I've recently acquired two old red Haas HA5C indexers and 3 control boxes of the same vintage, around '95 to '96. Brushed 17 pin connectors. Is there any danger in hooking these boxes up to any HA5C, or even an HRT to see if they work? Two of them do say HA5C on the bottom of the box, but one says "HT2S" or something? Thanks, Chris

Here's just a simple block with a perimeter fillet around it. The Flowline gives me the exact motion that I want, filtered down to where full arcs are swung around the corners. I will admit that in this scenario, I actually got the blend to look pretty darn close, though around the corners, it is still giving me line segments, which on the machines we run here are less than desirable. Maybe I will look later some time for an actual part example I've had trouble with. Thanks! Blend.mcx-9

I will be the first to agree with you there, that I absolutely do not understand how to get SFB to give me as smooth a path as Flowline. I would also like to add that while my comment was said in jest, I definitely don't want to discourage anyone else reading this post from trying something they haven't before, especially based on my own lack of knowledge or inexperience. I will say the problems I've had with SFB is that I just can't get that "Flow" to work. Usually the results are jagged, up and down, scrubbing motions, and a lot of code (which is possibly not filtered correctly on my part) which doesn't play well with our non-high speed look ahead Haas controls. In these situations I've almost always found a way to get Flowline to work, albeit with some painstaking geometry creation... lol You have given me hope though, as I can see the usefulness of just being able to "force" it over multiple surfaces regardless of their inherent vectors. I will definitely be experimenting with it tomorrow.

Flowline. The key to using flowline on a fillet around a square, or any other perimeter is you cant have any sharp corners where the radii meet. Adjust the perimeter Fillet so it is a little smaller than the corner Fillets. And stay away from Surface Finish Blend... in my opinion. EDIT: Sorry about the pics... couldn't figure out how to insert them into the post body... New Bitmap Image.bmp New Bitmap Image (2).bmp

Wait wait!!!! I think I got it! Xform->Roll-> and unrolled it where it lay at the cylinder dia. Thanks again!

Thanks! In "unrolling it", is there a start point I need to be aware of? Like in this case I drew two chains, equal about the x axis, and it landed 90 degrees out of plane. I'll try and post the file if I can... been a while. lol

Trying to get a Peelmill toolpath to wrap around a cylinder. I can get a 2d Contour to work correctly with axis substitution, but with the 2d HST path, the "Unroll" check box is greyed out, and I believe this is causing it to backplot out of place. Any thoughts on this? Thanks.

Double stick tape, if it's practical in your situation. Essentially free state, and should take care of the chatter since its "supported" over the entire part. To get rid of chatter and get a better finish out of a facemill for stuff like this, I've also taken out all but one of the inserts... basically making it a flycutter.

Yes, Technigrip. I'll try and see if anyone remembers what that cost, when I get in. I wanna say it's in the price range of a similarly sized Raptor. Homemade adapter to the face plate.

Five of those parts roughed, finally chipped a tooth. The others still looked pretty good though.

*UPDATE* The Garr V5's I ordered came in! I was going to put in Colin's numbers of 480sfm @ .0044 feed, but ended up using the HEM check box with a modified Iscar library tool (still Garr V5 at machine) and set it to the catalogue parameters, which ended up being close to Colin's numbers. Though the book said .0015 chip load, I went with .001 just to keep the feed manageable for the Haas, at a factor of 1.0 on the slider. Tool life seems good so far, and sounds much better to me! Tool - 1/2" dia 1 1/4 loc x 2 1/4 reach Toolpath - Dynamic OptiRough set to Iscar HEM Speed/Feed - 400sfm @ .001 chip load. (4000rpm @ 138ipm) Stepover/ Depth - 5% @ 1.5xD

Is that actual chip thickness, meaning adjusting the feed rate based on RDOC?

Yeah, I just went to install HSM advisor.... but then remembered I wasn't allowed to. So guess I'll get it in a week or so... lol

Yep... looks like I was wrong. It does respond to how it was last saved. I think I thought this was a problem because we use PDM Software, and if you're not checking the file out, it's not changing... of course. Lol

I know! Mind boggling ! The only thing I've tried is modifying a tool from the Iscar library and using the Iscar HEM factor slider. Sometimes works, sometimes doesnt.

Hmmm.... was going to like that, but "You have reached your quota of positive votes for the day".... ... guess I need to be more negative? Lol. Seriously though, thanks for all the input guys! This site is such a great resource, it's odd that I only pop up every few months or so. Lol

Man.... big corporate company? We've got some sites blocked here, but YouTube is a friggin tool to be used! Is the structure of the company to where you could sit down and have a straitforward talk with whoever is in charge of that stuff? I think a little reason could go a long way. Maybe ask them to cough up $295 for 6 months of streaming teacher too. But first sit down and tabulate all the wasted time and material "learning as you go".

Will have to double check what I said... I'm also in X9

Awesome! I have also had success with these cutters, though they were shorter, and in more ridgid setups at the time. Did you get those numbers out of the catalog? I usually try to use all of the flute, and I think I need to step down the radial value, cuz sometimes I blow through them.(seems the catalog only recommends 1xdia)

My gripe is I always, first thing when I open a file, have to toggle them off. And there's no ryhme nor reason as to which one displays. Seems like a bug new to x7 or x9... don't remember this before

I guess that's one tool I need to start using... HSM Advisor... or similar.

Unfortunately I don't have an answer, but I am curious as to how you use them, and why they need to stay associated. I have used "by geometry", but once it is created, I usually leave it. With the dynamic rotate feature in the Planes Manager now, you can change your plane without having it rely on geometry, that you in turn adjust to change the associated plane.

I can see where having the higher flute count can help pull off the metal in the tougher stuff, where you need lighter step overs.

I honestly can't remember, and honestly didn't look it up either... lol. I just remember having the 35-40 Rc in mind. Will look that up when I get back into the shop though!

Hmmm... the "Stabilizer" from Niagra says it has "Asymmetrical Flute Geometry"... but I'm not even sure if I should be using it in this application, was just the best tool I had on hand. I have some Garr V5 em's coming in though, our local supplier pushes a lot of Garr. Do you have thoughts on them (Garr V5's / VRX's)? I would like to try the Varimills, or the Harvi's though too. That's awesome info! Where did you find that? Also, where can I read up on a formula for determining the increase in SFM as a result of lighter step overs? Ratio for Dia to Lenght of EM would be great to figure out too(for feed, and DOC too in reference to long reach em's, i just realized those numbers above do recommend for DOC). And thanks for the advice on reducing the stepover to 5 to 7%ish, will probably try 5%.