5 hours ago, wojtek90 said:

I will try this. What type of tools to use?

A ballnose endmill. It appears to be a very simple application.

A pencil toolpath is your friend for this one.

Carmen

I have seen this issue a number of times over the last few months. I almost got burned big-time by it. You have to keep a close eye on Mastercam.

Carmen

I did a bunch of machining similar to this many years ago. Mastercam wasn't up to the task so we used Artcam from Delcam. It was amazing. It took literally seconds to create toolpaths that would take Mastercam hours to generate. The toolpaths from Artcam made the machine run smooth as silk.

Carmen

The stock to leave " not sticking " still doesn't work. I just copied and pasted some finished toolpaths and the stock to leave switched from zero to .002 which was the semi-finishing stock.

Carmen

For me...…….the software works, but is far from an upgrade. If you are fast with X7, you will be dreadfully slow with 2019. There is so much needless complication. Things that were so easy to access quickly have been replaced with much less intuitive means. Individual results will vary.

Carmen

.015 Ball end mill here.

Carmen

You would create a WCS for the second operation and if you can't select a piece of geometry, you can modify the value for the WSC in the WCS Manager. So if you are off by .025", then adjust the X/Y component of the WCS to get it to where you want it.

Carmen

............. so its not just me that curses this piece of crap Windows 10 update. I have been accustomed to having 2 or 3 instances of Mastercam open at a time as I program for multiple machines. That is a thing of the past, as it is now difficult to even have no issues with a single instance running. 

Carmen

On 8/3/2017 at 3:19 PM, Pilot Plant Supervisor said:

I highly recommend the D'Andrea modular kits supplied by Ingersoll. Very versatile, and surprisingly economical.

I agree 100% 

Carmen

3 hours ago, Tiggersman said:

Thanks everyone for the help !  Apparently they sent me the wrong file so Now we have a .PRT file that is 1 meg and every time we try to import it into Mastercam it request an access code.  I have reached out to our reseller but have not received any responses yet. 

Can anyone tell me how to open this file ? 

Thanks in advance

 

 

A .PRT file is a Pro Engineer file ( CREO ). You have to pay for a licence for the translator. As mentioned earlier, have them give you a neutral file like parasolid or STEP.

Carmen

I have used a few of the Kojex holders over the years and they work pretty well.

http://machine-catalog.com/adsl/catalog/4056/01.htm

Carmen

Check to make sure you don't have a value in the "skip pockets smaller than" field on the transitions tab. Also, check your depth values and also that your slope values are set from zero to 90 degrees of slope. That is a bit of an unusual move.

One other thought, make sure your lead-in/lead-out values are set to a fairly small number to see if the issue goes away.

Carmen

1 hour ago, JParis said:

Raster will chew on things better as it calculates a 3D stepover....the old school parallel only calculates a 2D step over...

 

 

Not so sure I would agree with this statement.  Both of them calculate stopover  in a 2D manner. Look at a raster cut from the top view. All the motion is completely "parallel.

Carmen

This a Canadian company that we use.

https://deboertool.com/pub_catalogue/catalogue_pages.php?page_id=65#start

Carmen

We use Fraisa Xfeed cutters every day in our Mikrons for re-rough procedures on mold cavities. The 1/2" one runs 848IPM in P20 steel. The Mikrons are dogs though, you need at least 4 inches of straight line to actually hit 800IPM.

 

I occasionally put one in our Roeders. That is some scary chit to watch. Linear motors and a control that lets you open things up for roughing. The only way to describe it is, violent.

You need to work with your Mikron dealer to learn how to make it perform. The Mikron will destroy most machines in the high-speed arena in regards to speed. Your geometry will ultimately determine the maximum feed rate that can be attained, but the Heidenhain control on the Mikron is more than up to the challenge. Your filter settings and control accuracy settings play a bit part in attaining the speed you are looking for.

Carmen

On a solid with over 36K faces I prefer a better solution than having to pick the whole solid. I want to make a finishing toolpath like I did for years without having to create any extra geometry. When I need to okay I get it, but why has this becomes the accepted way?

The easiest solution to a job like you describe is to convert your solid model into a surface model and select the surfaces you need rather than solid faces and go from there. Much more flexibility and reduced processing time going this route. 

Carmen

Yes please show me also where they treat check surfaces as non machinable surfaces just like the old school toolpaths, Multiaxis toolpaths and others do in Mastercam.

I'm not sure how to respond to your query. Check surfaces have been supported by many ( not all ) of the HSM tollbooths for years. Mastercam is a piece of software that demands that the user has lots of experience to get the most out of it. You certainly are aware of that.

Can you give me an example of the toolpaths you would use to machine out the inside cavity of a mold?

It all depends on the topography of the mold. In very general terms, waterline is the best choice for surfaces between 30 and 90 degrees of slope which would be considered the steep portions of the cavity. For the "shallow" sections, there are multiple choices being raster, scallop, spiral, etc, but as I said, the strategy is based on the topography. I have 24 years experience with Mastercam and mold making so my techniques might be a little different than some users.

I can't imagine a situation where the highspeed toolpaths won't give you what you are looking for. There is no comparison between the quality and flexibility of the HSM toolpaths and the old legacy toolpaths. 

Carmen

I have run Makino's from a wide spectrrum of models for the last 12 years. We currently have 6 verticals that are very reliable and accurate workhorses. You can't go wrong. I also have a lot of experience with Okuma and they are also top notch. It really boils down to dealer support in the end.

Carmen

I'm not knocking Mastercam, but if you truly need optical quality, I don't think Mastercam is up to the task due to using triangulated mesh. CamTool is most certainly capable as it is one of the only cam systems that uses surface data rather than triangulted mesh. When I took the die mold training at Makino in Michigan, CamTool had a display where they were machining optical lenses for headlights. Truly amazing quality and speed. Nothing Mastercam would be capable of, especially using surface parrallel toolpaths.

Carmen

We use the jet-stream toolholders from Seco. We also use a Sandvik parting blade and block with a 220 psi coolant pump. I really don't understand the necessity of filtering the coolant as most of the fine swarf would settle on the bottom of the coolant tank and the coolant pump is spaced off the bottom of the tank. As long as you keep the coolant tank full, anything floating on the surface would never get to the pump screen anyways. For what its worth, I've run multiple lathes for 20+ years and have never once seen any kind of plugged lines. We also cut a wide variety of materials.

Getting back to your questions, the tool holder cost is much higher, however, we have experienced a minor improvement in tool life. The largest benefit is removing swarf away from the cut. No plugged holes or failures. Coolant thru parting blades are awesome, however, some materials are extremely difficult to part even with the benefit of constant coolant at the cut. If the insert breaks ..................... well, you'll be ordering a new one.

Carmen

Check the Seco catalog John. I have what you are looking for, but with the highfeed inserts.

Carmen

Walter Titex. Their drills are amazing.

Carmen