We are also a small company. We use MC solids here for all of our tooling design. Most of the solids are used to generate CNC programs but we also provide detail drawings for some components. MC can get the job done.

High speed raster is a good toolpath when you do not have verticle or near verticle side walls.

It does take some processing time but we do verey little mold polishing.

I have experimented with different filter settings for finishing large mold blocks using the "High Speed Scallop" toolpath on machines with very little look ahaead. I know your pain. As you say, roughing is not the problem, feedrates slowing way down to make all those .001-.002 linear moves in the finish toolpath is frustrating. File size, toolpath regeneration, and time to verify are additional problems. We also need tight tolerances and can not back off in the filter setting too much. I have reduced finish machining time by opening up the scallop height setting a bit. We used to use .00003 scallop height in order to get good surface finishes. Using a scallop height of .00006 instead still provides a pretty good finish and a shorter run time but does not eliminate the problem with feed rates going down. I am currently experimenting with different toolpaths. The combination of "Horizontal Area" and "Waterline" toolpaths are showing merrit in the mold cavities we machine. Just run the Horizontal Areas toolpath first then the Waterline.

+1 to Thad. Always make config changes in a new MC session prior to openeing any file or doing any work or you may change more than what you had intended. It is also a good idea to save your config with a name other than the default. I keep a copy of the named config in a seperate folder in case some one changes something in my config.

We have a bunch of old epoxy molds. The "moldmaker" sculpted wooden patterns to produce the epoxy molds. I have been asked to provide CAD models for these old epoxy molds. We would rather purchase the necesaary hardware and software rather than contract the work out. I have a couple of questions: 1. What data capture method (laser scanning, CT, white light, Etc) would you use? 2. What type of output (ie: pointcloud, etc) should I be looking for? 3. Is any one reading point cloud data directly into MC or Solidworks? 4. Any good software to convert data capture into solid models (ie: Geomagic, etc)? 5. Can this be done for $30K? I'm interested in any feedback and case histories any one may have. Thanks, Laszlo

MultiCam Routers should meet your needs. We have a MultiCam 3000 here to machine plastic parts from a 48 X 96 sheet held down with vacuum on an MDF board.

No c'bores here, we pocket mill with an endmill

I just installed the MOXA UPort 1450. The installation was easy. After installing the CIMCO software on the new PC and moving the machine protocol files over to the new PC, we connected the RS-232 cables from the machine. All is working fine. The MOXA 1450 is a nice and inexpensive unit for any one looking to do the same. Thanks to all that offered input.

I can open X6x64 files using X6x32 box and then save them to earlier versions of MC. However, these files do not have toolpaths in them.

Does any one have experience or issues with USB to 4 port serial converters? The MOXA Uport 1400 perhaps.

At the moment we are leaning towards the Haas

I plot mylars in X6 using the print function. Just make sure the parameters and scale is set correctly.

Wow, Thanks Chris. Good honest feedback from the people using these machines is exactly what I was looking for. I would like to know the specifics for your opinion if possible. You can email me if you want to keep those opinions from the general public.

another possibility could be the position sensor on the air cylinder that moves the shuttle

I am checking into some of the other machines you guys have listed. The real problem is finding an affordable machine with 30 inches of y axis travel. The price nearly doubles over a machine with 20 inches of y axis travel. Also Newbeeee, the Chevalier's have been very good machines for us also. It is only when we do have trouble that service is a problem.

I understand the support thing Joe. We currently use Chevalier VMCs and support is a joke, but we can deal with it. Personally I am leaning towards the YCM even though the max feedrate is 394 ipm. This machine has a much smaller footprint than the Haas or Mazak but it weighs 33% more.

Thanks for the input guys. We will be using tthe machine to cut aluminum molds 95% of the time. No production machining. Any alternate suggestions are welcome also. My limiting factors include: a machine with 30 inches of y-axis travel, 12000 rpm spindle, and a cost of less than $200K.

I guess you are the only one with an opinion. Thanks for that opinion lazy!

Management has offered 3 machines for purchase consideration. I can choose between: Haas VM-6 Mazak VTC 300C YCM WV-108A Which would you choose? Why?

A fine cross hatch of the letters will also work and display correct prior to printing

I have seen that happen when posting but all operations ended up posted anyway. All are checked again once the posting operation finishes so I just ignore the fact that it only shows the one check mark. The real key to determine if you will get them all is the warning that pops up when all are not selected.

You need one more argument in order to get a solution. There are infinite possible radii that could be tangent to those circles. Is there a passing through point or another tangency condition you could use?

I'm just going by the picture you posted, but I would use a different tootpath to finish that part. In either case you would need to rough out the material on the left of the finished part. I only use the surface contour toolpath when the finished part has undercut walls.

If you don't have a lot of text, just modify the boxed letters to what you need. I do it all the time. You have probably used more time trying to find a solution than just modifying it in the first place.