Exporting operations

[Krzysztof Hejnar]

I am new to mastercam but not new to of line programing

First questions

In X3 I did export operations to new group (Series B plates). By mistake I did it twice so I have duplicate operations in this group. Is there a way to delete duplicate or all group (Series B plates)

 

Second question

Is there any resource/ book about how to organize tool library and feed speed calculations and all that not operations stuff. I did look at couple books and everything is about how to machine but none of them mention other important thinks. I do not want calculate speed every time for this same tool every time I use it etc

[Guest]

Have you tried the Help file?

 

All of the windows have a ? in the lower right corner, they are context sensitive.

[?Mark]

What John said will get you going as it is a bit broad to explain, but couple of thoughts here:

 

quote:

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First questions

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You can delete any ops you want (standard windows procedure applies), or when it gets too complicated I'd probably export my ops again and overwrite the bad one...

 

quote:

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Second question

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This is one of the most labor intensive projects (unnecessarily so) when customizing your seat of mc. Updating and maintaining your tool library is a never ending process. The only officially available option that could help you a little here is exporting a tool library to a text file, editing it there and importing it back to a tool library file...

 

hth (dzien dobry )

[Guest]

 

[Krzysztof Hejnar]

Thank you for input.

For now problem solved

 

Mark B

Dzien dobry a wlasciwie dobry wieczor

[MotorCityMinion]

I thought I was missing out on all the fun you old timeys been having with MC so I started messing with a few things. I did the same dam thing Krzysztof Hejnar did, now I have multiples, S*#T! Couple of questions here regarding the Mill_inch.Operations file.

 

Can defaults be restored if things get to messy?

 

Can I delete one of the original ops and screw things up for good?

 

Can I export to / import from any folder instead of the default Mastercam directory?

 

Fortunately the ops I exported came in with new numbers and should be easy to pick out. I'll back this file up and try cleaning it up.

[Thad]

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Can defaults be restored if things get to messy?

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I'll assume you mean the default settings in Mill_Inch.operations, NOT Mill_Inch.DEFAULTS. They are two different things. I'm not exactly sure what's in the factory default Mill_Inch.Operations file. It's a file that's meant to be customized so you set up the way you want according to what operations you want saved. Therefore, I don't see a reason to return it to the default state because you don't use it in the default state. The best restore option in my mind is a backup copy of your library that you can paste in when needed.

 

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Can I delete one of the original ops and screw things up for good?

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I'm just guessing here, but I'll assume that a factory installed .operations file contains one toolpath of each (pocket, contour, drill, etc). This is pretty much what the .defaults file is. So, no, you can't screw anything up. If you want to start fresh, copy the Mill_Inch.defaults file and rename the extension to .operations. If you think your .defaults file is hosed, move, or delete it and restart MC. A new one should be created.

 

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Can I export to / import from any folder instead of the default Mastercam directory?

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Yes. Some companies are set up with these files on a network where all programmers can access them.

 

Thad

[MotorCityMinion]

Thad, thanks for jumping in, I'm figuring some things out for myself the hard way.

 

"If you think your .defaults file is hosed, move, or delete it and restart MC. A new one should be created."

 

I was thinking te same thing thing about MC recreating the .operations file. Copy it somewhere else, delete the f-ed up file , restart MC and see what pops. When i get some free time I'll give that a try.

 

"I don't see a reason to return it to the default state because you don't use it in the default state."

 

Simply put, I f-ed it up when I exported the op's from a file, not once but twice, to the default location. CRAP!. Now I have a bazillion

ops in there.

 

It's all good , I'll figure out what I'm missing here sooner or later.

[Thad]

I just looked at my mill_inch.operations and it appears to be what I thought...one toolpath of each type. So, you should be able to copy your .defaults file and rename the extension to .operations and be back to factory settings.

 

As far as you *needing* to do this, I think we're not understanding each other there. But it sounds like you'll get it figured out. Keep us posted if you run into any snags.

 

Thad

[Mr. Dayshift]

Sweet, I'd been wonderin about this.

[Jayson Kramer]

Here is a little on managing tool libraries.