Is there any way that you can add texture in Mastercam to an already modeled part? Like ridges or small bumps?

Could you possibly set up another ball mill and run a spring pass? Or change inserts and run a spring.

I am not sure if it's the same process or not. I will have to ask my wife's cousin if he knows. Let me get back to you on that one.

You could possibly plunge mill the whole thing with a long standard end mill and then go back with the ball end mill. Typically I have always left .005 on my surfaces for finish but I have never done anything that you are describing. A pic would help out a lot so we can steer you in the right direction.

Could you use a full radiused keyway cutter? Possibly fixture it on a lathe?

Sorry about posting so late. Basically I start with a blank piece of dichroic glass which has a metallic coating. My wife's cousin then laser engraves the image. Once I get it back I put a piece of clear glass on top of the dichroic glass to protect the image then I fire it in a kiln that reaches about 1500 degrees. After it's cooled I glue a necklace bail to the back side of it. That has to dry for about 24 hours then it's ready to wear.

O5000(G83 & G73 DRILL MACRO) (ABSOLUTE MACRO) (WORKS) (FORMAT G65/G66 QRZEFIH) (Q = #17 - STEPOVER IN Z/ DOC) (R = #18 - R PLANE) (Z = #26 - Z START ZERO) (E = #8 - END OF DRILL IN Z) (F = #9 - ENTRANCE FEEDRATE) (I = #4 - PECK FEEDRATE) (H = #11 - IN AND OUT FEEDRATE) (*********************************) #100=ABS[#26]-ABS[#8] #100=ABS[#100] IF[[#26*#8]GE0]GOTO1 #100=ABS[#26]+ABS[#8] N1#101=ROUND[#100/#17] #102=#100/#101 #103=#5001 #105=#5002 G0G90X#103Y#105 Z#18 G1Z#26F#9 #106=#5003 WHILE[#101GE0]DO1 IF[#101LT0]GOTO10 #101=#101-1. G1Z#106F#4 Z#18F#11 Z[#106+.005] #106=#106-#102 END1 N10G0G90Z#18 X#103Y#105 M99 Give this a try.

You are already adding another op by having to rework the bores.

Why don't you cut the bores after you tap?

I have reverse engineered parts using a gage pin in the spindle using a feeler gage and recorded the points. No software though.

I wrote this a few months back. It has been proven on NC plot. I wrote it for another operator in another state and he tells me that it works great. Give it a try if you cannot sort out your other macro. O3334(ROUGH POCKET) (ABSOLUTE MACRO) (MUST HAVE START HOLE IN CENTER) (PROVEN ON NC PLOT ONLY) (FORMAT G65/G66 XYQSTRZEF) (X = #24 - X DIMENSION) (Y = #25 - Y DIMENSION) (Q = #17 - STEPOVER IN Z/ DOC) (S = #19 - STEPOVER IN XY/ PERCENTAGE) (T = #20 - TOOL DIAMETER) (R = #18 - PLANE) (Z = #26 - Z START/ TOP OF STOCK) (E = #8 - END OF POCKET IN Z) (F = #9 - FEEDRATE) (*********************************) IF[[#24*#25*#17*#19*#20*#8*#9]EQ0]GOTO1000 (CALCULATE DOC IN Z) #100=ABS[#26]-ABS[#8] #100=ABS[#100] IF[[#26*#8]GE0]GOTO1 #100=ABS[#26]+ABS[#8] N1#101=ROUND[#100/#17] #102=#100/#101 IF[#102GT[#100/2.]]THEN#102=#100 (CALCULATE DOC IN X) #103=[#19*.01]*#20 #104=[#24/2.]-[#20/2.] #105=ROUND[#104/#103] #106=#104/#105 IF[#106GT[#104/2.]]THEN#106=#104 (CALCULATE DOC IN Y) #107=[#19*.01]*#20 #108=[#25/2.]-[#20/2.] #109=ROUND[#108/#107] #110=#108/#109 IF[#110GT[#108/2.]]THEN#110=#108 (STORE POSTIONS AND GO TO Z START) #111=#5001 #112=#5002 #114=#112 #115=#111 #116=#112 #117=#111 G0G90X#111Y#112 Z[#26+.1] G1Z#26F#9 #113=#5003-#102 #120=#105 IF[#120LT#109]THEN#120=#109 #125=#105 #129=#109 #130=#120 WHILE[#101GE1.]DO1 IF[#101EQ0]GOTO10 #101=#101-1. G90G1Z#113F#9 WHILE[#120GE1.]DO2 IF[#120EQ0]GOTO100 (CALCULATE TOOL PATH) IF[#109LE0]GOTO20 #114=#114+#110 N20 IF[#105LE0]GOTO30 #115=#115-#106 N30 IF[#109LE0]GOTO40 #116=#116-#110 N40 IF[#105LE0]GOTO50 #117=#117+#106 N50 (CUT POCKET) G1G90G41Y#114F#9 X#115 Y#116 X#117 Y#114 X#111 (DOWN COUNT) #105=#105-1. #109=#109-1. #120=#120-1. END2 N100 #105=#125 #109=#129 #114=#112 #115=#111 #116=#112 #117=#111 #120=#130 X#111Y#112G40 #113=#113-#102 END1 N10 X#111Y#112 Z#18 M99 N1000 M00(DATA LACKING)

