Rest Roughing STL's

[kunfuzed]

How do you guys manage your rest roughing stl's? If we have to move a file from it's original folder, the toolpath looses it's assosiaction with the stl, and is sometimes hard to find again if you didn't program it. Do you guys have any solutions other than using previous operations instead?

 

Thanks.

[Colin Gilchrist]

Everything is on the network. We have a "working" directory, and when everyone sets up their mapped servers, we all use the same letter. So for example, we have a "R:" drive mapped. All stuff related to a job goes in the job folder.

 

A typical file path would be R:NCWORK123B4567-8

 

By keeping it all on a network drive, anyone can access the file and never loose the association to the STL...

[kunfuzed]

We also use a network drive. However we have a "Current Programing Folder" where a program is created and accessed during it's first run, then it is moved to "Proven Programs" afterwards. (Not my idea)

 

So after it's moved is where the problem arises.

[Chris Rizzo]

Not sure, but creating a .z2g might grab the .stl. It grabs pretty much everything else.

 

Maybe protocol before moving it to the "proven program" location could be to create it as a .z2g.

 

m2c

[kunfuzed]

The folder structure is preserved when it is moved, but the problem is the toolpath is still searching for "K:Current Programming Files6420-66251-101 FITTING-CTMill FilesSTL Files" when it's now in "K:Proven Program Files6420-66251-101 FITTING-CTMill FilesSTL Files"

[Ocean Lacky™]

Just put all the STL files in a common directory

 

K:MCAM STL FILES

[dforsythe]

we have 5 programmers. everyone works off a folder on their c drive. at the end of the day that folder (mcx, stl, nc everything) gets dumped to a network drive we call INWORK. once the program comes back from the floor we update the mcx to match any changes made by the machinist and then the folder gets moved back to a proven folder with a network drive for that project.

 

its important that everyone works out of a folder with the same name on the c drive (anyname) then set your config / files / data paths and file usage to look in the "anyname folder on the c drive. everytime a file is opened it is always looking for the anyname folder no matter whos cpu you are using.

 

seems to work fine here. check your config and make sure it is set up corectly. I would recomend everything stays in one folder. do not save nc or stl in the mastercam default folders. you will not have acess to them if you open them on another computer.

[kunfuzed]

I wish there was a display in the HST Rest Roughing toolpath parameters that displayed the full path of the stl it was using. Often times after the move that stl is still there, but sometimes it's buried amongst others and isn't always instinctually named. Thanks for the ideas guys, but it looks like there isn't any real solution to our problem, though some of them we have switched to "use previous operations".

[Superman]

We use similar to you ( Kunfuzed ), but with a couple of differences.

 

--Any files that are called up by the program are in a folder on the network drive (ie S:McamxSupport Data FilesSTL---and should not be moved ( this is where yours may fall down )

 

--Also got a location S:McamxSupport Data FilesHeaders where we place the "Header" .TXT files to avoid re-typing program set-up imfo.

 

--All permitted users have mapped drives, and are identically named, they also have shortcuts to this location in other areas that Mcam sometimes wants to place them.

 

This way, the Mcam session can be moved anywhere, and the support files are always available