Are there any openings for a Feature CAM programmer out there?

We have FeatureCam 2006 and never had a chance to learn to use it. Still stuck on BobCad Version 21. Do you do freelance work with emailed programs? What is your fee structure? Can I send you a print and get a quote from you. I need it posted to a Hurco Ultimax 4 control with toolchanger.

Hi,

Are you still looking for a programmer? Maybe I could help.

Let me know,

Dan

Dan,

Yes, I have the latest FeatureCam for 3D mill, 2007, but haven't been able to use it. Which version do you work with?

Do you have any small sample programs created in FeatureCam that I could test in my Anilam 6300 controller - on a Kent JM-450 small machining center.

Jim in NH

Hello I'm running 2007 3D and I have some programs I wrote in 3D. I could probably re-post for a anilam. But what are you looking for exactly?

We have our own injection molding machines and produce our own injection molds. I prefer to machine in Fortal Aluminum, send it out for a few microns of surface treatment for wear resistance. No steel heat treatment with the warping by a few thousandths, no grinding, machine right to the print. We have two Kent VMC with toolchangers. Both have the Anilam 6300 controllers. Esprit does offer a post processor for the Anilam 6300. I would not have bought the software without the post processors.

I am looking for a demonstration of your programming abilities as might be relevant to our product line, seen at www.hotgrips.com Our next project will involve producing cavity inserts in Fortal HF or HP as shown at http://www.fortal.biz It is Aircraft-Quality Aluminum Plate Comparable to 7075 T651.

We will be working with 3.500" x 3.500" x 1.750" blocks, and producing a number of different cavity sets for mounting a 1" x 1" printed circuit board (PCB). It would be easier if I emailed you hi-resolution images of our old housing cavity, since the new ones will be variations on the same theme.

My prints will be produced on BobCad V.21, because I am used to it over too many years. BobCad cannot perform like the Esprit 2007 3-D. I see you creating programs to cut the cavities. I can provide a list of available end mills, ball-end mills, tapered end mills for draft. Perhaps the first project will be with a simple .250 dia. ball-nose end mill. These cavities are relatively small, less than 2 cubic inch of material removed on each side of the mold. I will take care of the ejector pin holes, mounting holes, cooling lines for molding. I just need the cavity machined.

Can you email me at www.hotgrips.com so I can email you some images?

Does this sound like the kind of work you are comfortable with. The photos I will send you are the aluminum mold cavity blocks that create our handlebar-mounted switch housing as seen on webpage:

http://www.hotgrips.com/product_detail.php?ID=std_mount&cat=accessories&acc=N&ref=accessories#

Maybe you prefer to work with more relaxed requirements. If I were to send you the molded plastic pieces of the website's handlebar mounted switch holder, and ask you to simply make it again but with overall switch box outer dimensions that were 35% larger, could you work comfortably with those kind of instructions, rather than a print? It would mean you'd need to measure the part, take into account a shrinkage factor of .006" per linear inch. An injection molded part in the polymer we use, will shrink about that amount. If you made a 1x1x1 cavity, the part would mold and cool to .994 x .994 x .994 so you would make it 1.006 x 1.006 x 1.006" to anticipate the shrinkage and result in a 1.000 x 1.000 x 1.000 molded part.

Other future projects involve slightly larger blocks of Fortal Aluminum closer to X 7.000" x Y 3.500" x Z 1.875". In the larger blocks our cavities are half of our grips as shown on the same www.hotgrips.com website. I would define a profile of the grip in X -Y, in a BobCad drawing with sufficient detail and notes. And ask you to rotate it 180 degrees to form a cavity using Esprit. That cavity would become an injection mold for a new model of our product. I can more easily show this to you with hi-resolution JPEG images.

I see this kind of collaboration with a skilled machinist as a way to slowly become familiar with Esprit 2007 3-D and the Anilam 6300 controller.

I do not have formal machinist training, but I have had my own machine shop for 26 years, and I manage fairly well probably because I only do my own work, no outside custom machining. If I make a mistake, I just work out a solution or do it again. I don't mind working that way. I am semi-retired at 56, and work in a 1500 s.f. shop on the same land as my home. The injection molding machines are another 1500 s.f. and assembly, inspection, packing are another floor of 3000 s.f. above.

Jim

My first reply. I've been with FeatureCam since V1. Done some mold work along with all types of 3D and 4 axis work. I'd be interested in seeing your prints since I am also a 40+ year bike rider(HD).

Sure Jim, no problem.

Hay I'm sorry guys. It looks like I'm stepping on your conversation so I'm going to back off. Good Luck!:)

I just got your CNCzone.com posts, somehow it did not get emailed to me, or did not get thru to me, so when I checked today I found them. 5-21-07. I am just leaving to attend the EASTEC machinery show for the week. I won't be able to get into emails or be on the Internet while there but I will email you when I return. Meanwhile if you have any trial code you would like me to try as a demonstration of what you can do. It doesn't need to be a grip mold cavity half, nor a housing cavity half, just something that will demonstrate a similar shaped cavity. Also, if you could give me an idea of how efficiently you work, and what such a cavity code might cost in terms of your FeatureCam time. I realize that is broad, and that if you needed to (of course you will need to) make changes, adjustments that I will pay for your FeatureCam time for that...

Jim