Thanks Ron. I did search for help on this topic 1st I must've missed the recent post I am still curious as to what the error pertains to or what I did to generate it. Thanks again, mike

Hey guys, how's things? I don't normally have problems with transform by toolplane except when doing something out of the ordinary. ex: i have 6pcs. (3) milled on the left edge, (3) milled on the right edge, with identical hole patterns. i need g54,5,6,7,8,&9. i mill the left edge of g54,6 & 8, then the right edge of g59,7,5 with the same end mill. i create (1) part and transform ops. as needed. I get an error when posting "2- Work offset number used in more than 1 view" .but the g-code comes out correct. Does anyone know what the error means? since the g-code is right, i should just blow it off but i'm curious. thanks for any insight. mike

hey rob, I'm not sure but I think you also need to set the arcoutput switch to zero in the general output settings section. # -------------------------------------------------------------------------- # General Output Settings # -------------------------------------------------------------------------- sub_level : 1 #Enable automatic subprogram support breakarcs : 2 #Break arcs, 0 = no, 1 = quadrants, 2 = 180deg. max arcs arcoutput : 0 #0 = IJK, 1 = R no sign, 2 = R signed neg. over 180 I could be wrong, haven't been doing this long myself. hth

captian Kangaroo died? that sucks, I heard Ray Rayner died also, man am I gettin old.

Hey Chris, how's things? I'm sure I get my copy of vx without having to nag ya, right? j/k

I just got a dsl line at home because cable service is not available in my area. Beats the he!! out of dial up (but that doesn't really take much does it?) The only problem I have is I just installed xp pro so each of my kids now has their own "account" on my machine and I have to re-establish my connection anytime I switch users. I really haven't had time to look into it though so it might just be my set-up.

Hey Bucket head, count your blessings man, my 17 year old just totaled his 2nd car I don't think he understands how this insurance premium thing works hey aft, I had a forum member call me today and spend 45 minutes of HIS time ( thanks again Chris) helping me with MY problem. This is a man that didn't know me from squat, half a country away.Where else do you find that. I hope you can find a way to turn things around here because I feel there isn't a better source of knowledge available anywhere. I've learned more in a couple weeks searching back through old threads than I have in over a year of trying to learn things how I normally do, trial and error. and error .........and some more error mike

Hi everyone, I need to pick your collective brains. I need to tool up some machines (lathes) with quick change tooling that I have no experience with. In your humble opinions, what rates looking at. Sandvik's Capto, Kennametal's KM, Komet's ABS are the ones I have heard of. Any good / bad / indifferent thoughts on any of these? Of coarse the salesmen all guarantee that theirs is the best. Also, does anyone use Microcentric? quick change collet chucks? Any thoughts would be a great help. thanks in advance. mike

CNCGUY, I owe you one . you wouldn't believe how much time I spent this a.m. trying to figure this out, I just knew it coulnd't possibly be as difficult as it was turning out. I did try double clicking the icon but I got what looked to be the same page as if I right clicked the tool in the tool param. page. when i changed it from there it reset all my tool settings, but when I change it from where you suggested it only changes what I need. very cool, Thank you again mike

hi guys, maybe someone with some exp. using MC lathe can help me with this. I have existing programs and I need to change the tool numbers. I program (usually) using the same offset # and tool # ex: T0101. If i go into op. mngr. / param., and change my tool parameters to tool 5, o/s 5, station 5 for instance and choose O.K. ((I get a msg.:changing tool will update your operations) if same tool is used for more than (1) op.)). I choose O.K. because that is what I want. back in op. mng. next to my tool icon it shows T0501, the tool# changed the o/s # did not, for all applicable ops. If I post the code the op. I actually changed the param. for posts correctly, T0505 even though in op. mng. it shows T0501. The other related ops. that show T0501 will post out a new tool change for T0101 unless I go into each one and change the tool param. If I do that,they still show T0501 in the op. mng. but post T0505. The only way I can change them all is to go into the tool library (right click on the tool) and cahnge it there but then MC resets all my defaults (comp. dir.,finish dir.,tool feedrate) that I had set for the operation. Does anyone know why the offset # doesn't change on the op. mng. pg.? or why all my ops. using the same tool don't seem to update, even though it shows that it does on the op. mng. pg.? sorry about the length of this post but I'm confused. thanks for your thoughts. mike.

thanks Todd,I appreciate your time. works great mike

When i use stock flip in lathe, and run backplot the stock updates correctly at the flip location. But in verify the stock orientation does not update at the flip location causing tool crashes. This is the first time i've used this function and was wondering if i missed a setting somewhere or if this is just the way it is. Does anyone out there use this much? mike.

I think some of you guys have WAY too much time on your hands ( i wish i could remember this kind of stuff when i need it) M.

