Man, and here I thought I was gonna get the money. Now I find that I have to SHARE...... Sup with that. I got the same message - really off the wall email. Makes me wonder what the real scam is. Maybe if you respond, they hit you up for a "filing" fee. Cheers

I have installed version 9 and the associated updates on a Gateway 2.2 Ghz, Pentium IV box with an nVideo GeForce3 video card. The problem that I am having is with the speed/feed calculations using the default Tools.TL9 library (I have not converted my Tools.TL8 library!). If I change the material, the speed/feed will recalculate if you use the "Calc. Speed/Feed" button - regardless of the selection of feed from tool or material in the job setup screen. Unlike in version 8.1.1, changing the "% of matl. cutting speed" or the "% of matl. feed per rev." has no effect - the speed/feed will not recalculate! Changing the number of flutes will allow a recalculation - as it should. In addition, if you manually change the speed/feeds, the displayed values in the "Define Tool - Parameters" page will not transfer to the tool path parameters page. Have I missed a setup checkbox somewhere else???? Puzzled in Colorado

Using a 500MHz P3 box with 128 Mbyte RAM at work with NT4, build 6. Can be a real slug and chokes on moderately sized MC8 files. I can't get IT to increase the RAM because the boxes are leased (at least we got a computer technology refresh program going on the new contract we just won). I am using WIN 2000 PRO at my home office on a 2GHz P4 machine with 1 Gbyte of RAM - no problems since setting it up (even processing surface files up to 48Mbyte in size and toolpaths from......). GRW

Good Morning, Cadcam. I will be looking forward to a demo of the Predator S/W at WESTEC in a couple of weeks. See you there on the 19th or 20th. GRW

See you there on the 19th and 20th! If I get the chance to break into the work that is piled up, a small aluminum shark just might swim into your booth Cadcam....... Just don't mess with his tailfin GRW

Thanks, Peter. As soon as I make it home I will download the file and check it out. I didn't even think about using an arc rather than a surface. One problem that I had in going right to the journal is that most endmills are not flat-bottomed and will cut a barrel-shaped journal. I approached it by using a small tool and stepping along (x-direction) the journal in a finish pass. GRW

I have posted a simple one-throw crankshaft on the ftp site under MC8/Crankshaft.mc8. The A-axis center of rotation is through the end journals (parallel with the x-axis). I figured out how to accomplish the machining of the blue surfaced center journal using full 4th axis rotary motion and produced a decent part (in 6063-T6), but it was rather painfull getting there. The boss said that there was "no way" to do it on the VMC!!!! I ended up using Multiaxis/Flow5ax with a surface that was one tool radius short of each of the side walls. The other challenge was producing a single diameter journal with an end mill that is not flat-bottomed (generating a concave or convex shape occurs without any further help due to the tool geometry). My question: does anyone know a relatively easy way to generate the blue-surfaced journal on a VMC with full 4th axis using a flat or bull type end mill? Without having to "cheat" on the surface width???? Personally, my 1st response to the above would be "get a lathe", but where would the fun in that be? GRW

Good Evening from Colorado. My name is Gary, I am 47, and while I have been a registered member for a while, I admit that I rarely post even though I read the posts almost every evening. I have read the forum from end-to-end (it took a while) and have gathered some extremely useful information (and more than a couple of laughs). During the day time, I am the Air Force Programs Lead Engineer for Honeywell. Somehow I managed to write into my contract that I get to play in our machine shop from time to time to make what I design (now THAT can be an eye-opener for a mechanical engineer - along with comments like "I sure won't do THAT again"). I also own Metal Marvels, a small business consisting of myself, a Fadal 3016 with 4th, and a seat of Mastercam 8.1.1. Currently I am producing a Bentley BR2 WWI Rotary 9-cylinder aircraft engine in 1/4 scale with several other projects in the wings. I had intended to pick up some job shop or modeling work, but lets just say that my timing could have been better for that market..... Sigh... I won't be quiting my day job soon. Based on some of the information posted in this forum and with a copy of the "Post Bible", I embarked on the potentially hazardous task of modifying a post to suit both myself and my equipment. I now have a post that works well for my situation. Thanks to all for the great info. Regards, GRW

Hello, Mick. Follow the link at the top of the topics list in Mastercam Forum (FTP Upload Instructions) to find the web site. Follow the directions posted there. The shark is in MC8 files as Shark.zip

I believe that the artwork is still on the ftp site. It is just that the 6-inch shark that I machined from that file took a hike. Some folks can't just admire an object and leave it behind for others to see!

Hehe. You and half the folks around here. It finally did walk off... (swim off?). I knew I should have made the 3-foot version - with a chain and padlock through the tail.

