We have one of the Lyndex right-angle units here. It is nice for certain tasks, but.... You have to keep the tool changer stations clear on both sides of the right-angle tool (in essence it takes 3 stations) unless you use very small tool holders on either side. Getting the head "dialed in" along the axis we wanted was an exercize in frustration. Changing the tool in the middle of a run is also rather "interesting" from a tool setting perspective. You also have to make your own spindle adapter for the lug on the tool to fit into (you get a socket piece, but must make the adapter). We also noted that the right-angle head tends to get rather warm at higher speeds. All-in-all, it proved much easier for us to use our 4th-axis setup with a tombstone to handle the job we had intended to use the right-angle head on.

Depending on the Autocad version, you should be able to "export" the file as an IGES. The usual path in Autocad is FILE/EXPORT/IGES and then you get to chose several options that will result in a file that you may or may not be able to use. There is an "Options" button in the last screen. Chosing that button will allow you to chose surface types, surface mapping, and line mapping. I have used "B-Rep Solid", "Trimmed Surface", and "Copious Data 6-tuples" with good success. This should be usable with Autocad r14, 2000, Mechanical Desktop, and Inventor.

Some more adapter plates for drag racing engines, a hand-full of brass right-angle solder lugs, a bunch of microwave component boxes, and about 140 gallons of aluminum chips.......... My kingdom for a chip conveyor!!!!

Another FYI, if you check out this link: http://www.haascnc.com/etl.asp, you will find that Haas has an ETL listing for their equipment. From their web site: "Edison Testing Laboratory - All Haas CNC machine tools carry the ETL Listed mark certifying that they conform to the NFPA 79 Electrical Standard for Industrial Machinery, and the Canadian equivalent, CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 73." This may meet your needs if you check with the regulatory group that is requiring UL listing.

The biggest difference that I see (I use Format 2) is that you must start with a "safe" block to set up your mill and need to explicitly "reset" your machine home points if you "move" them during the machining. If you go here: http://www.fadal.com/ie/manuals/manuals1.asp and check out Section 21 under the Users Manual it has much more info on the differences. You can load it as a PDF or download the PDF file. Unlike the recommendation for the "safe" block, I use the following: N30 G20 N40 Z0 G53 N50 G0 G17 G40 G49 G70 G80 G90 H0 E0 Z0 The recommended G28 X0 Y0 Z0 got me in trouble with my 3016L.

Underwriters Laboratories (UL) approval of a product is generally something that a manufacturer seeks for a product line. Some information is avaliable at http://www.ul.com/welcome.html. From their site: "Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) is an independent, not-for-profit product-safety testing and certification organization." UL listing, certification, or approval is not something that is typically done by an owner of a piece of equipment. Typically, the manufacturer would apply for the appropriate format.

My copy showed up in today's mail. :-) I am not happy that Meta-Cut keeps horning in though. Can't seem to load 9.1 without it showing up?????? It has some nice features BUT I DIDN'T ASK FOR IT!

quote: Add your paretto list to the faq LOL, 6-sigma in action! How many folks here use Visual Workplace, fish bone graphs, and spaghetti diagrams? This has been a marvelous forum and an absolute gold-mine of information. Keep it up Webby!

I have progressed through 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, 8.x, to 9.x. It just keeps getting better!.

Except as a special, no joy so far. Thanks much for the leads.

I have been trying to track down a source for a tapered end mill without going through the "fun" of having a custom tool built (I do have a couple of sources for custom). I am looking for a 2-1/2 degree per side tapered end mill with at least an inch of flutes, flat-ended (ball-end would work though), preferably at least 3 flutes, and preferably carbide. I am needing it for a job in 6061-T651. I am currently roughing the 1.75-inch diameter tapered hole with a bull mill and then surfacing it with a 3/4-inch ball mill. The process is FAR too slow (I use a 5-degree per side ACCUPRO taper mill for a different pocket and it is a very fast op with a very, very good finish). The result of surfacing the pocket is nice, but WAY to slow (need a 16 or better finish). I am beginning to believe that no one actually produces a 2-1/2 degree per side tapered end mill. Most seem to produce a 2-degree and 3-degree. Anyone know of a company that makes an off-the-shelf tapered end mill with a 2-1/2 degree per side taper??? Thanks,

A medalion die set, anti-reversion plates for 4-barrel Holley Dominator Carbs for drag racing, filter housings, custom door lock plates, and some polypropylene brush holders for a packaging company.

