Multiple Circular Pockets?

[Pegasus]

I have a question. I have many circular pockets that I need to mill (about 400 in all).

My problem is that I can only “post code” one pocket at a time, mill it and then go back to the wizard and do it again. Is there a way to APPEND the POSTED code so that it doesn’t create a new program every single time?

I would love to be able to enter the coordinates, POST CODE, then enter another position, POST CODE and so on until they are done.

Will this wizard allow it (Mach 2) or am I missing something?

[Brian Barker]

I have sent you an Email off list

[Pegasus]

Brian,

Thanks for all of your help last night. You are truly a man in touch with your customers.

For those that were not in on the many emails BEFORE I purchased my license, Brian came to the rescue with a solution to the problem I was having:

I had a need to mill about 400 circular pockets .402 inches in diameter with a .25 inch end mill .50 inch deep. Because I did not have a drill bit of this diameter I could not use the Rectangular Bolt Hole pattern wizard. Even if I *did* have a bit that size, the shank wouldn't fit on my 1/4" router.

We discovered a minor bug in the wizard that would not allow any circular pocket with anything less than a .51 inch diameter to be milled with the .25" bit I was using. Brian quickly found the problem, fixed it and sent it to me in about 10 minutes... All of this for an as-yet-unlicensed user!

The update worked great, I bought my license, and irritated my neighbors to no end by milling circular pockets till midnight!

I just had to come here and give Brian some kudos and to let everyone know (if you didn't already!) how committed he is to his customers!

Pegasus In Houston

[williecnc]

Hi Brian,
I have a similar problem.
Iwant to machine multiple pockets but each one progressivly smaller and inside the last one.
An example would be similar to the turners cube..
I have a license for the NFS wizards.
Any help will get my everlasting gratitude and a card for xmas.

Bill files

[Ron Ginger]

First, it is a feature of all the Newfangled wizards that they let you build a cumulative program. You can run as many sub-wizards as many times as needed and they will all build in one file. When you finally exit from the wizard you will have one big file that does it all. Just remember, each time you run the wizards they build the same filename, so if you create a big file you want to re-use be sure to save it before you run the wizards again.

The multiple pockets will work, but each deeper pocket will assume the top of work is at z zero, so it will do a lot of 'air cutting' as it works its way down. There have been requests for setting the top of work at something other than zero, but Ive been afraid to do it because there are a lot of ways that could generate code that breaks tools and I hate doing that.

Depending on the depth of each pocket you might be able to fake it with setting the depth for each pocket to be made in one cut For something like the turners cube this could work, since each pocket is not deep.

[williecnc]

Thanks for the response Ron,
I might try to edit the program  using offsets to save cutting so much air.
I am using Mach3.
BF

[vmax549]

Ron at SOME time you are going to have to trust that the operator understands what the top of material means and knows how to use it properly(;-) It would be a great time saver to be able to set top of material instead of just clearZ.  Being that we can compile a complex program from wizard moduals it is about time we can control top of material settings for each modual. OR what is the point of being able to compile the moduals into one program?

(;-) TP

[williecnc]

Assuming that I edit in  offsets between each module, would I have to cancel each offset at the end of each module. If so what G-code do I use. I am only learning to understand G-Code
BF

[fisherjim]

Perhaps a datum shift wizard?.

jim.

[Ron Ginger]

If the depth of each pocket can be cut in one pass then it should work. Just specify each pocket, starting with the top one for the full depth and for a step down of the same size. If each pocket cannot be cut in one pass this wont work.