I would just do a raster toolpath across the part and set the stock to leave at .250 Then verify the toolpath and save it as an stl file. Now you can create the proper toolpaths for the job and use the stl file as your geometry.

The high speed toolpaths work great. It must be some of your settings are set incorrectly. If you want to send me the file, I'll take a look at it and send it back. [email protected]

Another possible cause is your tool definition. I do the operation you are trying all the time. I use a 35 degree insert and set my clearance at 2 degrees on the plunge parameters page. ( Use plunge clearance angle ). It is possible to do what you are looking for, you just must have something set incorrectly.

This might be a dumb question, but doesn't the endmill have a 90 degree included angle even if you tip it at 30 degree? In other words, only one side of the thread would be correct. Perhaps I mis-understood.

RPM is way too slow. I would feed it somewhere in the .0025 per rev range and peck at .025. Use a tapping oil for lube and it should work like a charm.

kcham, I will ask a dumb question here. Why would you not want i and k output instead of r output? Depending on how many degrees the arc is, you may end up with the wrong arc as there are two possible options unless you have arc break at 90 turned on. Just a question.

CNC Apps Guy: You hit the nail on the heads. Well said.

Quote: Carmen, have you ever developed a program in Visual Studio? Do you have any idea of the blood sweat and tears that go into it? Colin, Honestly, I don't. I'm not downplaying the level of difficulty involved in developing software. A big round of applause and thanks go out to the beta testers and developers. My issue is how a new release of Mastercam can have so many elementary issues, bugs, problems. How on earth did these make it through the beta cycle? My other issue is how Mastercam doesn't take advantage of todays computing processors. As I have stated on so many similar threads like this one on this forum, is, what makes Mastercam tick. We have tried everything, with unsatisfactory results. I can't understand how Mastercam can be so far behind other cam systems of similar price. If Mastercam is the marketplace leader, then lead. I have high hopes for X3, but I fully expect it will be more of the same. I would love to be wrong on this one.

Having read through this thread, I would agree with quite a number of comments that are made by Anubis. Yes, I use this forum just like everyone else, and gain a lot of useful information, but I do understand the frustration exibited by Anubis that is taken out of context in this forum. I have many times wondered why CNC Software continues to release new versions when they still haven't finished developing the current release. Although its impossible to please all the people all of the time, I too think CNC needs to pull up their socks and respond to their customers requirements rather than what the marketing department would like to see.

In the filter settings, toggle off the "create arcs " functions. This will filter the toolpath, but still give you point to point without any arcs. For a parallel toolpath, I would recommend as small a tolerance as possible to get the best finish.

This sort of thing is best done with a hole making (hole popper) edm machine. It works very well and reasonably fast. Have your edm operator hold onto the head with one hand and the workpiece with the other and see if it conducts.

We use negative stock on a surface model without modifying cutter dia. and we also CMM the finishing electrodes where we are shooting for tenths on the final burn with no problem at all, regardless of sidewall angle. I see by your forum name that maybe you are using a Makino. If so, do you have a laser where you can scan the tool to get its "real" geometry. We make electrodes day-in, day-out, on our Makinos.

www.deboertool.com/DeboertoolOnline/en-CA/pages/catalogue/search/promotions.aspx We deal with DeBoer tools. They are a local company and can supply anything you are looking for. They custom make all their own endmills and coatings.

I think perhaps the tools you are looking for are made by Araf and are distributed by Tri-cut tools out of London, Ontario. Legal Name: Tricut Tool Inc. Operating Name: Tricut Tool Inc. Mailing Address P.O. Box 24063 LONDON, Ontario N6H 5C4 Location Address 1785 Wonderland Rd. N. LONDON, Ontario N6G 5C2 Telephone: (519) 657-7633 Fax: (519) 657-7975 Email: [email protected] I hope this helps.

Wow Quote: And what makes you think I dont have level 3? Reply: I read your signature. My mistake. A Canadian thing? Chill out, glad to see you are happy and saved some money.

Quotes By Toolman184: I just bought a T7400 and I dont have $6K in it and its a monster machine. I dont have that big of an EGO that I have to be top dog. Icant understand why anyone would need on any faster than what i just got. Reply, That's because you are not using Level 3 where you need the power. The fastest time posted in the benchmark thread is not a brag, but rather a complaint. You spend that much money on the best computer going, and that all you get for speed. That's not fast, that's pathetic. We need to cut that time down to at least a quarter of that. Mastercam's processing time is brutal regardless of how much technology is in your computer.

Quote: Prosin, 350 IPM? What material? Both numbers are impressive, assuming were talking about mild steel, for tool steels, those numbers are amazing. Reply: We do this in H13, P20, Mild steel or anything else you can throw at it. Seco recommends up to .060 per tooth feed. It draws a crowd at the machine every time we run it. We even had a guy videotape it to send to a guy who works at another shop that thought we were full of sh--. Don't forget, you have to have the right machine to accomplish this with a high speed control. The Makino's excel in these arenas. Forget old school methods, this is the future, now.

We have a Haimer/Command induction shrinker. It works great. It better, its almost 20K.

Feedmills all the way. I have used both Iscar and Seco. Seco is unbelievable. Great tool life and not too abusive to the machine tool. Iscar seemed a little too aggresive to the machine tool for my liking. On a 3/4 dia. Seco, we run 4000rpm .020 depth of cut and 350 ipm feed with a 50% stepover. I know they recommend a larger stepover but my experience has shown if you use a larger stepover, Mastercam leaves too many upstands in the floor for safe machining on the next depth cut.

I'm sure there will be a huge improvement for lathe in version X3, er I mean, X4.

Quote: Hey Carmen, what is this system? -------------------- Keith Reply: Dell precision XN T7400 8GB DDR2 SDRAM 3.2 GHZ QUAD CORE NVIDIA QUADRO FX 4600 160 SATA 10K XP PRO X64 4MINUTES 15 SECONDS Regards, Carmen

Quote: After looking at other benchmarks I'm beginning to wonder if our 4:15 leader is (mistaken) about his time. Think about it, a 45 second drop from an OEM PC using a server motherboard when all other leaders were overclocked enthusiast machines. The only thing really different is the 8Gb of Ram and 64bit OS. I ran MCX2 on a 64bit OS and got a 10 sec. longer time than with 32bit OS. Whitten got a 4:50 time with an overclock to 3.7Gb, I did 5:06 with a 3.5Gb CPU clock. Our (leader) with a 3.2 CPU clock OEM machine is much more believable at 5:15. I wonder if he used a stop watch or watched a wall clock and did the math (mistake). Also he's in Canada. We've already seen that the benchmark is faster in metric and I didn't see where he said which he used. Reply: There is no mistake. I personally observed this benchmark test. The benchmark test is in inches so forget about the metric thingy and Canada. If anything was changed, the benchmark test would be useless. Here's how the test went. File open, change the tolerance to what was requested by the original benchmark post, regenerate. The timing was done with both an on-line stopwatch as well as a watch. No mistake, this is one bad-a** computer.

https://www.hansergardner.com/dp/hgweb/deta...n=1-56990-404-9 Here is a good starting point for some good info.

Quote: the mill on pg.77 makes me move down there. That's why they call it hard milling.

Makino has been the pioneer on this subject. If you go to their website, they have some time studies and sample parts with some very interesting info. It works, beleive me. They also have some hard milling videos to watch. These are not propaganda videos trying to sell their equipment, these principals apply regardless of whose equipment you buy. Hardmilling as a rule will save you at least 30% time on the average job. Once you understand all the theories, practices and principals, you will have something to show to your colleagues or bosses. Old school is history, those who do not embrace the new technology will also soon be history.