Ron, I'm not using inverse time with the TPC. As far as the point to point tool paths, I had them small moves. The SGI smoothing in the control was slowing it down so it would actually follow the path that the post wrote. I had it set on the second tightest tolerance for the machine. I would like to find a way to smooth it out in Mcam if I could.

Here is the alum one. It looks ok! The surfaces you can tell left marks in the same way the pattern of the surface grid is, if you un-shade the surface in Mcam. This is what leads me to believe to get a better (smoother)toolpath, the surface itself needs to be built differently. Oh well, alot to learn! I'm sure a year from now I will be looking at this part and laughing at the rookie-ness of it, if thats a word! Thanks everyone for looking at my pictures. From here on out I will post links to vids when I get them done. It probably wont be for a while, cuz I need to make some money with this thing! Anyway thanks again for all the compliments and stuff, I can tell you its been a fun project, Shawn..

I wish my video worked, it would have been so much better to show my problem areas with the dancing/slow toolpaths and stuff. Finishing with 1/2 ball mill.. All done!

So finally we made some chips! This last week flew by so fast. I totally love this new control. It’s so easy to use! We ended up cutting one of our demo parts out of PET plastic and one out of 6061 ALUM. We have a few issues with the post we need to fix, but all in all everything worked out. The post is kind of setup as a head/head machine. Between rotation moves on the C axis, it wants to move X into position like if the C axis didn’t rotate on the table but on the head. We just need it fixed, so it’s made for table/table output. Other than that just need to place comments in a better spot, and M01 in a few places I like to see them. Just little stuff like that! Looks like ICAM has some work to do Monday. I also just want to give a shout out to TCP!! Lol! This is going to be my new friend. Four months ago I didn’t even know what it was, and now I don’t think I would ever want to run a machine without it. It’s going to make life so easy, to say the least. So I will probably post up a question about 5axis toolpaths! If anyone that’s savvy and is reading this thread, maybe I could get some insight. On certain surfaces my tool path was very smooth with all axis’s feeding smooth and fast. Now on other surfaces the machine had a hard time feeding over them fast an smooth. It would dance around a lot because it was trying to hold to the surface vectors I guess. Is this all in how the surface was made, or is there a way to get the toolpath to flow better over the surface thru the advanced 5ax page? I’m sure it’s a little of both. I found out that between cut depths or contours, it was better to turn of rapid and use a fast feed rate. It was way smoother between transitions. Well this is my first real 5 axis part! This part is not that pretty and is rough, but I learned a lot and hope to learn a lot more as time goes on. There is so much to learn in the 5axis side of things, so I’m sure I will have tons of threads on how to do things proper. So here you go on the pictures and I would have had an HD vid on Youtube, but for some reason my camera cut out 10 minutes into this part. I will for sure have videos later as time goes on. Shawn… Roughed out T1 Checking broken tool

We have tools stick all the time. Mainly because of heat from running to long or to heavy cut. From what I have herd the spindle oil needs to be flushed out because it make extra friction on the bearings and makes the spindle hot if the there is a bunch of excessive oil. We have found that using a grey scotch bright pad, then cleaning with IPA, then adding a thin film of LANO lube, they will stay stick free for a good period of time. If your coolant doesn’t shut off and floods the taper, then the LANO lube won’t last as long. Anyway this works for us.

If I remember correctly, I use hand edit a simple sub program in incremental that would do one line of the profile by changing the G17 to G18 or whatever. Then I would just make the main program step over in X or Y a bunch of times calling the sub up on every move. Or make the sub have the x or y move(spacing)in the sub. Then call the m98 and loop it however many times you want.

quote: Good Job and thought ICAM would be a good choice looked at it last year, but think we will be going with Predator since they now support Mill/Turns. Icam supports mill/turn also! Or do you already have Predator?

quote: Thanks for the update Shawn. Have you gone to ICAM training already? What do you think of the software so far? Ha,ha training! What training? I had to wing it... We didn’t buy the post mod package so all we have is the simulation and they supplied the post. At first I was freaking out because of how hard it was to load onto my computer. It took two weeks with a bunch of emails to get it running properly. Most of the problems turned out to be because of Windows 7 administrator settings. After the IT guy fixed it up for me the install went way better. Apparently when you go to run anything in windows 7 you need to right click and then select -run as administrator- even though I was the administrator. Anyway that’s fixed and I won’t have to worry about it anymore. As far as the software goes, I like it so far. I have only been playing with it since Thursday, so I don’t know how everything works yet. The person doing my post has been very helpful on getting this thing running properly. They talked directly with Makino, so that helped out a lot. In the future I will have a few Webex training classes, but I don’t think I will need to have an offsite class, unless I was doing post mods. As I move forward I will update on how and what Icam has to offer. I will tell you one thing, I set the facet to .0001 accuracy, and had no problems simulating all that 5axis code. I think Mcam verify would have choked on the first tool path. Ok that was exaggerating a little, but still it seems super stable.