My wife's cousin and I have been working on a co op project involving using a laser engraver and dichroic glass. Here is an example of a necklace I just finished up over the weekend. Is anyone else doing this type of work?

I do not see the attachment, would you be willing to try a different pocketing macro? Are you doing a rectangle or circle pocket?

Looking at my math again I believe you are right. Sometimes I get in a hurry when I write this stuff then prove it out and debug at the machine. My 10. spread would be the hypotenuse of the triangle and would not be included in an ATAN calculation so I believe you are correct. How would we then incorporate positive or negative rotation?

I am assuming the 10.00 would be known and precisely machined. I am not sure if your example would work because if you took a 10.00 hole spread and kicked it at lets say 10. degrees the hole spread would still be 10. inches. I will have to think about it some more and maybe come up with some more math that would take into account all aspects of the holes. Great point though. Thank You.

Lets say your hole spread is 10 inches in X with .5 inch holes We use 9914 for our hole pickup and #136 for our Y absolute location: T1M06(PROBE) G0X-5.Y0 G43H1Z5. G1Z-.2F50. G65P9914D.5Q.1R.1 #600=#136 G0Z5. X5. G1Z-.2F50. G65P9914D.5Q.1R.1 #601=#136 #602=[#601-#600]/2. #530=ATAN[#602]/[5.] IF[#530GT180.]THEN#530=#530-360. G0Z5. G91G28Z0 M00 G68#530 (WE USE #530 FOR ALL ROTATIONS)

You could also set a tolerance amount: Ex: If your probe spits out #138 for size you could do this N1 (Calculate cutter comp) (Update cutter comp) (Run tool) (Probe) IF[#138GT2.]GOTO2 IF[#138LT1.998]GOTO1 N2

Does anyone else out there have any cool macros they would like to share. I am always interested in new ideas.

You might want to consider Mitee-bite.

I'm not sure if it will damage your collet, more than likely it will. Your ER 32 may just have a crack in the holder and that is why your end mill is pulling out. We use shrink fit tooling here at work and never had an end mill pull out. Also, if you can't afford shrink fit a good old fashioned set screw holder works great and they are relatively priced OK. You will want to put a flat on your end mill though. It does seam that you are putting a rather large EM in a holder that really should just be used for drills.

If you needed it right away could you just surface that feature onto your parts? I know it would take longer but it may get you out of a bind.

Most of our fixturing is pretty lame, so to compensate we use rotation on a lot of our jobs. Who else here uses rotation?

Recently, I feel like I have been wasting my time with this macro stuff. I mean lets face it the CAD/CAM available now allows you to do pretty much whatever you want and not too many people even understand the concept, so it just makes it difficult to teach to others.

Have you tried a CBN tool?

I have a macro that does that if you know how to use custom macro B and your machine is capable.