New User Frustrations

[newuser1970]

Hey community..I am a new user to Mastercam. I have been quoting, process designing, programming, setting up, running, inspecting and all around making very intricate parts for 23 years. I previously used Surfcam (14+ years)  and Pro E / Pro manufacture (past 8 years). So that is a little of my history...Since you all know Mastercam is really prevalent in the CNC world, I am hoping to get some help here as the new company I work for will not send me to the VAR for training.

 

Long story short, coming from Pro E and solids based programing where your toolpath creation options are limitless, I am finding Mastercam to be clunky and not very user friendly. I am able to create toolpaths but not exactly the way I want...So today, let me ask a question as to why it is so difficult to add a proper lead in lead out to a simple contour routine??

 

I have tried every setting on the lead in lead out page and can NOT get it to generate a simple arc on arc off...Likely it is something glaringly obvious that I am missing but I sure as hell can't find it....

 

Guess I am just getting out some early am frustration here....Until Cimquest opens up....

 

Hope everyone out in NC land is having a good day!

[mikenaturalice]

Hey community..I am a new user to Mastercam. I have been quoting, process designing, programming, setting up, running, inspecting and all around making very intricate parts for 23 years. I previously used Surfcam (14+ years)  and Pro E / Pro manufacture (past 8 years). So that is a little of my history...Since you all know Mastercam is really prevalent in the CNC world, I am hoping to get some help here as the new company I work for will not send me to the VAR for training.

 

Long story short, coming from Pro E and solids based programing where your toolpath creation options are limitless, I am finding Mastercam to be clunky and not very user friendly. I am able to create toolpaths but not exactly the way I want...So today, let me ask a question as to why it is so difficult to add a proper lead in lead out to a simple contour routine??

 

I have tried every setting on the lead in lead out page and can NOT get it to generate a simple arc on arc off...Likely it is something glaringly obvious that I am missing but I sure as hell can't find it....

 

Guess I am just getting out some early am frustration here....Until Cimquest opens up....

 

Hope everyone out in NC land is having a good day!

If you think they are "limitless" in Pro-E our guy must not be very good LoL. Seriously though, I say that about Mastercam (limitless options), like you said tons of options just for lead in lead out. I would bet it is because we both are very familiar with 'our' software, yours being pro-e and mine being Mastercam.

What version are you using? What are you trying to achieve exactly (a file will help)? I think the lead in lead out is very straightforward so I can't imagine what problem you are actually having, other than just not being familiar. 

[Guest]

Here's another frustration for you...wrong forum  

 

Industrial Forum is for Mastercam ???'s...

 

Welcome to the forum...

 

BTW, ex Cimquest employee here  

[Watcher]

I used to have a chair on PTC User Pro/NC technical committee, so I know one or two things about it.

 

It is indeed a very powerful system, but if you used it in the past 8 years then you experienced a bunch of the ugly UI it had before Creo 2/3. I went through the learning curve you did and took me 4 years to become a jedi on it.

 

Mastercam is far more flexible and capable in most aspects, whereas I still believe Creo/NC is more flexible with custom lead in/out motions, better capabilities for turning paths, and outstanding associativity with Creo models.

 

Mastercam is not as reliable as Creo when working exclusively with solids, if these solids are complex ones or subject to change, this is an often discussed topic here. But there are rock solid alternatives.

 

But of course that if Creo cannot have perfect integration with its own models then what's reliable for?

 

Overall, the current Mastercam release smokes Creo/NC in nearly every aspect, and I'm still about to see a product that can do 2 1/2 axis milling with such speed and clear toolpaths. It's very powerful for nearly everything in 3D and 5 axis, except for advanced MTM. They have another product for that.

 

So I'd say you're in the beginning of a learning curve, in a comfort zone, and working for a company that is not willing to invest in their employees.

 

That's a bad combination and Mastercam has nothing to do with it. I'd advise you to order the training books sold in this website or get some formal training from a reseller. I'm pretty sure that if you get trained in this product you won't miss Creo/NC (You will always miss Creo CAD ) for long except for a few things.

 

I've learned from a friend that nothing can be everything to everyone. The perfect CAX system is the one we know how to use at its fullest.

 

Good luck on your new journey and enjoy it. Take it as a learning experience.

 

And learning is never a bad thing.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mastercam+tutorial

[Sticky]

If you post a picture of your lead in/out page any of us could tell you why you aren't getting what you hoped.

 

I used a few other systems before mastercam, I would agree it is not intuitive, but there is quite a bit of functionality you can get from most of the milling tool paths. The trick is that most of it uses incorrect terminology or is just un obvious. Posting pictures will help.

[BBprecise]

Are you trying to turn CDC on at the same time? If so you have to make sure your machine definition support CDC on arc moves. There are a few other things that will prevent arcs depending on what you're doing. If you have cutter comp. in MC set to control, your arc radius value has to be greater than the radius of the tool. Double check that you have a value in the arc sweep box (just below where you put in the arc radius value). Missed that a few times myself.

[JMahon]

You may need to turn off gouge check.

[Colin Gilchrist]

I bet you have an Arc Sweep of 0.0 degrees. That field controls "how much" of an Arc move you make. 180 degrees would sweep a half circle. You likely want 90 degrees in that field.

 

Also, there are two boxes for each measurement, for Line and Arc. One is a Percentage (%) of the diameter, the other is the actual Length value. If you put .25 into the % field, that is a quarter of 1 percent.

 

Try entering 100% in each of the percentage fields, and then make sure your Arc Sweep is set to 90 degrees.

 

My go-to lead in move is typically 150% diameter value for the Arc radius, but only 30% sweep angle. I use a Perpendicular entry line, with 60% if I'm using Full CDC, or 10% if I'm using Wear CDC.

[mikenaturalice]

So anyone, think the OP will be back to report if any of these suggestions helped?

 

Also, Colin G's post reminded me that there are two check boxes at the top for perpendicular and tangent entry. Might have those mixed up for whatever contour op you are doing.