I Absolutly Disagree also... Obviously your last five posts weren't on correcting your innummerable amount of problems you have had! Perhaps Bobcad is more UP YOUR ALLEY! The guys in here have always been more than willing to anwser the most basic to complex questions. As for Consulting. Maby you pissed off the wrong guy. They are A+ NUMERO UNO! Good luck to you and all your year of programming experience!

That's funny James! It's true though, It has been a hellofa year! I just watched Kobe and the Lakers get their A$$ kicked last night! Buyout Mastercam??? Who knows... Mastercam will still be numero uno, whoever throws the money around! DSS is huge they own Catia also.

Thanx fellas

I usually shift at 5000 r.p.m.... That's the meaning of Life?

quote: Ampco18 I have never heard ampco18. I've run al/Bronze, Al/Nichol/Bronze, etc. What is Ampco18-21?

When you sketch a line... Mastercam asks for important information *Sketch *Line *Horizontal... next you take the mouse and click at one end and drag it across to the other end. Then i asks a question Coordinate look on top of left corner of the screen and on the bottom of the screen (in this case on the bottom). *Enter You should have a horxontal line ine the correct coordinate (in Y).

+1 Chris. Everytime I program a spindle change. The machine waits for the r.p.m. to accomplish the programmed speed. If your next parameter has a spindle adjustment, you should just need a S+000. You could put an M03 no need to though.

5 Opps here!

quote: i give.. what is 3.82 other than the meaning of life. Some liquid metric conversion?? (Litres)

Mastercam is where it at. This is not a negative reply. If you already use Solidworks '05. They work directly well together. When building in Mastercam Solids, when you start using booleans and big features like that. The files get big and sometimes just translating features etc. take some time. Mastercam Solids rocks over all other cam systems I have seen. Big assemblies in solids, I have to give it to Solidworks.

quote: If you are using your own software, at least $75 per hour. If you are using the customer's software, $35-$50 per hour. I am leaning toward this Friends aside, unless your building a bracket for a buddies racecar. Someone is gonna benefit from your hard work! Someone's machine is gonna pump out thousands of parts or a mold, die etc. Why not make some extra beer money?

I think when you are in a specified plane cutting an arc you will get a G2 G3 (i.e. G18 X and Z it should give you a true arc). If you are positioning all three axis you will get positions XYZ. Without seeing your part I am speaking generically. When I'm cutting a Helix I get interpulation, the block is IJK XYZ.

If I'm working on a part with all Metric numbers and I need to convert them... I use M (standard calculator memory) to store .03937. So when you multiply the metric number just hit MR (memory recall) and that might save you a couple of key strokes.

quote: 0.0393700787401574 All those years I was way off!

About 6,000kb and that about stalled my healthy computer (that is a complete mold assembly). I can't believe some of your guys files, It must take a few minutes just to open the file. Kathy, How do you like working with Catia-Mastercam are you having good translations? Do you think Catia is similar to SolidWorks?

I'm wondering if it's aluminum... I've used big magnets on steel.

That helped. Thanx fellas!

I am trying to find the weight of a part. How do I adjust the parameters for the correct density? (i.e.: steel, al.) I started with a -primitive -sphere (just to to get basic numbers... Thanks in advance

quote: Chip, is your buddy Ryan of SDE in Oxnard? Yes...

I sent you an e-mail... I have a buddy whom is selling a gantry mill... I don't know details yet (? x ? x ?). I can try to get you in contact with him though.

JohnA GodSpeed to you and the rest of our military!

quote: What other kind of applications did they show you guys?? +1 I'm determined to get this to work... I will look into the seco and a couple other cutters. I know two other mold makers who use this toolpath (Rough-Plunge) all the time. O.D. roughing is good for clearance, a lot of times we run cavities or pockets...

quote: Its not really harder on the spindle your using the strongest part of the machine that way. Side cutting puts much more pressure on your spindle. Thats the whole idea behind the technology, utilizing the strongest part of the machine. +1000 I'll buy that... I have a 1.250 kennametal rough plunge... last time I ran that tool, I could'nt evac' the chips... sounded like Sh!*. We bought the tool though! Like I said before: quote: Some of the guys here in the forum I'm sure get them making chips... I'm not discourging the op. I just don't use it at all. I just did'nt have time to get it to work...

quote: ...and we can walk over to our kitchen sink, turn on the faucet, and take a chug of water better then any bottled stuff I've ever tasted. +1 Did you get your rough plunge toolpath? We have a couple rough plunge e.m.'s. None of us moldmakers use them. I don't really like the way they rough. I think it's hard on the spindles... If I had a 50 taper Makino... Some of the guys here in the forum I'm sure get them making chips... I'm not discourging the op. I just don't use it at all.