setup. I have made some interesting discoveries.I hope to one day reach a point were I may compare the tone generated by a new setup, to one I know is ideal for that material, speed and feed,cutter etc. I also hope to be better able to increase cutting speed and maintane cutter life with this process. Ideally one should be able to in effect "tune" the cutter to its best feed and speed for that givin situation based on the ideal tone. My question to you forum members is has anyone ever undertaken such a study? I would appreciate any thoughts or experiances one has had with cutter tone and any advice too. One more thing does anyone have an ocsilliscope for sale please e-mail me if you do.

Mr. Reiner, That smacks the nail on it's head . Your solution has saved me programing time. I extend my gratitude to you sir.

Mr. Peterson, Thank you for your speedy response. I will contact our dealer and request the upgrade.

I have posted two files in the mc8 folder on the ftp site under the names pruffchk (with check surfaces used)and pruffnchk (without check surfaces). I have also found that if check surfaces are used and then turned off. The cutter will still take the rough cut in two plunges. The only way i have found to keep this from happening is never to use check surfaces to begin with. I have been retailoring part geometry to keep the cutter out of certain areas and still be able to rough with one plunge. Manipulation of the g-code also works, but both these methods are timely and a real pain in the wazoo! Thanks in advance to all who check out the files and any suggestions you all have.

I was wondering if there is a way to use surface rough plunge in v8.0 in combination with check surfaces and or tool center boundries that are above and parallel to the drive surface, and not have the roughing plunge cut broken up into two or more cuts. I have tried setting the max step down to full depth in the plunge para, but, it seems to be ignoring the value. thank you for any suggestions