Wow, lost more time from MCX-MR1 thanks

[67 Yankee]

I can't begin to say how completely POed I am right now with MC. After messing around with a file for a shop that does work for us, getting everything JUST RIGHT so they can see how to get good results, I posted the code and it f****d up my ops. I mean really. Some it just got rid of, some it changed from one group to another, and a couple I can't even explain what it did! Here's a pic of what I'm seeing. Notice operation 9 in the operation manager. That's the only path turned on in the display. Was programmed with a 1/2" bull end mill and now shows my surfacing path as a facing operation with the shell mill I was using for facing. HUH???

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course MC has crashed so many times I now have my autosave set at 5 minutes and the bad file had already been saved by the time I figured out what was going on.

 

Is anyone able to shed some light on what I might have done wrong here? I'll definately be contacting my Mcam dealer about this on Monday.

I'll be using V9 for now, I'm worn out from fighting with VX

[Storkman]

And welcome to you.

[cadcam]

Wow any one else had this issue?I am programming parts and have had the best luck so far with MR1 out of them all.

 

Welcome to the Forum to.

[67 Yankee]

Hey, I'd guess you would probably be somewhat ticked if you went to do someone a favor on your time off, got it done and it turned out great, then self destructed when you went to wrap it up. You might appreciate my feeling a need to vent here where the frustrating experience is understood. Or you might not and that's OK too. I'll do what I need to do and I'll get over it, but I feel I have a right to be mad as hell for at least a little while.

 

So thanks for listening, thanks for any insight someone may have as to what exactly happened to my file, and thank you Storkman for your hospitality. Actually made me chuckle for a sec.

[gcode]

Did you build the file from scratch in X or import a V9 file?

Where did the Machine Definition, Control Definition and Post come from ?

Hve they output good gcode before??

[Flycut]

Well... at least he didn't ask for a post.

 

Welcome to the forum!

[cadcam]

So far I don't see anyone flamming him just makking statments and saying welcome.

[Hardmill]

quote:

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So far I don't see anyone flamming him just makking statments and saying welcome.

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Well if your doing someone a favor on your own time I

think it would make alot more sense to do it with something youve used wthout problems before.

Try comin in and asking for some help instead of popping

off because you prolly did something wrong.

 

If the software kept crashing on you youd think there

was a problem, "HELLO".

That is exactly what this forum is for. HELP

If you could post your file on the FTP site, im positive

somebody here will be more than happy to take a look.

And how is your PC set up?? This will really help

the forum help you.

 

AND BTW, Welcome to the forum.

 

Sorry for the semi-flame Jay

 

 

 

PEACE

[67 Yankee]

quote:

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Sorry for the semi-flame Jay

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Aww, that's hardly a flame at all with that apology tacked on =).

 

Ok, I've taken your advice and uploaded the file on the forums FTP site (thanks PPCADCAM for hosting) Face surface.MCX ( may have to copy and paste that link, I tried it and it's asking for a password I don't have.)

 

I am pretty familiar with MR1 and have been using it at home since the day after it was released. I wanted to check it out well before loading it up at work. I have done pretty well so far on my bass guitar design...

 

 

 

and have done some pretty nice toolpathing on an actual job...

 

 

So I'm not exactly a noob. Compared to some of you guys I'm a noob for sure, but I can get around reasonably well and haven't come across a job yet that I couldn't finish.

 

 

I thought it pretty reasonable to give MR1 a shakedown at home, and have been going progressively further with my projects until this afternoon. I had no reason to suspect that posting my code would scramble the operations manager, and in fact I've hardly been crashing since loading up SP1 although the programmer sitting next to me at work crashes oh I guess about 20X/day. I mean all the damn time he's having to open his autosave file. Wierd too since I built both of those computers of exactly the same components on the same day and loaded up the same software and drivers. Maybe it's because he's using mill level 2 and I'm using Mill 3 with solids and lathe. Seems like I'd be more prone to having trouble since I'm running more software then he is, but again I'm no expert with that stuff.

