Any ideas? The CNC Bridgeport kneemill that I am working on has a consistent power drawbar problem (among many others ) Larger tools cutting a 4130 tool steel job vibrated too much even on slow feeds and speeds, and would reverse spin out of the spindle, causing crashes, damage to the tool and the part. This happened 3 times until finally the tool adapter ears broke off. I checked the drawbar and it was not too worn at the bottom. Anyone else expereince this? What else can I do to prevent the spin outs?

Thanks buddies for the help!

Phil

Good to hear from you. Thank you for your service and we love you!!! America is with you! We are cutting some parts (in Mcam) for you here in the states as well. We're all on the same team. Making the world a better place safe from tyranny and terror for our children and our selves.

Phil

I'm here, busy as hell and very happy! Just solved our BOSS9 communication problem today! It was a malfunctioning BSP2 board. We replaced it and now I can load programs like a charm, with Mcam!

Phil

I was working for a mold shop a while ago that used Surfcam. They had me use Mcam and we compared apples to apples and I found Mcam can do it all with some workarounds. Surfcam had some pretty wild features as I can recall especially for detail mold work, like surface intersection spline creation and ramping down at plunge rate on 3D contours. You will no doubt enjoy some of those finer features of surfcam, being an Mcam user.

Good Luck,

Phil

Please pardon my diversion into Politics. But like the wise owl, I couln't resist. I have a good friend in the US, an Arab who converted to Christianity. She had to change her name to protect herself from the wrath of her family, tribe and counntrymen.. She has become a great patriot in America when she stands up against her own bretheren and says "profile me"! It's not religion or race that is to blame for the war and hatred that has devided humanity, as we learned from the past, but the tryanny that sends people to war in the name of their God. What I believe we have to realize overall is the ease at which people can become obediant subjects of authorty and bend to peer pressure to conform to the group -- even the most free thinking indidviduals are at big risk! The Germans under Nazism aren't the only race of people that could become the victims of mass brainwashing. It can happen to any of us. This is human nature IMHO. So my good Muslim friends on this forum -- how are you standing up to the hijacking of your own belief system by thugs and tyrants- rather than blaming the world for profiling you. Are you acting like the Nazi resistance fighters in France and Germany who sheltered the Jews and supported the Allies, or like the majority who paid lip service against the atrocities and went along with the flow?

I just had to get that off my chest. You are our freinds, Salah & Naddem! Enough politics for now. Now back to Mcam!!!

Phil

Tried that already Midwest! Thanks, though.

Phil

Thanks for the valuable suggestions and the symapthy fellas! Steve, I am using software handshaking in Mcam. I think that the problem may be in the control or in my first character (not in the program according to HVC, but maybe, possibly - the question is what to type at the control when I am setting the control to load the program. Followed the manual's proceedures for typing ":#" but it didn't work.)

As HVC said, he gets an alarm when he loads a program but when he clears the alarm, the program is loaded. I get an alarm but no program, however I can send programs to my computer OK without even an alarm. If anyone still has any suggestions, I have this whole weekend to mull them over before going back to this peice of work on Monday.

Thanks again!!

Phil

Thanks, HVC I do get an alarm "system error" every time I DNC or do a Remote (from) and then "execute". But I don't get any program data. Nothing. But when I do a Remote send from the BOSS to my computer, it works. Any ideas? What 1st character did you use sucessfully. What number of character did you type at the control?

Phil

Ron, thanks for the name. I think, so far Harry's suggested sign language is the best so far. The guys were on the floor this morning!!!

Phil

Thanks for the sympathy. If I can't get any workable answers at least I can get some encouragement here. I'll tell the guys at work tomorrow of your suggestion Harry! They were betting on the fact that I'd get some good solutions from the forum!!!

Phil

Thanks Matt! That's what I needed!!!!

OK Jack! Your talking bored? I'll trade you frustrated for bored any day. Hey, how about working for 3 miserable days trying to get a dinosaur BOSS9 control to talk to my computer!!! See my post. Soldering and resoldering pinout configs and trying every permutation and combination of setup protocols. That's frustrated! And to top it off I only get one response on the forum since yesterday. Nothing, Not even tears or sympathy!!!

