Exactly what Roger said. Have your post output a "Q" instead of a feedrate. Then anytime the machine is running, you can single block, hit the "Q" key, change your value, hit enter, change back to full sequence, and off you go with your new feedrate.

Sorry, I guess I need to clarify myself. I am not running a mazak at all. The production engineer used to run mazak's and he was the one talking about tool priorities. I was just wondering if there was a way to take 2 programs and translate 1 of them 22" on the Y and then let mastercam decide what operations it can do while the tool was out and apply them to 2 different programs to create 1 NC program.

Greg

Hi all,

I did a search in here but i couldn't find the answer I was looking for, so I hope someone can be of help. I am making 12 parts of "A" and 4 parts of "B". What I have been doing is making 2 at a time of the same part. I have a program and have been transforming the program by coordinate and operation type at a 22" Y spacing to produce two identical parts. Well now shipping dates are becoming an issue and we need 3 part A's and 1 part B. So, are production engineer tells me to do the parts this way. He's a mazak guy all the way and he tells me just to prioritize the tools. Is this possible with MC? At most we are going to lose is 10 minutes of tool change time, so if this would become a complicated mess, I am all for letting them run 1 at a time. I was just wondering if there was an easy way to go about doing this.

Thanks,

Greg

I always thought there was a science to machining a part. I just didn't know you had to be a scientist to be a machinist....sorry, couldn't resist.

Woohoo, finally someone in here speaking my language! I believe are dealer got the conversational post that Dave Thomson just described, by the way, works great. We have 2 tnc430's, 2 tnc415's, and either 2 425's or 426's (not sure which from here). Been programming these on the floor for 14 years and they all program the same in conversational. Just a few "upgrades" from a machining standpoint that I see from a machinist's side. 3d rotation switch is kinda cool for setting jobs at angles too, also makes programming with a universal head on, very simple. We used the same post for all of our controls making minor changes for differences in each machine. here is as sample of the code creating a circle:

291 CC X+10.75 Y+0

292 L X+10.75 Y+0 R0 F MAX

293 L Z+Q68 R0 F MAX

294 L Y-1.06 RL F20

295 C Y-1.06 DR+ RL F50

296 L X+10.75 Y+0 R0 F MAX

In conversational you have 2 options the rnd (round) button or the c (circle) button. you must describe a circle center before the circle. These are the gray keys at the bottom of the keyboard.

The extension on the control will be a .h file. Any questions I can answer, I'd be glad to help.

Greg

Ezra,

I filled in the pocket drawn by Inventor with a solid I created in Mastercam, 1/4" bigger than what was there, then I created the new geometry and extrude cut it back out of the mastercam solid. My question is does mastercam think the pocket that was "filled in", or does it think it now has 2 pockets in there? OK, it just hit me like a ton of bricks...Don't try putting the solids together. Keep them on different levels and use the proper one when I machine that area of the part. Sometimes the mind just becomes overloaded and tired...

Greg

Good day all,

I have a solid drawn in inventor 7, that low and behold has a pocket screwed up on it. It is 3.25" tall x 2.75" wide x 2.75" deep. It also has an undercut on 1 edge at the bottom. It was created with too small of fillets on it if you were looking down from the top. My question is: If I was to extrude stock back into the hole making it 1/4" bigger on the widths and depths that was there and the create geometry and extrude the proper stock back out of my solid I created, would it cause a problem when creating toolpaths? Will it mastercam still see the inventor solid also?

Thanks,

Greg

James read that a half an hour before you. He has a T3 line, back here in Indiana, we've got all of 56k. You'll never beat him....Who said there was more than corn in Indiana?

plasttav,

This is exactly what I was hoping to find, it works just as you said, with no room for error should it be used with a different tool, radius, etc. Thank you.

Yet again I was trying to be stupid but safe and mastercam pulls through once again.

This will never be an option for me 3 shifts, 6 machines with about 3000 handwritten programs up to 3000 lines apiece and all journeyman machinists running them. That would be great if it was just me programming them, but it's not and probably won't ever be.

Thanks to all who have responded, it just gives me more ideas to think about all the time, and all the different ways people do things.

Greg

The problem I have is with using an 1-1/4" cutter is they are 2 fluted. Both tools mentioned are apft/apkt cutters from Carboloy. The 1-1/2" is a 3 flute. The part has 8 sides to it and each slot is anywhere from 60 - 86" long with each pocket around 3-1/4" deep. That's roughly 10,000 inches the machine will travel at approximately 3/8 depth of cut per pass. I put a 2 fluter in there and slow the feed down, I am gonna get my butt spanked.

I sorta lied to make the thinking easier... They are using cutter comp, stepping down the depth 3/8" at a time to +.002" per surface not +.010" on the side so they only have to take 1 pass with an endmill at depth taking off the .002" I just mentioned. I went with .010" before beacause the math in my head was simpler.

I was just looking for a way around mastercam's thinking that could get me into the least amount of trouble with them using cutter compensation. Or if they do use a tool with a 1-7/16" diameter, I don't want them to come back and blame me for how I toolpathed it and it didn't leave stock in the corners by going with just a rectangular toolpath drawn.

I don't yet have the mastercam's way of thinking in my head, been programming on the floor for 14 years and I can see how the hackers could screw things up. Sometimes I swear they even try to on purpose. Just trying to come up with the most logical and safest way to foolproof myself.

Thanks for the reply's and ideas. I think I am going to make the radius just a bit bigger to cover myself in all aspects.

Greg

Hi all,

I am milling a slot using a simple 2d contour and having a problem when it gets to a corner. It a a slot that is open (runs out of the part) on one end and has .750" radius in the corners at the other end. I am using cutter compensation in the control which the operator requested. I have created geometry above the solid and chained it. the geometry I created is an exact duplicate of the perimeter, 3.500" wide x 86" long with .750" fillets in the corners. I have also told the xy stock to leave to be .010" so I can finish this with an end mill at the final depth. I also do not have the filter on for the post to read "create arcs in xy".

