Come on guys, WHAT Post are you using ???? THen we can all look at it as see where the problem is !!!!!!!!!!!! Finecut

Cadcam, (This is mikee at work) I did all you have said but to no luck. One thing I did notice. I rotated the part from the side view 10 deg. This is on a different level. from the top view the part is tilted 10 deg so the tool will fit. From that top view I tried to scalop the 2 deg tapered wall and part of the floor. Verify shows it cut into the wall where backplot did not. Do I need to save the the tilited view as a diferent view so verify will see It correctly?? I was going to tilt the part in a vise to do this op. The first op gets it all hogged out and finished where I can. The 2nd and 3rd op would do the tapers, one on each side. Whats the best way to save a new view? And the kicker... this is a 303 ss part about half the size of my thumb. Iam running 8.1.1. Work has not let me get ver 9 yet. The file is 6 meg + Any Ideas? I can use a taper tool but it wont get all the taper Finecut (mikee)

Tony, It wasnt a CMM that checked the part. Finecut

Tony, Same problem here.This full synthetic crap is pealing my hands away. Our big problem is changing it out. We are a medical device company. Our "New" coolant has to be tested for biocompatibility before I can change it out. This can take up to 2 months !! mean while our vendors dont need thier's tested Talk about BS. And you dont want to know the last time our coolant was changed out. We are going to test valcool 790 and with any luck blasocut 2000 CF also. THe blasocut is a high mineral oil content. That would help the skin problem. The valcool 790 is a newer coolant and is a semi synthetic. Ive got the cleaner, waste barrels, and the shovel ready. Now comes the wait. finecut

Like Tony said, there are 3 levels of nc for the hurco. What level do you have ? 1st level is a pain. Not much to work with. Its included in the control. 2nd level at least puts a dent in the nc side 3rd level with a few options is as close to a fanuc as youll get. Not bad for a hurco . Its still needs work. finecut

Hugh, For the short story on splines, nurbs and parametric, go to : www.mmsonline.com There are several articles on this. Its quite involved but Nurbs will be smoother . New machines will read a nurbs call out in a nc file ( as described in the above referance ) and produce a very smooth surface at high feed rates. Mastercam does not output nurbs in the nc file yet but this may change as more machines use this info. time will tell Finecut

Hugh The deg symbol is : ALT + 0176 on the keypad Hold down the ALT key and type in on the keypad 0176 Finecut

Waterjet !!!! Finecut

Kathy, There are times when one needs to enter/exit at the mid point in a closed contour. For example, if you have a square or rectangle and one wants to remove the material inside. There are two basic ways, pocket or contour. We all know how a pocket cycle works, it removes all the material.But lets say one wants to remove a slug.Why pocket? If you do a inside contour you dont want to start in a corner, if at all possible. If you start at mid wall you need to break the geo at the mid point or use start at mid-point in the lead in/ out box. It does it for you, Now if the machine is worth its salt you wont always see a witness mark. I usually take a skin pass of .01 to clean up. Does that help? Finecut

Jhony, Put the file back into autocad and use the explode command on all the drawing. Then resave and bring it back into mastercam. That should clean up at least 99 % of the problem. Some of the geometry is not supported in a dwg/dxf format. By "exploding" the geometry it breaks it down to the basic lines, arcs, ect. Fun, Huh ? Finecut

Rubenr, Talk to your dealer about the Engrave Pgm addin for mastercam. It has the options for cutting out a engraved pattern, that would be quite tedious in mastercam alone. Finecut

You need to add in the mpmaster post under the drilling definitions: ppeck #Canned Peck Drill Cycle pdrlcommonb pcan1, pbld, n, *sgdrlref, *sgdrill, pxout, pyout, pfzout, pcout, prdrlout, *peck1, *feed, strcantext, e pcom_movea behind ...., *peck1, ..... add: *peck2, Make sure the spaces between each definition are maintained when you add this. This will give you the second peck distance. Finecut

Look at IBAG North America They make vacuum fixtures and a unique system called Vac-Mat Here is there address: IBAG North America Div of Burmco, Inc. 80 Republic Drive North Haven, CT 06473 203-407-0397 Fax 203-407-0516 e-mail [email protected] This is the last address I had for them. You might do a search for them on the net Finecut

Nope I was looking at it a while back. Its a good piece to show 4th axis work. I just happen to have it here. enjoy Finecut