Remember that you also have to do the envirnmental impact study if you disturb the soil around the old posts. It could be an archeological site! Takes at least 10 years and 3 million dollars to accomplish.

The 2D chamfer works very nicely and I have also successfully used it to chamfer around a contour that varied in Z-height. The only "issue" that I have had is properly setting up a flat-pointed chamfer mill, when it is somewhat difficult to accurately measure the diameter of the flat. I agree with Chris M - when using a chamfer tool, I usually start a little high in Z and comp the tool down until I get the chamfer I want.

Good ole Sumter, SC. Haven't been there in years (was born there).

quote: There are a few folks here form the BG era - "Before Gates"... Thanks to him, we don't have to poke holes in cards anymore! LMAO - Remember it well.... 1-1/2 decks of those blasted IBM punchcards - tripped and shall we say there was a goodly breeze blowing! Punchcards all over the place - never recovered about 1/8 of em. Funny now - wasn't at the time. My 1st Personal Computer was an IMSAI 8080 with 16 switches on the front panel to bootstrap the program with. Ahhhh - the good old days.

HEY..... Just cuz I have to use bifocals and hold anything I REALLY want to see about 1/4 inch from my nose with my glasses removed!!!!! I don't need a bigger font - I already have about the biggest hi-res monitor I can get.

Thought I would bring this back up to the top with a status report. The dead-sharp HSS tools make a big difference - great finish with few to no burrs. Short pecks (0.03 inches) and big retracts work very nicely in keeping the stringy drill chips from wrapping onto the drill bit (0.125 inch drill bit). I found that I could pull off .015 inch chips with no issues with full-flood coolant. Thicker chips than that started leaving a poor surface. Step-downs of 0.25 inches worked well also. Choosing my operations order helped significantly in reducing the feathery little burrs. Thanks for the help guys. the parts are coming off very nicely.

29 June 1954. But I am only "Senior" first thing in the morning - I HATE arthritis!

With version 9 I have been having VERY good luck in directly importing *.dwg files from Mechanical Desktop 5.0 and AutoCad 2000. Most of the issues I noted before were with MC 8. I have only had a couple of glitches in loading stuff into MC 9, deleting the paper space stuff fixed the problem.

Assuming (always a bad thing ) that AutoCad LT is fairly close to full-up AutoCad.... If you have entries in the paper space as well as in the model space - both spaces are imported into MC and show up as duplicate geometry. Often the paper space import will show up to the left and above the "real" geometry. One "work-around" has been to delete the paper space prior to bringing the AutoCad file into MC. This is inspite of the "Blank Paper Space Entities" button in the DWG/DXF Read Parameters popup (usually this works just fine - but occasionally it doesn't).

Just wanted to say thanks to all of the "regulars" for their insight and information in various threads on how to use and modify the "canned text". Thanks to the information in the threads, I was able to successfully modify my post (for Fadal) to include an option to place M91 or M92 (Servo Gain) where and when I needed it in my posted code, using the canned text option. Works great! This forum (as many have said before) is a veritable gold-mine. Thanks again, folks! [ 01-25-2003, 11:45 AM: Message edited by: MetalMarvels ]

Are you running XP Home or XP Pro? I had nothing but grief with XP Home, but have had excellent results with MC 9.0 SP1 running on XP Pro. I used the HDD32.zip file to update with and had no issues with finding the HASP after applying the update. I did not use the ealladin.com link. Regards,

quote: In the 70,s and 80,s ,,, collapsible core molds was my specialty. I am now happy to cut parts. Understand! Unfortunately the engineer in charge of the project mentioned just couldn't get his mind around the problem. He wouldn't even consider the idea of a collapsable mold - therefore a part "captured" in the mold with no way to release it. I wish that I could say that he did learn from it - but I can't.

Well, I am not anybody, but I am out here (in Colorado) at this unmentionable hour - finishing up a hurry job.