One of the most versatile ways of clamping irregular -shaped parts is with use of soft jaws.

In this one I had to machine a triangular-shaped part from two sides.

It is going to be some sort of a part holding jaw for a robot.

So step one: Machine one side of the part in vise. hold on to 1/8" of stock. So make sure to cut your part on a bandsaw oversize.

Step Two: Bolt soft jaws to your vise and machine a pocket using outside contour of your part.

Be sure to relieve corners.

Step three: Clamp your part in the soft jaws and machine the second side of your part.

One important thing to consider is: this method is not very accurate. depending on the size and a shape of your part you may be able to hold it within 0.001" though.

See attached photos of the steps below.

1. Machine one side 2. Machine pocket in soft jaws 3. Clamp the part 4. Machine the second side

I had some unfortunate troubles initially releasing the mastercam hook this month.

But thanks to the feedback from my users and the fine folk from eMasterCAM.com community they are now over!

Updated installer is available here-> http://hsmadvisor.com/index.php?page=HSMAdvisor_for_MasterCAM

Cheers!

Recently I had to machine a few pieces after turning.

Because the very top of the part was supposed to be machined off, I could not clamp through the central hole like I often do.

Decided to quickly turn an expandable washer out of aluminum and a plastic spacer that would collapse a little bit under clamping pressure and allow the part to sit firmly against the base of the fixture.

I liked this method so much I am going to do the same next time I have similar part to make.

See pics below.

Later on i will try to post some more pictures of other setups I did.

All the pieces apart Fixture, spacer, expandable washer, FH screw Workpiece mounted on

The First Ever HSMAdvisor Speed and Feed Wizard hook for MasterCAM has been released today for everybody to download for free.

Getting it to this stage has been a titanic effort for me and I am going to put a lot more of it in the coming months: i need to get it to pretty much perfect state before i start forgetting how i did all those things.

Because of this each update i release will extend trial period by 30 days.

This will last for as long as needed to finish the bulk of developing it.

At this moment the following toolpaths are fully recognized:

• Face Mill
• Contour
• Pocket
• Drilling
• Circle Mill
• All 2D HST Toolpaths:
  Dynamic Milling
  Dynamic Area
  Blend Mill
  Peel Mill

The only exception is: Coolant parameters are getting lost somewhere in the process. So please double check it before posting!

Things to be added in the coming days/weeks/months:

1. Fix Coolant
2. Engraving
3. Other Circular Toolpaths such as ThreadMilling etc.
4. Conventional and HST 3D Toolpahs
5. Turning

If you have any suggestions or find any bugs please let me know.

I would like to reassure my current customers that HSMAdvisor Hook is/will be included with your license once this all is set and done.

Please help me with your suggestions/bug reports make this thing even better for all of you!

Here are the latest 2 videos i uploaded to my Youtube chanel

Setting up HSMAdvisor hook:

Calculating cutting parameters for Face Milling, Saving Tool and Cut data and recalling it when needed:

Cheers. And a huge "thank you" to everyone who has been supporting me!

This Friday, July 31 will be the second full moon in the same calendar month.

This does not happen very often, so i decided to call this sale "Once in a Blue Moon" to tie it to this occurrence.

Until Monday, August 3 save 30% on all purchases over $100!

The rebate will apply even to packages below $100 when combined value of number of seats, being purchased, is over 100.

Oh. And Happy Canada Civic Day!

It is no secret that i am trying to make my software fit the broadest possible group of people.
And while my much-respected hobby customers is a big deal for me, industrial machining is where HSMAdvisor really shines.

Recently a PracticalMachinist forum member Atomkinder posted a video of him machining something on his 1997 Fadal VMC.
Here is what he had to say:

Originally Posted by Mtndew

One thing that I just thought of, you may want to look at buying the HSM advisor ($50) for your high speed toolpaths. Doesn't even have to be high speed, but toolpaths with long engagement and small stepover are proven to run a LOT faster than hogging out the conventional way that's been done forever.
Advanced CNC Speed And Feed Calculator - HSMAdvisor

I use it daily, and I can't think of a time it's let me down.
I second HSMAdvisor. I own my own seat (work doesn't have one) because I like it that much.

This isn't particularly special, but it is a 1997 Fadal VMC2216 box way machine. Removed a whole tool and something like 40% of the cycle time from the second operation of this part.

Atomkinder

And here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHN5z4EKODQ

40% of the cycle time. Aint bad, is it?

In industrial settings, with such great savings HSMAdvisor may very well pay for itself within a day or less!

From this point on all license types will have a 30% progressive multiple seat discount.

Also

A 30 Day Money Back Guarantee has been introduced for all floating licenses.

If you for any reason are not satisfied with our product, simply let us know and we will refund your full purchase amount!

Micro 100 Specialty Carbide Tooling company has approached me asking for a branded version of my FSWizard:Online Speeds and Feeds Calculator.

Customer requests for Speeds and Feeds amount for a large portion of their customer support calls.

I hope this partnership will unload their phones AND bring some new users to my commercial products such as desktop HSMAdvisor and FSWizard for mobile platforms.

And here is the link for the custom Speed and Feed calculator i made for them http://micro100.hsmadvisor.com/

PS.

A big. A VERY BIG and VERY GOOD news are coming to those of my users who also use MasterCAM  :)

I have made some changes to the HSMAdvisor online store.

As of now users can purchase any number of seats they want.

Be it 1,2, 5 or 50. Does not matter any more. User gets to choose the number he wants. A progressive 25% discount will be applied on purchases of multiple seats.

Which means discount will start from 25% for 2 seats and end with 37% for 50 seats.

This should help great deal for people who want some odd number of seats.

And just a remainder: the current 15% on over 90$ is still active until July 4.

Cheers!

We have not had any discounts for almost half a year.

I think it ifs time for a sale.

Check out our HSMAdvisor web store page for currently available deals.

Basically everything above $90 is on 15% sale until Fourth of July.

Happy Canada Day and Happy Fourth Of July!