Way cool, Thanks for sharing..

Do you have the check box next to clearance checked? It needs to be for it to post the G98.

Re search it well Awbade it seems most people underestimate the effect of bad air quality almost as much as the effect of poor coolant condition.

Since you are in the market for machine tools and as Bob wisely suggested about buying new Portland is going to have their tool show again this year. Called the Northwest Machine Tool Expo it's April 1st and 2nd at the Oregon convention center. It looks to be better than the last couple have been lately. It would be a great opportunity to possibly make a few connections.

I have found that if you find quality reps from the manufacturers (usually development engineers) you can get a ton of free info on surface footage and chip loads used on various material types. I mean what better way to advertise your product bring it in on a test (GTO) run it buy it if you like it. I do this when ever possible and as often as possible.

It looks like cloud based info dumps are going to be all around us soon. This one looks promising from first look but I still wonder/worry about security. Although the wealth of info that could be had for users does look promising.

Out of curiosity what type of material is being used in the mold (if you can say). And what is the mold process? Injection, lost wax, etc. etc.

Looks promising...

Kaisen events can either be a pain or a great learning experience. From what I've seen from being involved in some you quickly find out who has their feet firmly planted in the past. Sometimes you just have to ask why (also part of the process) to get the best answers.

Muda, waste not want not......

Zoober, it's as clear as the muddy Willamette river to me only because I don't have a machine with a tomb stone. But I do program multiple parts and use the same reasoning some time you just need to change one but not all. Far more flexibility and you can mod part features singularly if needed.

MA FORD, Destiny, and Imco

OSG, or GUHRING prefered

Brandon, I'm currently using a WALTERS feed mill 2" dia. F4030.UT45.051.Z04.02 with their insert P23696-2.0 WSM35S. I'm doing a face mill and removing 060"" of material for depth and a width of .500" I'm running it at 164 SFM @.098 CPR. I get around 45 minutes of life per edge (6 sided insert). I also use the same insert on a helical mill path using a their 3" inch cutter body I run it at a depth of cut per revolution of .012" same surface footage as above but a chip load of .460 per rev (yes .460) (6 inserts). The part is circular and has a cross section of about 2" and I remove around .185 of material. My tool life is usually 3 parts per edge. It's done on a FADAL, FANUC 18i MB control. The load meter never gets above 30%. Total time remove the material is about 3.5 minutes.

Ouch, Sorry to hear.....

I have been fortunate to date to get almost any tooling I need or want. Times are changing though and only time will tell how things go, up to now I rate all my tooling by the ROI it can give me. If you talked to any of the local reps They would tell you if you want me to try your tool you need to do 2 things. 1st plug and play - they have to match the current SFM and chip load then If their tooling blows up during the test they just bought the part. My thought is if you do not have full confidence in the product your selling to be equal to what I am currently then I don't even want to try your product.

Do you know who supplied the blanks from your previous tools compared to the ones that fail? If they are using an inferior binder or sub straight it could be the problem. When they break off do they look as though they run in an granular manor (straight)?

I've used 4th axis machines before but never programmed one. Can you use the Break rotary motion and limit it to 180. degrees?

May I suggest putting this on your Christmas wish list. If you've been good Santa will have one for you under your tree this year, but if you have been bad you won't see one (something tells me lump of coal time).

newbee you throwin scones I love scones throw one my way. Oh wait you said stones never mind they don't taste very good at all.

Ernie, Could you please PM me your contact info. One of our engineers would like some info about scanning parts prior to target machining. We will be doing a high volume of these parts and he is looking to reduce set up time. Thanks Tim Hainz

Would the 3D calibration be macro O9836? Just curious.

Not when he swims down stream.......

Take a look at Global shop solutions

If you go with a button cutter I would try Sandvik or Ingersoll first. Walters does not leave the quality of surface finish as the other 2.