My dovetail fixtures I made. They are a cross between Techni-grip, and Raptor work holding, with some Shawn flare! I made them so they can stack side be side to make one long row. I will have a 1.00, 2.00, and 3.00 inch variation. The base.. Damn Ano bleed out on the red clamp!! And this was the good one!!

My demo part I made up. This part took me 12 hours to program because I had know idea what I was doing! I finally started to figure out how to apply the 5axis toolpaths at around the 11th hour! lol.. ICAM simulation and post.. Never mind the long tool stick out, I didnt have time to make my tool definitions yet!

So it’s been about two weeks that has past and not much has changed as far as machine goes. They have been tweaking in the machine and cleaning up loose ends. As of Thursday they would have been all done, but we ran into on problem with the machine. It turns out that it leeks coolant were it drains into the chip conveyer. We opted for the 900 liter tank and it is the first one ever on the D500 in the states, so it has a few issues. They just have to make some drip panels for it and it will be fixed, no big deal but we wont be able to run coolant for another week. As of Friday they were able to get the perimeter fence around the MMC2. Apparently Makino is now sending out MMC2 sign boards to put on the fence. We were one of the first to get one! The fence guy had some extra time and made a cool border for it. It looks pretty professional instead of being zip tide to the fence. Come Monday my training starts for the machine. The past weeks I have been scrambling to get our verification software working. I had a heck of a time getting it installed on Windows 7… I got it working last Thursday and finished my demo program. I also had to make my fixturing for this machine. That took me almost 4 days in itself, along with machining parts that are due. Needless to say I had some anxiety the last couple of weeks, about not getting everything done. Luckily it all turned out fine! So, till I actually cut a part, here are some pics of the fence sign and my demo part I will be running. I put up my HD GoPro to tape my training. After going over the Pro5 controll I doubt I will need to go back and watch my vids because the control is really easy!

I was thinking and you could get a sharp corner all the way around, but it would take alot of set ups,scanning, and dovetail cutters. It would just be a big pain in the a@@! If you had a 5axis it would make it a bit simpler, but still it would be a pain.

It would be impossible to keep a sharp corner. You will need to allow a fillet in there. Actually you could probably get half the part with a sharp corner, but the other half that is less than 90deg. perpendicular to the sheet surface would need a fillet.

You can run pocket without finish, then do seperate operation for contour, so it doesnt countour both chains.

Somtimes I will offset the red border half the tool dia, then chain the blue and then red. The red would be the island that it doesnt cut. I dont waste my time unless its a repeat job.

I would split into 2 operations. Do the top blue first, then set top of stock at lower red level than do that pocket.

quote: Good insight, that machine would sink most shops and a few will rise to a higher plane. Your shop owner is just one of those owners, right market, right people and I am sure He is just better at Business. Exactly! We had the money long before now, but we didn’t want it to be a glorified vertical mill! I needed the confidence in myself to know I could program it, and also know deep down that no matter what thru thick and thin, that I would make it work! I made sure I understood what it would take for tooling, fixturing software and how much time I was going to give out of my life. Once I knew I was ready, I let him know!! I told him it’s all or nothing if we do this! Finally we hashed out what he thought we didn’t need, and what I knew we needed, and finally we got on the same page!! That’s when we both new that this is our future… After all, if it fails it doesn’t just hurt the bosses pocket, it hurts mine and the rest of the crew! I can tell you I want my profit sharing as much as anybody!!!!! quote: More Power to you guys and your boss is fortunate to have a guy like you Shawn and he knows it...same for you Crazy.. quote: I would like to add one note of caution. This is a great machine and I would hate to see anyone crash it. GET VERIFICATION SOFTWARE and run your program through it before putting it in the hands of the operator... unless you have one you trust explicitly. I use Vericut and it has saved my *&^% and the machine more than once. I would not leave home without it :-) Enjoy and Good Luck. Mike We ended up going with ICAM for verification and post. I told my boss, I don’t fell comfortable running a 500k machine without it! He agreed, after some persuasion!

quote: Soooo..... make any chips yet? Nope! Not much going on! They are still aligning the machine with the pallet changer. The Japanese guy will be working on hot roding the settings and getting everything tuned up this week. He will be checking all the machine parameters and such. The trainer flies out March 29th. Then we can make some chips!