Phil

Thanks, I'll try them. Still need help. Any BOSS9 people out there? Finally after soldering and resoldering pinout configs all day I finally got it to uplaod (recieve) in Mcam communications only but it wouldn't send. Niether Cimco or Powerstation DNC worked even with the same setups. Tried several first characters, and file extensions and various combinations, but it wouldn't send to the BOSS9.

Thanks,

Phil

Has anyone susessfully implemented a DNC link to a BOSS 9 controller? Couldn't find much search info on it. The BOSS 9 control is on a Bridgeport R2E4 Knee Mill. No floppy drive, no regular RS232 port. They only provide a cable with 25 pin to a round 3 pin connector which plugs into the back of the Bridgeport. Tried unsucessfully with Cimco edit. Do I need EZ CAM or EZ Link? What baud, parity, protocol? What first character do you use? File extension of NC file? I've been trying many things in the dark. Help!!

Phil:cheers:

If my memory serves me well, you may be referring to an aluminum alloy with beryllium copper which is copperish in color. It is a little harder than 7075 and is sometimes used for inserts and thin features to withstand the hi pressure. As I recall we machined it similar to aluminum values for cutters and feeds & speeds.

Phil

One of the tools I liked are the pixel and color based Z value definitions. I look forward to seeing these pixel based drawing tools in future Mcam releases or in the Mcam Art Beta maybe?? Did you know that you can take an actual photo or any image file and assign Z values according to greyscale darkness or lightness values and convert the photo into a 3D relief stl file. Then you can machine a relief as a realistic 3D rendering or machine it in plastic to produce a Lithophane (you see the image when you hold it up to the light). Just some food for thought.

Come to think of it I do remember that the interface was cumbersome, as if they were trying to make it way too user freindly and the results turned out just the opposite.

Phil

Gotta disagree on that one Tazzer. Artcam is a fine 3D design package for designing intricate 3D reliefs and engravings which has some sensational tools not found anywhere else, That's why it is used at the Franklin Mint and the US Mint for designing our new quarters, etc. Having said that, and having used Artcam myself, I would create the 3D relief stl model and import to Mcam for machining - Artcams machining package is rather primitive.

Phil

I like it Nadeem! I like it! Been real busy lately designing a mean air contitioning duct for sheet metal forming dies. Terrific project with multiple loft curves. Love complex 3D shapes like that!

Phil

Like my new Corrolla CE, IMO Haas gives you the best bang for your buck. A Corolla is no BMW but it gets me to work and back safely on 1.8L & 4 cylinders. Toyota's are made in America to boot! Either way, let us know if you get the Kia Big B & how it works out.

Phil

A Good holiday weekend to all! Thanks for sharing the poems and insights and good feelings about our country. My wife and I plan to watch the 2nd half of the original "The Longest Day" our way of commemorating memorial day and the 60th anniversary of June 6th, the Normandy invasion. Back then we collectively had a sense of purpose and a unity of mind under our flag. I remember we also had it for a few days after 9/11. Most people, whatever race or belief, united under our flag.

Best to All!!

Phil

A few years ago I was working at a college CNC tech lab where they had a Kia Turning Center (Kia Turn 15) with a Fanuc O/T Control. I never used it but there didn't seem to be any complaints from the folks who did. We were also considering a Haas SL20 recently. I've used and like Haas mills. I know Haas makes good user freindly machines and their service is tops.

HTH

Phil

Thanks Rekd for the 'insider' scoop. I'll have to pass this along to my broker & take appropriate action. I thought SBC was one of the more stable big telecomms, but now I guess not. With Nokia yet for my other telecomm pick, don't ever ask me for investment advice!!!

Phil teh Warren Buffet wannabe

That doesn't sound to good for SBC. I've invested in SBC and their performance has been pretty lack-luster over the past few months. I thought that settling their strike would improve things, but with the union so strong, I don't know what the future holds.

Phil

Thanks, I created it for a clear acrylic sculpture, but never completed the project, unfortunately. It would have been beautiful!!Here it is as a shaded model:

Here is a wireframe unshaded view of the surface model:

No that's fine. When ever you have a chance. Just curious! It took me almost a week to create it years ago in Acad surfaces for a scultpture project. I don't think there's a way to do it in Mcam ecxept by importing in the wire along curve. I didn't know it was already created as a primitive. I was thinking it could be done with Mathematica, what about Rhino?

Phil