I crashed today and now my spindle orient is off. Does anyone have an idea as to how to fix it? Everything seems to work fine but when I go to do a tool change the spindle keys are off from the arm. My machine has the Win Max control version 7. I would think there would be a spindle orient adjustment somewhere. Thanks in advance for any help. I will post a pic of the wreck tomorrow.
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I need some Hurco help!
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I want to retrofit my lathe for CNC... and I want Domestic suppliers and service
Hi Guys!
Well, you all helped me out in bringing me into the world of CNC machining...
What a kick!!! It was both harder and easier than I ever imagined. I am certain you old dogs understand.
Anyhow, I have an American Turnmaster.. about a 11" swing on 96" centers.
If I could light it up... I'd actually start making a profit. Imagine the possibilities of that.
Anyhow, there are gobs of kits available.
But I will not deal overseas. Screw them.
Who can help me domestically? What really works???
Thanks again,
Mark
Well, you all helped me out in bringing me into the world of CNC machining...
What a kick!!! It was both harder and easier than I ever imagined. I am certain you old dogs understand.
Anyhow, I have an American Turnmaster.. about a 11" swing on 96" centers.
If I could light it up... I'd actually start making a profit. Imagine the possibilities of that.
Anyhow, there are gobs of kits available.
But I will not deal overseas. Screw them.
Who can help me domestically? What really works???
Thanks again,
Mark
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ALCRO Coatings
I had a previous thread about dry cutting but I figured instead of restarting an older thread I would ask about this particular coating.
I scored a dozen carbide end mills for $20 delivered off fleabay because the seller didn't have a very good description. This included 3 brand new Titan VI-Pros (2 1/2" and 1 5/8") which made it all the better deal. The coatings are listed as ALCRO, which I infer as the same or similar to ALCRO-Max (which I found a tidbit about cutting applications). In the other thread it is was clear AlTiN are a good candidate for dry cutting. But I couldn't find much info about ALCRO coatings, the best info being a manufacturers site that listed coating types and it said ALCRO works great in wet and MQL (minimum quantity lubrication) applications. It didn't mention if they were suited for dry cutting steel.
I would stop there and just settle on flood coolant but I recall seeing somewhere that Bill (or perhaps it was someone else?) was using these same endmills dry with better results than wet, but I wasn't totally sure.
Can anyone shed some light on if dry cutting is acceptable or even preferred with ALCRO before I accidentally burn up a set of these, especially after I was so pleased with finding for next to nothing. =)
I scored a dozen carbide end mills for $20 delivered off fleabay because the seller didn't have a very good description. This included 3 brand new Titan VI-Pros (2 1/2" and 1 5/8") which made it all the better deal. The coatings are listed as ALCRO, which I infer as the same or similar to ALCRO-Max (which I found a tidbit about cutting applications). In the other thread it is was clear AlTiN are a good candidate for dry cutting. But I couldn't find much info about ALCRO coatings, the best info being a manufacturers site that listed coating types and it said ALCRO works great in wet and MQL (minimum quantity lubrication) applications. It didn't mention if they were suited for dry cutting steel.
I would stop there and just settle on flood coolant but I recall seeing somewhere that Bill (or perhaps it was someone else?) was using these same endmills dry with better results than wet, but I wasn't totally sure.
Can anyone shed some light on if dry cutting is acceptable or even preferred with ALCRO before I accidentally burn up a set of these, especially after I was so pleased with finding for next to nothing. =)
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Getting manuals copied?
I have a old Dah Lih that I need manuals for. Dah Lih does not seem to have them for this machine as they only used the 10M control one year on this machine. I see the same machine for sale on ebay and wondered if I could pay them to get a set copied for a price? Are there places that can copy books like this? I really need these too.
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Troubleshooting Mori SH-403 SPN:1/EX0099
Hey Everyone,
We've been fighting a machine that has been having two errors; First is 7115 SPN 1: SP Switch Control Alarm and second is EX0099 Panel Alarm.
Now, I've heard a lot of discussion saying that this can be caused by the failing/failed Izumi 24VDC power supplies. I put a multimeter on all of those supplies in the cabinet and tested 24VDC coming out, 208VAC going in. Is there a more correct way to test this?
