It's a little silly to be secretive about it, since anyone at IMTS can see it for themselves.

Programming this machine is the same as a turret type lathe. There is absoultely no difference in the code

Take the Iges file (ensure that your part sits in the correct plane) Change colors, then go into Create-Curve-Slice-all surfaces-done-C plane- view 1- do it This will slice your iges surface model to give you a cross section that you can machine. I presume you are talking about a surface model, not a wireframe model, since a wireframe model is ready to machine right away (plane mask on)

Personally, I would stay away from any of the new "mini" type machines. You are greatly limited in travel, especially Z once you take your tool and vise into consideration. Toolchange times tend to be slow, and vibration will be an issue if you try to take a "real" cut. You would probably be better off to buy a 2-3 year old VMC for the same price with a proper side mount toolchanger, 40 taper spindle, and a reasonably user friendly controller (read NO Cincinnati) Taiwanese machines such as First, Dah Lih, Fortune and Yang seem to be decent for the money. So are most American makes like Haas and Fadal. Japanese machines are probably the best, but out of the price range you mentioned.

I think that if you define the tool as an endmill, MC might not let you turn a rad because there is no front or back clarance on a 90 deg tool. Perhaps try defining it as an 86 deg custom tool (the widest end is the cutting end). This way you have back clearance and MC can do collision checking during the rad cutting. p.s. Iscar has a really nice tool that you can use for drilling, boring, as well as facing and OD turning. It works quite well for reducing toolchanges. You need to remember to reverse the spindle for the OD ops, of course.

You can get G92 by using the "box" method of thread cutting. However, this approach blanks out the parameter for infeed angle, which is what your guys want to use. I agree with the other posts, it makes no sense at all to use G92 when you have G76 available. If your guys understood the parameters that G76 works with, they would realize that it gives them far MORE control at the machine than G92. Time to buy them an early Christmas present http://www.industrialpress.com/en/item.asp?BookID=157 Oh well, can't teach old dogs new tricks.

I don't think you can change from G41 to G42 without leading "off" the part after each part and activating the new offset away from the part. Do you absolutely need to use G41/G42?

X deals with this issue quite nicely.

Smartcam had some very nice toolpath editing features for mill and lathe, which enabled you to graphically move, trim, extend or shift toolpath segments to your liking. Obviously Mastercam has a lot of better features (7 more years of development), but Smartcam's toolpath editor was phenomenal IMHO. Creating custom macros to customize Smartcam was also a big strength of that software. You can easily control every single move, including rapid, home position, retracts etc. These are some of Smartcam's strengths, but Mastercam is a far superior system and X will much better still.

You can machine an STL in Mastercam. It is a pain to describe here, but talk to your dealer and have them explain it to you. Also, if you search the forum, this has been covered before. Essentially, you start with the toolpath and select the geometry last (with the CAD prompt turned to Y) during geometry selection and pick the STL.

Now you're in trouble Tim. Agreeing with a sales monkey creates the impression that some sales monkeys/donkeys actually know something!!

Thread milling a hole that size is a waste of time. Depending on thread tolerance required, try going to roll forming taps for far longer tool life. If your machine supports peck tapping, that might be another avenue to explore.

Cimco supports Mazatrol without having to add or delete any characters.

You are right Harry. The tornado option wasn't present when I used to have a real job a few years back. Ron, I was talking about 5 axis motion, not 3 axis motion tilted in A or B. You are right about the WPC, it can be set at any plane and threadmill in a locked (3 axis) position.

You can't do it with Mazatrol, except by using the manual G code option within Mazatrol. There is no such thing as threadmilling in 5 axis mode.

There are some excellent new videos, tutorials and .pdf files to see on the www.cimco-hsm.com website. The guys at Cimco have gone to great lenghts to properly explain and demonstrate the features of the Performance Pack. Great job Cimco

Let's not get too excited....it's only a piece of software after all No more exciting than getting a new machine.

I've played with it a bit and it looks very promising. I am not sure what market it will appeal to, but it does look slick.

Do you guys think that the sky will fall and locusts will invade the earth if you say the word GIBBS? try it, it doesn't hurt (that much) GIBBS there....it is getting easier now. GIBBS

Do you have all your retracts, depths, etc. set to incremental?

Formerly as a licensed machinist- up to about $25/hr. As a programmer that number approached $30/hr. In Mastercam Sales, approx $6.75 per hour, but I get free business cards and a new Mastercam mouse pad with every release so it's all worth it.

Nice videos Travis. I am trying to sell to a guy that wants to get into 5 axis routing for chair backs, so I will steal your video. What kind of machine are you using?

It is excellent. Charles does a lot of explaining, which is different from the step by step format of most CAD/CAM books.

Bob, please send the file to tech support with details of your problem. I can drop by to see if I can help next week if the problem is not solved by tech support. [email protected] thanks

Have you contacted tech support at Inhouse? I am in Ottawa next week, so let me know if there is anything I can do while in town to help. How did you update your post from V7 to V8? Please email [email protected] or me directly.