Thanks Allan! That did the trick. I would have used a ball mill had UPS delivered them on Friday like they were supposed to. I am attempting to get these out for texture on Tuesday so you really helped me get ahead, and on a holiday nonetheless! Your help is greatly appreciated. Cheers, Lonnie

I have uploaded a file called "1.25inch inserts.mc9" into the MC9_files directory on the FTP site. Can someone take a look at it and tell me where I am going wrong on operation 3. I am attempting to finish most of this pocket with a .625 bull endmill with a .0312 corner radius. I will then finish what is left over on the bottom radius with a .250 ball. I have done two other sizes that worked wonderfully and left me the desired finish. However, on this part it wants to do a bunch of z plunge moves until it gets well down inside the cavity rather than just circular interpolation moves with a step down each time. Thanks in advance. Moto teh frustrated.

Welcome, Tada! Help yourself to a cold one from the virtual fridge. Who's in charge of stocking it these days anyway?? Cheers

Smaller is not necessarily better.Use the largest ball that your geometry will allow you to get away with. I use the small ones due to the detail and small inside corner radii I am forced to work with. Cheers. Up to a dime now.

.06 meant exactly 6 cents. Betts added his 2 cents twice for a total of .04. Then I threw in my 2 cents for a total of .06. Sorry for the confusion. So since we are explaining, what is 3.82? In my experience machining graphite 'trodes I have used a ton of 1/8, 3/16, and 1/4 ball cutters. I have used diamond endmills several times. Honestly, I have had almost as good of cutter life out of a good TiCN or TiAlN coated end mill. I would rather spend the $9.00 each for TiCN coated from Garr than $124.00 each for diamond coated OSG that don't last that much longer. I assumed you were cutting some form of metal earlier when I recommended non coated. For graphite you definitely want some kind of coating. Graphite can be polished very easily to remove the scallops. Some good 600 grit sandpaper with light pressure or medium Scotch-Brite. Followed up with a buff from fine Scotch-Bright. If you are burning with graphite I assume the final part will have a light EDM finish anyway so the finish on the 'trode doesn't need to be perfect. If you were burning an optical finish you would most likely be using copper for the 'trode, correct? You can achieve an 8 microfinish with copper impregnated graphite, however. [ 05-19-2005, 02:13 PM: Message edited by: Moto GP ]

Betts, Yeah, not creating arcs is what I meant about the filtering. The reason I suggest uncoated is that the cutting edges are more sharp since the coating is not wrapping around the cutting edge creating a microscopic radius on that edge thus leaving a better finish by cutting rather than pushing the material. I also agree about the 3 flute mill. Excellent point. This way there is no web to worry about. Now up to .06 Hey look I am up to 200 posts. Time for an avatar. Hooray for me. Cheers

I have finished many a mold cavity by running the cutting angle at 45 degress and then -45 degrees cutting the surface twice. It tends to cut a finer scallop. Mcam filter does not work on any paths except 0 and 90 degrees, however. Get a really good uncoated carbide ball endmill with as thin of web as you can if you are unable to tip the head or the part to be able to use the cutting edge farther up the ball rather than the tip. Dataflute makes some good ones. Use as large of cutter as possible and also compensate your spindle speed for the effective cutting diameter you are using rather than the tool diameter (you may be using a .500 ball but are probably only cutting with .0625 of it) HTH Cheers

Here is the web addy for the folks I used. Hope this helps. http://www.widell.com/ Cheers

I just went through an ordeal like this. I had to tap steel, however. I had a two stage tap custom made for a proprietary 18mm acme thread. I will get you the name of the company that made it for me in the morning if you like. It worked great and was priced less than MSC. Cheers

Thanks for the help. For some reason it is working now. Not sure what that's all about. Maybe my computer is tired of working Saturdays. Cheers

Hey gang, I am experiencing a warning today when I attempt to backplot. "Warning-error allocating memory for toolpath functions" I can verify just fine, however. I am running V.9.1 MR0304 on an XP 3000+ with XP pro and 1 gig of Ram. Plus 256 meg on the video card. I have tried several different memory allocation values to no avail. Currently allocations are 400,000 Database and 800,000 Toolpath. This program will be fairly large once I am done. But, as of now I have one operation programmed and it is only 306k. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks

Pip, Send me your email address and I will fire the post off to you.