We've also changed out the hi/lo contactors with no results.
Any other ideas or suggestions would be helpful. We just had a second machine go down with the exact same errors as well :angry:
Thanks!
We've been fighting a machine that has been having two errors; First is 7115 SPN 1: SP Switch Control Alarm and second is EX0099 Panel Alarm.
Now, I've heard a lot of discussion saying that this can be caused by the failing/failed Izumi 24VDC power supplies. I put a multimeter on all of those supplies in the cabinet and tested 24VDC coming out, 208VAC going in. Is there a more correct way to test this?
We've also changed out the hi/lo contactors with no results.
Any other ideas or suggestions would be helpful. We just had a second machine go down with the exact same errors as well :angry:
Thanks!
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Production drilling Inco-625. Drill suggestions?
Hi guys. We have a mill job that requires us to drill a few thousand holes a year in the sides of some Inco-625 bar. I inherited the job and program, and right now I'm starting out with the same tooling that was used previously, but I am open to suggestions on anything that might last longer. The two hole sizes are 1/8" and 7/32", 0.200" and 0.300" deep respectively. Current program pecks with a cobalt center drill, then goes in with TiAlN cobalt stub drills. No through-coolant on the mill, unfortunately. Any thoughts to make this a bit less painful?
Thanks!
Thanks!
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Feedmill for 347sstl
Looking for a 3/4 to 1" feedmill with inserts best in 347 Stainless steel. Last time I ran this job I used a ton of 1/2 carbide cutters because the part needs to be roughed down in steps (3d part) and the ends of the tools just weren't lasting. Lots of material to rough out. Blank starts at 5" round. Boss is about 2.25" dia and angled at 45*. Best option would be to rough it in .03-.050 steps.
Anyone have anything they would suggest. Quantities are small (batches of 4-10) so I don't care about optimizing MRR to the best ...I care about tool life and being able to walk away from it while it runs. Machine does not have thru spindle coolant.
Anyone have anything they would suggest. Quantities are small (batches of 4-10) so I don't care about optimizing MRR to the best ...I care about tool life and being able to walk away from it while it runs. Machine does not have thru spindle coolant.
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Okuma MB-4000H Opinions
So we are putting in a new horizontal into our shop. With some kind of pallet pool or fastems type on the machine. We were pretty narrowed between Daewoo and Matsuura. But after more research, the okuma MB-4000H after talking to the salesman looked promising for us. I had a few questions.
1. mainly is the control mainly. How hard of a learning curve is swapping over to this OSP control versus Fanuc? If you have ran this control and are familiar with Fanuc. How much more powerful was this control. The sales man, is claiming the stock control pretty much comes with most of the bells and whistles pre installed. So there is no need to nickle and dime the price. And the control lookahead features are ahead of the curve versus buying all the fanuc options to make it run right.
2. Their wine rack matrix. Is it reliable? Is it easy to get out of a jam if something happens?
3. Pallet pool, How is their system? Reliable, able to do 24 hours a day with no hiccups?
I have always heard of Okuma, but I have only ever seen their lathes. So I am unfamiliar with them. I have ran a lot of horizontals, so not to worried there. Would love to have some real feedback from someone who has ran this machine.
Thanks,
Jim
1. mainly is the control mainly. How hard of a learning curve is swapping over to this OSP control versus Fanuc? If you have ran this control and are familiar with Fanuc. How much more powerful was this control. The sales man, is claiming the stock control pretty much comes with most of the bells and whistles pre installed. So there is no need to nickle and dime the price. And the control lookahead features are ahead of the curve versus buying all the fanuc options to make it run right.
2. Their wine rack matrix. Is it reliable? Is it easy to get out of a jam if something happens?
3. Pallet pool, How is their system? Reliable, able to do 24 hours a day with no hiccups?
I have always heard of Okuma, but I have only ever seen their lathes. So I am unfamiliar with them. I have ran a lot of horizontals, so not to worried there. Would love to have some real feedback from someone who has ran this machine.
