Dave, That big machine of ours that you saw is an Ecoca. I'll find out in the morning who the rep in Melbourne is. It hasn't really missed a beat yet, and if you want they can put an M code in to switch from wye to delta wiring so you get two different torque graphs. Cheaper than a Haas too, and is all Fanuc gubbins. Bruce

I also have a macro for this. Leave it saved in the control and call the parameters in your "main" programme. Can have a few different programmes calling it then to do different keyways. Bruce

Ooo. Don't you love ambiguous drawings?? "Sounds" like the intent is to dim from CL, but only guessing at this end. Bruce

There is a file somewhere showing how to do it. I think I got it direct from Camaix. I'll have a look tonight. Bruce

This is a five year old thread.....

I change it around now and then. I like something similar to Solidworks or UG defaults and occasionally go a bit darker. Always a horizontal gradient though, with darker at the bottom. I absolutely cannot stand a plain black or white background. Bruce

Didn't the NZ gov just issue a plea for everyone to come back? LOL!! I have some family there and hope to put a dent in your trout, deer, and cape barren geese populations one day. Bruce

I'm with Mig. Even needing multiple ops on a VTL, 20ish hours should do it, including fixturing. If the qty was higher, add another shift after proveout for optimisation. Bruce

Turn axis lines on in backplot and have a close look in the area you are having trouble with. I have found a few "unexplained" gouges this way. Bruce

Thanks. I should have checked the Beta first. No time lately though. Bruce

Add to that the Lean Institute.

If I lived in NZ I'd move in a flash too.

Ahoy! I don't use these much, but just noticed that the min and max stepover on the cut parameters page don't update when you change the percentage unless you click in either of the boxes. I just spent 10 minutes trying to workout why changing the percentage did nothing. Has this been seen before? Bruce

With that part I would probably do a quick op to take the long corners off and whatever feature is needed for op1 fixturing and then HT. The rest would be no real drama machined in the hardened state. Did a swaybrace for an F-111 from a pre-hardened block, and used a three flute tipped endmill with R2 cornered inserts as a plunger to get the material off. Ran sweet. Bruce

http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...t=028994#000000 http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...t=007226#000000

2B tolerance should allow for 0.0005" plate. In metric taps at least, the G class plating taps are 0.05mm/0.002" oversize (I think), so anything under that probably isn't worth worrying about. I'd roll it, but I haven't had to use that particular grade of copper before, so there may be a gremlin that I don't know about. Bruce

Nowhere near 100 hrs in that on a HS 5 axis. And as for polishing, if there are any areas that need a bit of attention, an impregnated nylon brush would polish the part in the machine as well. As a shop owner myself in the current climate, people=$$$=stress. Bruce

Search for and download the X+ utility. This will do it for you. Bruce

quote: Our main matl’s are: 6061 / 7075-T6 1144 4340 hardened 36-40Rc Ductile Iron soft 80-55-06 Ductile Iron hardened 120-90-02 15-5PH and 17-4PH annealed / H1075 / H1150 Nitronic 60 Had a bit more of a dig... For the ally we use Iscar CNMS for roughing and VCGT for finishing. Would have to look up the pricing though. Taegutec do a double sided VN polished and ground as well which makes things cheaper. Hard steels and 17-4 we are currently using Mitsubishi MJ VP10RT in both C and V style. This is the only insert that we have found that will do an interupted cut on hardened H7A SS castings , which is similar to 17-4. Mitsubishi UC5115 was the insert I was thinking about earlier where I couldn't find the box. This will eat soft and hard cast iron as well as high carbon and alloy steels. Needs a decent DOC though otherwise it won't chipbreak. The Sumi grade I mentioned may not suit the materials you have listed, but they are the cheapest inserts in our drawer. When the rep is in next filling up our Garr drawer I will hit him up about other grades. Here in OZ at least the Japanese makers seem to be keeping their prices low. Iscar is getting pricey and I haven't ever been a real fan of Kennametal or Sandvik, though I hear they are priced similar to Iscar. On a side note, I did a stack of R&D on cutting GR5 Ti and the best turning insert ended up being a Seco. Can't remember the grade though. HTH Bruce

I agree. If I am using a fanuc MD I would like to pick a G54, G55... in the view manager, not a 0,1,2... If I am using a Heidi, the menu would then be Datum 1, Datum 2, etc I THINK OneCNC does this. Long overdue Bruce

Can't go past Sumitomo for good quality and low price. Their new AC830P grade is kicking arse on everything from K1045 to 316ss. As a general purpise grade I couldn't recomment them highly enough. The Kyocera rep here has some inserts that he claims to be better than anything else in 316SS, but I haven't tried them yet. One thing I have found with Kyocera is that all their inserts seem to be specialists. Can't use the same for a wide variety of materials without a noticable reduction in performance in one of them. Mitsubishi are also in the same league as Sumitomo, but I ran out of the grade I was using and can't find the box to tell you what they were. I started with all Iscar in the turning section, but the price vs quality ratio isn't there compared to the others. BTW what materials are you using? HTH Bruce

I saw a video of a Stellram plunger that was also as fast drilling into solid as a standard Udrill. If this was a regular job, I would look into something similar. Iscars PH style plunger is centre cutting, but I don't know if it is recommended to drill with it. As mentioned, a feedmill would also do the job nicely. HTH Bruce

A simple daily/weekly/monthly chart would do. Agree on what needs to be done and how often. Tick it off as it is done. If there is room, put up a yearly wall planner and fill it out with the D/W/M items and put it in a common area. Bruce

Inhouse modified a post for a Mazak Vortex (similar machine to your VR-11) to do the same thing for me a few years ago. They should have all the info you need. Bruce

Ron, There are 5-axis comp posts available from Inhouse I think. Dave Thomson chimed in ages ago on a similar request for a post for a Heidenhain that supported comp on 5-axis. I wouldn't have a clue where to start from scratch, but I am sure they do. Bruce