Welcome Benji! I'm also pretty new around here, and to mastercam. I havent had much time to play around with it, but I find that even if I dont have a problem or question emastercam can be a great place for info. It's nice to know that there are people around that are willing to help out with problems

Apparently the Mill we have only has a max RPM of 5000rpm (I'll put a link to the specs on the machine at the bottom) which is what I was running yesturday. Everything was fine, except with using a squirt bottle, and the chips not clearing out as much as I'd like I had to keep using feed hold, and turn the spindle off to clear out the chips. If whoever it was that purchased the mill over 4 years ago would have bought the coolant pump for it, it might not be that big of an issue. I guess all I can do is try different things, although I'm leaning towards finding a coolant pump to use. It would have to be something that can just sit in a tray or something. Again, Thanks for all the tricks and tips to use, being "new" to using CNC Machines it helps alot! http://www.benchman.com/productcenter/new%...1000-page1.html

Ok I have the mc9 file uploaded now on the ftp its in the mastercam_forum mc9 folder, the filename is CALIPER_INSIDE_HALF_2.MC9 I'm not sure how close that is to the file/tool paths that I used today, but it SHOULD be pretty close to the same. If I would have thought about it before I left the school I would have taken a picture of what I did accomplish today, but oh well, thats how things go sometime. Atleast the bit didn't break this time(but I did use a 3/16 bit.

Well, I went the route of using a spray bottle with adjustable nozzle, spent all day with it lol, cleaning the chips out every now and then. I'm thinking of maybe looking for a pump or something on ebay, just to see whats out there, and look'n around else where. If I'm not mistaken the TMC1000 we have does have an output for a coolant pump, but I'm not sure. It'll go all over the place, but with the gaurd up it'll help somewhat by keeping everything confined. The only problem I have now is that it was starting to loose its possitions, every step in the path would be off by about .001 or less, and since it was getting close to the end of the day I just decided to stop it and start working on it again next week, after the hurricane (assuming the school/machine area is still ok lol, I'm sure it will be though). I'll try to upload the mc9 file to the ftp for those interested in looking at it/givign me any ideas (being as that I'm a "noob" at machining, I'm sure some improvements could be made. Thanks again for all the help and support!

Hehe Yeah, glasses are a must, I'm always having to yell at the students to put glasses on. We have signs posted everywhere that say safty glasses are required in this area, but they just don't seem to care. I'm having problems connecting to the FTP from here at work. I'll keep trying but its most likely a "security issue" lol. I'll post it when I get home if I can't get it up from here.

Thanks for all the great ideas! J Coulston, the collet I'm using, not sure of the exact name but they have 3 slots on the end mill side, and a threaded "boss" at the other end, and when the bolt is tightened at the top it draws the collet up, thus compressing the collet around the tool. As far as letting the part fall out, I've done it before in machinable wax, but usually I stop it as soon as i start to see daylight through whats left of the stock, then just break it out and file any edges. Not using coolent (dont have a pump system :-/...the school was cheep when they purchased the machines. Luckily we have the Lightmachine mill other wise id be stuck with trying to use our Denford novamill *shudders*. As far as I recall with the 1st 2 bits that broke, they were carbide, I could be wrong though. Also the first bit that broke did have a little bit of alu built up in the flutes, but that was because I left it running and went to help a kid with something, not thinking to check on it offten enough because I had doubled the feedrate from previous feedrates (which got rid of the "stairstep" problem) but just as I got back and started blowing the chips out of the part...I was too late, too many chips built up and it broke. I'll try changing the spindle speed and see how that helps, also I'm now using a 3/16" bit instead, which will help cut down the part time somewhat, and its bigger so it SHOULD be able to stand up a little bit more to the forces plus lowering the feedrate should help also. I'll try to upload the mc9 file here shortly. If this works it will be my 2nd part that I've made successfully, the other was just a simple box with tabs and a pocket cut in the middle. Again thanks for all the help and ideas!

I've been having problems with breaking the end mills I'm using. So I guess this isn't exactly a Mastercam issue, but I figured I'd try to run this by everyone neways. Originally I was using 1/8" dia 2flute endmills. The first 2 had a cut length of less than 1/4" I believe. After breaking 2 of those, I bought 2 more, with a 3/4" cut length. The deepest I would be cutting with these would be 0.6", which is why the 1st 2 broke I guess. Both the new endmills broke at the same point in a pocketing opperation, most likely because I dont know the proper feedrates for these size end mills. The stock I'm cutting into is 6061 aluminium. I started off with depth cuts of .015, and got rid of the rapid traverse commands (because it seems to cause loss of position on the LightMachine TMC1000 that I'm using, when it did use rapid traverse, every now and then you could notice a stair step starting to show, the part kept getting moved over just slightly, which I also found out was caused by having the feedrate too low. The estimated completion time for the part at this point was about 3 hours. I doubled the feed rate and depth of cut (depth of cut to .025), then the time for completion came down to just under 2 hours. Ran the program, everything was fine for about 90mins, and on the 2nd pass of a pocketing opperaiton the 1st bit that I bought broke. Figured it was because of the feed rate being too fast, so I took it down from 24ipm to 12ipm and got rid of the operations that were already completed, ran it again, and the 2nd one broke. So now I'm stepping up to a 2flute 3/16" dia end mill. Don't remember what the settings are on it at the moment, but tommorrow I'll be running it and seeing what happens. If i remember correctly I got it set at a depth of cut of .018 and I think the feedrate is now 14ipm, but I could be wrong. As far as RPM goes, I blieve its been over 3000rpm the whole time, which seems pretty fast, but all the stuff i've done so far all I know about CNc machining I've basicly figured out on my own, so, maybe I'm missing something here. If you like, below is a rendered picture of what the part should look like when its cut out. I'm working on making brake calipers for the Electrathon cars that I'm envolved with. The way I've come up with making them is to machine one side, flip the part around, machine the other side, and the part should fall right out, but I haven't gotten that far along so I don't know if its going to work yet. Any ideas, questions, or suggestions are welcome. Thanks, Sam http://68.205.140.9:84/cad/brakes/caliper_inside_half.jpg

