1) Are the hsm programs proven, or are the methods proven? Are the machines/tooling capable of performing at those rates? If so, then tell the operator to STFU and leave them alone. 2) Are there reasons they're turning them down? Parts out of tolerance, tools breaking, parts getting launched out of the fixturing? If not, then tell the operator to STFU and leave them alone. 3) Are the operators higher on the pay scale, or do they have more knowledge on this subject than you do? If not, then tell the operator to STFU and leave them alone. Nothing is more annoying to me than having someone with little or no knowledge of the situation/application/procedure going behind your back and changing things for no legit reason, only on the premis or assumption that it doesn't seem right, because it's just too fast. I'm the first to encourage thinking for youself, but if it's affecting production, you gotta draw the line. Mayhaps it's time for a group meeting. Teach them why you program like you do, then take them out to the machine and show them that it truly does work. JM2C -Rekd [ 09-08-2002, 12:45 PM: Message edited by: Rekd ]

quote: Also on a Quest for a cool graphic under my handle Figures. Seems to me that the graphics are meant for people that post, you know, like.. 'useful' posts!? I would hope the powers that be will realize this and be somewhat discreat when handing out these 'awards for contribution'. And to sit there and flame people outright in one paragraph, and then say they 'didn't mean it like that' in the next... Oh well. -Rekd

James.. Are you sure that's not Multax?? -Rekd

MfgEng... quote: Rekd- Read the origional post and see that the user has a file given to him in solid format and that he does not have solids. Changing design features is not within the scope of work here. Those are design functions and that is where that responsibility should stay. -------------------- Andrew McRae (MfgEng) Huh? Read the original post? Oh, dang it, you're right. Silly me, I didn't read the original post. Original Post.. ( whos topic just happens to coincide with this snippet ) quote: Bill Koenig ...Question, what's is the difference between a surface and a solid?... ...that can help to give a better understanding of the difference's between surface vs solids?... My reply.. quote: One other thing to consider in the differences.. Try to modify a surface file; Change a fillet, change a chamfer, change the length of a feature. It can be very time consuming with Surfaces. Solids make it much faster and easer. -Rekd Forgive my ignorance, (or yours as the case may be), but the post asked the difference between solids and surfaces. I simply brought up a fact that hadn't been covered yet. How is that "not in the scope of work here"? -Rekd [ 08-28-2002, 08:35 PM: Message edited by: Rekd ]

One other thing to consider in the differences.. Try to modify a surface file; Change a fillet, change a chamfer, change the length of a feature. It can be very time consuming with Surfaces. Solids make it much faster and easer. -Rekd

Thad, I understood your situation from the first post. Only because I have to deal with it on almost daily basis with GibbsCAM. I'm fairly fluent with mastercam, and don't recall that option being available in normal 2d toolpaths. GibbsCAM on the other hand, does it no matter what. Very VERY frustrating. Especially when using CUSTOM tools. I am constantly having to lie to get the results I want. Idealy, it would be nice to be able to turn this kind of option on or off. ( I would leave it off for ever!) It can be a nice feature in GibbsCAM, but as I said, it's VERY frustrating having to deal with it the OTHER 98% of the time I don't want to use it. I wouldn't be surprised if the wise folks at CNC had already looked in to this, and smartly decided against it... -Rekd

hrmph Msg edited already. What did it say before?? Just curious..

Take the mold job. Great work, even better experience for you. I spent a year in a mold shop, and those guys are just awsome. Brings a whole new dimension to machining. And yes, peter, you can machine tenths. Though it's easier to grind when the application permits. I've done it, I've checked it, and with the right machine, (boston digital is my choice), even you can do it... -Rekd [ 08-12-2002, 12:16 AM: Message edited by: Rekd ]

I have to agree with Charles as well.... We've got 29 vmc's and well over half are HAAS. I can INTERPOLATE holes concentric, round, and to a tolerance of as little as +.0002-.0000 on a .095 dia hole with a .0938 E.M. ALL DAY LONG. That's a move of barely .001 in a circle. This on machines as old as 2 to 6 years... And I have yet to see any real preventitive maint. done to them. We run 'em 'til we break 'em. And they don't break too often unless we do something stupid. Think of all the parts that go into your HAAS. Can you get it exactally right every time? Hell no. Have you ever scrapped a part? Hell yes. Well, so has HAAS. It's just more devestating when they do it, because it directly affects YOUR bottom dollar. If there's a problem with the new machine you just bought, it's your fault if you don't get it taken care of RIGHT AWAY!. Don't wait 'til "It breaks and we'll come and fix it." Demand that they fix it now, or else don't cry when it's out of warrenty and you could've, should've and wouldn've, but didn't get it taken care of while under still warranty. I've dealt with HAAS and MTS for many years now and have had very few problems with them. Remember, if there's a problem with the NEW machine you just bought, and they can't figure it out.. you can demand a replacement. I would think that with enough preasure, HAAS will do what's right, but YOU should have NEVER let it get this far... Just my (somewhat informed) 2 cents. ~Rekd [ 08-10-2002, 12:43 AM: Message edited by: Rekd ]

