Keith, I'm sorry, I didn't make myself very clear. What I'm talking about is the actual text ("1005" and "1006" in this case) that is shown in the MC window box itself, next to the selection boxes in the "NCI output method" portion of the "manual entry" dialogue window, not text that I would enter to be included in the code output. I would like to change that text to read something a little bit more descriptive than just "1005" and "1006".

Is there a way to edit the text in the manual entry toolpath window. Instead of the text reading "1005" and "1006" in the NCI output method section, is it possible to edit the text to read something else, i.e. "Comment Entry" and "G Code" so other users here know which one to choose to output code or parenthetical comments? Thanks in advance.

Here, Here!

Multax, You remind me of the guy who sits in the cubicle next to me at work. He has just graduated w/his BS in engineering and insists on explaining, in detail, to anyone facing towards his general direction, his assesment of the universal workings of any idea that any one may have regarding any thing and why his assesment has found every flaw that may be there now or later because of his immense intelligence. Like him, you too are a MORON attempting to hide your lack of intelligence by baffling us with bulls**t. There is a saying I have oft heard and repeat as much, "If you ask 15 different machinist how to do a thing you WILL get 15 different answers." This Forum only proves it. Machinist are creatures made of the stuff of opinion because machining is not a black and white process it is an artform in varying shades of grey.--aaron [ 08-02-2001: Message edited by: awheeler ]

I hate the metric system. I have used both in my engineering course and I (yes, it may be rather ecentric) refuse to do a problem in the metric sys. I always convert the "real" measurment or answer to metric. I visualize mm, cm, m, and km just fine. I often work with mm and cm and in the army firing distances are in meters and I have hoofed, in full gear, my share of km's to know exactly how long those are. However, though you all may be jumping over this cliff and expecting the USA to follow I for one refuse and the united states, if ever, won't be converting for many decades. Not only would we have to revamp our tools but all our vehicles, roads, text books. There are just to many diehards out here in construction and manufacturing that are not going to let it happen. The educated minority may think it is a good idea but to the layman (70% of our population)it is unnecessary idiocy. Sorry, rest of the world we'll stay up here on this cliff for the time being

For lots of holes the fastest way I have found to deburr them is to use a small countersink in a cordless drill. I usually use the slow setting so I dont take off too much material. This isn't highly accurate but it is quick and easy.

I know of a few other situations where a little censorship was acceptable-nazi germany, soviet union...

I used to machine small round window mounts for soft x-rays and there was a part that needed a 1mm hole drilled thru it. The only way I could get through it was with HSS drill bits at about 600-800 rpm (lathe) and peck that were no more than .003-.004" deep at a time. I hated working with that stuff. For a hole that was about .1875" deep I would typically burn up 3-4 drills. I tried carbide but it couldnt take the shock and snapped. Nasty stuff.

Top fuel Dragsters....Shakes the very ground. Not to mention the eyeballs in your skull. To qoute one of my fathers friends who was killed in one, "better than sex."

Yes, M60's are legal as well as most other military weapons in Utah (not necessarily part of the United States says a very liberal machine tool tech Instructor that I teach with. Who knows why he moved to ultra conservative utah.) However, they must be semi-auto unless you have a federal firearms license which costs about 300.00$ per year. I have a conceal carry permit but not an FFL so I can't legally work on anything that is automatic.

Aside from my family I like model machining and working on guns (and firing them). I built the muzzle breaks for my chiropracter's .50 bmg's and fired a couple of rounds, definitely a religious experience. Kicks harder than 3 1/2" 00 buckshot but not quite as painful due to the slower burning powder/large case volume. Now am working on two M60's. But my personal favorites are my .454 Casull Raging Bull, my Benelli Nova 3 1/2" magnum 12 ga and, believe it or not, my itty bitty, really cheap, Bryco Arms .22 auto.

