Hi Guy's as it says two questions #1 When posting I sometimes get a peck on my Tapping cycle ??? And #2 I get an intermittent coolant address even though I select it at the tool settings. ?? These are off and on sometimes so I usually just manually change it. But I would like to figure it out and fix it. Thanks for any help.

As far as construction depth you can go down to the bottom of your screen near planes left click on Z and set your new depth. Not sure if that is what you were asking. HTH

I'm sure I did it incorrectly. And I can get the work done. I just want all to be lined up and PPSupers way worked for my original file. I'm sure there are several methods and would like to do this correctly. I've tried the dynamic Gnome But the axis Icon at the lower left of the screen does not match my part . Am I reading what you meant by that correctly?

Yes I know they can But for them it is not something they are concerned about. We have several engineers and each one does it differently and they don't communicate with each other.

THANK YOU !! THANK YOU !!

Hi All, I keep struggling with the same issues and I was wondering if someone could possibly show me a step by step or explain this. On the attached file if you F9 origin the part is standing on it's side. What I would like is the front view to be my top view and my Z origin then to be on the top of the small circular boss with the 3 holes. And X and Y as if you were looking down at the bed of the table. We sweep the bearing pocket for the G54 and then flip the part to do the Bottom side at G55 I can get it to work this way eventually but it's hit and Miss with my memory.(Sorry Old) I tried to get the engineers to work with me on placement when the build it but they act like it's a major issue, and from their perspective they don't care. This is one of the things that really slows me down so any help is appreciated. ok so the file is too big for me to send I made a file to my clipboard can anyone tell me how to find it to send it. Thanks Dave

Tried sending you the File I'm working on now But it's too Big. It has a much larger face area. 5" x 7". But I would like the same result. As you can see By the part I sent fixturing and holding the part is not conducive to a large say 3" face mill. Thanks for all the support. I usually don't do a finish pass as the most I take off is just clean up or .050.

Probably Better if I just show you. I am only machining the top face and the Boss down in the Bottom. These are sealing surfaces so I want a very clean finish. I'm pretty sure this is 2024 aluminum cast. I'm doing both sides just the faces and 1 bearing surface on the Bottom. The bearing wall is not an issue it's usually 32

Thanks for responding. Yes it has porosity But My Bearing surfaces usually pull at least a 32 finish. Depth of cut generally is .05 total at the most and because these are usually difficult to fixture they may have High walls but usually less than 1/2" across on the Face. They endmill likes to drag and I don't want to rip it out of the fixture.

Hi All, We do mostly cast aluminum projects thin walled and Facing, Lots of bearing finishes. I generally don't have an issue with the bearing surfaces But on the others I generally end up with a 62 or 125 finish. using standard Flat end mills ( Face mills are not really conducive to our work) Any Ideas on tooling, speeds or feeds to get that aluminum mirror finish?? Top speed on our fastest spindle is 16000 and the rest 8000. Tried a bull endmill and it did not look any better. Feedrates usually from 36 IPM to 50 IPM. We use Encool for coolant. Like I said generally Facing small areas. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks Dave

And that second toolpath was sweet !!

I am definetly the Poster child for "Get More Training" looking at your MCX file is like standing in an accelerator ring with a Hammer in your hand !! I can't even figure out how you seperated the chains between drive, check and containment ???

I agree and I don't know if X2 has it but at ramping there should be a box to make an extra pass after ramping. HTH

Thanks for the Help, For some reason when I Use the Z depth my Tool does not Appear in Backplot and Verify can't see it either. But It seems to be working much Better than what I had. I also used the Bosses as check surfaces and only used the two flat Planes as Drive.. Thanks again

Hi All, Any suggestions on creating a Toolpath for this ? I have tried several But not getting the result I would Like. This is a cast Part and I am only Facing The Outer boundaries on top and around the circular Boss at a depth of perhaps .050 I'm using a 1/2" flat endmill to avoid the odd shaped Boss . Thanks Dave

Cool Thanks for the help.

I've got taps but I was wondering how you would pick it up for a threadmill as my file doesn't show the thread geometry. Otherwise I would have to assume it can't pick up the taper. And while I'm at it is there another way to cut the taper diameter besides a reamer ?? that is just out of curiosity I would not attempt it as yet.

Hi Guy's is there a library for NPT threads Tap or Threadmill?? Or do you just lie to MCX.

P.S. I thought you were building a Boat, ????? Ark trouble???

I could be wrong but can you create the geometry from curves?? I do it with other files(dxf,stp) go to create, curves,curves on all edges select (box in) or select the part then accept. It should show your wireframe. if I'm wrong sorry was just trying to help.

Yessir mine too. Thanks

Thanks JP problem I have with that is splines will not highlight.when in edit???

Hi Guy's, Is there a way to convert a set of splines to arcs easily? The engineers are switching back and forth on us (don't know why?) I tried the chook Drill point But it didn't work or I did not use it properly. All I need is a drill point.

Can't think of the name at this moment but we had antenna's set at each machine for wireless and it was set up with a dashboard on your computer so if you were elsewhere you could see on your computer if all the machines were running and at what stage. Not sure if it was PRODUCTIVITY INC. that set it up for us. But they would Know.

Yep Sh&t happens we got rush parts had to build fixtures, Program parts working through weekends. Boss ordered tools we were waiting on the Damn Threadmills all else was ready. Finally threadmills show up I grab one throw it in machine and we are running 4000 parts needed and we are just spitting them out. alternate supplier for our customer is asking how we do it cause they can't figure it out . Boss tells me get the tool #s so we can help these guys out. Looking at the threadmill and Damn it has a flat on it. Oh Crap!!! It was an acme. 1000 already out the door!! Luckily they never figured it out. We switched as soon as we got correct Threadmills . All my fault first time thread milling didn't even look at the package just took what the Boss handed me and ran. And yes we gaged just fine either way. Lesson Learned.