Recent posts

#1

The Outhouse / Re: The meme thread

Last post by Smit - May 29, 2026, 04:58 PM

 

#2

Mastercam Post Processor Development Forum / Re: Looking for a post

Last post by megatronprime - May 28, 2026, 11:09 AM

I'm very much alive, I think. Let me check. Ouch. Yup.

Megatronprime- better programmers here than the place I work, I'm the only one left! They kept me for laughs and sub all the rest of the programming out.

Yeah, I'm just busting chops, they are gr8, almost as good as me

#3

Mastercam Post Processor Development Forum / Re: Looking for a post

Last post by JAMMAN - May 28, 2026, 03:38 AM

I'm very much alive, I think. Let me check. Ouch. Yup.

Megatronprime- better programmers here than the place I work, I'm the only one left! They kept me for laughs and sub all the rest of the programming out.

#4

Industrial / Re: (Tungsten) carbide prices

Last post by jstell - May 27, 2026, 09:01 AM

It's just like RAM or graphics cards

The difference is pretty significant.  With computer stuff it's mostly a demand side problem because of AI/data center demand.  Yes there are some supply side pressures because China has a large portion of other precious metal resources.  But with Tungsten there isn't a huge spike in demand, with maybe some pressure to replenish this administrations expenditures folly in Iran.  Tungsten is a purposeful, unilateral supply side problem created by China, largely to squeeze US (and other Western) manufacturing and military supply chains.  It's the manufacturing equivalent of blocking the Strait of Hormuz, except pinching 80% of world supply instead of 20%.

https://nzxt.com/blogs/news/why-is-ram-so-expensive-right-now?srsltid=AfmBOooDNPQMq0TZFV7m730YqaUmMaOZ0nOIeyRApN71J7pLzAZoAvPa

The current high cost of RAM is driven primarily by soaring AI and data center demand, which has forced manufacturers to prioritize production away from consumer DDR4 and DDR5. This reduced supply has made all memory more expensive for PC builders and system integrators.

https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/why-have-laptop-prices-spiked-this-year-the-great-ram-crunch-explained

#5

Industrial / Re: (Tungsten) carbide prices

Last post by megatronprime - May 27, 2026, 07:21 AM

It's just like RAM or graphics cards, I'm paying double or triple what i did last year for equipment, and i need more, much more

#6

The Outhouse / Re: The meme thread

Last post by Newbeeee™ - May 26, 2026, 10:29 AM

I think they were all invited to a party in the East Wing late October of last year.  Hauled off to China for scrap.

Ahhhh.... the new Baal Room....

#7

Industrial / Re: (Tungsten) carbide prices

Last post by jstell - May 26, 2026, 10:14 AM

This is the first I've seen mainstream coverage of the topic.
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/china-south-korea-tungsten-iran-war-mine-rcna346266


I've previously written legislators to, in spite of all else requiring their attention, make this a priority of pressure to the administration.  Here's a lightly edited/updated copy of what I sent, if anyone wants to pile on - as easy as cut and paste.  I'm sure you all know who your congresspeople are and how to contact them.   

Tungsten is a metal of significant national security concern (due to its use in armor as well as armor-penetrating kinetic weapons) and 80% of the world supply is controlled by China.

Perhaps equally importantly, it is used to make carbide cutting tools for industry.

Almost every product on the planet journeys from an engineered idea to something you can hold in your hand (and many things you rely on but never see) by moving through a manufacturing facility into the real world.

And almost all of that in some way comes to be touched by carbide cutting tools that require Tungsten in their manufacture.  China has restricted exports of this necessary metal. 

Please work toward a solution that long term offers stability to a supply of Tungsten for manufacturing in this country, and short term to deal with China in order to ease the pressure on this necessary resource.

#8

The Outhouse / Re: The meme thread

Last post by jstell - May 26, 2026, 10:00 AM

I think they were all invited to a party in the East Wing late October of last year.  Hauled off to China for scrap.

#9

Industrial / Re: 3 point level macro

Last post by MIL-TFP-41 - May 26, 2026, 06:49 AM

Whatever you make per hour, it probably isn't enough

The majority of the math was acquired from a google search, and looking through some of my old notes before we had 5 axis machines. When all you had was a sin table with a rotary table on top of it you had to figure out tilt/rotations to get compound angles.

Ahh the old days....do all of that crap to put one hole in a part. You would find a spot for a tooling ball, figure the tilt/rotation, make the adjustments on the sin and rotary table, find the center of the ball, put the hole in, then do it again because someone had to but things on a weird angle.

Automating the math into a macro looks more complicated than it is. 15 or so lines of code is what is really necessary, the rest is just fluff.

#10

Industrial / Re: Is the tech exchange dead ...

Last post by TSmcam - May 25, 2026, 12:18 PM

We're going with Eureka.

We really need g-code simulation not mock-sim.

Mock-sim

Yous'a be speakin' Italian by the end of the year