I wouldn't use a steel cutter for anything but plastic anymore (and only sometimes in plastic), with the exception of cobalt drills in some cases.  Your cycle time is worth something, right?  As is the time to replace worn tools?  Start here:

 

http://www.helicaltool.com/cms/findatool_374.aspx

 

And use the feeds and speeds from the Helical Milling Advisor here: http://www.helicaltool.com/cms/millingadvisor_367.aspx

Nice site.

Basically cuts like a D2 tool steel only more tool wear.

Fun!

I've had experience machining D2 tool steel.... with ceramic inserts for turning.  Fun times.

Still in research mode.  There appear to be M6 tapped holes as well.

So.... we are in the process of quoting QTY 10 flanges at 321 grade stainless....

Pretty much this material eats tools for breakfast + lunch + dinner.  Gunna be fun.

So... i'm thinking carbide cutting tools for everything milling related?

Tried 2017 for lathe..... D+z+ does not stay.

 They did finally add a freepass to contour toolpath which is nice. No more creating a whole new toolpath. Again just a few minutes of playing but seems better at least for me.

Finally something that I will use more so than not.  This is something i've been doing for the past 5+ years.... adding spring passes / free passes to contours due to critical hole sizes and tool deflection.  So looking forward to this one feature.

I haven't tried the open beta testing for Mastercam, but would I have to test this out with a working netHASP or?

Has anyone tried the D+ Z+ issue in maint. update 3?   I know I haven't yet, but I plan to soon.

One of the positives about this update was the save time has been reduced greatly, which I truly appreciate.  5 seconds to .5 seconds, Thanks devs! 

can you share a file?

.nc OR .mcam?

Okay so.... I'll try to keep this short, but no promises.

We are trying to machine a rectangle thru hole and c-bore.  I'm using a .250 rougher and finisher for the part and a .062 mill to machine the .06R corners.  The machine has a Y axis and the reason for .062 mill is 3 things: Limited clearance, not enough live tool holders, and the .062 mill is used for other features on the part.

With this being said, the first part was done in climb cut and it looked like the mill pulled into the material... I mean the walls are .04-.06 thick at most.

Then we  tried conventional milling and a better holder.  It came out better, but they don't like it.

I don't know if the answer is in the machine definition or not.... I don't know if the Puma can work with milling coordinates using I, J, K codes because currently it is set to Radius.

Help is coming extremely slow at a snails pace and its frustrating for me cause I can't figure this out.

I used c-axis mill for the milling tool path.

If anyone could help / offer suggestions / whatever, I'd appreciate it.

-JD

Colin, I may be interested in this as well for the future should you have another one of these again.

However, I'm not sure how this will work for me since I'm deaf ......

You can't have multiple  "if" lines and one "else" line. You would need "if" "else", "if" "else", "if" "else".

      if wcstype = one, #Work coordinate system
        [
        pfbld, n$, *sg28, "X0.", "Y0.", e$
        pfbld, n$, "G92", *xh$, *yh$, *zh$, e$
        ]
      if mi10$ = 1, n$, *sm00, "( ***BLOW OUT HOLES*** )", e$
      else, pbld, n$, *sm01, e$
      if mi10$ = 2, n$, *sm00, "( ***FLIP CLAMPS TO SIDES*** )", e$
      else, pbld, n$, *sm01, e$
      if mi10$ = 3, n$, *sm00, "( ***FLIP CLAMPS TO TOP AND BOTTOM*** )", e$
      else, pbld, n$, *sm01, e$
      ptlchg_com

You can also go:

      if mi10$ = 1, n$, *sm00, "( ***BLOW OUT HOLES*** )", e$
      if mi10$ = 2, n$, *sm00, "( ***FLIP CLAMPS TO SIDES*** )", e$
      if mi10$ = 3, n$, *sm00, "( ***FLIP CLAMPS TO TOP AND BOTTOM*** )", e$
      if mi10$ = 0, pbld, n$, *sm01, e$

Hope that helps.

The bottom options worked best.

I tried the first with "ELSE" after every IF.... it posted more M01's than needed lol.... so by eliminating the "ELSE" and replacing it with "IF" for all, that did the trick.

Many thanks!

ptlchg$          #Tool change
      pcuttype
      toolchng = one
      toolcount = toolcount + 1
      if toolcountn <= tooltotal, nexttool = rbuf(4,toolcountn)
      else, nexttool = first_tool$
      if wcstype = one, #Work coordinate system
        [
        pfbld, n$, *sg28, "X0.", "Y0.", e$
        pfbld, n$, "G92", *xh$, *yh$, *zh$, e$
        ]
      if mi10$ = 1, n$, *sm00, "( ***BLOW OUT HOLES*** )", e$
      if mi10$ = 2, n$, *sm00, "( ***FLIP CLAMPS TO SIDES*** )", e$
      if mi10$ = 3, n$, *sm00, "( ***FLIP CLAMPS TO TOP AND BOTTOM*** )", e$
      else, pbld, n$, *sm01, e$
      ptlchg_com

The above is the current code we are using...

