[Nate0918]

Hello all,

I just had a mastercam rep in our office today to give a demo. One thing among many that was mentioned was a material library and tool library. It appeared that information such as feeds, speeds, max depth of cuts, etc, for different tools and materials could be recorded in these libraries. Are there any libraries like this that are available for download where someone has already worked all of this out, or at least gotten close enough to build on? Just a thought!

[Matt Berube]

The MC install comes with some tool libraries. If you wanted more than that you could probably get somebody to share their library with you. Really you'll probably want to customize your libraries for the type of materials you normally deal with. Often times though many people are reluctant to give away files that they themselves spent many days customizing.

There are different ways to use the libraries also...

I have my libraries set up with the desired speed/feed. When I use tooling from the library the speed and feed is automatically set.

Alternatively, Mastercam can set the speed/feed based upon your current workpiece material. This would be the best option if you work on many different materials.

Personally I cut mostly annealed tool steel or prehard tool steel so I don't worry about setting up the material calculations.

You could also benefit from developing a "standard" tool library for each machine which consists of your most common tools that can always be used in the same tool # slot. You would then start a new file, import the standard list, then add special tools from other libraries as required.

[Mike Mattera]

No one has ever really taken the time to setup a Tool Library with HSS, Carbide, Cobalt etc... tools. The process Mastercam uses to caluclate Speeds and Feeds works well, when you give it the right parameters (Dia, Tool Material, SFPM, etc..). I've checked it against other references.

Mike Mattera

[lovecnc2003]

thanks

[mastercamguru]

It would be great if the tool library would give accurate feeds/speeds at will, but I have found it much faster to use a calculator. I have even used the MetCut book once or twice. The need for long or undercut tools makes that "tool library" that might work for me that much bigger. No time for that here.