We are using primarily Kennametal & Iscar. I needed some inserts last week so I looked at them on the MSC web site at $17.?? and then I went to http://www.carbidedepot.com/ and found the same Kennametal inserts for $8.97. [ 04-28-2009, 01:23 PM: Message edited by: bogusmill ]

I cut helixes using contour with cutter comp on all the time as well as using thread mill and one thing I've found out is I never get a good path if infinate look ahead is checked.

We have just recieved an new Haas VF-2 and TC-5 which is a full 5 axis arrangement. A motorized 5C collet rotary (B axis) attached to a 8" rotary table (A axis). I am doing very small work on friction stir weld tools. The Haas inspection report and my own findings show the B axis centerline to be Y +.0007 of the A axis and the manual says this is not feild adjustable. An inquiry to Haas got this response. "This number has been verified by the customer, are you or they referring to number 8 center alignment (TRT) 0.0007” on the first page of the scans? Because this number is a constant, we can use this as a hard number and input the value to the CAM system, there should be no problem programming the parts as long as the CAM is aware of the actual distance from the center of rotation to the part location on the machine." How is this done? Moving the part Y+.0007 from center does not seem to me to be the way to deal with this.

I used 5th ax flowline. Create a circle 17.5 dia. at z+7.5. Chose flowline 5ax, then your surfaces, tool axis control/chain chose the circle, chain options use closest point on chain. This might get you close to what you want to do.

We have a VF-4 with a 5th axis setup similar to a trunion and MC Haas trunion post for it working very well. Now we have a new VF-2 with a TC-5. The A axis on the TC-5 only moves 120° total. Thats from vertical to 30° down in front. So is this something that can be taken care of in the machine/control definitions or do I need to modify my post?

quote: Maybe he is using a Mastercam secret weapon, maybe X4??Didn't I read that X4 is multithreaded in 5 axis & HST only?

quote: Something doesn't sound right.....are you sure?????Sounds like the first time is toolpath generation and the second is toolpath re-generation.

We threadmill lots of things and sizes, from 0-80 to the 3"-12 I'm cutting right now using Scientific single point threadmills. I have many sizes of thier cutters drawn so I can use create undefined tool in the tool definition params window and backplot showing actual tool shape. They hold up pretty well considering the super alloys we cut.

We just looked at laser engravers & you might try other shops cause I'm pretty sure newer more powerfull lasers can do that.

Nice job with the 4.18 Ghz speed. My backup board is the same one as the record holders baord and I fell certain that with the current stepping Q9550 or the hard to find Q9550S CPU I could cruise on to a new record by 5 to 10 seconds but I have an E6320 in it now. Thats a 1.86Ghz Core 2 Duo running at 3.54Ghz and I just can't bring myself to spend nearly $300 just retake the lead on a pc thats at home. The surpuising thing is that nearly 6 months after the first i7 CPU and boards were released there are none of them challenging for the lead. [ 03-19-2009, 02:34 PM: Message edited by: bogusmill ]

I use the .080 #4 up thru .695 size of those quite often. They are very good and hold up well on heat treated Vascomax 300.

I'm 53, a computer whiz, and used MC since v6. IMHO the 2 biggest things that help the transition are first, keeping handy that function chart that tells you where the command paths (V9-Create-Point-Slice/ X3-Use X-Form Array for instance) were in V9 and now are in X. It was in X but might not be in X3 and someone may have to send you a copy. It's 32 pages so print it and put it in a 3 ring notebook or folder. You'll quickly find that you need it less and less. The other thing is get your toolbars and mouse right click button set up with functions you use alot and get rid of functions you don't use. This was one of the harder things to set up but once it is getting things done will become faster all the time.

I made an F16 out of plexiglas prepareing for a SS model going to the Discovery Channel. Once they saw it they immeadeatly tripled the size. I havent yet got around to making a Plexiglas model of the larger part.

Yes that did it. I was sure that I tried that before and it didn't work then. On stock to leave it says 0 surfaces and I thought that is why it didn't work. But now it does work so this is even more evidence that I'm losing my mind.

