We use air/oil mist when high speed machining hardened steel. The mist is very fine and very little oil is used. A couple of ounces will be used to run all day. The oil is vegetable based. An oil mist extractor is required otherwise you will breathe the mist and die then OSHA will punish you.

Yep. Sinking and sometimes hard milling. An easy certain way? I was translating and offseting copies then re-chaining from the chain manager then deleting the original chain. In the end my toolpaths were not correctly associated with the new solid and had to do a new toolpath. [ 07-24-2003, 07:07 PM: Message edited by: Lucky ]

I always keep one step previous version loaded just in case. Been doing it since v3.21. I've never used the older version but it makes me feel better.

translated, offset, etc. resulting in a dirty solid that can be regened and a dirty toolpath that can also be regened? Design changes are a major PITA now. I like being warned that the chain is used in a solid but I should be able to do it if I am sure. If I were to foolishly manipulate chains in a complex solid without backing up my work first, I would deserve whatever happens anyway. Just completed some major design changes to a transmision syncro ring forging die and had to vent a little. Rant complete.

We considered Roeders before buying our Mikron HSM. It is a very fine high speed mill. Mastercam is definitely up to the task.

HSM usually refers to a milling technique involving high RPMs, shallow depth of cut, small stepovers and very high feedrates. The best results are obtained with cutting tools designed for HSM with proper coatings. The machine tool must be very rigid with high mass stationary components and low mass moving components permitting high acceleration characteristics. It is a technique particularly well suited for machining hardened tool steels with fine finishes and small detail. We are using our Mikron HSM to cut hardened steels (M2, D2, A2, H13, 420SS, etc.) and graphite. The largest cutter we use is 1/2" dia. and have successfully cut 60Rc M2 with 0.010" cutters. RPM varies from 15k when roughing with the 1/2" cutter to 42k when using tools 1/16" and under. These methods work well for us given the type of work we do and capabilities of our machine tool. Other materials cut on a different machine will require a modified approach to HSM. The book on HSM is still being written!

Diamond coated is the only way to go on graphite. Roughing: 1/2 Dia end mill, 25,000 RPM, 400 ipm, 0.05 to 0.15 DOC. Finishing: 30k to 42k RPM depending on cutter size, 150 to 350 ipm (depending on cutter dia. and length), stepover to suit desired finish.

Kevin, We primarily use Frasia cutting tools on the Mikron for hard die milling. Outlasts others such as SGS and Rob Jack by a factor of 1.5 to 2. We use Fraisa's ToolCare program. They provide a Lista tool cabinet with about $5,000 of tool inventory at no charge. We re-stock monthly and only pay for the tools we consume. We have also had good success with Jabro tools. They are imported from the Netherlands by Tesco Technology in Virginia. The Jabro tools are more expensive and don't last quite as long but their product line is more extensive. We use them for diameters and flute lengths Fraisa cannot provide. As far as tool holders go, we use Schaublin HSK40 collet holders for everything. They are very accurate and are balanced perfectly. They do not provide enough grip for aggressive trochoidal milling. I think shrink fit will be required.

Jimmy, We've done some cool things with trochoidal pocketing. Very fast metal removal technique with excellent tool life. We've had some instances of the tool pulling out. Very Bad! We are using Schaublin collets. I think we may need to use shrink fit holders to grip the tools securely or perhaps different tool geometry to reduce these axial forces on the tool. Our spindle is the same as Mold100's (42k) but his machine is a step up from ours. Our machine will acelerate at 0.6 g's, while is machine will accelerate at a full g! Don't bother holding your finger over the feed hold button - you're not fast enough. Make sure the program is right, make sure your post is 100%, hit cycle start and walk away.

Mold100, What model Mikron do you have? We are running a VCP600 w/ Heidenhain TNC430 control and 42,000 rpm spindle. We modified the mpheid.pst to correct some problems. You will like the Mikron. Good Luck

I have created helical shapes from cross sections using both surfaces and solids. Step 1 - determine the amount of rotation per unit of length needed for your helix (i.e. 360 degrees per inch). Step 2 - rotate and translate copies of the cross section geometry so that you end up with 4 or more cross sections located correctly in 3D space. Step 3 - create a lofted solid by chaining the cross sections. Be careful to begin chaining at the correct point to preserve the timing. Creating a reference point on your cross section chains may be helpful. I have sometimes noticed issues at each end of the helical solid, so I typically create a solid that is longer than needed then Extrude Cut the ends off. The problems with the ends can be avoided by creating an additional rotated/translated cross section very near each end (i.e. 1 degree separation from the ends). There are a few steps involved but the results are very good. A nice feature would be to create a helical solid by chaining a single contour, specifying length and pitch. Good Luck

There have been a number of discussions on this issue in the past. A search of this forum will provide much information (confusion??). My favored method is to use negative Stock To Leave to achieve proper undersize. We use 3D spherical orbiting on our EDMs 99% of the time. You will have to lie about the cutter if you intend to use square corner end mills with surface toolpaths. Mastercam does not permit negative stock to leave less than the corner radius of the cutter. In these cases tell Mastercam the tool has a corner radius equal to the electrode undersize. You will get a correct toolpath. Your method will work correctly but I think you will find this method less cumbersome. It allows you to use a library of tools defined with nominal sizes.

