This is a issue that goes WAY back....I remember trying to deal with this in V9. The force toolchange thing works, yet its a PITA to remember to do (and undo when you post) This issue is LONG overdue to be fixed

I recommend Drill Masters Eldorado. Gundrills are not that expensive, and they (Drill Masters) have always been great with their tech help. This hole would be no problem with a gundrill.

quote: I can't fathom spending $250K on a 40x20 VMC. You could get a nice 500mm HMC for that. +1000 This is what I was trying to say in my previous post. Not only can you get a nice HMC for the price, you most likely will be able to get some pretty nice tooling (tombstones, ect) along with it. And no...I am not talking about budget (ie Haas) machines either....

quote: Base is $194 options add about $70.I would do some serious shopping. In this economy, that is serious $$$ for a 1000mm machine. We just got a 800mm machine (Matsuura V-max 800) for much less than your base price. Granted, no probe, but all the other options are there.

I like these in the SK series.... http://www.lyndex.com/prod_advanced.asp?type=highspeed Balanced to something like 25000 RPM, no need for a shrinker, one holder can do many sizes & damn good holding power. Still....shrink fit has advantages also. How many tools in the toolchanger?

I used the Cimco version "Adaptive Clearing" and I liked it better than the Volumill package. Then, I did have the Cimco add in for over a year and only the short demo for the Volumill.

two workstations with one spindle? Never thought about it before...but I could see that being handy.

quote: Okay here is my test: X4MU3 2:37 with .0001 filter 48 seconds with .001 filter Windows 7 64 bit Dual Quad Core 2.66 ghz Xeon Processors. 12 gig of Memory Fx1800 Video Card Dual 24" Dell HD Motiors 2 320 Gig Sata 15k HDD I am VERY surprised to see these numbers. I am within 10 seconds of you with Core2Duo 6600@ 2.4Ghz. Only 2 gig of memory.....It defiantly makes me raise my eyebrow.

quote: List of updates/changes? Now this is getting ridiculous. Not only does CNC Software not publish a bug list....Now they are not publishing an enhancement list. From the "Whats New" .pdf...... quote: Improvements have been made across Mastercam including Toolpaths, machine and control definition, posts, Art, Design, Mill, Lathe, Router and Wire. Contact your Mastercam Reseller for information on specific quality improvments What a joke.....

This guy sells a mitsubishi knock-off that takes the mitsubishi insert. I have not tried the konck-off tool holder, but it might be worth checking out. http://www.maritool.com/Indexable-Tooling-..._180/index.html Also, Mitsubishi makes a few different chip breakers so some inserts might take less HP than others. I am partial to Mitsubishi stuff....if you can't find a distributor e-mail me.

I have also seen this with flow 5 axis ops.

quote: I use Ramsaver 25 times a day And I have an 8 gig Video card!!!!I have never heard of an 8 gig vid card...even in a 3X sli setup.

I have just noticed this with X4 MU2. First, I open a MCX file. Then go file, new, and try to bring in a .sldprt file (or parasolid) The part comes in just fine...except I cannot select it. The part shows up on my screen, I can shade it, but that's about it. View/fit does not even work. When I go to screen/statistics, it says "Current Mastercam file has NO entities"...yet on the level manager it says there is 1 entity. Note....it only does this if I first open a MCX file. If I open the .sldprt file first, it works just fine. Yesterday I discovered that if I import the file and have this problem...running ramsaver fixes it. Before that I was shutting down mastercam and restarting it. Even when you run ramsaver it tells you "DataBase Did Not Need to be Changed". This is happening on 4 different computers with various hardware configurations. Anyone else having this issue?

quote: 1) The addition of spring passes. 2) The ability to set individual speeds and feeds for rough, finish, and spring passes. 3) The ability for the system to realize that the final depth pass and final multi-pass should be combined, or a check box to do so. (or am I missing something here) 1- I believe this can be done already....set number of roughing pass to whatever you would like, and then under finish passes set 2 @ zero. My personal thing to do is to do 2 @ .001....seems to give me a bit better tool life than just letting the tool rub. 2 & 3.....always wanted this also.

quote: especially X4 MU2 since the trim preview for noobs and retards is finally gone. I find it ironic that the ability to disable an "enhancement" from a previous release is considered an "enhancement".

quote: What new, other than bug fixes, are we getting in this maintenance update?Translators (they don't have Solidworks listed, but they do have Pro-E, ACIS, and a couple of others)

I am looking for the rollover parameter (at least I think thats what its called) for the rotary axis on our H-plus 630. Basically, when its at B270 and you tell it to go to B0, it travels 270 degrees. I want it to go to the same point but only travel 90 degrees. I am pretty sure that there is a parameter to do this....At least on our MAM (which also has a 30i) when you are at C270 and you want to go to C0 it only travels 90 degrees. Any help???

Its a major PITA not to have a fixed bug list. I loaded MR2 and now I get to play with my personal list of known bugs (since there is no official list) to find out if they are fixed or not? Mastercam's competition sure does not have a problem admitting there are bugs...listing them and posting the date they were fixed. http://www.hsmworks.com/history.php Also...as I have stated MANY times before, bug fixes and maintenance releases should be 2 separate things. To fix bugs in a MR is like paying CNC Software to fix their own f**kup. Sure wish I got paid that way....

quote: parasolids work better anyway.. you can use SW cordinate systems to control your landing in Mastercam.. Unless you have customers that supply you with just .sldprt files.....which leads to another phone call, explaining what a .x_t file is, customer asking why you need it in that format, then they mess it up and send a later version of a parasolid file, another phone call, ect.

quote: The part I don't understand is that we have to use both interfaces. It sure seems like it would have been best to change all the toolpaths at once or just don't change them until it's figured out.agree 100%

can't resist..... quote: I see dead people

I believe MPMASTER uses the PWRTT to check if there is any rotary moves in the program. If there is none, it does not output a rotary move. I don't think that MPFAN has this logic built into it...tho I am pretty sure with a bit of playing around you can put it in there.

I prefer to load them up by the job. Problem I ran into was having 4 backup tools for tool 1. Other jobs used that same tool, but would run more parts. What I found was easiest for me was to use 1 of the racks for job A, another for job B, 2 more for job C, ect. Having multiple backup tools will throw any organization system out the door...That is why I went with what I did.

Don't forget...JB claimed to be "working with" HSMworks. With an endorsement like that....its gotta be good.

quote: It has 5x more look ahead (5,000 block look ahead to FANUC's 1,000).I am not sure of the actual look ahead numbers on the 840Di, but I thought it was more like 500. The difference is, when using COMPCAD (which is turned on by default on most of the Matsuura's I have used) the controller has the ability to take up to 50 blocks of code and compress them into one block (as in it makes its own spline). Very cool things happen because of this. You can open up your surface tolerance (on a fanuc I use .0001 and with the siemens I use .0005) so you have less lines of code...and it compresses those lines to even fewer lines. I have run some complex surfacing on both a MAM72-63V and a V-Max800 5AX. Same program (reposted with CamPlete)...the V-Max runs away from the MAM. Like everything, the Siemens takes a bit of getting used to, but I can tell you that we have 4 of them and they are the most popular machines we have.