transforming nci

[Zero]

when i generate toolpaths for a part most of the time i'm making a part in 2 halves. I noticed that mastercam has an option to mirror toolpaths which cuts the toolpath generating time down considerably(if I remember correctly ,I havn't done this in while). When I backplot the toolpath in mastercam, it seems to work great.But when I post it and bring it to the machine,it runs the original toolpath and not the transformed one.Has anybody else seen this happen or am I going crazy?

[tooling]

check your post to make sure it is putting out the right code to inverse your cutter path. some machines take a M21,M22,M23,M24 to create that. my machine takes a (inv,x1,y1,z1) to mirror eveything and a (inv,x0,y0,z0) to cancel this

[Zero]

where would that be? Would it be in the begining of the code or every line?I Know next to nothing about code I thought mastercam was supposed to do that for me. The post I use is the mpan113x.pst for an anilam 3300.How can I change my post to do this for me if at all?

[mikee]

Tooling,

The machine is not doing the mirror, mastercam is!

As far as the program not working, one question.

Did you post the transform toolpath??

There is also a reverse direction button you can use on the mirror page.

Just something to look at.

mikee

[Allan Brown]

Make sure that you are using the 'Coordinate' method rather than 'Tool plane' if you want Mastercam to take care of the mirroring or translation.

[tooling]

Sorry I misspoke. I was used to typing in a code in my machine. check that you have mirror selected not translate.

[Zero]

i've got a part running now with a mirrored toolpath (with the coordinate button clicked) and it seems to be running the way i wanted it to.now i"ve got 2 questions.

1: what does the reverse direction button do

2: when i had trouble with transforming toolpaths before, it was with an imported nci file(I had lost the original part file due to my computer crashing but had already posted the toolpath). Would that have anything to do with the problem?

 

Thanks for the help every one.

[mikee]

Reverse direction will take the mirror toolpath and change it back to the way the orginal was pgm.

in other words if you pgm a toolpath with a climb cut, when you mirror that toolpath it will now be a conventional cut. The buttom is supposed to change it back to a climb cut.

As for your second question a imported nci should work.

mikee

[Zero]

o.k. now theres a problem with my mirrored toolpath that i can't resolve. when i run my original toolpaths ( a rough pocket leaving .01 on all surfaces, a finish contour and a finish shallow)they run just fine. When i run the mirrored toolpaths, the contour and shallow run great, but in the rough pocket program, theres an extra move in there that just isn't in the original(a large sweeping arc) that gouges the part. I've tried changing just about every parameter I can and nothing seems to work and sometimes it gets worse.Why is it generating these extra moves and how do i fix it?(or am i just a retard???????????????????????????????????)

 

and why can i only post 8 little faces?

[tooling]

post your MC8 file some one might be able to see something you can't

[Zero]

the mc8 file is on the ftp site in a folder named new folder. the file is called strain relief.Ive already got the part machined in the original orientation and had tried the mirror toolpath option to test out my new found skills(HA HA).It is a fairly simple part which is why it's got me so angry.If anyone can figure out what i was doing wrong and tell me it could save me loads of time in the future(especialy on those pesky finish leftover toolpaths which sometimes take a half an hour or more to generate if they don't just crash the computer)and would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

[gstephens]

When backplotting the original toolpaths I get "Illegal arc" errors. I'm regening now to see if they go away. Which version .exe and appmch.dll do you have?

[gstephens]

I regened and everything came out looking OK. I also put all 3 ops into 1 transform. The file is in the same folder as strain relief-b.mc8

[Zero]

i never got any error messages when backploting(strange?).i havent looked at it yet but thanks for the help. WHat dif anything did you change to get it to run correctly?

[gstephens]

I just regened the original paths and ran a new transform on them that had all 3 in 1 transform instead of 3 seperate ones.

The only way we should have gotten different results from the backplot would be if we were running different versions of the surfacing routine.