[kstrauss]

Setting the tool diameter in PP improves the tool path display. I don't believe that it serves any other function unless you are using cutter compensation.

[SoCalPlaneDoc]

I am thinking that the tool table and the offset page in PP or Mach are one and the same?? I just set the offsets for the tools that I have in holders and use them until they are dull or break etc., saves going thru all of them, just set the new/odd ones and done.

I do use the tool library in Sprutcam and its set up the same as the offset page in PP as far as the tool numbers and diameters, PP sets the length of them. I have never used a diameter in PP. If I need to change the diameter I do it in sprutcam with the tool diameter or the stock option.

I use HSMworks with PathPilot, it works the exact same way.
i have my vernier height gauge ( A vintage Starrett handed down from my grandfather ) sitting on the Tormach granite block with the hole in it and placed within reach of the PathPilot computer. Setting 10 tools in 3 minutes into the offsets table is easily doable but must be done before the program is run as you cant access the offsets screen while it's running a program.

At work we have 4 Haas machines, but the shop manager is still using Mastercrud 9, reciting the old "if it works why change?" line. He still hasn't experienced the benefits of advancements in CAM software.. gave me that puppy-head-tilt look when I asked about adaptive strategy...
But hey, the title on the door says "engineer" so, what the heck do i know anyway?

[mountaindew]

At work we have 4 Haas machines, but the shop manager is still using Mastercrud 9, reciting the old "if it works why change?" line. He still hasn't experienced the benefits of advancements in CAM software.. gave me that puppy-head-tilt look when I asked about adaptive strategy...
But hey, the title on the door says "engineer" so, what the heck do i know anyway?

What is wrong with Mastercam? I have never used the program but the local college cnc program teach and use Solidworks combined Mastercam. Well last time I walked thru their building a couple years ago. Easy to see it on all the lcd screens in the glass wall classrooms the cnc program is housed in. Maybe a local company or companies use the program and they tailor their program to them.

[C*H*U*D]

At work, I have our knee mill with a 2-axis ProtoTrak right next to our VMC. It's always getting jobs handed off to it from the VMC. Some things I can work faster on the knee while the VMC is running, than to wait and do a separate program. At home I have no choice and everything is done on the Tormach.

[jttoner]

Sometimes I find a drill press to be faster and more convenient than my Tormach. So I fire up my made in China Craftsman, (had it for six months before learning they were no longer made in USA). I watch the chuck do a hula dance, then I bite the bullet and go back to the Tormach. Yesterday I bought an old Delta DP-220(?), sn 4-5638. It's probably older than I, but runs great and the spindle is free of any wobble. Oh, its a floor model with a 1/2" Jacobs. I'm sure it will fit the bill.

[popspipes]

I do my flat head screw countersinking on the Bridgeport, its easier because I can hand operate the spindle and accurately set the depth. I clamp a scrap piece of UHMW in the vise and use it like a drill press.

[MFchief]

Seems like the consensus is you just do what makes sense for the particular job you're working on. Makes sense to me!
Terry

[eltejano]

When you do conversational programming on pathpilot, it uses this to know the tool diameter for lead in and such. If you don't have them in there, it will lead in the center of the tool because it has no way of knowing The diameter. It leads in and plunges instead of coming in from the edge.

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