Thank you VERY much!!! I had changed everything in the config tolerance page to .00001 but I haven't played with the control def's before today. There is a bunch of stuff in there that would probably make my life easier if only I knew what i was doing! Well thanx again everyone and especially gcode. -tim

I am running X5 MU1 I have a 12 inch dia plate with 11.8 dia. pocket and 12n lobes for tapped holes the inside radii are .25 - i am using a 1/4" endmill. It spits out straight line moves on some of the radii. It does not do it with an 1/8" em or a 1/2" em but it starts at .498 dia. not sure when it stops but a 1/8" gives a good tool path so does .188 dia. but .200 gets me G01"s instead of G02"s on four arcs - at .250 dia i have 16 sets of G01"s some moves are one liners .010 long like it has small lines in the geometry. This came from a SolidWorks x_t file so I drew it in MasterCam and i know it has no straight lines. Has anyone seen this before - I haven't in the 15 years I've been using it - something in my settings maybe??? here is my X5 file... GOOD GEOMETRY.MCX-5

Be nice !!! I copied the lettering to another level and it let me window it but it does the top half of most letters then goes back for the bottom half. I am going back to X5 we have 5 MC seats - I was the guinea pig - I think we will wait for MU1 before up grading the others Thanx for all the help -tim

I used WCS Bottom to do other side - I had three other tools all drilling operations and the are fine. I see why the 64bit to 32 bit would be the problem. Would I need to buy another seat if i installed X6x32? I have shut down and reopened several times but still won't window. thanx everyone -tim

Used X6 for the first time yesterday and have had nothing but trouble. Twice, after creating a tool such as a .03 ball end mill to do some engraving when i did the backplot the tool looked way big and when i looked it was no longer my created tool #3 .030 ballnose but tool #262 a 2 inch ballnose from the library. I figured some how i messed up and changed it back. I flipped the part over the do so milling on the back side and my engraving from the first side turned dirty. on the second side I had another tool turn from another created tool to something from the library again - this time i know it wasn't anything i did wrong Anyway i went back to fix my engraving operation and I can't window the lettering geometry anymore - It will let me chain it but doesn't recognize anything in the window. My biggest bitch is when i got fed up and went to save it as an X5 version, that is no longer an option. In X5 I can save back as far back as Version 8 but with X6 that is the only thing I can save it as - WHY is that? When our IT guys installed X6, I they didn't import my X5 stuff into X6 so I came here and go the generic Mpmaster generic 3/4 axis post and definition. So I don't know if that is the problem or if X6 is inherently troubled - from what i am reading it just might be X6 and not me. What do y'all think? Nice day here in Boulder Colorado BTW. -tim

GOT IT !!! Thank you

that works - Thanx guys - still on MU2 For some reason i quit getting update notifications

We have three seats and they all have the same problem: when we first open a parasolid file and do a translate or rotate, the wireframe moves but the solid does not. Then if you click on screen statisics it doesn't show a solid but you can pick it and it highlights. if you save it and close then reopen it sees it and then it will let you move it. Is something set wrong somewhere?

If you subtrct the endmill dia from the finish hole size then divide by two(the finish tool path radius)multiply that by the tangent of 22.5 deg(.4142)and use that answer for both the line and the arc and use tangent and 135 deg sweep. That will put you in the center. .312-.1562=.1558 .1558/2=.0779 .0779X.4142=.0323 as 90rsgnuguy said

We have three seats of X2 when it went to mr2 I downloaded it off the site but the IT guy also went to the site and downloaded it on to their server and updated the other two computers from there. My title bar says Design X3 until I open a file then it says mill X3 but the other two computers say X2 MR2 SP1. Anyone seen that ? -tim

Another point is NOT to have the post set to 180 deg. arcs and Radius instead of I's and J's With 180 deg arcs and Radius output You can cut a hole .0035 out of round on a .03005 rad arc because of rounding error. If you tried to squeese a .0601 dia hole between 2 points .06 apart the center is .00173 off axis. That is what you would get if you tried to cut a .5601 dia hole with a .500 endmill and output 180 deg arcs and used "R" instead of "I and J". I always make sure the tool path radius hasn't been rounded from .00005 to .0001. I have this drawn up if someone doesn't believe me. - tim

Mark, Hole Dia minus Cutter dia divided by 2 (That is your toolpath radius) times Tangent of 22.5 deg (.4142) This number will be your line length AND your Radius Set your: entry/exit to: tangent Sweep to 135 deg. It will put you within a tenth of center every time. -tim

On older machines if holes are egg shaped out at the 45's you can sometimes true it up by taking a conventional cut (g42) for a spring pass. It seems to even out the slop in the machine. Can you get post to output cutter comp in circle mill? I didn't think so is why I never use it. I figured out a formula to force the cutter down the center of a hole and just use contour. Any one need the formula?

Should I have service pack 2 instead of MR0304?

I don't think I know Tom. I work at The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). Tell him to stop by the shop sometime.