 

The home computer is very similar having an ATI Radeon 9800 video card (Hey it was built for gaming, the CAD was an afterthought) while I think the one at work uses has Nvidia FX5200. They are all 3 running AMD Barton 2500+ CPU's, high performance heatsink/fans, 1GB of PC3200 RAM in dual channel mode. I use whichever video setting was discussed here on the forums not oo long after version X was released. One notch above minimum or something like that. I'm sure I've left off some important info regarding hardware or settings, but I can find the specifics if you know of something I should check.

 

 

Oh, and Jay?

I get help here ALL THE TIME. I hardly ask any questions because I search and find answers to my questions. I also browse the forum frequently and learn about things I hadn't thought of. I seriously appreciate the sharing of knowledge from you and everyone who posts information and who helps solve problems here.

 

Oh ya, and if you find some crazy speeds and feeds on that file they aren't mine. I need to tell my buddy about getting his tools set up properly in the library rather than entering stuff in the ops manager all the time. Or no. The Ops manager did it! Yeah, that's the ticket...

[67 Yankee]

Oh shoot, I forgot some potentially important info regarding this file.

 

Before I post code, I select all ops in a group and rename and set the program numbers, which I did this time as usual. Then as usual, I selected the whole machine group and regenerated all. I didn't notice any problems at this point, and posted the code as I always do. The first group posted, I looked at the code checking tool numbers and offsets, fixture numbers, spindle speeds, or whatever I might find. All looked ok, so I closed the editor and the second group posted and opened the editor again just like always. The code on the second group looked fine, so I was pretty satisfied that all was working as it was supposed to. Then when I closed the editor, one of the groups posted and opened the editor a third time. The only time I've had a single group post more than once was if I hadn't selected all the ops before rename/numbering, so I went back, made double sure I had all ops selected and change NC file Name/program number again for both groups, then regenerated the whole machine group again, then posted and the same thing happened again. Three groups posted. Looked like group one posted twice and group two once. I started looking through the ops to see why something might not be included in the group where I had it, and that's when I discovered all the modifications that had happened.

 

I had not posted anything from MR1 before, but I was pretty sure the Fadal post and machine setup were the same ones I had been using since the list of machines in the machine manager looked the same as always. It looked like it must have imported the machine definitions and posts from my existing MCX folder. Maybe not, but everything sure looked familiar.

[Greg Williams]

quote:

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Notice operation 9 in the operation manager. That's the only path turned on in the display. Was programmed with a 1/2" bull end mill and now shows my surfacing path as a facing operation with the shell mill I was using for facing. HUH???

---

When I open the file this is what I get Op 9 uses a 1/2 Bull cutter. Am I missing something here?

 

[pip]

Slightly of Subject(not of topic). On the FTP site there is a file called GL.zip, if you download this and install, as described in the zip file, you will not have to turn down your hardware settings.

I know this doesn't help with your problem.

[pip]

The legend in budgies file is not the same as the orignal picture. I have no access to full V10 so this is just an obsrvation. Your orignal pitures show op 12 active, but you say you are seeing op9 active. Am I missing something.

[pip]

In Version 10 demo I tried load your file there. All the ops come in dirty so I must regen. Op 12 comes up with an alarm that "tool length is less that toolpath cut depth", don't know if this helps.

[pip]

Got this in verify

[Tom Dorgan from American Precision]

Don't know if this is part of our problem but if you have paths with different NCI names it will post them in seperate NC files.

[67 Yankee]

I downloaded gl.zip, but there are no instructions in the folder. I have two .dll files and that's it. Should I save them in my MCX folder, or where do they belong?

 

 

I don't know what's going on with my MR1, but my SP1 seems to run fine so I'll use that for now. I'll try reinstalling MR1 and testing some stuff out before jumping back into it.

 

You're right Tommy, I do it that way all the time. When the editor opens I select all, copy, and paste the programs all into one document. Then I get rid of all the start/stop codes between the programs and save them into a single file. When I send that file to the machine, all the programs used to make the part get loaded up in one shot.

[Thad]

quote:

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When the editor opens I select all, copy, and paste the programs all into one document. Then I get rid of all the start/stop codes between the programs and save them into a single file. When I send that file to the machine, all the programs used to make the part get loaded up in one shot.

