I have a Space Pilot Pro....I took it home because we were going through a change in management and they were on the controlling side when they started, so I told them I wouldn't be able to program for them the way things were going.. long story short that's all over now, after getting a raise finally and moving on to a slew of Sikorsky and Space-X parts. I have been working without the SPP for over a month or two now, and after only having it for around 2-3 months with sporadic programming, I really can't live without it. Takes forever to manipulate screens, etc. Good luck with your new toy! I still need to master using mine, as I still haven't remembered all the functions without looking at the LCD....lol...what's your secret?

Yeah that's my concern. Who knows what has changed since the last round of ISO I went through. Although I did confer with the registrar that was helping getting the companies oriented initially, and he was happy with the system I had began implementing, give or take a couple items needing refinement. What gets me is our parent company was supposed to have all this taken care of, but they jumped a little too deep into the whole scheme. Hard to explain here without the procedure list handy, but trust me... it was going to make production virtually come to a stop without say 2-3 people working daily to get it rolling. On top of that it would require me to basically have to go through each and every program and rewrite all information, etc to be able to use it. The guys on the shop floor wouldn't have much say so, and to be honest, most of the lathe work I stay out of anyhow. I mainly handle all the mill work, and I've adjusted both departments files, it;s just that the lathes have quite a bit of work cut out for them regarding headers, tool info etc. Not to mention there has been a changing of the guard so to speak with mostly new people taking over, so nothing is well documented or structured. I started just over a year ago and pointed out the problems, and have been cleaning as I go, all my programs are compliant, so it's the stuff leftover from my predecessors that raises the concerns. I simply have moved all unknown or undocumented (i.e. no Rev specified, no Vendor info, etc. ) to a temporary holding area until we either trash these files or someone figures out what they are. And as I mentioned, I was told this would all be taken care of, but here we are less than a week to go and now it's on me. I did locate one companies procedure which was fairly sparce regarding info or specifications, so I'm thinking simple and to the point is better then long winded and overly complex, with most of the details kept on a need to know basis. I've seen what happens when the documentation is over indulgent, yet the system is a far cry from whats stated. I frequently deal with engineers from major aerospace companies and they seemingly have quite a few logistics issues regarding rev's, missing dimensions, bad views on drawing, etc. Wonder how that happens with all this redundancy checking in place.

I have an odd request, not sure if this is the proper forum but here goes... I could use a template for program storage and retrieval per AS9100 requirements. I have implemented my own take on what needs to be covered, but our parent company remotely implied their version, which I believe to be overtly complicated and has more than a few questionable issues of its own. We have an audit coming up and I would really appreciate some input on a typical guidelines to draft another policy for our files. I previously had drafted the current layout I have been implementing for over a year now just last week but one of our secretaries misplaced it after receiving the above mentioned. Mind you mine was drawn on from my history with other companies attaining certification for ISO or AS9100. If anyone wouldn't mind sharing their procedure I would appreciate it as we have the audit this week and it was a short notice thing for me to handle it. I know they want to see all pertinant info such as customer, revs, setup procedures, etc, and how the system is backed up verified, etc....I guess I am asking for a known working, certed solution as a guideline because I don't plan on it being my department that falls short. Great pre holiday fun...our owner thinks it's gona be a shoe in, but I know it never happens that easy. Especially with this economy. Seen other companies take years just because the owners wouldn't budge on old ways. Hoping this won't be our last Christmas... Thanks in advance...

Yeah, I can get whatever tools I need. It's the small fillets dictating size for the most part. Fun part was comming up with a way to time the thing through all the op's, but in hindsight that was easy compared to getting that area finished. Aww well... been waiting 3 days on a 1st article for other op's so got a little more time to experiment.

I have an issue I got stuck with at work after someone forgot to burn a tiny detail on a part. It's a .005 fillet +.003 -0 thats just past the end of an 11 tooth spline along 2 teeth with adjacent 20 deg angles and small fillets. Problem being is its size, its 15-5, and our machines are capped at 8k so you can grasp the issue. Parts are now overdue and there's a bunch of em to do, allready need 4 other op's including this, which I have setup to run back to back. Tried the stepdown (size) approach and not fairing too well with the .015 ball at end of process. After roughing the notched area with progressively smaller tools, including: .125 e.m., .0625 e.m., .04 e.m., .025 e.m. w/.005 r., and the breaker... .015 ball e.m. The Ball is left with at most (besides sq. corners) .001 along walls. Tried creeping in both with 2d paths using rotary for positioning and also surfacing w/o rotary involvement. Taking .0001-.0002 d.o.c. at contact and no more then .0005 on the side using leftover or restmill type paths, and even threw in a couple roughing/finishing surface trials with no luck.... and I'm sure you have a good guess it is the corners that are killing it. If anyone has any suggestions please chime in. I have model on usb stick, it's kinda busy in mastercam (created it in x6) cleaned a few issues in solidworks and brought back in x6, So have both type files. The solidworks being much easier to view. Lack of rpm and sfm I'm fairly certain is the problem... Only snapped 3 so far, but kinda seems fruitless to keep trying. No time to send to burn at this point. Mind you the both central and shaft section were hobbed minus the 4 flats and notch, fillets, etc. And the external rad's are .002 along the flats, which I haven't bothered with since benching the part should be adequate. Seriously bad planning on someones behalf as I remember looking over the drawing months ago and mentioning that needed to be addressed before it came to me. Here's a clip of the mentioned section, below is the attached file.. The Part itself.....yes it fit's in your palm..... Thanks for any input GEAR PROJ.MCX-6