Thanks, That points me in the right direction.--Aaron

Utah isn't what is known as a high paying state. CNC Programmers 16$-20$ per hour. Journeyman Machinist 14.50$-25$ (if your lucky) There is the occasional yahoo that advertises help wanted for a Journeyman Machinist and wants to pay $10 per hour. Just remember all you employers, offer low wages and you'll never get quality work; you get what you pay for.

This isn't a machine crash but a machinist crash. Some of you may have seen the picture before (or may be the same guy). I use it in my saftey lecture in my machine shop classes. A guy caught his class ring on the lathe chuck he was running and it literaly tore his finger off at the base including ripping the tendons out of his forearm. As for me I haven't had any machine destroying crashes, plenty of endmill shearing mistakes though, and no feeling left in my middle finger thanks to a 1" OD .025" thick slitting saw that I wasn't watching out for.

The demo version I am using is the full mastercam dealer demo which includes everything up to level two. It posts out to millionths of an inch. I tried that method but I am still getting that return to zero. I noticed if full chaining is selected in chaining options, two arrows are used, the green one to show startpoint direction and the red one to show current position if the green arrow can somehow be forced to stay at the initial start point it appears the problem would be solved since the return to zero seems to always occur at a chaining direction reversal or partial chain. When using the single option during contouring the return to zero occurs at each selected entity (each time the green arrow moves to another entity). If anybody would like to take a look at my geometery and desired tool path I could email an .mc8 file.

I program cnc wire edm. I am currently using a fully operational demo version of MC 8.1 as I am trying to convince my employers that it is better software than Esprit X. I have two hurdles to overcome at this point: 1. When running a contour toolpath, at each new partial chain MasterCam programs the wire to return to X0 Y0 and then back to the last point prior to returning to zero. Our application is rather unique in that we tend to machine along an entity, shut off machining, and reverse back along the entity. The following is an example of a partial program. I have included Mastercams zero return lines in parentheses which i have to manually edit out of every program. (PARTIAL FANUC PROGRAM) G92 X0 Y-.601 /M80 (EDM ON) /M13 P1 (ALLOW FEEDRATE OVERIDE TO 10%) G1 Y-.566 (G1 X0 Y0) (Y-.566) G2 X-.51192 Y-.24143 J.566 (G1 X0 Y0) (X-.51192 Y-.24143) G1 X-.35535 X-.11733 Y-.41444 M40 (EDM OFF) M13 P10 (ALLOW FEEDRATE OVERIDE TO 100%) (G1 X0 Y0) (X-.11733 Y-.41444) X-.35535 Y-.24143 /M80 /M13 P1 Y-.41444 X-.11733 M46 (FOUR CONDITIONS OFF-EDM, WATER, WIRE FEED, WIRE TENSION) M00 M86 (FOUR CONDITIONS ON) (G1 X0 Y0) (X-.11733 Y-.41444) X.35869 Y-.24143 X.40477 Y.27757 X.49327 M40 M13 P10 (G1 X0 Y0) (X.49327 Y.27757) G2 X0. Y-.566 I-.49327 J-.27757 ECT.,ECT. I have not been able to determine why it is doing this. Another irritating problem is that no matter where I set my G92 Mastercam starts the tool path from X0 Y0 and then moves to G92. 2. Is there a way or a c-hook that will allow me to individually pick my toolpath entities using the geometry chain manager in the program operations manager and quickly establish the offset, power settings, feedrate, ect for each toolpath entity after selecting "done" on the toolpath contour selection process. (I hope that made sense). Any help would be appreciated.

I want to learn how to modify my post programs. Is there a tutorial or website that i can use to learn how to do it?

Hi Paul, I don't know if they will help but I have emailed you the posts that I have for agie machines, they are for 8.1 wire. We dont run Agies here, we run brothers, fanucs, and mitsubishis. It sounds as if you know something about tweeking post programs. If so I would be interested in picking your brain for some ideas.--aaron

I am a self taught machinist and have been using MC since version 6. I teach machine tool technology part time and program CNC wire EDM (Fanuc, Brother, and mitsubishi) full time. The EDM application is relatively new to me and I have been trying to work the bugs out of 8.1 wire. Hopefully this forum will help.