Cadcam : I saw your message. I put the file in the solids dir. You can move it as you see fit Finecut

Bob . If only PCI slots then get a matrox 400 card. It works well. The tnt SUCKS. MX from Nivida no better. If need be go to the matrox web site. The 400 (or 450) comes in AGP and Pci. You can order there. Also since you are in Maine try this web site:JNCS.com Great people, great service. They might have what you need. Finecut

Its more then that. Chip load, cutter geometry, speeds and feeds For high speed machining in aluminum 3 flute is better then 2. Harmonics (or when that sweet spot of cutter slapping the wall is pushed to the point that the part vibrates or sings) for a 3 flute is much higher. This equals a faster feed rate and rpm. Its all still based on chip load. MMSonline.com has some info on this. Now for the bad part. Not all parts can be run the same way. Some experiments will have to be done to get the best feeds and speeds. Part geo plays a big role in how to program for the best results. Thin walls and thin floors can be tough. 7075 will stress relive more when you get below .1 thickness.And tool wear on this material is more then fun to deal with Tips from my experiance: A small radius on the cutter if allowed , for finish. Final pockets and /or floor routines, work from inside out all walls ( for thin ones ), work all to the same z height as you step down If you can find the harmonics , note it and stay above or below Flipping a part several times to keep the flatness is sometimes needed. ( Yea its sounds dumb and time consuming, but it works ) Hope this helps Finecut

Mike, Its parasolid. And yes its free. Latest update is ver 13 for Ver 8.1.1 Finecut

The Haas post is a 4 axis post. Finecut

Kwolf is right. A 50x50x50 block. Shell the block from the top leaving the top open. use a value of 1. Now fillet the bottom only using 5.0 as a value. The part should FAIL as the radius extends into the shell. But it doesnt. Finecut

You guys haven't seen a krispy cream calender, huh? I got a question. How do you get a die hard Hurco machinist to see the light ? He thinks Hurco is the best way. I have no other machine (NC) to prove otherwise. Two in the wherehouse (VF3 and cincinnati) waiting for our new machine shop to be finished. He would love to give these away for another Hurco. This is a tough nut to crack. Big meeting in 2 weeks with all the higher ups to discuss updating the shop. Finecut

I forgot to ask Is the table a full rotary or a indexer? finecut

Ken, The Fanuc post should work fine. Here is what you do to get started: Under "rotary axis settings" turn VMC : 0 (this is for Horz machines) Rot_on_x : 2 (this will rotate about the "Y" axis) Your machine might also want use_frinv : 1 (This is a common setting for full rotary but Iam not familiar with your machine) You will now start your programming from the front view not the top. Just look at your part like the z axis does (the cutter). Hope this gets you started, as other forum members will help with other tidbits of info. Were here to help and also learn finecut

We are in the process of buying our first production lathe. After doing all the legwork I have found a big range of prices for a simular equiped lathe. Ive looked at Haas, Hardage, Romi, and Mazak .Price was to be kept around $72,000 The Romi and Hardage come with Funac 21i Mazak is the fusion 640 Haas is Haas Options are Bar Feeder, Full edit in the control including background. Chip removal,parts catcher(we do small parts ),tailstock (this keeps the engineers happy for those semi long parts) The Haas and Hardiage are real close Romi is a little higher Mazak was real high, and without the barfeeder. Name means a lot here The size of machine was equal with the Haas SL10 Being we are on the forum I will refrain from quotes. But for cost and service I would take the machine in this order Haas Hardage Romi Mazak You can email me If you would want more info Finecut

For what its worth in video cards, here is what works for mastercam as I have found so far. 1)G-force cards work great EXCEPT THE MX VERSION !! The mx does not support all the opengl routines as the others do. 2) Oxygen cards work great. These are the best. Upper end cad systems use them big time because they support opengl completly. 3)Matrox Millenium g450 or better. Older cards in this family are only 2d I just installed a pci version of this card,and found it smooth and clean. Verify in mc8 has no problem. Win 98 SE 4) ATI---- Trash can it 5) voodoo cards--- Game card only. If you just happen to have one or replaced it with a different card, here is a tip. Make sure after uninstalling a voodoo card you ck the registry for "voodoo " refrenceces This one likes to hang around , meaning a uninstall doesnt always get rid of it all. This can affect the next video card install. I'd advise if you do not know how to work with the registery, find a good tech who can. Just my 2 cents Finecut