Thanks,
Jim
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Machining Slots in Angle Iron
I have to make 50 brackets out of 1/8" x 2" x 2" long angle iron, 36 inches long. I need to machine two slots, centered, 1/2" wide by 11.5" long, located 1" from each end. I am going to use a 3/8 end mill to machine the slots in my Mighty Viper VMC-950. Ideally it would be great to hold the angle iron in two or three vises, but I know that the iron is going to chatter and possible collapse due to the vise pressure. I also thought about holding the angle by the leg, but I know the chatter will be terrible. I had thought about clamping the angle iron to the table using some sort of stop blocks to allow quick repeat of parts loading. This will be hopefully a long term project so building a dedicated fixture is acceptable, but not necessary. I was looking for any suggestions to load and hold the parts better than using a bunch of step clamps.
I googled and attached an image that shows sort of what I need to do.
I just thought that I could use a piece of 3" x 3" square tubing clamped to the table and the lay the angle iron upside down over the tube. This would give a nice support area, but still see needing to use a number of step clamps.
I am not looking to send these parts out to be laser/plasma/waterjet cut, I also don't have an iron worker. Thanks in advance.
I googled and attached an image that shows sort of what I need to do.
I just thought that I could use a piece of 3" x 3" square tubing clamped to the table and the lay the angle iron upside down over the tube. This would give a nice support area, but still see needing to use a number of step clamps.
I am not looking to send these parts out to be laser/plasma/waterjet cut, I also don't have an iron worker. Thanks in advance.
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Extreme newbie looking for advice!
Hi my name is ken first off. I am new to the site and to the machining world. I just bought an older mazak qt15. Looking for any advice on setup. Certain things that may make life easier. Also once machine is up and running common things to check for. Thanks in advance!
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Anyone Seen This? Fanuc Watch Dog Timer Alarm (920) Followed By Over Traveling
I was just getting in the swing of things with this late 80's Kitamura MyCenter 1 with a Fanuc 0M-B and was into a small run of parts and I got my first machine outage and hoping someone else has come across this and can point me in the right direction to see if I can self-diagnose before getting a tech involved.
I was in the middle of running the same program I've ran a couple dozen times without issue and all the sudden it stops cutting. I walked over to the machine and it threw a "920 Watch Dog Timer Alarm" - there was a ton of garble type code on the screen so I took a picture of it just in case I needed it. It would not respond so I had to power off.
At that time I recalled the previous owner saying how in the summer they had a hard time keeping the machine running if they didn't open the cabinet with a fan directed in it. I was thinking (or at least hoping) this was all it was since it is very hot in there, as hot or hotter than his shop was. I did a google search and saw that issue for many was related to heat so now I'm really thinking I got off easy with a simple over heat and will back and going in no time once it cools off.
I power off and put a fan on it just in case, power back on and it seems all is good and I'm feeling lucky and I'm going to restart my program. I go to home all the axis's (I have to select "Zero Return" and press "+" which each axis selected). Z homed fine. But X and Y overtravel and throw over travel alarms now. It's not that it has never done that before, but it was only with either Y or X, not both, and it is usually when I didn't have the axis backed off enough before doing the Zero Return or had the rapids up high and it overshot the limit. But at most I would have to retry the home 2 times before it would home and this was when I first got it some months ago, no issues like that in ages.
This time though I retried about a couple dozen times on each before giving up, and this was after rebooting the machine a couple times to be sure. I can hear it hit the limit with the Position screen is right before 0 on the screen but it keeps going instead of stopping like it normally does until it throws the overtravel alarm.
I'm thinking something fried something related to the limit switch logic. Aside from the age in general the electronics have been worrying me a little because there is some nasty goop built up in that cabinet over time that has made a film on some of the boards that I didn't notice originally. The place that had it for all those years had a lot of oil in the air to get that much in the cabinet it seems like... but I digress, sorry.
Long story short, has anyone experienced anything similar and have any ideas on where to start diagnosing or the hardware to look at replacing?
Thanks!
I was in the middle of running the same program I've ran a couple dozen times without issue and all the sudden it stops cutting. I walked over to the machine and it threw a "920 Watch Dog Timer Alarm" - there was a ton of garble type code on the screen so I took a picture of it just in case I needed it. It would not respond so I had to power off.
