HSMAdvisor 0.018 is avilable for download.

First of all we have a new feature.
It is Machine Profiles now users can maintain their own machine types.

Inside machine profiles users can specify machine power curve that allows to warn user if power required to make the cut is outside machine power curve.

Because of added new features version 0.018 now requires .NET 4.0 or later

Also several bugs have been fixed:

• Serial Key bug that caused some keys to malfunction and not recornise by the program.
• Comma/Dot decimal point in some locales have been fixed

Anybody could use a pair (or more) of push clamps around their shop.

Those handy devices convert your machine' table into a huge vise.
They are pretty mush irreplaceable when machining plates and other oversized parts that no ordinary vise will fit.

Several vendors offer their clamps. But many of them tend to be pricey. And those that are not, lack in quality.

And to be honest with you, it does not look like they are worth the amount of money their seller is trying to get from you.

In the mean time their design is simple enough to fabricate in any shop.

Here is a picture of two of four clamps i made for myself on manual mill withing 2 hours- sure beats buying mitee-bitees for 175$ a pop!!!

Made out of 5/8" thick D2 plate

1" long Shoulder in the front is tapped to 3/8-16 NC.

Slot for 1/2-13 bolt is sloped towards the back to prevent clamp from sliding under clamping pressure.

A thick 1/4" washer is used to protect T-slot from damage by the socket head.

I ll try to get more pictures tomorrow.

IMAG0540.jpg Drawing

Where do we stand and how did we get here.

When i first started FSWizard project one year ago in December 2011. I felt the need to upgrade my knowledge and skill-set regarding speeds, feeds and best cutting conditions.

Other calculators available at that time simply did not cut it for me.

One of them did not account for such important parameters as tool length.

The other did not care about such crucial tool geometry features like helix angle, shank diameter, lead angle and so on.

As a result i have endeavoured on a mission to build the best calculator that would accurately predict cutting forces, cutter deflection and suggest best cutting modes using all available tool data for multitude of combinations of work-piece/tool materials, coatings and tool types.

It has been a year of research, building cutter and material models, applying REAL MACHINING experience.

All results were tested in REAL PRODUCTION environment.

Today thanks to FSWizard, machines i work on produce 200%-300% more parts per day than 1 year ago.

It has been one year since i have started.
And i believe i have achieved my original goal.

Today The FREE FSWizard gives far better results than many expensive solutions available on the market.

FSWizard:Standalone is the only available program that will warn you if cutter will be reaching its breaking point.

In fact we see paying users of other programs asking their developers for features that have been long implemented in FSWizard.
And we see those developers finally moving out of their comfort zone and trying to improve their program's functionality.

Where do we go from here?

What does the future hold for this project?

No one really knows.
Unlike others who can talk the speed/feed game, I am not into marketing.
I don't do a particularly good job of persuading people that my product is the best thing that happened to the CNC world.

All i have is 2 hours of free time on my hands after work and a ton or real-world machining experience not many in the software business can brag about.

All that remains to say here is

I am not using words "product" ,"consumers" and "business" just by accident.

Next release version of FSWizard:Standalone 0.015 PRO will be a commercial product.

It will be sold as a 1 year subscription.

I am not yet sure about the pricing.
But i know that i will make it subscription-based and the price will be very affordable.

This is the only way to move forward on this.

If you have any comments or thoughts, i would love to hear them out.

Here are some samples of nested parts i did recently

In both cases back of all pieces were machined at the same time, dowel holes milled so that there would be a way to align top and bottom.

Ealot of material was lost, but it was a scrap anyways, so all i gained was alot of saved man-hours.

And here are 4 more pictures:

Hi-helix end mills have several advantages inherited with their design.

Simple math says that a an endmill with 45 degree helix angle directs 50% of the cutting force downward versus  25% for a 30 degree end mill.

