Exactly.... I am mixed on using it or not. i do like the ability to turn on more than one at once. Can't do that with the old style

Quills on boring mills do sag. Alot more than one might think....get a 5" dia quill sticking out 30" or so...its just the nature of the beast. Typically...or always...we extend the quill out (the W axis) and then machine in Z. I don't recall ever seeing a machine (that wasn't a retrofit) peck with the quill.

You really used all 10 values to swap out different M codes depending on if you are programming a horizontal or a vertical? To each their own, tho it sounds like something that no one besides yourself is ever going to be able to follow. Ron is correct, cantext would be a much more suitable and flexible spot to put these.....tho I can't imagine why you would want or need all these switches. The X style coolant uses cantext to control output. That would be a good example of how to implement all these switches.

Thing that drives me nuts with guys using dynamic paths in Alum is they plug in something like a 10% stepover as they would on steel. Unless you are dealing with thin walls or other factors 25% would be my minimum stepover. For tools I really like the Garr Alumistar and Kennametal's AADE series. 5/8 tool, 25% stepover, 1" DOC, 18000 RPM, 420 IPM puts the load meter on our MAM right about 125%. Fills up a barrel very nicely.

A bit off topic...tho one place I was at had a similar system in place. When programming, we had to define the holder and the projection, which in turn gave us a gage length. That information was loaded into a file. The operators had to set the tools according to this. When a tool was called up in the machine, the length offset of the tool in the spindle was compared to the length that was in the tool file. If it was different by anymore than .100" then the machine alarmed out. So many checks like this can be implemented, it just takes some leg work up front.