taken from Microsoft Windows Media Player EULA: quote: * Digital Rights Management (Security). You agree that in order to protect the integrity of content and software protected by digital rights management ("Secure Content"), Microsoft may provide security related updates to the OS Components that will be automatically downloaded onto your computer. These security related updates may disable your ability to copy and/or play Secure Content and use other software on your computer. If we provide such a security update, we will use reasonable efforts to post notices on a web site explaining the update. I particularly like the part where is says 'disable your ability to copy and/or play Secure Content and use other software on your computer. If we provide such a security update, we will use reasonable efforts to post notices on a web site explaining the update.' On what web site... www.yougotownedbymircrosoft.com?? LMAO -Rekd

Wow, what a topic! As soon as I got to James' post, I stopped, got a stiff Rum & Coke, and sat back to watch the feathers fly! Haven't seen a topic go off like this for a while. I'm glad everyone's happy with everyone else in the end though. Tough topic, Piracy. It affects all legit users, and has a more profound affect on software developers, resellers, and others. All you can do is report them. Then, if 6 months later they're still using it, report them again. I understand James' frustration. I also understand Brian's position, but think some comments were a bit extreme on both sides. Of course, I'm not one to talk. (And have been asked not to concerning certain subjects on this forum..) It's kinda funny how people on the same side tend to fight each other while fighting for the same cause. James, keep up the great posts here. You're a key member in this forum. -Rekd [ 07-25-2002, 08:01 PM: Message edited by: Rekd ]

Bad planning and poor management in your department does not necessarily constitute an emergency in mine. Yeah, I know, when is this ever NOT true. But it's still one of my favorites.. -Rekd

Rub it in, James... Christmas is coming up. Actually, I've spent years working with the post guys to get good posts for various machines, and here's what I've found: If you want to change 1 thing, you send them the changes, they make the changes and send it back, then you send it back again to fix the things they chagned that they weren't supposed to. On average it takes 3 tries to get a change from M6 to M06!!! Luckily I know visual basic, so I can make a quick post-post processor to FIX the owies

Note the original post date for this topic!! quote: posted 11-07-2001 08:58 PM CHARLES!!! How've you been? I'm still around. (Notice my earlier post was from last year) As you know, I'm working for another company now, not associated with Mastercam. (I won't mention what software they're using, but it's initials are GibbsNC) I think the ONLY thing I really LOVE about Gibbs is the awsome setup sheets they make using excel. But that's a different topic. We've got 29 VMC's, half are HAAS. For the money, it's really nice to be able to interpolate a .064+-.0003 hole with a .0625 EM! (I've been around machining for nearly 20 years and you don't see that very often). HAAS has made a very big, very affordable impact in the machining industry. -Rekd

This is what I was talking about originally, when I referred to Gibbs allowing you to create a process that will do the entire feature by simply dragging a tool from one pallet to another; it keeps the settings you have, so you just change what you need with the new tool and you're done. This includes holes.. when you don't have the solid drill option. Again, don't get me wrong. Mastercam is by far better in my somewhat misguided opinion, and I know both pretty well. Just some things they might think about in coming versions. -Rekd TREVOR!!!!!!

As I said, the solid drill function IS NOT a standerd option.. As for the price, I was under the impression that the solids package was around $5,000.00.

I'm not looking for fully automatic programming. I'm not sure where you got that impression, but oh well. I simply made a reference to the direction that Mastercam is heading. 5 years ago I would have laughed at the thought of solid drilling. 5 years from now I'll be laughing if we're not "solid milling" as well. You can teach computers the best way to approach most jobs. And by specifying stock, tooling, machine capabilities and other parameters, you WILL be able to automate 90% of the programming process as we know it today. Just like with solid drilling.

