Thanks guys. Like I said, we use the MSC Cap system for our inserts, endmills, etc. It's powered by software from Supply Point, and it turns out that it has the ability to manage items not stored directly in the CAP vending tower. I'm going to do some more digging to make sure it will accomplish everything I want it to, but it looks like a winner. It also interfaces to Access/SQL so I guess I could write a program to do the things Supply Point can't (although I'd rather not!)

Ahaslam, what I want to do is exactly what you described. Can I ask you a few detailed questions about it? How much access did the operators have to the tooling? How was the tooling checked out (barcode, pen and paper, computer)? Aside from the pre-setting, what would you guess was the amount of time your crib guy spent doing work related to inventory/ordering/organizing?

We're looking to overhaul our tool management system. As in, right now we have pretty much no management and it is killing us. We're looking to consolidate our tools, keep a complete inventory, track usage, and cross reference what tools are used in which jobs (as we are a job shop, we have literally thousands of parts in our job pool).

I was hoping to get some insight into what others are doing to manage this. What software are you using? What are your methods and process? What would you do better if you could? How much is automated, and how much manual time has to be put into your inventory management?

We have about 40 machinists across two shifts so we're not a massive shop, but we have a lot of inventory to take care of. We currently use a MSC CAP system for the heavy moving consumables, so if you guys have experience with that, what software do you use to interface with it externally?

Any input is appreciated, even from people who don't have a solid management system but have good ideas.

Thanks in advance.

We use the Techniks holders as well. Love 'em. Really, once you have them you'll wonder why you ever did without.

centralized beer distribution system. Like for compressed air, only beer.

next_tool$

In the files page of the machine group properties, click on Edit Operation Defaults ( the ! icon). In the operation tree that pops up, click the files tab at the top, set them to what you want, then green check out.

I don't know if it's true, but I was told that Harvey doesn't actually build anything.. they just buy other peoples products and distribute them

 

Having said that, I recently had to do .100R max fillets in a 1.5" deep pocket in titatium

I bought some  extended length endmills from Harvey that worked very well.

I expected them to snap off on contact, but they did the job quite well

Harvey isn't a distributor though. You have to go through a distributor to buy Harvey Tool.

between cathedral and what Ron recommended, i had to play with the "circular tooth thickness"

 

You don't want to do that--the "space width max actual" is the max tooth size.

Try it like I have shown below. Then, draw a circle equal to your minor diameter and trim anything that violates it.

Why would you need to "push" the stock back into the main spindle? Unless I'm misreading that.

You can do pick off/ transfer with Lathe, no problem, without having to create a new machine group. As long as the mach. def. is setup properly.

You can buy an RS232 to RJ45 (ethernet) cable converter with the correct pinout for your machine. You'll still need a proper DNC software to transmit programs however.

We hob external splines day in and day out but for internal we always send them out to get broached.

You need to set your root diameter to the "base dia ref" dimension. Basically, your spline tooth should look twice as tall as it shows. A 12/24 spline is cut as a full-tooth spline (24/24) but then either turned or bored to a special diameter--the "minor dia" dimension on your chart.

That looks like you used the high-feed function.

This is awesome news. We use both religiously and if Harvey can apply their business practices to Helical, it's a major win for both Harvey and us lowly machinists.

Typically, the name format at the header of an OSP programme is as follows: (for a programme named SAMPLE.MIN)

 

$SAMPLE.MIN%

True, but really only necessary for pre- OSP100 controls

Our OSP100 programs don't contain any delimiters or whosits and whatnots. They look like this:

OTOP1234

And to really blow your mind, since we don't store programs in the machine (except subs and macros), our OSP200 - 300 programs don't even have program numbers!

Check the length of the program name. If it is too long, OSP won't accept it. I'm not sure what the limit is but I think it's ten characters.

His point was all those NOTES take up extra MEMORY that is limited in your MACHINE.

You might be having an acceleration/deceleration issue. 1" IPR is moving pretty fast and if the turret isn't up to speed by the time it starts cutting, you're going to get some major variance in helix angle. Are you threading up to a shoulder? If not, I would change my end point to be past the part.

As long as he's in IPR mode, it should be 1. like he has it- one inch per revolution.

I cannot seem to make this work?? In previous versions I had no problems. Now I need to lead in and lead out from a point along a simple circular chain. All I can get it do now is to drop in at the point, then it tries to feed across (through my part) to where it wants to start. I turned off the start at midpoint button..

You'll have to move your chain start point to to a point closer to your entry point.

The factors are numerous. What kind of lathe are you talking about? The biggest concern we have with spindle speed is bar whip. Slightly bent bars at 6000 rpm = no bueno.

Also I don't think your logic is correct. Right now you're saying, if 40 is bigger than ten, set VC123 and VC124 to 40. Try this:

VC81=10
VC82=40

VC121=VC81
VC122=VC82

IF[VC122 GE VC121]GOTO N1

VC123=VC121

VC124=VC122

GOTO N2

N1

VC123=VC122

VC124=VC121

N2

VC125=[[VC123-VC124]/2]+VC124

You need brackets. Remember PEMDAS from school; it works the same way here. I usually end up bracketing the sh*t out of my macros just to make sure they work in the exact order of operations I want.

VC125=[[VC123-VC124]/2]+VC124

Same thing here. Not really anything I know of to fix it; just double check your code.

I've got three, laptop is in the middle with another on either side.

Back to your question, I'm not sure about the video card supporting multiple monitors, but if it's a relatively new computer it should be able to.