neil, Nice Bike!!

quote: Congrats again wish Oregon got more sun I might be tempted to apply for a job. Thanks, and no way would I hire you! A man with your skill would put me out of a job! From what I have read of your posts, you know your stuff, and I'm surprised you don’t run one of these cells already, or a couple for that matter!! To bad the places you work for dont realize how much of an asset you are, and the potential there company would have over other companies! I guess it’s sometimes takes luck, hard work, and fate to fall into a good gig!! For me its all the above, and hopefully it will happen to you as well!

quote: Well, it's a bit more involved than that. You need to have the money, or the ability to borrow the money to get a system like that. You also better be very sure you will have the work for it and can manage to keep it full of work. One slow down in the economy could kill you really fast, remember 2009. It was different for us. We had the money piled up, so if this sits for a year we still will be in business. The boss is a smart man!! Always put back into the shop, and after 17 years of business he can say he own every machine, and building out write. He hates owing people money. I think it is a gamble though, anyway you look at it. The most important thing isYOU and MANAGEMENT have to believe without a doubt that this will work......

quote: say hi to Kevin. He wired all our places too. great guy. Ha,ha that’s funny! Kevin’s a great guy and he said hello! He’s like.. “ do you ride bikes with Rizzo”, and I was like… Well he rides, and I wreck!! quote: Shawn have they modified the steel grate on the floor in the working area? Ours collapsed when you stood on it. Have you got an extra work light inside the machine it's very dark in there when you close the door, becuse the dorr includes the roof. There is a spot on the inside right hand side where an extra light can be mounted our Makino reseller wanted 3k to fit a light. They must have fixed the grate on our model because it seems super heavy duty. As far as the light goes, the Tech guy even mentioned something about not having the second light. I will look into that for sure.. quote: Enjoy great machine you'll love the windows based toucj screen controller. Did you get the lazer tool height measurer? Yep, had it factory installed. They put it behind the DD motor covers. The techs could not even find them at first.. lol! Super clean look, and not in the way. quote: two workstations with one spindle? Never thought about it before...but I could see that being handy. Well if we get another machine it will come in handy. Really we were just looking ahead in the future, and got the package deal. I imagine though one machine can spit a lot of parts out during the weekend, and only having one station to unload and load Monday morning would take a lot longer! quote: Shawn, I assume D500 means 500mm pallet, correct? 40 or 50 taper? Also I wonder the price of that system. I would guess 400-500k Nope it’s a 400mm pallet, with HSK 63A holders, 14k spindle. Not to mention specifics but double your estimation on price. quote: I have been called every name in the book and I am damn proud of Shawn he stood his ground and even though he was probably thought of as crazy he got them to help themselves. Good job Shawn!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crazy, thanks for the kind words. I don’t think they saw me as crazy... More like a pain in the xxxx spoiled kid! lol.. But seriously, I don’t think our company would have been ready for this machine any earlier. We just got our first Haas 5ax about 9 months ago. After within 4 months we realized really quickly that we are going to need a pallet system because of the nature and work we were getting for the HAAS trinnion. Even then the boss wanted a hori but I pretty much thru a tantrum and persuaded him on the 5ax. lol He said a 6 pallet pool will be enough and I said no! He said 60 tools would be enough and I said no! I actually convinced him in the 323 tools 2months into the purchase! So we had Makino write up a change order. I tell you its on going with owners these days! Although it is there money! For me, I started seeing all these shops move ahead in technology and we were still using lesser machines to compete. It really started to get me down and out. I think the boss really started to see my ambition on what we could be! He started to se me get frustrated at non existent challenges. I’m 33 years old now and have been with this company for 15 years, so he new what kind of work ethic I had, so once he made his decision he basically left it in my hand. I really have to commend him in trusting me!

Well this is where we stand as of 6:00 PM tonight, wiring her power. Till the next round of pics... I will start getting close ups of the machine next.

quote: Awesome just Awesome. I will go out on a limb and say your company is still in business and all those using 20 years old machine will probably be out of business. I wonder why that is, but some people only learn when reality slaps them in the face. Good for your company they understand what it takes to be in business. I tell you Crazy, it was a long fight for a machine like this! I'm finally in a place were I can say we have one of the best technologies in our shop in our line of business! This machine completes me! Lol

So the machine is in place, with the pallet changer brought in.. The guys started working on aligning the robot to the workstations. Tonight we wired the machine, so tomorrow morning the techs will have power. They need to power it up and debug all the servo alarms. After alarms are cleared, than comes the fun task of doing the final alignment of the pallet changer and machine. Once that’s done we can pore in the epoxy to anchor the feet in place.