I just purchased a Hurco VM1 with the Max control. Also, I bought the ISNC. I received two posts from my dealer. One is the standard mphurco post, the other is called hurcoisnc. The isnc one is the one I have used thus far. Still trying to tweak it a little although it is very close. If you want the hurcoisnc one I would be more than happy to share with you. Let me know. Cheers

Hey gang, A company that I do a bit of work for just purchased a Fadal with the new 104D control. They were asking me if anything in the standard MC Fadal 1 post would need to be changed to work with this new control. Have any of you worked with this control yet? If so, did you have to modify this post at all? Thanks

Thanks maestro. What I need post wise is this: 1. I need to have the post write out E at the end of the program rather than the % symbol. 2. Prior to tool change I need a G91 X26 Y0 Then recall the G91 after tool change. 3. Remove the M01 call out at the end of an operation so the tool change will happen automatically. 4. At the end of the program I need a G91 G0 X13 Y0. Rather than a G28 X0 Y0. Also, how do you set up mastercam to work with the surface finish (G05.1), data smoothing (G05.2), and precision cornering (G09)? That is all so far. However, I have only run a couple programs since getting set up. I am sure more will surface. Thanks

I was wondering if any of you post gurus would be willing to help me modify a post for my new machine. It is really close. However, it needs a little tweaking. Also, if any of you runs a Hurco with the Max control maybe you could answer a few questions as well. Thanks

"Is it me, or does John Kerry look like someone in a Picasso painting?"

Just cruizing around and stumbled across this. Thought it was worth sharing. Poor guy! video

I have drip fed for 4 years now with 90 feet (30 paces. I have counted them many times) plus the 10 feet on each end from the ceiling to the ports. Even runs past the EDM. No problems at all. I made my own cables out of grizzy cable though. Ethernet is probably the better way to go, however. It's not really worth the risk.

Thanks for all your input. I have them working on a grand total. Looks like I will even be getting a pretty nice discount for paying cash. Thanks also for the post offer Tony. I am sure I am going to need some help tweaking a bit. And since I am post tweak ignorant, I will probably be picking your brain a bit if and when I do get the machine. You guys are great!

Well, gang. I was ready to write the check for the new Haas Mini Mill yesterday. Then at the last minute the guy I was dealing with tacked on a few extra charges. This caused me to look around a little more. I have been talking with Hurco. Has anyone run one of their VM1's? It seems to be a pretty impressive machine. More capacity than the Mini Mill with a higher speed spindle. More memory, better look ahead. Blah blah blah. Anyway, it is not much more in price. Plus, they will throw in a tooling package that is pretty nice. As always, any info is appreciated. Thanks

Thanks guys. I appreciate all the input. I am attempting to work a deal on it as we speak.

I have real space constraints. That is why the Mini mill as opposed to the VF1. If I get anything larger I will have to add on or move. Plus the single phase is a plus. I won't need any additional wiring run. Just plug and play. Or should I use the old Windows term of Plug and Pray? Thanks guys!

I have recently gone out on my own. Work has been pretty steady and I have been feeding a local CNC house work since I have no machining center yet. I am going to look at a Mini Mill today. Does anyone have any opinions on this machine? I will be using in mostly for modeling, and light machining so it should hold up fine, correct? I have only run a Haas a couple of times. The bulk of my experience is with Okuma, Mori Seiki, and Deckel. If I had buckets of money, I would buy one of these. This however, is going to be a cash sale so I am wanting to spend as little as I have to. I spoke with my Mastercam reseller on Tuesday and my eval will be on its way as soon as I get set up with a machine. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thursday, great! Only two more working days until Monday. Everyone enjoy their trips! I will be envious while I am sweating in out here and waiting for vacation so I can go back up to the mine.