At that time I recalled the previous owner saying how in the summer they had a hard time keeping the machine running if they didn't open the cabinet with a fan directed in it. I was thinking (or at least hoping) this was all it was since it is very hot in there, as hot or hotter than his shop was. I did a google search and saw that issue for many was related to heat so now I'm really thinking I got off easy with a simple over heat and will back and going in no time once it cools off.
I power off and put a fan on it just in case, power back on and it seems all is good and I'm feeling lucky and I'm going to restart my program. I go to home all the axis's (I have to select "Zero Return" and press "+" which each axis selected). Z homed fine. But X and Y overtravel and throw over travel alarms now. It's not that it has never done that before, but it was only with either Y or X, not both, and it is usually when I didn't have the axis backed off enough before doing the Zero Return or had the rapids up high and it overshot the limit. But at most I would have to retry the home 2 times before it would home and this was when I first got it some months ago, no issues like that in ages.
This time though I retried about a couple dozen times on each before giving up, and this was after rebooting the machine a couple times to be sure. I can hear it hit the limit with the Position screen is right before 0 on the screen but it keeps going instead of stopping like it normally does until it throws the overtravel alarm.
I'm thinking something fried something related to the limit switch logic. Aside from the age in general the electronics have been worrying me a little because there is some nasty goop built up in that cabinet over time that has made a film on some of the boards that I didn't notice originally. The place that had it for all those years had a lot of oil in the air to get that much in the cabinet it seems like... but I digress, sorry.
Long story short, has anyone experienced anything similar and have any ideas on where to start diagnosing or the hardware to look at replacing?
Thanks!
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Cost of Heidenhain TNC 320 controls
I am looking into upgrading a control on a VMC (Bridgeport Interact 520) that currently has a TNC 151B control, was considering the Heidenhain Tnc 320 as a possible option.
My question is before I go getting various quotes for options,
what does the standard/stock 4 axis control cost?
Has anyone had any experience upgrading to Heidenhains new line of controls?
My question is before I go getting various quotes for options,
what does the standard/stock 4 axis control cost?
Has anyone had any experience upgrading to Heidenhains new line of controls?
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fanuc 15
i got a fanuc 15 control
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programming manuals say G13.2 I1.0 D2 F10.
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cuts a counterclockwise circle starting with cutter at center and leadin and leadout of cut is automatically done
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so i try it and it says unsupported code. why do they put stuff in the manual if machine does not do it??
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manual also mentions conversational programming but that feature is gone too. rumor to save on memory. hard to say i was not there when machine was new so i do not know what was deleted or turned off
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programming manuals say G13.2 I1.0 D2 F10.
.
cuts a counterclockwise circle starting with cutter at center and leadin and leadout of cut is automatically done
.
so i try it and it says unsupported code. why do they put stuff in the manual if machine does not do it??
.
manual also mentions conversational programming but that feature is gone too. rumor to save on memory. hard to say i was not there when machine was new so i do not know what was deleted or turned off
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Numeripath 8000b help
I have lost the programming manual for my machine so any help on this would be great.
Whenever I try and execute this line I have an error with the w variable G03X0.Y0.I0J=P106W=-P107
Thanks in adavance
Whenever I try and execute this line I have an error with the w variable G03X0.Y0.I0J=P106W=-P107
Thanks in adavance
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Chip/Coolant/Container Reaction
A friend just called with a question. He was machining 12L yesterday late. When he came into his shop this morning it was 80+degrees and almost foggy. The chips from yesterday, which he had taken out of the machine and put in a plastic tote were mostly all rusted and VERY hot and seemed to still be getting hotter. This is 10-12 hours later. He said it was actually starting to soften the plastic tote. He also said that when he was removing some of the chips from the machine tray yesterday, they seemed to be almost welded to each other.
A couple things I thought were that maybe there was a reaction between the chip, the coolant and the tote he was putting them in (plastic tote ??) ??
Another thing was that maybe the material was not what he thought it was?? He did say though that it seemed to cut like it should (12L) ??