Anyone still use trackballs? Use to prefer those mostly, but after a couple bad ones (wireless) back to reg, I got guys working with me that moonlight at some startup shop, and supposedly they are the stars there. Truely amusing because one of them (operator at best) asks why they have issues with finish, etc. Hmmm well the guy programming has all of around a year or so at best programming, and that's tinkering on a laptop with questionable results. Mind you lathe only, he tried a couple mill programs but I had to fix quite a bit, and besides the mills are my dept. I try and offer advice but some people just don't take constructive criticism well...

Yeah....I have years ago, Is it similar to UHMW?? Or was I thinking of PET??

Hmmmmmm ... I'm working on a few 777 parts I wish would "auto" fixture and code theirselves!!! My days would be gravy.

It was at NTMA in Ontario.... You are all coastal right? Think it was funded through the state back then (boss had to buy us the books, unwillingly), in fact one of my setup guys had been through all of the classes, minus the advanced. He was instrumental in getting us shoed in. I had talked boss into upgrading to solids just prior to this and was self-learning pretty fast, there were a few things the class helped with, but most I had figured out on my own. Our instructor was very good. He had worked developing early "NC's" Pretty sure he is retired by now. Knew most of the other instructors too because me and another guy kept crashing the computers by creating solids a little too intense for what they had. He told me I should take the instructor class, but I really didn't have the time back then....

Wow...I feel really old, I remember tinkering with version 3, just getting it to run was a challenge. Been 10-12 years since I took advanced class, which then included multi-axis, and post editing.(There was an actual manual CNC Sold) think it was v8-9(solids barely released) and it was as many have mentioned, a small percentage ( a couple other guys and myself ) that were getting anywhere, while the majority of class was stumped on fairly simple geometry creation the whole length of each class. I picked up quite a bit of knowledge, mostly regarding stock definitions. Previously had been tied to the basic square, etc stock shapes. Lot of hours, I took saturday classes at 8hrs ea,

I wanted one for years and finally broke down and bought a Space Pilot Pro. As mentioned above it is hard to look back after using it for 3d stuff. Still got a ways to go mastering all the button functions, but for manipulating parts on the screen in almost any program its hard to beat. Picked mine up for around $250 on Amazon, think they list for $399..

I've used surface finish contour with success undercutting angled models etc when nothing else would come close to working. only problem is setting correct containment for shank etc. Then you can utilize the lead in and outs to clear protrusions.

Just for a heads up....Haas ships every machine from the factory with the high speed "option" built in, and has done so for around the last ten years or so. The problem being, it is a paid for option. It runs about $2400 per machine, and from experience with this issue recently, is one you or your company should not overlook if purchasing a Haas machine with the intent of cutting at high speed. Our VF-3's are around 6 years old and I never knew that they couldn't do high speed or hybrid cutting until we switched from cutting heat treated stainless and 4140, etc to aluminum parts and programmed a whole branch of assorted part lines only to discover the machine wouldn't do it short of shaking itself apart! Called Haas and got a code to unlock the function, and upon testing discovered it worked as expected. Right around time we were in full-swing production, the "teaser limited time only option" shut off and we were back to square one. Haas technicians were in that week to check on one machine that was leaking programs from the list to mdi randomly (scary to say the least), and replace an oiler which was dead in its tracks. They filled me in on the fact it was built in and verified the price to get it full time. Don't purchase a Haas machine w/o this option if you intend to do any machining at speeds over 60 ipm around corners, moreless try and use any of mastercams high speed or hybrid paths. I contacted one of their regional top tier sales rep's and asked why this isn't widely disclosed at time of purchase, and they really couldn't give an acceptable answer. Mind you the machines ship with advertised feed rates of over 1000 ipm on most all of their products and blazed on the cabinets. Ours came with the optional remote pendants which adds I believe an additional $1200+ for ea machine... makes me wonder who would spring for the jog-wheel and not the high speed?

......Or get ahold of Internal Tool....they will make anything you like. We order special key cutters from them all the time. http://www.internaltool.com/products/product_detail.php?series=76