Got it. PITA but no additional software needed. Thanks to a previous programmers homework and good notes.

Thanks for the input.

I have 7000 plus Mazatrol .bin files that I believe were transfered from Mazaks using Solutionwares/Mazacams file commander. This I believe resulted in a .bin file that I can't open with Camware or send back to our Mazaks using Cour DNC. I was told one of our previous programmers was able to edit the header in the file and open it in Camware do a resave and make it work. Any ideas or sugestions besides buying Solutionwares software? Any help woule be appreciated.

This is what I was talking about. We decided not to re invent the wheel but the bore bars shown were discontinued from kennemetal. I need 1 more of each. One is 1.25 dia shank and the other is 1.5 left hand. Anybody have any idea where I can find something to replacate the kennemetal bars? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

quote: These machines were set up and running tooled with opposing boring bars on a brazed form tool in between and each tool was independently adjustable. It was late. What I meant to say was (opposing boring bars and a brazed) So, Can anybody picture in their head what I'm talking about? Hopefully I'll be able to post a snapshot here that would better communicate the concept.

Hello all, I've been tasked with re-tooling three engine lathes that have been retro fitted with a single Z axis servo and a air over hydraulic parting tool. There is a PLC with a real nice touch screen interface too. The objective of these machines is to simultaneously turn and bore and then face with a form tool. These machines were set up and running tooled with opposing boring bars on a brazed form tool in between and each tool was independently adjustable. What I want to do is replace the existing tool holding system (home made non standard stuff) with something modular with micrometer adjustment. One option would be Aloris tool posts mounted on independent compounds and then incorporating a tool holder in between for the brazed form tool. This sounds like a good candidate for a swiss style machine but it's not an option right now. Any ideas or experience with this sort of thing out there? If I can get permission I'll take some pictures of one of the machines and post them here. I know I can make this thing work but time is not on my side right now. This process is suppose to be able to beat our cnc hardinge gang tool lathes. I agree that it will once it's dialed in. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe someone with a Faro laser scaner could scan a rock for you that could be scaled up? The place I left two months ago was going to buy one. I would have been happy to do it for you.

Never mind. I have to key in the absolute values instead of being able to pick the model. Maybe this has changed in X4? I would hope so.

Seems I'm missing something here. Trying to use the thread milling function and I don't hace the option to set the clearance plane and I can only program from absolute zero. This will cause a major crash at the machine. Is the thread milling function limited to being used with z0.0 being the top plane of the threaded hole to be machined? I'm positioning around the part doing multiple drilling and milling ops and am free to do what I want until I get to the thread milling. One work around would be to not use this function and contour the helix I guess.

I can tell you how to get a perfect hole every time but since you don't return my calls I'm holding out! J/K

Rob,Good starting point is 35 SFM and .0015 I.P.T. Sharp solid carbide tools of course and take as much as the machine and cutter will handle. It's best to get in and get out and when finishing leave no more than .02 and no less than .01. I had good success with Data Flute e.m's. Good example would be, If I had .250 on a wall at 1" axial d.o.c I would rough at full depth +.01 on floor and wall and change tools to fin the remainder. Multiple z depths are going to beat the crap out of the tool. In most cases I would recycle the fin tool to rough and change out the rough tool for a brand new one. Try to pull the tools out before the edges start to break down too much and send them back to the manufacturer to get reground with the factory clearances. One thing I learned about those Inconels is that they are predictable and you can get good results with the right process. HTH!

Nice! Do you have a resultant surface from it that I can use? Can you upload that one. I still don't like the blend I have at the bottom of the bump where it transitions from the flat angle plane to the small fillet area. I didn't see this until I finished and thought I had it close enough.

Well I'm half way there. I projected the curves from the top of your fillets,onto the original faro surfaces, trimmed the original bump surfs to the projected curves then created new .312 arcs between the projected curves and your curves at the top of the planer surface of the part. Then from there I created net surfaces at each segment around the bump and I now have a variable fillet radius surf around the bump. I think it's close enough. Took me quite some time to do this but next time I know to use net surfaces. Now I have to offset the whole thing by the thickness of the part and make it a solid so I can add it to the rest of the part. Thats another hurdle I have to jump. Here is a pick of the outside that I just completed. Thanks again for helping.

Solid from surfaces? Can I do that with a surface or do I need to make a water tight volume to solidify? When I mentioned using a .stl file I was thinking of using the stl2surf chook and then keeping those surfs for creating my hydro form tool. I have not had any time to mess with it today but I'm diving back into it now.

Thanks again for all the effort. I hope I return the favor some how. I did have a silly idea. I'm going to run some surface tool paths on the bump using the top surface of the base as a check surface then save as an stl file. I should get the resulting radius of the ball mill as my fillets around the bump. Sounds easy enough.

Checked it out and it looks great but unfortunately out of tolerance. The base part itself was probably out of whack because I created it in the same wcs as the faro surfaces that were imported. What I'm going to try and do is cut thru the faro surfs at the top of the fillets you gave me and then try to recreate the fillets by sweeping a surface around the 3d cut that I project onto the faro surfs. Main goal being to maintain the surface definition that the laser scan created. Thanks again for giving it shot for me. See pic below that shows approximate dimension in the front view. Yellow being the faro surf and the green being your model.

It looks great Motor. Thanks! I'll look at more closely in the morning. Thanks you so much. What methods did you use to fix the crap I had? Again Thank you for taking the time to help.

Files are uploaded. Thanks in advance!

Here are some pics... I checked with a radius gage and it looks like between 9/32 and 5/16. I have +/- .03 to work with. I'm uploading the convex side surfaces that I have and the concave side will hopefully just be an offset by the thickness of the material which is .040". I'll call the file top_bump.mcx and .stp and put them in the mcx_files folder. Thanks!

Thanks guys. This is a part that the customer could not supply us with a model only a mylar and sample part. We had faro in doing a demo anyway so he took a crack at it. He had some trouble finishing it so he took the scan data back to his office, did his voodoo and emailed it to us. I didn't realize the fillets were missing until I started designing the tool yesterday. I'll take a picture of the sample part and post it here and upload the .stp file to the ftp. Have to get some coffee running through my vanes first.

I'm designing a hydro form tool using surfaces that were done with a faro laser scanner. The faro guy left out some important veriable fillet surfaces and I'm trying to fix it with no luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can upload the file or email it along with a graphic showing the missing surfaces. Thanks in advance!

Ok then. I got it working in Autocad 2007. Never mind. Thanks for your help.

Ok, No takers? I downloaded Tabletworks which is the driver for this digitizer. I am now communicating between the pc and the tablet but MC has a conflict with the com port now that tabletworks is installed. I tried Autocad too and can use the digitizer to some degree but I can't calibrate it. WTF!!!!!!!

Anyone have any experience with this digitizer and X3? I've searched the forum and can not seem to find the answers I'm looking for. X3 keeps freezing up using the MCdigitize Chook. I've tried changing the communication parameters and still no luck. I have no documentation on the digitizer nor do I have any software that might have come with it. Thanks in advance!

No, It was the number 0 not the letter O. Must be a parameter setting.