I'm not sure about the plastic but when I need to drill deep small dia. holes and keep them straight I use aircraft extension drills. I'm pretty sure you can't hole pop a material that doesn't conduct electricity. good luck m.

if all you are doing is mill the diameters to size ( not milling the bottom of a pocket for instance) I would just use contour not circle mill. That would give you lead in / lead out functions which I don't believe you have in circle mill ( I also don't have my hasp with me tonight so I can't look at that ). You are going to feed into the wall of the circle and feed off of the wall so in my mind turning the cutter comp. on and off is a non issue. It's just another g code in your line. with lead in / out you can also override your feed rates and if there is a floor involved ramp down radially after the g41 and ramp up before the g40.

There is a t.v. show on the air out here called Myth busters ( it's actually pretty cool ) for those who have time to watch t.v. and they did the penny from the empire state building thing. Determined the terminal velocity of a penny, built a device to fire a penny at that velocity, and started shooting various things with it, concrete, asphault, a human skull covered in a gelatin substance that certain crime labs use when running ballistics and splatter tests. the penny did not penetrate or even leave a mark on any of the above. they eventually moved on to shooting their own hands (ouch! but no blood)and for some good old american fun, their backsides.These guys are actually very smart and they design and build some pretty ingenius devices to prove / or dis-prove some interesting and some stupid myths. do I sound like a commercial yet? I highly recommend it if you happen to see it on some time.

not me, Happy new year everyone Watch out for the other guy!

not me, Happy new year everyone Watch out for the other guy!

after being asked to leave high school (I didn't play well with others)I bounced around in factory jobs for a couple of years. perfectly happy. Then I met this girl.Pretty soon I'm gettin' married, figure I have to get serious now. I took a job in a lab., shoveling sh!t (honest). The company made agglomeration eqpmt.Big compacters and roll presses for making briquets. Anyone that wanted to compact their products for easy disposal, movement or whatever would send us samples and we would mix them with various things like pitch, mollases or other bonding agents and run tests to see if our eqpmt. would do what they required. We once compacted chicken crap (believe it or not). Connected to the lab was the mfg. facility that I would walk through once in a while thinkin' this is where the money is So one day they buy an NC ( yes tape) lathe, with a GE550 control (yes tubes).I think the youngest man in the shop was about 50 and they were all from the "old" country. No one wants anything to do with it, so I guess the foreman saw me and figured I'd do anything for a buck and asks if I want to learn ( $ yeah baby! a trade ). I ran an engine lathe for a couple weeks on nights, learn that long stringy chips are sharp (and hot),I am now a huge fan of chip control, the next thing I know I'm setting up the NC lathe. Man that was cool. A month later I'm in Ann Arbor Michigan at MDSI learning compact II ( ah yes, languge based programming) and writing programs on a frieden flexowriter ( remember timeshare computing ?).Those were the days, when men were men and sheep were scared. That co. moves to Santa Rosa calif., I go with them, stay 2 weeks, hate it there (no Vienna hot dogs)and move back to Chicago with my wife and 3 weeks away yet 1st baby. Take a job where I am ( 20 years last august) and start programming a mill. We buy Smartcam and use that until a year ago when we switched to Mastercam. My grandfather (rest in peace Opa, I think about you all the time) worked for bell & howell in their prototype shop for 30 years so I guess it must be in my blood. I still have all of his tools, good as new after 55 years combined use. I'm the only programmer here so I've had no one to learn from or bounce ideas off of until I found this forum a couple of weeks ago. It's pretty much hit and miss, then try again until it comes out right. I only work in 2D so most of you guys are way over my head, but your posts and old threads have solved many a mystery for me already. This was a very cool thread. Thanks for reading. Mike p.s. Didn't mean to insult anyone from calif. I'm just a midwestener at heart I suppose.

if you go to the help menu and search "about custom tool profiles" there is a pretty good description of how to accomplish what you want to do.

quote: Cutting oils are a coolant killer; I'd stay away from that if at all possibleChris, you're absolutely right, I should have expanded on that with "if all else fails" they're also messy to work with, especially the parafin based stuff i mentioned. it is very "sticky" and a pain in the a$$ to clean out of holes but I haven't found anything better at extending tap life especially in refractory metals and h.s.s. like M3-2 or CPM-M4. there is definately a trade off though. I haven't used any of the "fluids" that are compatible with coolants though, maybe there is something else that will work as well. I will definately be looking into that.

try p.h.horn for micro boring & threading tools if your going to single point your threads. What type of coolant are you using? For small quantities i'll put in a program stop and use a sulphurized cutting oil or for especially tough apps. i'll mix it with a parafin based cutting fluid called safety draw made by Castrol. increases my tap life tremendously in gummy materials.

thanks for your time Mick, I appreciate the help. Obviously I don't know much (er...anything)about vb script.I do have mill parts with this project with similar criteria though so I guess I'd better get some books and start reading. thanks again. have a nice holiday M

we use cimco dnc max, no problem with the fanucs but we do have some issues with mazatrol as far as using remote request to retrieve files. we also looked at D-log but it seemed geared toward larger facilities the ours. good luck.

if they are boys just buy them anything that comes with a "manual" ( that they can promptly throw out)and they will be happy. Preferably something that plugs in, has lights or uses some type of fuel. Merry christmas, watch out for the other guy!