Ahh, that makes sense. I just wanted to make sure it had nothing to do with the cut tolerance of the finished part, the default value was .01" I believe and I though that seemed pretty high.

Hi, I'm using the Surface High Speed toolpaths and I'm wondering what exactly the term "stock resolution" is reffering to under the Rest Roughing/Cut Parameters tab. Is this the amount of stock that was left in the previous operation or does it mean something else. I couldnt find the term in the mastercam help files. I'm on MCX2 MR2 SP1. Thanks!

I heard back from Millstar and they said to run it at 300-400 sfm with .0008" - .0012" chip load finishing at .0012" depth cuts. For the .1875" cutter with a .03" corner radius he said to figure RPM for a .125" diameter so I came up with ~6000 RPM and 36 IPM feed. So far so good, its cutting like butter! Thanks for the help guys!

Hey guys, I have some ESR 420 stainless @52 Rockwell to hardmill and was wondering if anyone could provide me with some starting speeds and feeds and depth of cut etc. The cutter is a Millstar bullnose endmill, 6 flute .1875 diameter with a .03" radius, AlTiN coated. The only info I'm finding with these cutters from the manufacturere are for their ballnose selection which I don't think translates over to a bullnose very well. I'm waiting to hear back from them but I thought that I'd check here as well as I know alot of you are hardmilling on a regular basis. Thanks in advance!

quote: he dosnt have the travel so he has to do 1/2 and 1/2 ... I realize that but will two clamps be enough to hold down such a large part? I was picturing clamps around the perimeter in at least a few more spots and having to machine around and then later move them and go back. The spinning fixture idea sounds good though.

Are you allowed any fixturing holes in the part? I agree with the nested in 2 dowel pins idea, but it would be nice to take a continuous cut around the majority of the part without jumping over clamps. Also, if one large magnetic plate is out of the question then maybe a few smaller ones spread out?

click on the "geometry" button in the WCS manager and then pick two lines to define the new plane by, the first definining the X axis and the second defining the Y axis and then name it whatever you would like. hth

quote: You can even chain a single point and then chain a rectangle (any closed chain), and Mastercam will spiral out from the center. never realized you could do that!

"from tool" will pull the offsets from the tool how it is in the library, i.e. if its listed in the library as tool #10 and you later change it to tool #5 the length and diameter offsets will still be stuck at "10" unless you manually change them. Using "add to tool" will take what ever # you change the tool to and add the values to it for the offsets. SO when you have zeroes in those boxes in the control definition and you take a tool say #10 again and change it to #5 it will add "0" to that and come up with "5" for both the length and diameter offsets. Hope that helps.

I think you need to have it set to "add to tool" rather than "from tool" and then there needs to be zeros in the length and diameter boxes in the control definition. This is the way we have ours setup and all we need to do is change the tool # and the length and diameter offset update automatically. I've had the best luck changing the Control Definition by going this route... Settings > Machine Definition Manager > Control Definition Manager > Tool > Tool Offset Registers

^^mastercam9user do you have the arc filter turned on? That should help alot and speed up the machining and regenerating times too. I dont think it has anything to do with the post in your case but I could be wrong.

Jim you sound like a great guy to work for, it seems to me that good programmers are key to business success, and what better way to reward them than a little bonus for a job well done. The so called "bonuses" we get here quarterly are hardly worth a days pay and if anything it just makes you more discouraged than rewarded. Thumbs up to you, hope you find your right guy!

Heres how I do trodes... The Solid model of the insert will be put on level 1 exactly how it would be set up in the EDM, then wireframe and surfaces will be copied/created and trimmed on level 2 for the design of the trode. I will then either put a circle or rectangle around the trodes location normally the size of the stock I will be using, this will be my burn location. Then on level 3 I will copy all of level 2 and rotate it 180 degrees in the front view, then translate everything to the origin based on the center of the arc/rectangle I used for my burn location in level 2. This way our EDM operator can turn on levels 1 and 2 and see the model of the trode in its correct location and when we machine the trode itself it is all centered on the origin and uses the same G54,55, or whatever offset. I'd rather use the WCS for parts that have multiple setups, say like a moldbase plate. I can throw a wcs on any side and once activated that side becomes my new "top view" now shown with blue crosshairs. I can also verify all sides of the part from start to finish which is nice. You could do the same with the trodes though using the WCS I just choose not to. Rather than copy everything to a different level like I do and rotate it you could just throw a wcs on the trode in its location and call that the origin for the wcs. Each trode and burn location would have a named wcs along with it, but could all use the same G54, 55 etc offset. I just like to have the trode geometry that I will be machining from on a different level so that I can modify it to suit my machining needs.

Got mine to work changing those parameters. Thanks Dave!

I'm running X and trying to avoid going into the "planes" button and checking on "work offset" and changing the -1 to a 1. I have it set to a 1 in all of my operation defaults but it doesnt seem to be reading it. Any Ideas? -Shawn