Interesting... usually the closest office gets the call.

Why are you forced to use Detroit?

FANUC part number is A02B-0282-J937 list price (not including installation, travel, etc...) is around $1,200-ish

100% THIS ^^^^^^^^^

I do use Circle Mill and Helix bore because I often re-use operations and I can change a drilling op to helix/circle and as long as I picked the geometry with using the path in the future, it is 4-ish mouse clicks and done. But since they haven't shown it any real lovin' in a long time, I'm not holding out hope.

A fair amount of that was promised with STEP NC... back in the 1990's. And here we are 25 years later with no measurable improvement beyond CAD interoperability which would be expected regardless because of natural progression. Call me a skeptic if you want, I prefer REALIST. There are few if any "standards" CNC Controls adhere to beyond CE basic electronics. Until THAT changes, this is nothing more than mental and code xxxxion. Don't get me wrong. I like new stuff, I thrive on new stuff, and new stuff usually comes from impossible ideas. Industry 4.0 ... more meaningless buzzwords from educrats.

Circle mill most likely will not recieve much attention especially considering there is a viable alternative.

This is what happens when somebody makes a decision to develop a product that ignores what control 75% of the world's machines use right out of the gate. I'm just sayin'...

Esprit... not a fan. CAD is unacceptable. They are too much "you must do it this way" for my liking. Reminds me of GibbSCAM. Multitasking Lathes and EDM are a different story and is good in those arenas IMHO. NX... too much like CATIA. Very cumbersome. Lots of menus. Awesome Engineering software though. Pass. SolidCAM. Pure, unadulterated bovine excrement. We've got a few customers with it. Nothing but problems on the CAM output side. Even their drilling cycles lack adequate controls. HARD pass. Hypermill. I have nothing good to say. Go with Tebis or PowerMill if you're going to spend that kind of dough on CAM.

Here's a link to some SPC stuff I use from time to time (though not as often as I did BITD) Some Excel Add-Ins for high end statistical functions. https://home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/addins.htm Some Customizable templates that will dazzle bean counters and help you track processes. https://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/statistics.html Some Six Σ resources if you're into that https://www.systems2win.com/solutions/SixSigma.htm An Iscar HVM guide that has proven quite valuable over the years. HEM Calculator-protected.xlsm A gage block calculator that was passed on to me at some point. Gageblock Calculator.xls A tool that was passed on to me and I've added to it. Milling Formulas(In Process).xls DISCLAIMER: Use these tools at your own peril. I am not claiming authorship, nor rights, etc... yadda, yadda, yadda. Enjoy. Hopefully they will spark some interest in the data side of the business for you.

"FANUC kernel" First off, I will never profess to know everything. That being said, I've got a solid 30 years of experience with FANUC controls ranging from the 3m/11m up through today's 30i Series and everything except the 3 digit Series (i.e. 310i, 320i, etc...) in between, and I've worked for a Machine Tool Builder or Machine Tool Dealer for 18 of those years... enough of the bonafides... in all that time, I have never even once heard "FANUC kernel". Now I'm intrigued. Am I missing something?

As if I didn't know how much stock to leave on whatever. TOTALLY useless message.

Well... when I absolutely positively have to have TOTAL control over rotary motion, Curve 5-Axis is my go to toolpath. It my be a little intensive to create the wireframe to drive the path but the control is perfection.

Meanwhile back at the ranch... FANUC Custom MACRO B can do pretty much whatever someone wants to do with it. Create your own G-Codes, M-Codes, modal, non-modal MACRO calls, sub programs, sub-routines, IF/THEN/WHILE/DO loops, etc., etc., etc... ad infinitum. What one chooses to do/not do is completely up to them. Some people like Apple, some people like Android. I'd rather put lit cigarettes in my eyes than use Apple's crap.

Here's my file; https://www.dropbox.com/s/vf7vid19f1rz0lk/test.mcam?dl=0