I have parts where chaining the lower and upper edge curves is easier than trying to make the surfaces the cut path and while you can have multiple cuts I have not found a way to cut below the chains when the part doesnt quite clean up, other than lie to MC and say the cutter is smaller diameter than it really is. That can get me into trouble so am I missing something or is this correct?

Here at "The WSU" we have a customer that makes windows for the A380 among other windows and I saw this thread and then got a call from one of their engineers so I asked him about polishing pollycarbonate. The windows we make coupons with are acrylic and the engineer said you can't really polish pollycarbonate very well. When necessary they bond or melt together Acrylic outside and pollycarbonate inside for strength. They supply us with Alox for polishing, it's a very fine white powder/water mix. I know you can flame polish but it's trickey, an oven might be better. I've also heard of vapor polish but I don't know if it's MEK vapor (like Plexi glue) or what but if someone knows I'd like to know too.

It has been converted (imported) form X3 when MU1 started requiring it. We have 7 PC's and any one of them may run any of 6 CNC mills so the tools folder is on a network drive so when someone moves to a different machine his tool list will be current, not what was in the machine the last time it was run from his PC.

How is this possible? Toolpath runs and will regenerate with no tools? Or tool 10, which is it? As you can clearly see below, tool 10 is there but it's not. Nice bug Mastercam.

Peter, this is our Haas VF-4 5 axis setup. It all functions like the Trunion so the post is pretty close. Other than a 12 hour seminar on 5 axis MC use in MCX, I am all self taught on the subject. In MC my X is always centerline of A axis, Z is centerline of B axis and when setting up I have to find part location on machine then move part in MC to match. A 4th axis backplot is pretty accurate but 5 axis is nothing like what the machine actuall does. I had thought that the code was bad but after some dry runs it works pretty good.

Start over. We have had IT guys try this and it doesn't work. The install folder needs to be named exactly the same as the old one or the file associations will be looking in a non-existent folder and you'll have errors. You can’t just change the name it’s in. That will really crap out your install. What may be worse is if you did rename the install folder then tried to uninstall without going back to the installed name. You'll have leftover registry entries with both folder names you can’t remove. Make sure laptop MC install is in original named folder and uninstall. Afterward remove leftover MCX folder. Restart and install in a folder that matches EXACTLY the name of the install you want to copy your settings from. Do NOT use the all in one mastercamx2-mr2-servicepak1-web.exe download, you'll be sorry, I promise. Use any other combination like CD + MR2 + SP1. Then plug in your settings files and your well on your way.

Peter, I'm using the same post you are but it's had a few changes before I got it from our Mastercam dealer. Bogus code? You'd think I'd know how to deal with it. What do you mean by bogus code? At first I thought the code I got was bogus but after running it I found it to be good. You have a trunion?

The shop manager here was using v9 until about a year ago. I am the Guinea pig so I get to make all the settings and posts work, and find the problems we'll run into and fix them. We then install the new version on all other PC's usually a month or more after mine and I act as tutor when one of the others hit a snag. This approach has worked out pretty well for our upgrades.

quote: Also, generally speaking, applications launch MUCH faster the second time you launch them.So true James. In Vista, Catia launches in 15 seconds flat. In XP or previous OS's 90 seconds is the norm. Vista learns your use habits rather than let RAM sit unused, it will pre-load programs so they launch in about the time XP did for the second launch.

Robert Is this line correct? code: pclamp #Clamp the rotary axis if use_clamp & not(opcode$ = three | ),#cuttype <> zero), Seems like ), shouldn't be there. I'll try what you suggest and let you know.

We have a Haas VF-4 with two rotary tables combined to work like a Trunion. We also use the Haas VR-Trunion series 5 ax post. Even with no air connected for the brake the rotary has a stop-go-stop-go motion unless the brake is released with M code but I have been editing the code manually and thats getting old. How do I make brake codes show up in the nc file using the post or machine/control def? Also I noticed when the B axis is smooth it's after I inserted M11 which is the 4th axis brake release. Is this common to just Haas or do all CNC machines use the 4th ax brake command to control the 5th axis?