Upgrading to Mastercam 2020?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Colin Gilchrist said:

No, it is separate software, which would require some sort of "input" geometry. And I'm not sure what the cost is, but I bet it isn't cheap...

I will look into it, I definetly want to examine all the options, and I need to find the root cause of the issues we have been facing. 

1 theory I have is that the dropped chains are due to inconsistent chain tolerance settings.

Getting a nesting result close enough to what I could do manually is often possible by rearranging the nested order and playing with the angle as you wisely suggested however this can consume a lot of time. If nesting could be automated to continuously recalculate the nested order and angle until it found the smallest possible material usage then perhaps we could score some bigger profits. I don't know if this is within my abilities or the abilities of the software but I would like to try.

 

Thank you all for your input, I highly value your knowledge and opinions always.

[JB7280]

On 12/22/2019 at 12:04 PM, content creator said:

That is a good Idea, although more often than not my programming time is only a minute or two. I spend most of time in machine sim.

A minute or two?  You're exaggerating right?  If not, how tf is that possible?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, JB7280 said:

A minute or two?  You're exaggerating right?  If not, how tf is that possible?

I wrote a macro that automates the process of programming the features onto Nomex panels. Basically creating some geometry and operations then assigning chains. I posted the project here if you are a mastercam 2018 user you could check it out.

[Guest]

I have been working on this every day for about a year.

[JParis]

19 minutes ago, content creator said:

I wrote a macro that automates the process of programming the features onto Nomex panels. Basically creating some geometry and operations then assigning chains. I posted the project here if you are a mastercam 2018 user you could check it out.

Peter, Am I correct in assuming that what you do program is essentially flat panet panel programming of 2D shapes and then using nesting to your cut board?

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, JParis said:

Peter, Am I correct in assuming that what you do program is essentially flat panet panel programming of 2D shapes and then using nesting to your cut board?

Exactly, yes business jet cabinet components.

[#Rekd™]

1 hour ago, content creator said:

I wrote a macro that automates the process of programming the features onto Nomex panels. Basically creating some geometry and operations then assigning chains. I posted the project here if you are a mastercam 2018 user you could check it out.

That is really bada$$$!!! You are really talented!!!!!!

[crazy^millman]

If there is all your doing might think about sticking with the same version for some time. I went into a company years ago making drag racing parts for engines. They were using NX and were not happy with the programmer that spent 4 years doing what your doing with their system. He developed a complete plug and play process in NX where you would define the engine, the other parameter needed to make the part and in less than a minute you had lather programs for blanking the parts, with tool list and setup sheets. You then had Milling programs for their 5 Axis machines also with setup sheets and tool lists. I was brought into to see about switching them over to Mastercam for Solidworks. The owner had not upgrade NX in about a decade and didn't like the bill from NX or the programmer. They were both mad at each other for different reason and even though he had been an employee for over 20 years hadn't sat down and talked in the year previous. I came in and did my normal process of checking out a place. Talking to people and getting a feel for what was going on. A lot of the people didn't like the programmer either, but none of them were talking to him either. I then sat down and talked to the programmer and he was brilliant and frustrated because the owner wouldn't spend the money needed to upgrade NX to use newer features in it. I spent the next 2 days programming one part and getting everything ready to run on the machine and owner was now asking why it was taking so long. I then explained all the work that had been done over the years to make what was happening possible in just minutes. I also explained the programmer's frustration with the owner that he never asked about. He then asked me what I thought it would take to switch everything over. I told him at least 2k to maybe 4k hours and it will take 12-18 months to make it work like what you currently have. Yes some of the toolpaths were old school and could be better to cut the parts faster, but those same toolpaths existed in the current version of NX your programmer has asked you to update to for years that you ignored. He paid me for my efforts and still send me a Christmas card every year. Last I heard the programmer was still there and they were still able to make programs and setup sheets in minutes using the system they had. 

What is the point? That effort is worth something and if your not happy you need to express those concerns. If they fall on death ears where you are trust me they will not fall on death ears somewhere else. Your thinking it needed today and your attitude is one I commend and applaud. 

[Guest]

40 minutes ago, #Rekd™ said:

That is really bada$$$!!! You are really talented!!!!!!

Thank you, I like it too, I could never have done it without CNC Softwares help tho, they are the best!!

[Guest]

2 hours ago, 5th Axis CGI said:

If there is all your doing might think about sticking with the same version for some time.

Do you mean In terms of compatibility for mastercam 2020 and my add-on? If so thats a valid point, although I do not know if the mastercam sdk changed a lot from 2018 to 2020. The nethook api portion should be plug and play but the rest..

[crazy^millman]

35 minutes ago, content creator said:

Do you mean In terms of compatibility for mastercam 2020 and my add-on? If so thats a valid point, although I do not know if the mastercam sdk changed a lot from 2018 to 2020. The nethook api portion should be plug and play but the rest..

That is where you need see what see what the API differences are and then determine how much that will effect what your doing. 

[Guest]

On 12/23/2019 at 4:42 PM, Colin Gilchrist said:

I think we tried both 0.5 degrees, 0.25 degrees, and 0.1 degrees, and got great "packing" results, but the algorithm tool a long time to execute. (30 seconds, to several minutes in some cases).

Hi Colin, 

I tried to use the 0.5, 0.25, and 0.1 degrees rotation angles however, the input kept rounding up to 1.0 degree .