NP. I really learned alot trying to do that shark on my off-hours. The Mastercam 4&5 Axis Mill Training Tutorials V8 also provided some useful information and tips.

Using ColourSurf also helped alot to keep track of the myriad surfaces.

I used 4ax as much as possible - and scaled the original down to 6 inches to use some drop-offs that were in the scrap pile. Mostly rough contoured the majority of the waste stock away. Finally settled on Rotary4ax - Axial Cut for the finish pass. Rotary4ax - Rotary Cut produced the tail-removal moves when finishing the underneath sides of the fins.

gahhhhh - try strenuously..........

He DID seem to stenuously object to having his tail chopped off!

quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To bad interviewers don't ask the question "Have you ever been hit with a hot chip?" and then ask to see the scar. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Particularly the nicely blued steel chip that makes it down your shirt collar all the way to the belt line - yeeeehhhhhaaaaaa.

The shark was an interesting 4th axis challenge - once I managed to avoid cutting his tail off....

You definitly don't want to forget the spindle before moving on. A gentleman who no longer works with us did that with a 3" face mill - VERY nasty mess........

Personally, I have been going to WESTEC for the past 3 years and am going to do so again this year. But we are also looking at trying to talk the boss into letting us go Chicago also - I hear that you can walk for miles and mile and only see a small part of the Chicago show.

I will begin with the comment that this forum has been an absolute goldmine of information. I finally made it through all of the posts available for perusal. Whew! A ton of useful information and a good deal of fun. Second, I am one of "those" people - an engineer (even worse - I am now a Chief Engineer). I am an engineer who began my career as a tool and die maker's apprentice before moving to the "dark side" of engineering. Even now, the corporation is after me to continue my education by obtaining a Doctorate - not because it would enhance my job performance, but because it enhance the "corporate image and credibility." The shop here is primarily a "job shop" for the contract and production is getting to make the same part 5 times (sometimes on the same day). I really enjoy the use of MasterCam 8.1.1 to "flesh out" my designs created in AutoDesk Mechanical Desktop 5.0, then to cut the parts. I also thoroughly enjoy learning something new about the art (yes, "art") of carving, forming, and polishing metal (you can keep wood for my money). I also have been driven to the depths of despair by my fellow engineer's desire to specify .001 - .0001 tolerances on everything in sight (particularly on items that should be cut to the nearest 1/4 inch) and their unfailing ability to design 90 degree inside corners in 8-inch deep pockets. I am a firm believer that all engineers (mechanical engineers in particular) should spend a significant amount of time "apprenticing" in the "nuts and bolts" side of their particular industry. Education is great, but education coupled with good experience can be pure dynamite. Just my 2 cents.... Regards, Gary R Westfall

Ahhhhhhh!! Not the first peculiarity of Fadal machines. I will check this out. According to the sheets on the Fadal 3016L, the G8 is Accelerate with no feed ramps, and G9 is Decelerate with feed ramps. I will see what this does for (or to) me. Thanks.

If you rotate the arc start/end back to a 0, 90, 180, or 270 degree position (using analyze), the problem goes away. The problem occurs only when the start/end of the arc is at other than the 0, 90, 180, and 270 position (even a 1 degreee rotation will cause it). I have tried several different posts (Mpmaster, Mpfan, Mpfdl12, etc - had to edit the starting and ending blocks on some of the code outputs so that the 3016L didn't choke on it). The big difference is that the "normal" arc code consists of a G3, X##, I-## line followed by an X## I## and the rotated arc has a G3 X## Y## I## J## followed by X## Y## I## J## (## are the associated distances). I haven't tried a G8 move. The issue seems to be how the Fadal deals with an I/J move for a full circle. I haven't tried it on a partial arc with start/end points not at a "normal" entry angle. Hmmmmm.

I have run into a minor peculiarity when contouring an arc. Create an arc some distance from the origin (any convenient distance), then transform, rotate, and copy a new arc 45 degrees from the original arc. Contour the interior of both arcs and post it with MPFAN12. On a Fadal VMC 3016L, the rotated arc will have distinct pauses as the contour is cut, the "normal" arc will cut smoothly with no pauses. As best I can determine, this is because the natural breaks in the 2nd arc (the rotated arc) are no longer at 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees (they are shifted 45 degrees in the example given). As a remedy, I now create and rotate a point and then individually create an arc at each point. This is not a Mastercam problem per se, but the "rotated" contours were taking twice as long to cut and had a blemish where the pauses occurred. A peculiarity of the Fadal controller??? This is probably the case since a variety of post processors produced the same results (with reasonably similar code).

I really like it as a FAST way to punch in a counterbore with a good hole finish.