Thanks Chris. It worked. boy do i feel like a moron....

Hello all, My computer died recently so I had to reinstall everything. Before the loss, when I would post from Mastercam V9 Mill Level 3, cimcoedit would open automatically and display my NC code. Since the reinstall, when I post it saves the file but doesn't open up automatically. I have to find it and do it myself. This will become a nusance because I post code a lot in the course of one day. Any suggestions? Thanks.

quote: To keep the chipping down use a shape endmill instead of a ball nose. What exactly is a shape endmill?

I usually use a 1/4 inch ball endmill for my finish passes where applicable. Is this tool good for a finish pass?

Thanks everybody for the quick replies. I am trying a few out in MC to see what I like. I have been roughing the ren leaving 0.080 inches left and then finishing it, taking the remaining 0.080 inches off. Is that too much in one shot? I have put a file on the FTP server, it is: MC9_files/MECHMAN01_MC9.zip Once again, thank you all for the replies and I'll let you know how it goes.

Hello all, I need some help creating molds. I have been using mastercam (V9) for just about a year and a half. All I have needed to do up until this point was program our thermwood routers to trim thermoformed plastic parts on a vacuum fixture. For about 2 months I have been tasked to start creating our own molds for thermoforming. I have created a few that turned out ok but I need more help. Our molds vary in complexity. Most of the ones that I have created to this point have been fairly flat parts with 7 degree drafts on them. The part surfaces would come out smooth but the drafts would be rough and/or pitted. The drafts did't matter too much so they were used. Now I have to create more molds but they have a rolled edge that is about 5 degrees at its sharpest angle. And the current method I use will and has left the surfaces rough again. We use thermwood 5-axis routers (unfortunately) to cut these molds. To me, they are too shaky but I guess they have to do. My method for mold creation is as follows: 1.Surface Rough Pocket 2.Surface Finish Parallel I have just recently tried the following method: 1.Surface Rough Pocket 2.Surface Finish parallel(top flat surfaces only) 3.Surface Steep Parallel(steep sides only) I thought this would be good but it turns out when I ran number 2 then 3 the cuts didn't match and the tool dug too deep in at the abutting edge. The following is what I use: Mastercam V9 level 3 Thermwood 5-Axis router Our own post for that router Material: Renshape 450 from Vantico So my questions, after this long novel I wrote, would be: How do I cut on a steep level without the roughness and/or pitting? If I must use multiple toolpaths, how do I blend them? Will filtering the toolpath eliminate some of the shakyness in the router? Could Ren cause the pitting? I'm sure I will have more questions later. Andy

Is it extremely loud? Does anyone know of a place that does in-house demonstrations of them?

Has anyone ever used a Vortec Cold Air Gun to cool their cutters?

dgriffeths, I usually use G09F10. Have you found F8 to work better?

hello all, i use contours and curve5s to cut 3d splines that define molded plastic part edges on a vacuum fixture. i use 5 axis thermwood routers. some of these NURBS splines can be quite complex thus giving me a very jumpy toolpath sometimes. i have tried to filter in different ways and it does not produce a smooth toolpath. for the curve5s i play around with the curve following method-->chord height to "smooth" out my splines and it works but not to well. i have also tried cnv to arcs with no success. so basically my question is: what is the best way to smooth/filter 3d splines, that have control points that are spread out in one area and clumped in others, thus producing jumpy toolpaths?