To use posts or not to use posts....

[ShiftZ]

Salute MC Gods.

 

My company purchased MCX in april of this year and after some rather sped up class time with my re-seller I proceded to jump into the software with both feet. I've been programming for Fanuc based machinery for ten years now and my skills at manual programming have served me well. I can caluculate radi in my head now simply because of the amount of programming I've done. What I discoverd with mastercam after a few errors was that I can simply cut the text from the generic posts and paste it into what already is in place with text files. My question is this; Should I go to the trouble of setting up post processors for any given machine when all I have to do is cut and paste in to what I already have? It's a mystery to me. I'm fast man, once you get a few things in your head with mcx the rest seems pointless.

[Tom Dorgan from American Precision]

Get your posts dialed in and let the software do the work. Manual pasting and editing eventualy results in errors.

[ShiftZ]

Fair enough. What happenes if I create the code I need from mastercam, post it out and then cut in the safety lines and whateva else etc from a text file? Can I then save that as the post processor? Or do I need to first send out the nc file and edit it at the machine and then send it back? It should overwrite a generic file right?

[Guest]

You can get your safety lines right in the post so they post out correctly.

 

If you take the time and either learn and do, or pay someone to do it, you should not need to edit your posted code at all.

 

My posts are all dialed in I never, ever, have to edit anything.

 

You also have to be aware of what your machine really needs for code compared to what you have gotten used to seeing.

 

Working on posts I see people ALL the time posting code they don't really "need", they have simply gotten sued to seeing it that way.

 

So ask, is this something the machine really needs or is it simply something I like to see?

[gcode]

When you get a post properly dialed in, you will be able to post and send to the machine with no more that a quick look over.

Sooner or later, cutting and pasting will bite you.

[Jack Neelands™]

These guys have nailed it square on the head ShiftZ...you shouldn't be editing at all ...and the less the better ...simple glance over and away to the machine...the only thing you should be worried about is the fastest route to the machine if your not allready in front of it

[Kyle Waters]

ShiftZ,

I myself was in the exact same spot you are currently in. We purchased a Mori MT2000SZ in 2002, and with it we upgraded our MC to v9. At the time NO ONE had a post for this machine. Prior to this machine, the most advanced machinery we had was 3+2 axes. Up until the time when I figured out how long I spent per week "cutting and pasting" for now what has grown to double the machines as well as true 5 axis machines, we figured it was faster. About 7 months ago we subscribed to maintenance and 3 months ago we paid In-House for some custom posts. In roughly 2 weeks time, we had our posts completely exact. I post code and put it directly in the control with not a single modification. So in a sense, we just saved about $20,000 in the first year. Pretty easy math. I don't know how complicated your work is, but with your current methods, you will eventually make a mistake. No matter how good you are, no one is perfect.

[Christian Raebild]

I agree with the others, you should get your post processors dialed in so they produce correct code without any need for editing. You will save money that way, even if it is only the time saved for not having to cut and paste.

 

There is also one more thing to consider. You will not be around forever, and with your skill at manual programming, you are the best person to determine whether the post processor produces optimal code. Even if you expect to stay with your company for years to come, can you say for certain that you won't have a truck driving through your living room tomorrow ?

 

Actually I can personally say for certain that I won't have a truck driving through my living room, as my apartment is on the 5th floor, but I hope you understand what I mean.

[HevyMetl]

I have some surfaceing toolpaths that I would love to see someone "hand" program. 100 150 200 meg and sometimes bigger than that. In all seriousness if you had to just search through these files to find where to past in your saftey lines it would take hours over the course of a week. For simple 3 axis stuff the MPMASTER.pst will handle 90% of it and with a little help from the guys here you can get the rest of it dialed in.

[Rekd™]

Dial in your post. Even if you think you can't make a mistake, you will eventually.

 

But beyond that, what about that poor sucker that fills in for you when you're sick or on vacation?

[john316]

.

 

Ditto, Been doing this for years like the other guys here. If I have to re-post something I have to remember what edits to make. If I forget something, I have to spend machine downtime fixing it. I prefer to let the computer do the work when I can.

 

.

[DavidB]

I just updated my posts which where V9 posts used in X, to a X generic post. Wish I took the time to do it from the start of X.

 

More options and better G-code = Less time editing!

[terry5357]

Shift Z,

I will take my tweaked out post, and you do your cut and paste and I promise you I will have programmed at least 3 to your 1 and that is being extremely conservative. Please do yourself a favor spend sometime and get your posts dialed in and make the rest of your programming career a walk in the park. It sounds like you are only doing 2 axis or very simple 3 axis stuff. If that is the case even then you will save yourself much time in the editor.

 

Good luck

[Jimic]

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POST AND GO. Period. (if the post is clean !!)

 

 

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