How to multi part

[Toddjones]

Hi I have a freind that needs to make washers and he wants to stick three inches out of the chuck and part off 1/4" washers and keep offseting. Is there an easy way to do that in Mastercam. I do not know what version her has!

[ESjaavik]

A 1/4" rod at 3" overhang, then do a parting operation?
Does he cut with a laser?

[E-Stop]

I took it as 1/4" thick washers x whatever dia the stock is. If so, why would you want to go thru the trouble with MasterCam for such a simple process. A quick macro or something would suffice, I think.

[Rekd]

Toddjones, the easiest way, (there are many ways to do this), may be to calculate how many parts he can get with that 3" of stock and the parting tool's width, create a single pass, then translate it the number of times you need. Or if you're comfortable with creating geometry quickly, just draw each parting line you can get with 3", and toolpath each of those. There's several ways to do it, just depends on how you're set up, and what your preference is.

Originally Posted by E-Stop I took it as 1/4" thick washers x whatever dia the stock is. If so, why would you want to go thru the trouble with MasterCam for such a simple process. A quick macro or something would suffice, I think.

Mastercam doesn't take rocket science to get simple programs off quickly. IMNSHO, It's just as fast or faster for me to do even a 1 operation, one cut program in Mastercam than it is to do it at the machine. Anything short of the most basic drilling cycle in 1 position without any moves is the ONLY thing that usually gets programmed on the floor. Everything else is done at the computer.

It's just faster.

[Toddjones]

Well thanks for all the quick responses. I do not think he knows much about macros.

To be a little more clear, what he is doing is taking 1.5 inch Delrin, facing it, drilling a hole, finishing the OD and then he wants to have the program multi part it in 1/4" increments without having to move the stock everytime as it would be quicker.

He has been leaving the parting tool at a pre set position and then manually moving the stock into position but I thought there would be a quicker way. that is all. He does not want to bar pull at this time.

Thanks

Todd!

[facegarden]

I am assuming this is on a lathe?

Either way, you should be able to program one cutoff operation, then go to "Toolpaths"->"Transform Toolpaths" and set it to repeat the cutoff operation a few times automatically. Search this forum for more information on using transform toolpaths in mastercam, I just learned it myself from here.
-Taylor

[Mike Mattera]

I Think Facegarden is on the right track for the most efficient way to do this. That was the first thing that came to my mind.

Mike Mattera