Its been a while since I have done it, but I remember having to play around in this section of the MPLMaster to get the output correct... #Machining position turret/spindle settings # Switch strings based on turret position top/bottom-left/right and cut type. # Turret position is based on the Mastercam settings (see lathtype). # Strings are re-assigned for output in the routine psw_str_mult. # The string variable sw_string holds the place position value to determine # how to assign the strings. Planes are relative to the view from Mastercam. # Assign the 17 digit string following the alpha columns below: # A - C axis, 1 = axis winds, 2 = axis signed, 3 = indexer # B - Spindle direction, 0 = normal, 1 = reverse # C - Plane 0 arc/comp, 0 = normal, 1 = switch # D - Plane 1 arc/comp, 0 = normal, 1 = switch # E - Plane 2 arc/comp, 0 = normal, 1 = switch # F - Plane 0, 0 = G17, 1 = G19, 2 = G18 # G - Plane 1, 0 = G17, 1 = G19, 2 = G18 # H - Plane 2, 0 = G17, 1 = G19, 2 = G18 # Decimal (required) # I - Plane 0, X axis, 0 = normal, 1 = switch sign from basic # J - Plane 0, Y axis, 0 = normal, 1 = switch sign from basic # K - Plane 0, Z axis, 0 = normal, 1 = switch sign from basic # L - Plane 1, X axis, 0 = normal, 1 = switch sign from basic # M - Plane 1, Y axis, 0 = normal, 1 = switch sign from basic # N - Plane 1, Z axis, 0 = normal, 1 = switch sign from basic # O - Plane 2, X axis, 0 = normal, 1 = switch sign from basic # P - Plane 2, Y axis, 0 = normal, 1 = switch sign from basic # Q - Plane 2, Z axis, 0 = normal, 1 = switch sign from basic use_only_tl : 0 #Use only Top turret/Left spindle settings (below) for #all Mastercam turret/spindle selections #When configuring for multi-spindle/turret set to 0 #Columns- ABCDEFGH.IJKLMNOPQ #Turret/Spindle #Path Type scase_tl_c1 : "10000222.000000000" #Top turret/Left spindle, Turning cut scase_tl_c2 : "10000012.000000000" #Top turret/Left spindle, Right Face cut scase_tl_c_2 : "10110012.000000000" #Top turret/Left spindle, Left Face cut scase_tl_c3 : "10010102.000000000" #Top turret/Left spindle, Cross cut (cuttype = 3) scase_tl_c3r : "10001102.000000000" #Top turret/Left spindle, Reverse Cross cut (cuttype = -3) scase_tl_c4c : "10000222.000000000" #Top turret/Left spindle, Y axis subs. Cycle scase_tl_c4 : "10000222.000000000" #Top turret/Left spindle, Y axis subs. scase_tl_c5 : "10000222.000000000" #Top turret/Left spindle, Multisurf Rotary #Columns- ABCDEFGH.IJKLMNOPQ scase_bl_c1 : "10000222.100100100" #Bottom turret/Left spindle, Turning cut scase_bl_c2 : "10000222.100100100" #Bottom turret/Left spindle, Right Face cut scase_bl_c_2 : "10110222.000000000" #Bottom turret/Left spindle, Left Face cut scase_bl_c3 : "10010222.000000000" #Bottom turret/Left spindle, Cross cut (cuttype = 3) scase_bl_c3r : "10010222.000000000" #Bottom turret/Left spindle, Reverse Cross cut (cuttype = -3) scase_bl_c4c : "10000222.000000000" #Bottom turret/Left spindle, Y axis subs. Cycle scase_bl_c4 : "10000222.000000000" #Bottom turret/Left spindle, Y axis subs. scase_bl_c5 : "10000222.000000000" #Bottom turret/Left spindle, Multisurf Rotary #Columns- ABCDEFGH.IJKLMNOPQ scase_tr_c1 : "10111222.000000000" #Top turret/Right spindle, Turning cut scase_tr_c2 : "10000012.000000000" #Top turret/Right spindle, Right Face cut scase_tr_c_2 : "10110012.000000000" #Top turret/Right spindle, Left Face cut scase_tr_c3 : "10010102.000000000" #Top turret/Right spindle, Cross cut (cuttype = 3) scase_tr_c3r : "10001102.000000000" #Top turret/Right spindle, Reverse Cross cut (cuttype = -3) scase_tr_c4c : "10000222.000000000" #Top turret/Right spindle, Y axis subs. Cycle scase_tr_c4 : "10000222.000000000" #Top turret/Right spindle, Y axis subs. scase_tr_c5 : "10000222.000000000" #Top turret/Right spindle, Multisurf Rotary #Columns- ABCDEFGH.IJKLMNOPQ scase_br_c1 : "10111222.100100100" #Bottom turret/Right spindle, Turning cut scase_br_c2 : "10000222.000000000" #Bottom turret/Right spindle, Right Face cut scase_br_c_2 : "10110222.100100100" #Bottom turret/Right spindle, Left Face cut scase_br_c3 : "10010222.000000000" #Bottom turret/Right spindle, Cross cut (cuttype = 3) scase_br_c3r : "10010222.000000000" #Bottom turret/Right spindle, Reverse Cross cut (cuttype = -3) scase_br_c4c : "10000222.000000000" #Bottom turret/Right spindle, Y axis subs. Cycle scase_br_c4 : "10000222.000000000" #Bottom turret/Right spindle, Y axis subs. scase_br_c5 : "10000222.000000000" #Bottom turret/Right spindle, Multisurf Rotary

Everything I heard and seen...it appears that Mori-Seiki is going the route of doing low end components and machines....going the opposite direction Makino, Matts, ect. Time will tell if this was a wise plan.

https://www.epiloglaser.com/products/l36ext_techspecs.htm It is a few years old, but not much has changed with their newer stuff. Mostly our part timers do the marking, tho none of them complain much about painting the solution on parts before marking....or wiping the stuff off. Pretty painless procedure. Marking anodized parts...looks way cool and no need to paint the solution on.

We have had an Epilog for 5 or so years. Easy to use, maintenance has been minimal. One thing besides marking that we use it for is making custom gaskets. and making wood puzzles. Fun to play with....

My first guess or thing to try would be to change your lock codes from your primary axis to the secondary axis and vise/versa [edit] doh....you say you already tried that? very odd....

Curious....whay are you Linearizing and not using TRAORI?