Not sure what he is using for coolant, but he is mixing it with his well water which he tells me has a somewhat high iron content. The iron could explain the rust or maybe the coolant being mixed a little light.
Anybody have any other thoughts ??
A couple things I thought were that maybe there was a reaction between the chip, the coolant and the tote he was putting them in (plastic tote ??) ??
Another thing was that maybe the material was not what he thought it was?? He did say though that it seemed to cut like it should (12L) ??
Not sure what he is using for coolant, but he is mixing it with his well water which he tells me has a somewhat high iron content. The iron could explain the rust or maybe the coolant being mixed a little light.
Anybody have any other thoughts ??
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Haas gearbox problem
Well my first problem was I bought a Hass. My second problem was I bought a gearbox but in reality I do not do any work that requires that much torq. Now im trying to do damage control and not wast more money on nonsense repairs. My vf-3 is 2 and a half years old now, runs 1 shift, never been crashed, rpm's never go above 5000. This machine has been babied as far as not working too hard. We have had problems from day one with it having trouble shifting from hi/low or lo/hi gear. We have replaced the solenoid assembly in the back either 2 or 3 times. The first one was under warranty. The Haas tech just left and said we need a new gearbox. We do not even have 2000 spindle hours on the thing yet!!!!!! The tech said like 5 times that he was not able to answer my questions and that I am going to have to go over his head to get answers about this problem. I feel like he is hiding a know problem. I think Im being screwed over. Has any one else had a similar thing happen? What is the best way to make a claim about something like this? My next machine is most likely going to be Okuma or Makino haha The hidden expenses for something cheep!
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Shop Rate for a Long Term Job VS Standard Shop Rate
Not too sure if I have the best title for this thread. What I meant to ask is due you offer a lower shop rate for a job that will run a large number of parts vs. a short run of parts. I know that your shop overhead is the same, that's not what I want to debate.
Here's the scenario, a new customer comes in the shop yesterday and wants 5000 of this part and 5000 of another part.The first part is .375" x 3.5" 6061 seamless tube. The second part is .75" x .700" long. Threading on the OD and ID. ID threading does not go through the part Parts can be run on a cnc lathe with a bar feeder. No tolerances, just make sure the two parts fit together. I'll post pics of the parts. I quote the job and of course I am too high. I knew I would be, but the other shop is out of business. I know.... this guy caused the other shop to go out of business with his cheap parts. This again is not what I want to debate.
After the other shop's material cost, what they are making the parts for, they would have to be dropping a part every minute, I don't see that being possible on the part with the threading features.
What am I missing? I am willing to look at my quote again and see where I can trim the fat, believe I quoted high. I just didn't think that the other shop was making these parts as cheap as they were.
So do you charge a lower shop rate to get larger jobs? Looking at what these guys are/where charging they are at $20 or $30/hour. No way I want to do that. But do you lower your shop rate for longer production runs?
Here's the scenario, a new customer comes in the shop yesterday and wants 5000 of this part and 5000 of another part.The first part is .375" x 3.5" 6061 seamless tube. The second part is .75" x .700" long. Threading on the OD and ID. ID threading does not go through the part Parts can be run on a cnc lathe with a bar feeder. No tolerances, just make sure the two parts fit together. I'll post pics of the parts. I quote the job and of course I am too high. I knew I would be, but the other shop is out of business. I know.... this guy caused the other shop to go out of business with his cheap parts. This again is not what I want to debate.
After the other shop's material cost, what they are making the parts for, they would have to be dropping a part every minute, I don't see that being possible on the part with the threading features.
What am I missing? I am willing to look at my quote again and see where I can trim the fat, believe I quoted high. I just didn't think that the other shop was making these parts as cheap as they were.
So do you charge a lower shop rate to get larger jobs? Looking at what these guys are/where charging they are at $20 or $30/hour. No way I want to do that. But do you lower your shop rate for longer production runs?
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Soft jaw setups for small hex parts.
I am looking at setting up a job for 1/4" hex 303SS bar fed on the Okuma Cadet.
We have ran tons of 5/16" hex, so the only real difference is the smaller size.
For the 5/16" hex I got new jaw blanks from US Shop Tools and clamped down, turned the outside, and then cut the inside on the knee mill. I wanted them to be near the max diameter when clamped so that when open the hex will stay centered, and aligned.
