Messages

3941

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Five Fold Knot---not working HELP!

« on: January 01, 2011, 08:18:14 PM »

BTW,
Fillet Corners commmand in the Tools tab is not functional to my knowledge  but would have been a quick fix for some of this.
You can hack away at the command.......i just don't remember how much effort i put into it .....was two years ago!
Better to just do as Russ said and CAD it.
 
RICH

3942

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Five Fold Knot---not working HELP!

« on: January 01, 2011, 08:09:29 PM »

For the "pain in the neck ones" you can also select the closed entities, move the cutting start point to somewhere else on its profile ( click again where you want it to stay).
When you post code make sure you turn off profiles / chains not wanted.

What is causing the pain is that LC is automaticaly selecting the start point, but, when trying to create an offset at those points it senses that you will not stay on profile ...i guess ? and thus either dosen't do the pathing / rounds / or changes the path " to help the user avoid a machining error".

RICH

3943

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Five Fold Knot---not working HELP!

« on: January 01, 2011, 07:40:33 PM »

Hey Russ,
Good to see your LC  memory is still good....
RICH

3944

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Five Fold Knot---not working HELP!

« on: January 01, 2011, 07:15:20 PM »

There is a manual for LC in Members Docs and most anything i know is in it.
RICH

3945

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Five Fold Knot---not working HELP!

« on: January 01, 2011, 06:19:33 PM »

After I clean it and optimize it I don't have rapids going to all the chains. How do I fix this? Or what causes it?

Is it the pro license?

Nobody knows what causes LC to do some of the things it does and maybe that is why it is Beta and will remain that way.

You can quickly just provide pre drawn inside and outside offsets in CAD as a work around when something is buggy and get the pathing.
Sometimes just enlarging the scale of the piece generating the code and rescaling in Mach is a work around.

One of the things LC will do is change the pathing because the tool diameter is to large to use in the offset, same for a sharp corner on an inside since it can't be offset......

I can play with the dxf and probably find a solution. The advantage here is that i can do ten things to it quicker than i can type this reply.....

BTW...I don't yell at LC  so she still kind of likes me,

RICH

3946

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Five Fold Knot---not working HELP!

« on: January 01, 2011, 04:57:25 PM »

p...head,
When you inport the dxf into LC and then clean it, you should see that there is a rapid to each closed section, if not,SETUP>Loading Option.... and set the
connection line tolerance to 0.0001". Then re-inport the drawing and see if there is are rapids to all the closed sections.

A few pics attached showing that it imports fine, then i just did machining of the circular outlines, tried doing an outside offset and seems its trashing a few circles.

You can select individual closed section and define the machining.....

Not sure what you are trying to do with it.


RICH

3947

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Milling parts from end of stock

« on: January 01, 2011, 01:27:09 PM »

I use a a shop vac to take the chips away along with a cutting fluid ( hand sprayed / too lazy to add a drip nozzle ). Nothing auto in my hobby shop.
Don't like the air spray since the chips go all over the place and not good fom a safety point of view ( they would fire you if you did that at the company shops ).

The roughing end mills are great for fast material removal especialy in Al.

Over time i have read a number of technical books on milling. Cincinnati Milacron had a book alll about the testing they did with end mills and the SME continues to research
with member companies. That said, there has been advances in tooling etc and a lot of the companies have tech info. After a while you find it's just automated in a some program and refined
particular info is presented. Same basic rules with the clarifier to adjust based on testing of your machine, material, etc.

Thus i am attaching copy from Cleveland tech section on end mills as the info is still good.
See page 6....pick the material and look at the recomended feed chip load for size of end mill, and get spindle rpm range.
Use the other info to adjust and easy calc to get you in the ball park.


I actauly did a spread sheet for the Atlas Mill based on available spindle speeds fly outs of info, and does all the calc's
( never use it ....easier to look at the tables ).

Carbide is great, but watch it as you can break them easier than say cobalt end mills. Backlash can kill one on a deep cut .


from the hobbiest FWIW,
RICH

 

3948

General Mach Discussion / Re: Making a tapered thread. Please help

« on: January 01, 2011, 11:28:49 AM »

TramAlot,
Normal practice would be to cut the taper first and then do the threading to the taper.
Two different programs with different pathing.
Not sure what you mean.

It is possible to do some "unconvention" machining.
RICH



 

3949

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Milling parts from end of stock

« on: December 31, 2010, 09:20:17 PM »

Russ,
This link can calc what your asking.

http://www.custompartnet.com/calculator/milling-speed-and-feed

There are other sites as well. I usualy just use the info  or charts that are in Cleveland Twist Drill / end mill technical section. It provides a good table for chip load to rpm and is easy to use.
Sometimes nothing beats the good old paper sheet in hand.

RICH

3950

General Mach Discussion / Re: Heads up on CADCAM offer from Dolphin UK

« on: December 31, 2010, 04:21:50 PM »

Tried that Hood with my hand held up showing five fingers. Then candy making gal called a big guy who came out from behind the curtain and gestured 5 with a closed fist.
Red light district just has a language all of it's owne i guess. Lucky i can run fast......
RICH