I looked at this. Much more elegant than what I am envisioning. Unfortunately I am stuck with using a specific font.

Good ideas. What I am going with for now is inside the sub for each number I am going to move to the start position for the next number. Using the reference points in a contour toolpath will work nicely for generating the number programs.

Ok, I have done a serial number macro in the past on a few different controls. I always used something based on what this website outlines.... https://www.cncci.com/resources/tips/serial%20macro.htm It works great, except the spacing between numbers is not always a constant. With the font I am going to be using (or any font for that matter), 11111 takes up a lot less space then say 22222. Or when you have a number like 35122 using the above macro it would engrave and it would almost look like there is a space between the 1 and 2. Just curious as to what others have done to deal with the letter/number spacing issue when it comes to serializing parts. Appearance is important on these parts, so no getting away with funny spacing.

What kind of pallet pool? Something you can add more machines later to or a 1 machine dedicated system?

Once we got our 405 optioned out It's a great machine. All it was missing was augers and a decent conveyor (such a joke that those were options...) Crazy accurate...and as far as spindle durability goes...I can say we have 5 Matsuura 20K spindles in the shop and have yet to see one fail (knock on wood). And yes some have been through a "bump" or 3. We have had a 15K spindle fail 3 times....1st time was someone put way lube instead of DTE oil light, 2nd time was due to what I believe was a bad rebuild, and the 3rd time the oil cooler quit working and the machine didn't throw an alarm. I cannot compare speed to a Makino, tho I can say it makes a Mori NH5000 look slow. Never had one problem with the wine rack tool changer that wasn't due to the operator. (hint, don't put a tool in the rack when it is already in the spindle) Control wise the Matsuura tool life management is as straight forward and simple as it gets. I have seen other systems that over complicate what should be a simple thing.

The thing I hate about doing that is you lose the ability to filter by facemill when selecting a tool.

My thoughts exactly. Exposing linear rails to chips can't be a good thing over time. I don't care how good the wipers are...eventually, a chip will get in there.

Looks identical to Okuma's TurnCut function. At my last gig we did some crazy stuff with it. And it is way cool to watch in person.

A probe, "rotary table dynamic fixture offset" (G54.2) and inverse time and you will be able to do all the 4th axis stuff you can imagine. [edit] You could forgo the inverse time and get the TCP option, only downside to that route is the generic, out of the box posts, are not going to support TCP [/edit]

little off topic....I just got a flyer yesterday...buy a bridge mill and get a free Mercedes. Either Ameri-Seiki is marking those things WAY up or they are hurting. Just out of curiosity....what do you think of the machine?

I had to disable the adaptive quality thingie. even with 24 gig of ram I found Mcam was using all of it with this toggled on during verify, even on relatively simple parts. And yes...it locks things up. Disable the adaptive quality...runs fine.

We are looking to upgrade from our old Mazak laser to a newer (2012) Amada fiber laser. The mazak we have always programmed with Mastercam, with a post that I did long ago. Simple, easy. Does anyone out there use Mastercam to program an Amada? Any chance of getting some sample code? Thanks!

Yikes. Tho a creative EDM place could do it on a machine that has 18" of travel in Y. Just have to burn sideways. un-submerged. sounds like a fvcking mess. so yea...gundrill out the ends, and sounds like you have room to fit a 3rd hole between the other 2. Then maybe rough down as far as you can. Then sinker time. 5"-6" deep with a 3/8 tool is really pushing it, especially in 17-4. 18" deep...Yikes again.

I just had to do this and came up with this. Its easy as long as its a true mirror and you aren't messing with your origin. On the original part, make whatever plane you want to mirror your active WCS. Create a line in Z that is 1" long from your origin. Actually it can be anywhere on your part or in space... Go back to your Top WCS, highlight that line, and copy it (ctrl C) Go to your mirrored part, paste the line you created in (Ctrl V). Make sure you are in your top WCS Mirror just the line... Go to planes, plane by normal, select the line you just copied in and mirrored Done.