False positives usually caused by: OEM Wand type: activation air pressure too low or too high, wand skips and either it flexes or the small drills flex enough to let the wand pass by. Tried an inline valve but still could not get it controlled enough day to day. (thinking about retrofitting PCS100 type unit or the BK Micro unit in its place Laser (renishaw tp2 ???): coolant, color of tool and reflectivity of tool all have an effect on reading the laser light coming back to the detection unit. tried an air blow on the detection unit's lens w/ marginal results.

Can anyone out there suggest a reliable broken tool detection system for a HMC ?? Renishaw Laser system on the Mazak HCN4000s didn't provide reliable detection after a few months, too many false positives ! The OEM wand system that came w/ the Tsugami horizontals is about 20-30 yrs old and all need replacing. (always had problems w/ keeping the pressure down enough so as to not chip tools or flex by the small tools). Looking at adapting the Allora PCS100 wand system to the Tsugami's. I don't really want to spend the time re-measuring the tools. We would like to get some of our line to run unattended but are wary of doing that w/o broken tool detection. Any suggestions ??? tia

If you can center the 'Live' axis, it works. Done it here a few times. Might have to unwind the 'C' ( depending on the machine tool & control). You can also grind all but one flute off a smaller tap of correct lead and use that as a multi-tooth thread mill in a pinch. Fire up the live tool to appropriate speed then feed 1 lead in 'Z' for every 360 degrees in 'C'.

Use the 'C' axis if you can ??

In the ribbon bar, I think under 'View' you will find what you are missing. Just click on it, then re-dock

I would expect M29 for the main spindle, M329 for live tooling.

Happened to me also. Plus a memory bleed just thrown in for kicks. Spent 2-3 weeks trying to fix both problems. Cimquest stepped in and: 1 reinstalled 2018 from the .zip file download instead of the web.exe file download. 2 Brought my video drivers up to date 3 Brought my .net framework up to date. All is well w/ my 2018 now.

As I recall, #4120 holds the current value of the 'T' register, which is why you want to get the tool launched before pre-staging the next. I copy the tool's H and D offsets to H99 and D99 (or H99 and D98) then all my G43's use H99 and all my G41-G42's use D99 or D98.

Never mind , after 1.5 days of troubleshooting, I ask for help here and the problem magically goes away !!! Must have been something wrong w/ my planes. I re-assigned them and all was well functionally. I re-assigned them back and all is now hunky-dorey. Sounds like a job for Scully and Mulder. I guess sometimes all you have to do is ask !!!

I have 2 string selectors which used to work fine in 2017, but appear non-functional in 2018. What they output is the NC code for indexing and wcs selection according to workofs$ workofs$ is set manually when I create the planes I am going to machine with. I put some troubleshooting lines in the post to track the value of workofs$ and it doesn't move from 1 even if the plane used has changed to a value of 2 or 3. Worked slick in 2017 and most likely the last two versions of X. MAZAK HCN4000 w/ Matrix control , eia programmed: Selectors Listed: # wcs string selector from view manager workofs$ 01-21-2013 sw1 : "" # Dummy Entry sw2 : "618" # Work coordinate system for B0 sw3 : "617" # Work coordinate system for B90 sw4 : "616" # Work coordinate system for B270 sw5 : "615" # Work coordinate system for other swkno ?? fstrsel sw1 workofs$ swkno 5 -1 # B index string selector from view manager workofs$ 01-21-2013 sindx1 : "q" # Dummy Entry sindx2 : "B0." # G151 Index code for B0 sindx3 : "B90." # G151 Index code for B90 sindx4 : "B270." # G151 Index code for B270 sindx5 : "B___" # G151 Index code for other sindexto ?? fstrsel sindx1 workofs$ sindexto 5 -1 post code in psof$ and ptlchg$: "G151", *sindexto, e$ "G65P", *wcs_sel , e$ "G54.1P", 35, *swkno, e$ # 01/21/2013 NC output when workofs$ =2: should be G151B90. G65P whichever sub my wcs selector code is stored G54.1P#617 but all I get is : G151B0. G65P whichever sub my wcs selector code is stored G54.1P#618 Any ideas ?? Something happen to variable workofs$ in 2018 ??? Settings issue ??

PS , Yes the c-hook was free

I got the C-hook from Cimquest who got it from Mastercam Thanks to Mike Sljaka

Upon deeper investigation, the problem is with me. I need to slow down and re-think the whole concept. (and perhaps learn more about Mcam Lathe)

I just installed the 'Prime Turning' c-hook. I created some lathe geometry to play with it. Using roughing insert and parameters only (finish passes shut off): Resultant backplots show some fancified standard toolpaths but no 'backwards' cutting. ??? Does anyone know of some tutorials , instructions, or guidelines that exist for this process ?? I am pretty sure that the problem with me.

Sounds to me that he just wants to move his fixtures to another face of the tstone w/o re-typing all of the B commands. He'll have to re-type the 1st time through anyway, but then he can use the idea for future / updated programs. If he just adds (say a 4-sided tombstone) 90.0 to his original (normal) B command from a common variable like #519, he might get an error by trying to index to more than B360. Depending on the formatting required, (trailing zero ? , decimal B commands ok ? , etc) he will probably need to deal w/ the 'over-indexing' , and the better way to handle that IMHO is with a macro. simply scratched out basic idea: set variable #519 to the incremental angle from the normal face to the new face Index call = G65P9011B__ (normal or original) -- (or G151B___ if so organized) O9011 #5=[#2+#519] IF [# 5 LT 360] GOTO 20 #5=[360.0-#5] N20 B#5 M99 Again , required formatting could make the macro a bit more complicated.

Thanks anyways !!

Just installed 2018 yesterday. One small problem though, Mcam 2018 attempts to re-start after I exit the program w/ the X in the upper right of the window ! Am I missing a setting somewhere ??

We started w/ Mcam around V5. And we chose Mcam over the others because we could modify the posts instead of being stuck w/ the CAM company doing the alterations and charging us for it each time and still not getting it right.

If you are using only 1 work offset , Have the operators make the value of ,say, variable #511 equal to 1,2,3,4,5, or 6. Put this in pheader$ "G10L2P, "35, "510X______Y_______Z_________", e$ End pheader$ with this "G90G[", 35, "510+53]", e$ ditto w/ the toolchange routines

I was wondering what a 'chipping index table' was !

The proper hole size and accuracy is not so much a function of the Major dia. of the roll tap , but the pitch (in this case read height) of the thread. 5/16-56 hole size is just as critical as #2-56.

That gage works well, IMHO

Chris's database is my goto for HSM. Please let's save it and perhaps add to it !

I have been around for a few decades now and it seems to me that the 2 cardinal rules in applying CC are: 1, Turn CC on in straight line moves (most controls would probably alarm out on a arc anyway) 2, Most importantly, the CC turn on block should be non-cutting. ( as well as the turn-off ) Wear comp , perpendicular lead-ins (non-cutting), and only using the arc entry when needed (middle of contour, etc) have always worked for me.

Anyone with KeyCreator (such as myself) can open Cadkey .prt files. Cadkey became KeyCreator a few years back. You can send a couple to me and I'll take a shot at it !