The problem I am having is not necessarily the post or maybe a checkbox of some sort I am not seeing. I am using a 1-1/2" cutter and the program is creating arcs at the corners using circle centers, so when it gets to the corner it is trying to mill a .74" internal radius with a .75" radius cutter, which obviously can't happen. I am able to correct this by:

1) not filleting my chain at all so it sees a square corner.

2) putting a .76" fillet in the corner so when it cuts to +.010" it is then a .750" radius.

3) offsetting the whole contour by .010" and telling the xy stock to leave at 0.

My question is am I missing something obvious that would allow me to keep my geometry as drawn? Is it something that the post should notice and needs to be modified? Or am I doing this the correct way?

Thanks,

Greg

First car '68 Torino GT - 390 with 428 heads toploader, hooker super competition headers, 4:11's, tri-power off a 406...... ah, the good 'ol days.

Rekd, 155 on my bike, 160 on my buddies GSXR1100 and 118 on glare ice with a cop pointing a radar gun at me on my sled at a local lake.

The stupid things we do.........

Dodgers??? Go Corkies, I mean Cubbies..

Fire dragons evil twin perhaps?

If I didn't spend so much time on this forum, I would never have been able to produce anything. And if the guys didn't spend so much time on here helping others, we (newbies) would have nothing to read and learn from.

Kevin,

Personally, I would set up 2 vises with stops on the side to set the part if the quality of help is that bad. I'd just drill and countersink, on all the parts, 2 at a time all the first side. Then i'd set up a subplate and bolt them down with a washer in between the bolt head and the face to protect the surface. Drill, counterbore and perimeter all of them. Done. Just my opinion.

Beer o'clock,

Greg

Kevin,

More info needed... You are showing 11 x 11. Is that a scale size or a mic size? 1 part or multiple parts? Can the machine fit more than 1 part on it if you need to make alot of these? What kind of finish is it calling for on the perimeter? Can you get away with just cutting 2 sides and calling the other 2 finish as they are? Let us know.

Greg

Noel, I second that 100%. On your way down there, get a bigger truck and pick me up on the way. Actually was just down there for the race in march at Darlington. Was that a race or what? Spent a couple of days in Mooreseville and the surrounding areas for a couple of days. Went to all the nascar shops too. Very cool... except, being a machinist and all, I wanted to see the machine shops and all I kept getting was a big NO! All the wifes idea too, she's a keeper. Anyway, 3 month newbie here, getting better each day thanks to all of you on this board.

Greg

robk,

That's the rumor they told us too. The menatality around here was crank it up til it breaks, then back it down a notch. We'd send facemills, indexable drills, etc, out to be rebuilt by the dozens. But we have gotten into an approach to keep the spindles going unattended, which means slower speeds and feeds and longer tool life. But I'd be willing to bet my paycheck, with all of my mastercam knowledge (3 months) that we will get to try out that warranty soon enough. Are floor bar goes 934 ipm at rapid, might not be that fast, but considering it has 394" of travel, it could get real ugly real fast....

On the subject of new tools. We just bought 5 Mitsubishi AQX 1-1/2 diameter milling cutters. We tried one out on some 4140. 525 sfpm, 26 ipm at 7/16" depth of cut. Anyone else using these? Just wondering how they hold up in different applications.

Greg

thad,

Just thought I'd share with you what we use integers for in our posts.

We have 2 retrofitted horizontal boring mills with conversational controls on them, so my m-code will look foreign to you just as everyone's in here does to me, but I'll do my best to explain. The spindles travel anywhere from 0-18" but only in 1" increments, M50-M68 (M54 = 4" spindle extension). If I don't check the misc values box the post is set up to "force" a M54 after every tool change to set the spindle length. If I do check the misc values, I have the option of changing my spindle length using the mi5 value.

We also have 2 horizontal boring mills and a floor bar with conversational controls on them, where the spindles use the W-axis as there moves. If I don't check the misc values box, the post is set up to "force" a W-4 move using a real after every tool change to set the spindle length. If I do check the misc values, I have the option of changing my spindle length using the mr5 value.

This way we are keeping everything the same yet different with our posts by forcing a 4" spindle extension no matter what, unless we change them in our misc values.

The first 2 machines also don't have a home position for tool changes, so again we "forced" a Z+20 move in our post before each tool change for tool change clearance. (Nothing is as exciting as a tool change 10" deep in bore). Again we have the option of using the misc values to adjust for either more or less Z clearance as needed, depending on the tool length.

Is it beer thirty yet?

Greg

RStuart,

Just another stab in the dark here... Try putting a copy of the .txt file into your My Documents folder and see if the post reads it.

If I am right here, your .pst file reads a .txt file, and your second post you used isn't set up for the same integers or isn't commented in the .txt file. Just my most logical guess here.

First thing my teacher taught me at school was to activate the autosave every ten minutes and after every toolpath regen. Also to save it under a different name than my current mc9 file. This has saved me numerous times already when mastercam decides I told it something it didn't like. Not a solution to your problem, but a solution to losing the file you were working on.

Greg

When I went to school earlier this year, after 2 weeks of training, our dealer gave me a copy of the demo. Since I am the only one that uses mastercam at work, I have the ability to take our hasp home anytime I want, but do not like the responsibilty of having it. (I saw the the bill for the upgrade, schooling, etc.) The demo, schooling and this forum have been the best learning tools I have been able to get. When I went to school for our controllers 13 years ago, I could ask anyone here if I had a question. With MC, I am on my own. My opinion, keep the demos.

Greg