If the hex turns in the jaws, it rips up the jaws as they try to clamp on the ridge, not the flat. (After 1,000s of parts)
In order to get the jaws set that small, I had to grind the T-Nuts pretty good, to get them to go that deep into the chuck.
It was about the max I could push them into the center of the chuck to grip down to the 5/16" (at wide open)
If I wanted just a "little bit more"... Should I be looking at a different set of soft jaw blanks?
Is there some trick I don't know about? ( I am a turning newbie, so yes there is. )
Thanks!
We have ran tons of 5/16" hex, so the only real difference is the smaller size.
For the 5/16" hex I got new jaw blanks from US Shop Tools and clamped down, turned the outside, and then cut the inside on the knee mill. I wanted them to be near the max diameter when clamped so that when open the hex will stay centered, and aligned.
If the hex turns in the jaws, it rips up the jaws as they try to clamp on the ridge, not the flat. (After 1,000s of parts)
In order to get the jaws set that small, I had to grind the T-Nuts pretty good, to get them to go that deep into the chuck.
It was about the max I could push them into the center of the chuck to grip down to the 5/16" (at wide open)
If I wanted just a "little bit more"... Should I be looking at a different set of soft jaw blanks?
Is there some trick I don't know about? ( I am a turning newbie, so yes there is. )
Thanks!
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clearing groove chips from blind hole
I have a problem with this! I have to tap a 3/4" -10 standard thread into a part. We are running a large run of these so we are cutting them out of bar stock. I'm grooving out the back side to help with deburring and have the thread come out clean, but I keep getting chip build up in the hole. I sent the drill back in, but it's just breaking my inserts on the next part. Any ideas on how to clear these chips??
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VMC Purchase- Opinions on various machines
Hi gents,
I'm currently in the market for a VMC, my first one, and would like some specific opinions on what to look for, along the lines of "Tree 1050VMC w/Dynapath".
I have quite a bit of experience with anything controlled by Fanuc, Dynapath and Haas. I was looking at a large Lagunmatic (40" table size or so) that came up for sale for $7000 near me, but I was too slow. A machine such as that fits the ticket. I'm not looking for new- I have a soft spot for 80's CNC's. CRT, yes please!
Having used many different VMC's for mould making, I'm expecting rigidity (no Haas's), power enough to rigid tap 1"-8, and decent travels. I'll settle for smaller travels/table sizes if the machine is robust. Slow rapids are not a problem. Japanese iron is my hope, and if I have to learn Mazak's control so be it.
My budget: $7000 ideally, $9000 for something that presents a cogent argument.
Since you've read this far, here are some photos. The first is what I usually set-up/run/program/maintain/troubleshoot. The second is one of my old set-ups on a delightfully large but horribly under-enclosed Kafo. It had a Fanuc 11M- it's redeeming feature.
The last photo is my recent purchase. More on that in a while. I appreciate all suggestions.
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I'm currently in the market for a VMC, my first one, and would like some specific opinions on what to look for, along the lines of "Tree 1050VMC w/Dynapath".
I have quite a bit of experience with anything controlled by Fanuc, Dynapath and Haas. I was looking at a large Lagunmatic (40" table size or so) that came up for sale for $7000 near me, but I was too slow. A machine such as that fits the ticket. I'm not looking for new- I have a soft spot for 80's CNC's. CRT, yes please!
Having used many different VMC's for mould making, I'm expecting rigidity (no Haas's), power enough to rigid tap 1"-8, and decent travels. I'll settle for smaller travels/table sizes if the machine is robust. Slow rapids are not a problem. Japanese iron is my hope, and if I have to learn Mazak's control so be it.
My budget: $7000 ideally, $9000 for something that presents a cogent argument.
Since you've read this far, here are some photos. The first is what I usually set-up/run/program/maintain/troubleshoot. The second is one of my old set-ups on a delightfully large but horribly under-enclosed Kafo. It had a Fanuc 11M- it's redeeming feature.
The last photo is my recent purchase. More on that in a while. I appreciate all suggestions.
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