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Maybe I missed something, but if you want it all in one program, why don't you just select all ops and post?

 

Thad

[67 Yankee]

Thad, we might be talking about the same thing but seeing it differently. Or maybe you know of a different way of doing the same thing. I may very well be taking the long way around and if you can tell me of a better way I'll be all over it =)

 

What I'm talking about is having say, a part that requires 3 setups plus a visejaw cutout. Each setup and the visejaw for the part will be represented by a group, and each group will have its own program number and NC file name. I select all operations before posting, but each group posts into a seperate NC file. I then take those files and put them end to end in a single file so that when I send my file out to the machine, all 4 programs show up in the machines memory. Often I don't end up sending the files myself, and it sure makes things easier if the person who ends up sending the files only has to know a single file name and can hit send one time and have the whole job loaded up.

[Tom Dorgan from American Precision]

Select all ops, right click, options, change nci file destination, then all of them will have same nci filename. Then select all and post and they should all post as a single program. This is for V9 but I don't see the same options in X.

[67 Yankee]

quote:

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Select all ops, right click, options, change nci file destination, then all of them will have same nci filename. Then select all and post and they should all post as a single program. This is for V9 but I don't see the same options in X.

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You may not have that option in X. The guy beside me at work doesn't have it on his mill 2, but I have it on my mill 3. Seems like we tried swapping SIMs once and we both could do that, but I needed my SIM back

 

I can do what you're saying, but how will the machine operator run 3 sides of a part plus a fixture all from one program? Do you have each group post as a subprogram?

[Tom Dorgan from American Precision]

I only do this when I want them all in one program. If I want seperate programs I leave them each named in group NCI names. But you had said you posted as seperate programs and then pasted together as one so I thought that is what you were trying to accomplish.

[cadcam]

your Machine will not let you send all three programs to the machine at one.

you can not have three diffrent ops with the same file name or they will over write each one.

 

I program one file and all the diffrent ops all the time.

But when I post it puts out 2 to 6 diffrent programs

But I can varify them all together.

 

(You may not have that option in X. The guy beside me at work doesn't have it on his mill 2, but I have it on my mill 3.) this is not true both level 2 & 3 will do the Cahnge of names.

[cadcam]

I tried a few things with no success. I know that you can send one program that contains more then one program # like a haas and it will break them up to diffrent ops.

But i can not find a way to force MC to out put all the ops in one program with diffrent program #'s.

[67 Yankee]

quote:

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your Machine will not let you send all three programs to the machine at one.

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I do it every day. All I have to do is remove the % signs between the programs where I don't want it to stop sending. At least it works fine on the Haas and Fadal machines we are using. You may have higher end machines that don't like it. I haven't had a chance yet to try it on other machines, so maybe you could try it out and let me know what you find.

 

Using the PFE, I posted the programs out and the let the editor open them all as they posted, like this:

 

 

 

THen I went in and deleted all but the first and last %'s to "stitch" my programs together. With the code removed so you can see what's going on, here's it what my file looks like:

 

quote:

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%

O3510(51 INSIDE)

(DATE - 02-05-06-20:37)

(PROGRAM BODY)

M30

O3511(51 ENGRAVING)

(DATE - 02-05-06-20:37)

(PROGRAM BODY)

M30

O3512(51 FIXTURE)

(DATE - 02-05-06-20:37)

(PROGRAM BODY)

M30

O3610(FIXTURE BUTTONS)

(DATE - 02-05-06-20:38)

(PROGRAM BODY)

M30

O3613(VISEJAW FOR BUTTONS)

(DATE - 02-05-06-20:38)

(PROGRAM BODY)

M30

O3520(52 INSIDE)

(DATE - 02-05-06-20:38)

(PROGRAM BODY)

M30

O3522(52 ENGRAVING)

(DATE - 02-05-06-20:38)

(PROGRAM BODY)

M30

O3521(52 FIXTURE)

(DATE - 02-05-06-20:38)

(PROGRAM BODY)

M30

%

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All of the programs are sent to the machine, each with its own program number and title.