For some reason, when calling up #3, it doesn't double post a M00 and M01 .... see below:

N4150 X8.49 Y8.22
N4160 G80
N4170 G94
N4180 M09
N4190 G00 G91 G28 Z0.0
N4200 G00 G91 G28 Y0.0
N4210 M00 ( ***FLIP CLAMPS TO TOP AND BOTTOM*** )

(T20 = 1.25 DAPRA F-MILL )
N4230 (ROUGH PERIMETER)
N4240 G00 G40 G80 G90
N4250 T20

N3730 X10.46 Y9.76
N3740 X8.49 Y8.22
N3750 G80
N3760 M09
N3770 G00 G91 G28 Z0.0
N3780 G00 G91 G28 Y0.0
N3790 M00 ( ***BLOW OUT HOLES*** )
N3800 M01

(T22 = 1/2-13 OSG BLACK TAP )
N3810 (TAP 1/2-13 X .50DP)
N3820 G00 G40 G80 G90

What am I doing wrong?

   For operator comments I use mi6$. In my post there are 23 different numbered comments (to date) that I use. If I want the comment "ADD CLAMPS B THEN REMOVE CLAMPS A", I put 16 in mi6$ and the comment will go in the designated spot in the program while using only one mi$ spot. If you have multiple common comments this may be what you will want to do.

I had this very thought about doing it this way.  I have an idea how to integrate the Misc. item in question into the post, but not sure how to write the different numbered comments like your post is setup.  I would like to learn how to set this method up, it seems it might be the ideal way to go...

I know you most likely have all the comments memorized, unless you have some sort of sheet on the wall next to the computer that has the list of comments you use....

What I have seen it open it and try it then close it and try again it might work if not keep opening and closing till they take then you are good to go.

So that worked....

Go figure.

Back to canned text posting....

Seems that  "before" adds codes before spindle start

"with" on the G54 line

"after" happens after the H code line

I should be able to move the output line code to a different part of the post file where I want them to be.

Unless that's ill-advised?

Okay so... I tried clicking on the buttons in canned text ......   NOTHING was happening in 2017.

I opened X9 .... clicking on the buttons actually moved the words over from the left to the right box...

Soooo.... is this a bug in 2017 where canned text doesn't work?  Or is it just me?

I've done as Ron has suggested before

 

http://www.emastercam.com/board/topic/31552-need-post-help-with-canned-text/?p=321575

I'll give this a try when I get some free time.... hopefully near the end of my shift.

Well....

there are other comments we usually add into that part such as:

"Blow out holes"

"Check "feature""

"Check fit tube"

"Remove slug"

I've been struggling with trying to understand how the comment posting works out because...

.....

N780 M09
N790 G00 G91 G28 Z0.0
N800 G00 G91 G28 Y0.0
N810 M00

(T20 = 1.25 DAPRA F-MILL )
N820 (***FLIP CLAMPS***)
N830 (ROUGH BOTTOM)
N840 G00 G40 G80 G90
N850 T20
N860 M6

.....

I want the flip clamps line to read after the M00 line.... and when I try to do that the operation note "Rough bottom" disappears.

I'm hoping someone here would have suggestions or 2?

-JD

are you saving to a network or local to your hard drive?

 We save files to a network.... but X9 does not take long to save to a file.... <1 sec....

Does anyone have issues where 2017 takes 5+ seconds to save parts (even a blank screen) where X9 only takes .5 secs to save?  That bothers me.... saving parts shouldn't take that long....

Does it for drills and reamers also. Real pain getting everything named and then go post code to find out everything got changed because the tool manager decided it knows best not the programmer who took the time to name it what they wanted it named.

Good to know...

...And I was told by a co-worker who told me 2017 was bug free.

Yup give it a .0001

Thats what i did.... I was actually waiting for them to fix that.... if they're not..... ugh.

I also forgot this one:

When changing tool numbers on metric taps only, mastercam 2017 automatically changes the tap name to Right Hand tap.  This happens when you edit the tool itself...............

Does anyone else have an issue with chamfer cutters showing up as an invalid tool?

2017 needs a "flat" called out for any chamfer mill, otherwise it shows up as an invalid tool.

I don't have this issue and I have the machine to load default at D+, Z+ with turret set to upper left when machine is selected.  Even if the DZ plane goes away, I have a button to reselect this.

 

  Not sure what the issue is.... but I bet there are ways to fix this.

I'll quote myself:

I'm having the same issue already >.<

On top of that... I try and backplot c-axis tools; mastercam acts wonky in away it does not want to back plot in the viewing screen, but half of it is cut off because the rest of it is up somewhere at the top..........

Went back to X9 for lathe. Until the +D+Z issue is fixed, I'm not using it for turning. For milling it is ok, no faster than X9 though, imho.

 

The ribbon bar, well, meh..

I don't have this issue and I have the machine to load default at D+, Z+ with turret set to upper left when machine is selected.  Even if the DZ plane goes away, I have a button to reselect this.

  Not sure what the issue is.... but I bet there are ways to fix this.

Is there a way to load default machines when opening a .par file or?

The MSdos command config most likely worked.   The other programmer tried the adv config before and that did not work, but it worked.    MANY THANKS!