Andrew, I assume that you mean the codes found on the tools. If so, below is a list of the ones we will likely use the most: SDCJR-8-3 Carboloy 003 (finishing) SCLCR-8-3 carboloy 003 (roughing) SDJCL-8-3 carboloy 013 (finishing) SCLCL-8-3 carboloy 012 (roughing) and the info for inserts we have for these are: DCMT11T308-F2 HX DCMT 32.52-F2 HX EDP 11763 740 11763 012767/005 CCMT09T308-F2 HX CCMT 32.52-F2 HX EDP 11755 740 11755 016986/15 All this info is the best I can figure that would "help" What I want is closer measurements than what I can do, I know how to get into the settings and set the tools up, but would like it better if it was already in a tool file. I tried the different tool libs that came with mastercam, but if I am not mistaken they still require some measuring, and not knowing exactly what I'm doing, not sure if I have everything right. Thanks for all your help, Sam

I have some lathe tools (holders/inserts)that I would like some specs on. If anyone knows of a site, or a tool file that could be helpful let me know. If needed I can post the code on the inserts and holders. In the mean time I'll keep searching to see if I can find something. Thanks, Sam

Thats a pretty nifty part your working on there Phil It ALMOST looks like a hub for a bicycle wheel. Sorry that I can't offer any help :-/, I've only really been using mastercam for a few days. Have tried to use it few times over the past year or 2, but never really tried to do anything, or read the books it came with, not that the books help much. Now though since we upgraded from an earlier version (i think it was 6) to 9.1sp2 and my co-worker that teaches woodshop wants me to get it setup so the students can just take the stock pieces of brass and cut the feet for the clocks their making. Too bad we have the denford novaturn, its not really big enough to do much else :-/ oh well, atleast its a learning experience for me (and the students once I learn it). Good luck in getting your part finished!

I'm a TA/computer guy at one of the highschools in Titusville FL. We have a denford lathe, mill and router, and a lightmachine mill. The students from the wood shop class, make pens on the manual wood lathes, and then, come in and use the router to make a pen holder, just 2 pieces of wood, one piece they use the router to put a simple line on to hold the pen laying down. The other piece they use the cnc router to put a name in it, to customize the pen holder. On the mill, they just use the (very basic) mill cam designer program that comes with the denford mill to put their name, or maybe a simple logo into machineable wax, which is pretty handy because we can take all the chips and blocks that are too small and melt them back down to use again. Problem is, the mill was used previously for just messing around with cutting some aluminium, and no matter how clean you think you have the machine when you go to pour the wax into the molds, ull notice alot of aluminium chips and other debris. So far the students havent used the lathe at all. The design program that comes with the denford lathe is even more limit, but I managed to make several small toy tops on it, out of aluminium brass and tried one out of wax. I had to make 2 seperate files because I couldnt figure out how to get the denford program to do tool changes. Now that I am learning to use mastercam, I am working on figuring out the processes to make brass feet for the clocks that the students make in woodshop, and maybe if I have some success, I might be able to make a few parts here and there for the electric cars that some of the students, my co-worker, and I are working on. If you would like more information on the electric cars, feel free to email me at home ([email protected]) and/or at work ([email protected]) they are going to be used in Electrathon races, for more details on the Electrathon, you can goto http://www.electrathonamerica.org/

Hehe good point Harryman, if its not working, says its not working, and then it'll work, just make sure that you dont say you have it working finally, otherwise you might run the risk of it not working again. I did finally get it to work, turns out I just wasnt clicking "done" enough times, go figure that it would be something as simple as that. Now that I know how to get the profile from the solid, I just have to setup the chuck and stock settings, and finish creating the needed tool paths. I'm a "n00b" to mastercam, and love it already, sometimes I wish I wasnt limited to the denford machines that we have at our school, but, I guess its better than nothing (although sometimes I'd just like to light them on fire lol).

I thank everyone for their help, I finally figured out that I wasn't clicking the final done button when using the solids command (toolpath, rough, solids) once I did that it worked, now I just need to play around with it and actully setup the stock and chuck like we'd be using here. Thanks again, Sam

Thanks for the welcome Jean-Simon. I do believe I have the solid option when I goto toolpath, rough, I see the solids option, I can use that and the profile that I want to cut highlights in blue, and I can click on the profile parts, but as soon I click done it goes away, and doesnt seem to do anything. Trevor, thanks for the offer to doctor my file(s), but for now I don't want to bother you too much with it, and I'd like to try fixing it my self, incase I run into this problem again. Thanks for the info so far , Sam [ 11-13-2003, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: SmaDoc ]

I am somewhat new to mastercam, and am having problems assigning a tool path to a part I created using solid edge. When I try to apply a rough tool path to the part using the chain method, it wont let me select the contour of the part, only these lines that run vertical. The lines look to be forming the part but when I try to use them as a chain and click done it comes up with a warning "Warning - the contour does not lie in the construction plane." I don't know if maybe I'm missing something (besides the chuck and stock boundries) or if it just doesnt like how I drew the part in solid edge. I uploaded a screenshot after the error popped up. Its located on the ftp in the all pictures folder, the file name is lathe_toolpath_smadoc.jpg (if needed I can upload more or better screen shots). I've checked in other posts but didn't see anything that helped, and the book was no help either. I hope someone has an answer Thanks, Sam