I have had problems recently on a couple of jobs when filtering/arc fitting parallel finish toolpaths. The problems are visible in verify and the finished part. I have tried many values for cut tolerance and filter ratio. The problems have occured on irregular free form 3D surfaces. I only experience the problems with parallel cutting (ZX and ZY plane)with arc fitting enabled. The surface finish is good with no filtering (long program), or linear filtering only. Arc fitting if properly done should improve the surface finish. Anyone have similar experiences or suggestions to help? I can upload the particular surface I'm trying to cut to the FTP site if needed.

We are running a Mikron VCP600 w/ 42,000 rpm spindle. Our machine has the Heidenhain TNC 430 controller. I believe your ATEK controller uses Heidenhain "style" code. Mastercam is working great for us. We cut graphite electrodes and hardened tool steel mostly. The Mikrons are terrific machines and the HSM700 is/was their top-of-the-line product. 1g acceleration! This machine is a fast mover and will not tolerate programming errors. Verify, Verify, Verify! Good Luck

We have Agie machines here. Newer machines with Agievision control as well as older machines with Agiematic control. So far we have only been using the .ISO files for Agievision but we plan to begin using the script files as well (.SBR, .SBL). I'll post my experiences.

PDG Worked perfectly. Thanks

I downloaded and installed the C-Hook from the FTP site. Still no luck. The instructions for the C-Hook refer to .X_B files. The file I am trying to convert is a .X_T file. Should the C-Hook work for this file? What is the difference between the two file types? Thanks again

I need to read in a parasolid ver 14 file. What are my options? I have heard that Mastercam v9.1 will do this. Is 9.1 available yet? Chook for v9sp1 maybe? Thanks

Started with v3.21 and haven't missed an upgrade since. The most significant versions in my opinion: 3.21 - A solid DOS platform. 3D toolpaths were tough, put Mastercam on the map. 5.51 - a debugged v5.0 which introduced the windows GUI 6.0 - really solid - few bugs - the final hoorah before introducing solids and associativity 8.0 - most of you are familiar with this one. At its fully patched latest revision v8 is outstanding. Solids, associativity, etc. made a profound impact on how we use Mastercam. Made a lot of money with this one. Current versions are the result of continuous improvement and evolutionary changes to this version.

This most often occurs if you have modified or deleted geometry used in your toolpaths. The associativity of Mastercam v7 thru v9 requires extra care while working with your design to prevent unintended changes to your toolpaths. I often will make a copy of my geometry on another level for the express purpose of toolpaths allowing me to continue to manipulate the geometry on the main level without fear of corrupted toolpath operations.

While differences in mechanical construction, probe head type, etc. do exist and should be part of your decision, most reputable CMMs are built well enough to meet most any accuracy standard. The focus of your evaluation should be the software. A mediocre machine with great software is better than any machine with bad software. We have a Zeiss CMM with Zeiss probe head. We use Calypso software (by Zeiss) for 85% of our measurements and Holos software (by Holometric Technologies but sold and supported by Zeiss)for complex 3D free form surface measurement. The two softwares happily co-exist and transfer alignments established in one to the other. The software should be evaluated for the capabilities you require, user friendliness, upgradeability, etc. Good luck

We are cutting various tool steels (S7, H13, D2, M2, 440SS, etc) in the 55-60 Rc range with tools as small as 0.010" dia. We use a Mikron HSM with 42,000 rpm spindle. I believe you can be successfull with your 30k spindle, but I would be running 42k on my machine with tools this small. Try tools from Fraisa USA (fraisa.com) or Jabro Tools available from Tesco in VA. The tool life of the Fraisa tools is superior but the Jabro tools are available in a wider variety of diameters and lengths and the guys at Tesco are great to work with and can provide extensive speed/feed info. Good luck. If you encounter too many problems, I would love a crack at this job. Check out our website.

Thanks to all. Found a kind friend to convert the files for me. This board continues to be a terrific resource.

Unfortunately, my customer's customer is unwilling or unable to provide the parasolid that would make it so easy. I'm stuck with the UG file (.prt) Thanks

I have three UG files I need to convert into Mastercam. This is an infrequent need so I would prefer not to buy expensive translater software. Would anyone out there be able to convert these files for a reasonable fee? Are services available for this? Thanks