We lost a good friend and colleague last tuesday morning,Reg Hasbach, Kitamura West Coast regional Sales Manager, he had been battling cancer the last few months. Some of you know him from the Hasbach Corp. him and his father had, retrofitting Shizuoka's with bandit conrols in the 70's and early 80's. I worked with him on a daily basis the last 7 years and I will miss him greatly. Rest in peace my friend. Mike Poynter Kitamura Machinery of USA, Inc. West Coast Branch

12/60 here. feeling the aches and pains more each yr Mike

You should wait for IMTS in Chicago Its alot bigger, plus more days (8 instead of 4). Mike

Trevor, Have you ever played in a fast pitch softball league? I ended my 20 year playing career of both slow and fast pitch softball last april. was playing 2-3 days a week. A buddy wants me to play on Fridays in Huntington beach, I will think about it. started back up in golf though. I miss playing fast pitch more than the slow pitch, it played more like baseball. Mike

Working for a machine tool builder I would tell you that you need to compare apples to apples for your MONEY, what you really need now and in the future, what type of casting are they using, weight, standard features, whats a option, service, box way or linear, ect. Do you really want to have a 0-3 yr throw away machine or a 0-15 yr money making machine. My opinion. Mike

There are a few companies out there that check the harmonics on the cutter in the spindle to check the frequency, they put a sensor on the cutter, the sensor is wired to a computer, then you would tap the cutter and the frequency would be sent back to the computer and genterate a wave that would tell you the optimum range on speeds. this is just the basic format. You would have to contact the company specifically. Mike

Happy Holidays to all, hope that 2003 brings in lots,lots of work for everyone. Mike

Done. Mike

Are we full yet Happy TG Mike

Doing good, Still here, Did not make the jump, It just did not work out. How are you doing? There is an Open house at Machinery Sales tommorrow from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. 4400 S. Soto st. Los Angeles If you can make it stop by, I got CCC to get them V9, and to start promoting MC. Also if any one else can make please stop by. We have 5 Machines on their floor to show Mike

Thats MR LIMITLESS CREATIVITY TO YOU Mike

I agree with James, Buy another computer for DNC, The money spent on ram upgrade would be close to get a low end PC. This would save the hassles of error. Mike

Everyone Thanks for the input. Mike

Since mfg has slowed down, I would like to know the going hourly shop rates in the mfg world for vertical and horizontal mills for the following 2-1/2d 3d 4 axis 5 axis just looking for basic info Thanks Mike

No tool should get stuck in the spindle under normal use. even if the machine and tooling is running under optimal sfm this should not happen, the machine should be looked at by the machine tool builder or a qualified service engineer. just my .002 Mike