Thanks Greg, I always made my lines thicker which gave a nice effect with the printed drawing, but this is a whole lot easier. I didn't know such a box existed.

Most all engraving tools are ground beyond center, causing a theoretical tip diameter. I wouldnt worry weither that diameter is .001 or .005 In the real world, if you accually need a 0 tip diameter, you would need to custom grind the tool, and I don't imagine it would cut that well.

I use engrave and it uses verify fine. It cant be in turbo mode and use Vgroove cutters. I think you may need to look at your stock setup.

I don't normally use the WCS. I prefer to rotate my geomerty, but today I decided to make a change so that I could use highfeed from both sides (top and bottom). I am cutting a lot of air on the bottom side. Wouldn't you know, Highfeed only works with a single tool-plane. Does anyone make a highfeed modual which can use multiple wcs? How well does it work? How expensive is it?

It’s funny because I have been on all sides of the equation, a chippy, a machinist, a boss and a buyer. By far the most difficult task as a boss is to express what the customer wants, or is willing to pay for. Some customers want, and are willing to pay for quality. More often they are frugal. If I say "We can make that part in 4 hours". It is frustrating to see someone spend 6 hours on a thing of beauty when the customer was willing to pay for only 4. Sure, some people have unreasonable expectations and it’s our responsibility to try to educate them. But next time, just for giggles, ask the boss how much time they allotted to spend on a job, and offer the best quality in that time frame.

I’m looking at a through pocket, .35 x 1.25 x 4 inches deep. Aluminum. .125 radii in the corners. At some point I see myself using a ¼ x 2 inch endmill and finishing the pocket from both sides. My question is the best roughing strategy for something like this. I have a bunch of em. How does plunge roughing work in a situation like this?

Bob, if you Email the post to me, I can fix you up pretty quick. Just let me know exactly where you want the "G90"

An interesting peice of software can be found at camtasia They are offerting a free trial and may be right up your alley.

Bob, I don't think the G90 is going to help you. It may be something broken with the machine, but if you wish to put out a G90 with each G0, I think the easiest way would be to add G90 to that string. Search though the post for Sg00, beside it add "G90" to the "G00" which is there. Let us know how you make out

Thats a lot of holes. If it were me, I would be using a tapping head regardless of rigid-tapping or belt/direct power, or what type of machine you have, and I'll tell you why. 1. Speed. A tapping head can reverse faster than your machine can. If you can save 1 second per hole, it adds up to 5 hours of machine time. A tapping head can go faster than even a specialized drill/tap machine. 2. Wear and tear. Your machine will need to go forward and reverse for each hole. Just a set of belts will cost you a hundred bucks. I use a tapmatic head, but there are other brands which are good.

I'm no expert on the language, but I do know Chinese use more characters than letters. The characters take the place of entire words or sentence fragments. Letters can be found at chinese letters If you already know what the sign is supposed to look like, I think you will need to scan and vector-ize.

What's wrong with what he is selling? He may not own the software, but he certainly owns the books and CD. Without the hasp, the CD will install, but not run, thereby rendering it essentaly worthless. So he is selling the books for $10. I think it may have value to someone who owns a hasp and a newer version of MC and would like to return to "the good old days" They could ask CNC software for a down-dated sim code

I use Extreme DNC which has a restart feature. I have used this in the past, but always at a tool-change. Is it posible to restart a program from the middle of a toolpath? I don't know if the machine's control or the software is smart enough to pick up the fixture offset, tool length/diameter and cutter comp from the middle of a cut.

I was at a shop which replaced the floppy with a zip drive. A cheap and easy fix with lots of other benefits.

Andrew is correct, if overheated, it will give off a toxic gas. Don't cut this material with inserted cutters or abrasive cut-off saws. Mold100 is correct as well as to its abrasiveness. Coated tools make a big difference. HSS will break down pretty fast unless coated. Rollform taps work well with this material as well. Carbide endmills and jewlers saws work well. I didn't have much luck with carbide drills, because my holes were small (2-56 x .500 deep)I find HSS cutters tend to be sharper than carbide. I didn't experience the need for lower rake tools, but it can be sort of grabby. Good luck

What about using a first-peck and subsequent peck value? If your machine won't suport the code, you could postit long-hand.

I'm glad you found a new job. The 9 to 5 stresses are nothing compared to the insecurity and stress that unemployment can cause. It sounds like a nice new home and a good match for your talents as well as a place for you to learn and expand your knowlege. Congrats

This started as an interesting topic. I didn't have any great ideas, but even if I did, I don't know if I would share them with someone who needs more help with thier attitude than with thier hardware. Still, being a curious sort, I was wondering if there has been any resolution or will I need to visit the BB of another software to hear more of this A-hole's ranting.

I believe bug#1 controls what you are looking for. I think when bug1=2 the nc will open in the editor.

PER #1445

It seems funny that this would suddenly apear. What I think you should look at is the parameters of that operation. It is my guess that top-of-stock is set below the depth of cut.

Compumachine is in the town where I work and Mark Summers installed our first CNC mill in 1980. He is a great guy and I'm glad to see that he has had so much success. BTW, I still use that machine

I love that control with a couple exeptions. Cutter comp is one of them. Dynapath institutes the cutter com after the first move and before the last move. Therefore, if you are using cutter-comp in the control, I recomend you use both entry/exit lines and arcs. This will get the cutter-comp move after the liniar move, but before the arc move. I don't think this control can use negitive tool diameters, so for tweaking-in wear-comp, Somtimes I would program with a .24 dia cutter, cutter-comp computer and wear-comp, and leave the cutter comp in the control at .01 (1/4 dia endmill.

Not exactly Jay, I want to start at the top left, mill x+, then y-, and then x-

I did see that option, but that's not really what I was looking for. My problem with this particlar toolpath function is that the first cut is always conventional milling.