Main advantages are:

• Higher rake angle directs more of a cutting force downward.
  This reduces side load on the cutter, that leads to less deflection and less tendency to chatter.
• At high axial engagement (deeper depths of cuts) more flutes remain in the contact with the work piece. This leads to much smoother cut, again reducing tendency of the cutter to chatter.
• High helix angle pulls chips upward and away from the cutting zone.
  This reduces chip re-cutting and helps prevent cutter from getting clogged up. This also allows to take deeper cuts and increases productivity.
• Because of higher helix more of flute length is being used in the cut. Better surface finish is achieved even when using the same chip load.
  Generally an end mill with 45 degree helix can be fed 30% faster than equivalent one with 30 degree helix and still achieve same surface finish.

High helix end mills also have disadvantages that a machinist has to take into consideration:

• With more of cutting force directed axially, the load on spindle bearings in downward direction is increased.
• Tendency for both the end mill and the work piece to pull out is increased. So a more rigid tool holding and work clamping should be considered.
• Higher helix end mills are also less stiff that regular helix end mills. This may cause more deflection and may become a problem when having to machine straight walls.
  This effect should be mostly diminished by lower side radial load, but it still needs to be considered in some cases.

The ONLY FREE CNC Speeds and Feeds Calcualtor

Confidently calculate cutting conditions for hundreds of work-piece materials and of combinations of tooling types and coatings.

• Accurately Estimate cutting forces involved in machining process and prevent tool breakage.
• Estimate machine power requirement and help choose best tool for the job.
• Suggest safe and practical Axial and Radial engagement values.
• Compensate for reduced-shank, long and extra-long tools.
• Improve cycle times and tool life
• UNIQUE feature that allows to set comfortable levels of cutter torque and deflection and prevent cutter breakage.
• Ideal for use as your Dynamic / Thoroidal / Truemill calculator

Please visit the project page for download link, support and instructions.
http://zero-divide.net/index.php?page=FSWizard_SA

If you cant, then dont clamp it at all!.
Skin it!

In here i have to program and machine several sets of roundish aluminum pieces with +/-0.001" outside tolerance. and within 0.002" thickness repeatability.
Instead if fixturing it one by one i decided to skim cut a 33" x 23" x5/8" to within 0.0015 flat. And then machine each piece completely leaving .005" outside to holt everything together.

Worked out great. 

for pics

Using Peck Cycle is often needed when drilling deep holes.
When using proper feed and speed no peck is required at depths of up to 3xDia for regular or 5xDia for High-Performance Parabolic drills.
At depths up to 10x, up to 5 pecks are required for regular  drills and up to 3 for Parabolic.
Anything over 10x Dia requires constant pecking of 0.5-1x Dia for regular drills and 1.5-2 Dia for Parabolic.

Since for programming you need a peck amount. Here are the numbers:

Of course our HSMAdvisor Speed and Feed Calculator suggests not only the Speeds and Feeds but also the proper peck depth for various drill types and depths of the hole.
It in fact was the first machinist calculator to do so. This feature was much later borrowed by our competition.

And here is a pretty image showing Peck VS Hole Depth for regular twist drill:

This not only means that peck amount should be different for different styles of drills and depths of holes.
But also that peck distance should be different for different stages of drilling the same hole.
Ideally we should start the hole with large pecks, that continually reduce as the hole gets deeper and deeper.

Let's find out how we can apply this knowledge when programming our toolpaths.
This is format for normal Pecking:

Renishaw OTS tool probe cycle for HAAS can set both length and diameter offsets.

Too bad there is no choice: it only puts absolute measured diameter of the tool into D- diameter offset and makes wear offset=0

But if your programming is done with the center of the cutter, then you actually only need the difference between actual and programmed diameters of the tool.

I.E.: When probing 5/8Dia end mill, we get D=0.6248. You would normally have to subtract 5/8 from it and leave the -0.0002 difference.

But there is an easier way

Problem: Work offset G54 Z0 shows some "weird number" which is very hard to relate to.

Can we make top of fixture show Z0=0.000 ?

Solution: