General MasterCAM for SolidWorks questions

[The_Machine]

New user here. Committing to learning MasterCAM as a SolidWorks CSWE and user for 15 years. HSMWorks/Fusion 360 CAM expert, CAMWorks/SolidWorks CAM advanced user. Long ago AutoDesk bought HSMWorks, the cam software exclusive to Solidworks. Now I've been informed by an AutoDesk rep that after stripping out all the code for Inventor CAM, Fusion 360, that they are no longer supporting HSMWorks. Sad. Reminds me of what EA does to game development firms. I guess that's on Dassault for not purchasing them, but I digress.

New user to MasterCAM. Always avoided MasterCAM because the idea of doing my CAM outside of my CAD software is silly as having to re-link toolpath geometry every time I revise the model or assembly sounds prone to error and tedious. 

So I have a few questions regarding MasterCAM for SolidWorks before I commit too hard and get met with sad realities:

1: Are there any deal-breaking missing functionality in MCAM for SW that exists in MCAM?

2: Can MCAM For SW use the same tool libraries, machine definitions, operation libraries as MCAM without causing any issues for MCAM users?

3: Any general thoughts or tips that might help me on my journey?

4: How come it crashes SW when I try to backplot within SW? SW2020 SP3, Latest MCAM 2020 for SW patch. Quadro P4000 with SW approved driver. Tried wiping my SW registry and even the latest unapproved driver. Nothing.

[gcode]

1 hour ago, The_Machine said:

1: Are there any deal-breaking missing functionality in MCAM for SW that exists in MCAM?

2: Can MCAM For SW use the same tool libraries, machine definitions, operation libraries as MCAM without causing any issues for MCAM users?

3: Any general thoughts or tips that might help me on my journey?

4: How come it crashes SW when I try to backplot within SW? SW2020 SP3, Latest MCAM 2020 for SW patch. Quadro P4000 with SW approved driver. Tried wiping my SW registry and even the latest unapproved driver. Nothing.

1.  all the modern toolpaths are there … chaining and hole selection is different because you are in SW

     I believe the old legacy wireframe surfacing toolpaths are missing in MCfSW

     IMO the Planes Manager in Mastercam is superior to the one in MCfSW 

2.  yes .. same tool libraries, machine def's and posts …. they are 100% compatible between the 2 versions 

     you can even import an MCfSW CAM sldprt file into regular MC and all the toolpaths will come into regular Mastercam

     along with sketches you may have drawn to drive toolpaths

3.  not really .. I can't use it as much as I like because I am the only SW users here and no one else could use my MCfSW files

4. No idea, I would uninstall MCfSW, then delete the your user files

     "C:\Users\\**** your username here ***Documents\my MCamforSW2020"

     and the Public folder ( save your posts first if necessary)

    "C:\Users\Public\Documents\shared McamForSW2020"

     and reinstall

[Pete Rimkus from CNC Software Inc.]

#4 - There's a conflict between MCforSW's Backplot and  SolidWorks' Enhanced Performace graphics setting. (It's at the bottom of the System Options / Performance page).

Uncheck that (I'm not sure what you're losing by doing that) and Backplot should co-operate.

[The_Machine]

Thanks dudes. 

Last question for the day: How you import a .sldprt or SW sketch tool geometry? I can't find any documentation on the subject. 

Orientation? Closed Sketch or open?

Drawing on X and Z positive direction SW plane with tool tip and center on origin.

"Problem with custom geometry data - line segment on Y axis." Not even true.

Tool length must be greater than 0.0.

 

EDIT: I applied the strategies from a video and got it to work.