edmBosto, You are on the right track here, except that TaperZ is a important pieces to the puzzle. TaperZ is the feature that calculate the distance from the table to your lower and upper guide, the machine will need this distance to be able to calculate the correct angular. I will normally do a TaperZ in the angular I have to cut, if it has to be accurate, you can make a TaperZ in 5 deg. then 10 deg. and lastly 15 deg. and take a average. You will see your H91 and H92 change depending on your test angular, and then after I write it down on a yellow sticky note and hang it on the control, that way you have it handy and can use it as cross reference when you do your next TaperZ, or you have to use them for a angular start up. So if you do not know when this was done the last time, do it!!. You are correct in the way you have set your Z1 and your Z5, however having Z3 and Z4 as zero in there will make your H91 and H92 zero, so you do not want those in there. One thing to consider is to reverse your scenario and have your Z1=0. and your Z5=.814 this will result you "A" value to be positive, to do this is not always possible but the benefits are that you program to the diameter that matters, and have you error of the taper away from you geometry (machine is going to be most accurate at the table that up in the air, because you are close to your lower guide), second is that it can be rather a pain in the butt to get the slug out of there if the taper is getting bigger at the bottom, because of the lower head .Your scenario is only .0035/S so if you use .01 diameter wire you will have a .01 path + overburn (.014) and you will be able to get the slug out from the top, but it is just something to have in mind. I hope this makes sense, and maybe Savagkd can chime in if I am missing something, I have not been programing wire for some few years now, and I feel a little rusty. Lars

I would agree 100% with John, I have found that rapid moves are a very big portion of your cycle time and the only the way I have found to be close is using the actual machine the program is running on. I always want to know cycle time on my programs, and then I save it in the headline of my program. % O1234 (PART:WISHI WASH) (DATE:01-06-2007) (PROGRAMMER:LARS) (CYCLETIME:1H23MIN) G20G17G80

Yeah the Z heights are critical on the Mits, however when you got them set I would predict you will have just as good luck on the Mits as you would on the Fanuc wire, we are running Mitsubishi FA's here and I see just a good results as I have had in the past with Fanuc, Charmilles and Agie's. Good Luck Lars

How are you making edmBosto?

Naah Kannon I cheated, we have brodband here in Upstate New York you know

edmBosto, What are you Z1,Z3, Z4 and Z5 values?, it sounds to me there where the problem lies, they are the once there are going to determen how you machine are going to approch your taper. This subject has been covered before in regards to program taper on a Mits wire, you might want to do a search. The problem is that it is very hard to get your post to output the correct Z values because depending on where your program zero is. Also when you are posting out true 4 axis contour (upper and lower geometry) your Z3 and Z4 has to be the excact value from your machine, and if your post as default will post these Z3=0.0 and Z4=0.0 your machine will reset them and your taper will get screwed up, thats way I made my post to always post Z3=VALUE, Z4=VALUE in that case the machine will give a alarm if I have not modified them. if you are using "A" Value for taper Z3 and Z4 do not need to be in your output, but you will need Z1 for your program zero and Z5 to determen in what direction the taper goes. Maybe you can try to post some code tommorow. HTH Lars

Ok, so it verily sounds to me that if you machine a lot of mold cavities, or such 3D models, and especially if it is in the category of "long cycle times" 2+ range, you might be stupid not looking into this option even if it is $$, you could earn that back in the long run. Again thank you James and pronc, I feel like I was just told the earth is round I would not have any use for this application for what I do now, but hey who knows maybe down the road, and you know what they say"knowledge is key" Lars

I am babysitting my 5 year old, she is yelling at me to come back in the family room and watch a movie So it is verily something that apply to high tec. company with $$$, and code would not be possible to get Mastercam to post out, pretty amazing code compared to standard G-code, how do you figure out what options that has been activated on your Fanuc control?, we just bought a Matsuura with a 31i control, and I have no idea what options it has. quote: ANything else? Well now where you mention it I can not see the pictures on your website. Thanks James, I appreciate you taking the time expand my horizon yet again. Lars

Thanks James, it sounds very interesting, I did not know Fanuc had that kind of options.

ok, well disregret my post Glad you got it running, and I can hearit, sounds mighty fine

I am not a expert, so my suggestion would be on your own risk, but I would run a HSS Spade drill in 316 at 45sfm at .006 ipr, it is carbide I would run it at 145 sfm at .01 ipr. Please let us know how you make out

Just sitting here a Thursday night at home skimming through the Fanuc manuel and came across Nurbs interpolation (G06.2), and wondered if anyone is using this, and if you can get Mastercam to output this? Lars

Good luck

quote: A "must" for new programmers in my opinion. Was not meant as a comment to you Jim, you are old, cured and wise Lars

Jim, The latest versions are not freeware anymore, but Mr.Rainey have added a lot of cool functions to the program package that was not included when the program was linked on here. And the price are still unbelivelbe low compared to what you get. A "must" for new programmers in my opinion.

Check out cncci.com ME Consultant is a great program.

Would you be better of holepoping the holes?

Travis, The wire is tested for the tenstile strength, basiclly to see when the wire will break between two points, this can be measured in Newton, so the N/mm2 stands for Newton/metric square. Mits is my lazy for Mitsubishi WEDM. You will be using different tenstile strength wire in different applications. If you are burning a taper a low testile strength wire will role the corners on your guides better, 500 N/mm2 is by many reffered as "soft Wire", 900 as "standard wire" and 1100 as "hard wire" that you might want to use for a .012" diameter wire applications maybe with some kind of coating, were you are burning a straight cut in a 3" block of steel. So it depends. Lars

That is your tensile strength in N/mm2 On Mits 900 would be considered standard. I do not think you are going to see a differents wich one you are running, except if you are running taper the 950 would be a little stiffer. HTH Lars

DaveR, have a beer and a cigar, relax my friend Kannon's do not bite, he do not offend anyone, one of the good guy's on this forum. quote: you will know I am not a serious person around hereFunny enough Kannon that is what my boss is saying about me at work.

Hey you should verily upgrade to 8.1.1

On our Kiwa with Fanuc 18i control, it is "K60" bit 1. It can put the machine in emergency stop when rigid tapping for some reason. HTH Lars

Thank you guy's, I did play a little with the control over the weekend, and it looks pretty cool, I was supprised when I realized that the 6 pallet pool was controled from the Fanuc control but I guess that after reading Jacks link, this is the 1st. Fanuc control to do this. Maybe I should just deal with and sit down a Sunday afternoon and read the manual . James, I knew it had to be something hidden, The only differents I have noticed between 16 and 18 is the wear in the offset page. Lars

Come on John In this high tec world there got to be something easier

I got maybe a stupid question, but we are having a new machine installed, and it is coming with a Fanuc 30i control, how do I figure out the differents from our 18i control, and now where we are at it, what are the differents between my 18i and 16i control. Do not tell me that you smart people in here actual are sitting down reading through the manual Thanks Lars