Yes, the solid drill feature is a nice ADD-ON, which can be purchased for several thousand dollars, but not part of the standard package. It also has some bugs in it to be ironed out yet if I remember correctly. I haven't used it in a working environment, but the results were, to say the least, spectacular. Very nice feature. While mastercam has made another step, we're still a long way from fully automatic programming. There is another feature in Mastercam called autodrill. It's hidden away deep in the Toolpath sub menu's. This is a nice feature also, but probably due to my lack of understanding, I have not had good results with it. [ 03-24-2002, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: Rekd ]

I started on Gibbs CAD/CAM many moons ago, way before Virtual Gibbs or GibbsNC. Virtual Gibbs was, IMO,a step BACKWARDS as far as functionality and control of toolpaths. Virtual Gibbs is super easy to use and learn, but with that ease comes a lack of many things. Control being the first and most important. I learned Mastercam very very quickly and was almost instantly gratified by it's superiority and functionality and configurability and power and flexibility and and and and. (get the picture?) In a nutshell, I believe (FROM MY OWN EXPERIENCE) that Mastercam is by far the superior product. But I have a couple of things that Gibbs does very well that I think Mastercam could learn from.. First and most importantly, Virtual Gibbs comes with what they call a Geometry Expert. It's basically a database of the geometry you have loaded in it. It works a few ways; As a geometry creation tool it's VERY easy to creat trimmed chains of almost any shape. It works as a geometry verification tool as well. If you have a chain loaded into it, (double clicking on part of a chain loads the whole chain), you can see all values and change all values as you desire. Although a bit difficult to learn, once you've mastered it, (no pun intended), you'll be able to create chains from simple to complex from scratch MUCH faster than you can in Mastercam. The second most useful feature for me that Virtual Gibbs has and Mastercam doesn't is the ability to create, (on the fly) toolpaths with multiple tools on the same geometry AT THE SAME TIME. For example, create 3 tools, a spotter, a drill and a tap. Now create processes for all 3 tools and set speeds/feeds/depths etc for all 3 operations. Now select the points you want to drill with ALL 3 TOOLS and BAM, 3 process. Yes, I know there's a few ways of doing something close to this in mastercam, but it's just not the same. -Rekd Please note that this is just an opinion and an observation by someone who has a very good understanding of both products. I'm not trying to get everyone to switch from MC to VG or visa-versa, I'm just making an observation...

I've been watching this for a few days now, and it seems shocking to me that you are all so suprised that this (and any other software) has had the security system breached. Software is no different than any other security. If you find a way to protect something, 5 other people will find a way to get around it. That's just how it is. There's ABSOLUTELY NO WAY ON EARTH to keep people from getting what they want. Period. There never will be. Software has only been around a couple decades, but locks have been around for centuries. Don't you think if they could have found a way to protect a lock from being picked they would have done it already? They can't. They never will. It's a fact of life and there's nothing you or the BSA can do about it, except to catch those they can catch and make an example out of them. Stiffer penalties and higher fines will help, as will lower priced software. But you'll never stop people from hacking. So if you see someone or know of someone using illegal software, report them. That's about all you can do to help. But keep in mind that even if reported, it's very hard to prove or force compliance. That's the price you pay for living in a free country and having all these wonderful rights you have! -Rekd

Hey, kyle. Rakd is actually my wife, I'm Rekd. I couldn't find an email address for you, so I wouldn't know where to send it.. Be more than happy to let you use it, sounds like exactally what I used to use it for. -Rekd

Tony and Gary, I sent you the program. It's just over 2 megs. If you don't recieve it because of mail server limits, let me know, I'll break it down for you. Any feedback is welcome. -Rekd

gary, I made a down and dirty program that will write that main program for you using options you choose. I used to work with bosto's as well, and made this program to make life a bit easier. Lemme know if interested, I'll send you more info. (It's a stand-alone program, doesn't matter what cad/cam software you use.) btw, I'm not planning on charging for it, it's just something I used to use and figured someone else may be able to benefit from it. -Rekd [ 01-22-2002: Message edited by: Rekd ]

Agreed on lunch. We just moved to Carlsbad, so give me a call and we'll get together and check out the sights.. Matt BTW, I changed my sig to include XYZ coordinates instead of binary values... figured it would be more appropriate considering the forum. Maybe some day I'll design some parts to replace the TFC characters.. (hope webby doesn't make me take it off..) [ 11-27-2001: Message edited by: Rekd ]