Tim, Click the Edit icon very top right across from your machine, a new window will pop up where you can select Cloud>download or upload, just click download and select from the list. Ken

Thanks Ken: I'll give it a shot. Tim M.

Hi Elder: I got a chance to download the "Low Range" Tormach 770 stuff you made available for us today after work. It came through OK; no problem but, I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Perhaps I misunderstood you somewhere along the line. According to the specs in my Users Manual for my 770 mill, (it's the older Series 1 model) when set on the lower drive pulley my max spindle speed is 3250 RPM and the minimum is 175 RPM. The numbers on the "Low Range" setup I downloaded from the cloud shows a max spindle speed of 5000 RPM and a minimum of 525. I must be misunderstanding something. Are the numbers you posted for the Newer Series 3 Tormach 770? Mine is the older Series 1 model. It could be that they have that much difference in power. I really haven't checked into the Series 3 models from Tormach. It could also be that they are just arbitrary numbers that I have to go in and edit all over again. I don't really know. Any way, this is really the first time I've taken a good long look at the Power-Curve information in the Edit window. If I'm reading it right, when I'm using the 10,000 RPM drive pulley it shows that I derive the maximum torque when my spindle is spinning at or between 2000-4000 RPM. (1.3 foot pounds) Is this correct? If so, does that mean that I can enter a spindle speed within this spindle speed range manually, rather than allowing the software to calculate feeds and speeds based on its own calculations and giving me what it has determined to be the Optimum feeds and speeds? If maximum torque is derived between 2000 and 4000 RPM and torque is what I'm after, is the HSMA software set up to work this way or do I have to take what it gives me and make adjustments off of that information? Tim M.

I have to get back at you regarding the RPM question. Yeah you can set any RPM you like and it will recalculate things accordingly.

I got a chance to try getting the HSMA software to calculate some feeds and speeds by choosing torque over spindle speed using the "Power Curve" feature of the software. Using my 1/2" end mill I manually entered 4000 in the speeds box and let the software calculate the feed rate based on that. Why 4000 RPM ? Because, according to the Power-Curve feature, at a spindle speed of 4000 I'm getting the maximum torque out of my Tormach 770 CNC hobby mill. Oddly enough, the feeds that were being calculated came out to 92-point-something inches per minute; and that was with the WOC manually set at .02". Even with the maximum torque of 1.3 being derived using the 4000 RPM spindle speed, if I had gone with the software-calculated WOC I'm certain I would have bogged down to a stand still. As it turned out, by reducing the feed from 92-plus to 70 IPM I got a very good finish with no hint of strain on my mill. The operation I was milling actually got done even faster than with my previous attempt at milling the same cutting path using the previously calculated faster feeds and speeds recipe with a much shallower WOC. This was with the 1/2" end mill. I also tried using this same 4000 RPM for my 1/4" end mill with a calculated feed of 64-point-something feed rate. I didn't reduce the feed rate here because I figured that the .01" WOC I had manually entered would be no problem for the clean up cutting path I was using it for. Bad Idea; the higher torque produced by using the 4000 speed snapped my 1/4" end mill seconds after it made contact with my metal stock. I hate having to break end mills in order to learn how to use this software but since there is no one set of definitive feeds and speeds recipe for any given milling scenario, it appears that a guy has to learn the hard way in order to figure this out. This same part I was machining also required the use of a 3/32" end mill just like before. With this little end mill I used the feeds and speeds recipe I used in my previous attempt. Using the higher speeds and with the software-calculated feed rate reduced by more than a third of what was calculated I was getting good performance out of those tiny end mills. In my case; using my hobby mill, it would appear that end mills smaller than a half inch do much better when spindle speed takes precedent over feed rates; provided I've reduced the WOCs and the DOCs by at least a third of what's been calculated. It's that darn learning curve! It's more difficult to traverse in some areas than others. I'm wondering if it would be any harder if I were using a full-blown milling machine with more rigidity and more horse power. I'm wondering if the more experienced machinists that use the larger milling machines don't post any whining posts like mine because they have no problem figuring out this software or, if they perhaps might be a little to embarrassed admit that there is a learning curve when it comes to this HSMA software. I am making progress; it's just painfully slow. Tim M.

Tim, Have to chuckle, not at you but with you, I've had to fight my way through everything, we are not born experienced machinist it is a learned ability and every one that does it goes through the same thing called a learning curve. Some are fortunate to get professional training, some with experienced friends and some of us the internet LOL. Experience is slowly picked up in bits and pieces over years and never really any time when you can sit back and say there is nothing more to learn. My experience with the pros (I'm definitely not one) is they are quick to laugh at themselves and tell of their numerous screw ups and just as quick to share their help, it's been invaluable at my own level of experience. Keep hanging in there, it all comes together sufficiently in the end to get a job done as you are finding out. Your equipment has limits, guess what, they all have limits, so forget what you don't have and continue on in learning to work with in the limits in what you do have. Remember when you first started and where you are now :) Ken

Thanks ken; It's good to be reminded that no one is perfect. I have a brother in law that is a professional CNC lathe operator for a plastics company in town. They use SolidCam for figuring out their tool path feeds and speeds; not just on plastics but on some of the metals they have to work with as well. Out of curiosity and a little frustration I asked him about the possibility of running some numbers using the profile of my Tormach 770. I just wanted to compare the recipes between the HSMA software and the SolidCam software to see if I can make any more sense of it all by doing so. Although I am making progress with the HSMA software, I feel like something hasn't quite clicked in my brain that would help me move forward any faster. I know that this "Clicking" has nothing to do with the software itself. It has to do with the way my brain cells process this kind of stuff. I'm still waiting to hear back from my brother in law. It's not his software so permission has to be asked. If I could afford it, I'd by a copy of this CAM software. I already use the SolidWorks CAD software so I think the transition might be a little smoother than learning a different CAM software cold-turkey. Tim M.

Thank for pitching in, Ken! Tim, Although I make every effort to support small machines, my target users are professionals with solid machines and proper tooling. I myself spent 10 years programming and running those. See, when a machinist/boss buys top-notch machine and tooling he is just not interested in mediocre machining rates. And even there they often want and do push harder than my calc suggests. When you are running something like a tormach you need to go slower and shallower. I think I suggested moving the performance slider all the way to the left in your case. Any way you have to back down if you are getting bad results. Find the perfect overrides and remember to use those. Also My calculator works with the data it knows. If you are feeding it a wrong data, bad things will happen. 0) Make sure you have Manufacturer S&F at default. 1) Make sure your tool and flute length is set up properly. 2) Also that you are not overloading your mill. That is all I can suggest. I know from my own experience that you should not be breaking endmills when everything is to "out of the box". Please do keep us updated. Regards.