Featurecam to mastercam

[andate caga]

Hi everyone. I have been programing for 10 years with Featurecam, now for various reasons i need to learn Mastercam.

 

I know how to make parts and machine. I need to take what knowledge i have and make mastercam do what i want.

 

I am using a full version of X3. For now 3 axis milling is my top priority.

 

Has anyone else made this change over? how did you do it as quickly as possible.

 

The way the WCS and stock is handled is very confusing to me right now....

 

Thanks

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

You've come to one of the right places to learn. This forum however should not be looked at as a substitute for formal training. This shoudl be looked at as an enhancement to formal training.

 

Taking a crash course with your reseller shoudl be the first step. They will get you going the quickest way, then perhaps in the evenings, you can take a course at a local community college or trade school that teaches Mastercam (most do).

 

I know that is not a direct answer to your question, but hopefully will point you in the right direstion.

 

As for the WCS... you use it to orient your views, and assign work offset . You use various methods for driving the orientation. Points, 2 lines, Solid Face, etc... You pick your method, select the geometry (if using lines, select the direction you want x in first), then Y. Use the arrow if you need to change the orientation. You will usually get at least 2 possible solutions.

 

HTH and again, welcome to the forum.

[Dan@home]

I use the books first to learn MC. You will absolutly love MC as opposed to featurecam. You won't want to go back ever.

 

I used MC before Featurecam and quit the job because I didn't care for FC. Way to many reasons to state.

[Vinc3]

So right. Fc really need to be rework. I try to push Fc but it fail me

[Aeroguy]

Well I am kind of familiar with featurecam and very good with Delcam products in general. Featurecam is kind of like a Powermill Lite. Basically what you need to do is completely forget everything you learned about programming, because Mastercam is just so different than Featurecam that you will just drive yourself crazy trying to reconcile the 2 of them.

Workplanes, stock, toolpath verification and gouge checking are completely different in Mastercam so your previous knowledge on those subjects is just about worthless.

Your best bet is to just experiment with some of the different toolpaths to find what you like best.

Here are a few observations of mine... os far.... :

 

1.Mastercam is mostly driven by wireframe, so get used to creating alot of lines and arcs, then chaining your wrist numb afterwards. Don't use splines unless absolutely necessary. Try to use straight lines and arcs as much as possible.

2.Do NOT rely on M/C to verify itself to a model. Won't happen. You have to visually verify everything. Even then, triple check everything.

3.Rest roughing will probably drive you crazy.

 

Good luck

[overthecrossbar]

Well I am kind of familiar with featurecam and very good with Delcam products in general. Featurecam is kind of like a Powermill Lite. Basically what you need to do is completely forget everything you learned about programming, because Mastercam is just so different than Featurecam that you will just drive yourself crazy trying to reconcile the 2 of them.

Workplanes, stock, toolpath verification and gouge checking are completely different in Mastercam so your previous knowledge on those subjects is just about worthless.

Your best bet is to just experiment with some of the different toolpaths to find what you like best.

Here are a few observations of mine... os far.... :

 

1.Mastercam is mostly driven by wireframe, so get used to creating alot of lines and arcs, then chaining your wrist numb afterwards. Don't use splines unless absolutely necessary. Try to use straight lines and arcs as much as possible.

2.Do NOT rely on M/C to verify itself to a model. Won't happen. You have to visually verify everything. Even then, triple check everything.

3.Rest roughing will probably drive you crazy.

 

Good luck

You really are a bitter little man.

[Aeroguy]

You really are a bitter little man.

 

That would be the Scottish blood coming out

[GoetzInd]

1.Mastercam is mostly driven by wireframe, so get used to creating alot of lines and arcs, then chaining your wrist numb afterwards. Don't use splines unless absolutely necessary. Try to use straight lines and arcs as much as possible.

2.Do NOT rely on M/C to verify itself to a model. Won't happen. You have to visually verify everything. Even then, triple check everything.

3.Rest roughing will probably drive you crazy.

 

1. Sometimes I make entire programs without creating any wireframe geo using all solid edge.

 

2. The only shortcoming here is that you cannot use mult. solids in verify without joining them into on. PITA but not a big deal.

 

3. Has not been a problem for me.

 

In my experience you sacrifice usability for entry level users with more control. I personally appreciate all the little things MC offers so I can do exactly what I want.

 

Mike

[Aeroguy]

1. Sometimes I make entire programs without creating any wireframe geo using all solid edge.

 

 

This would be fine when you have a solid to work with. But it's not going to help you much when you get a surface model.

[Buddy J]

This would be fine when you have a solid to work with. But it's not going to help you much when you get a surface model.

 

Create Curve edge/all edges works great and fast/easy

[gcode]

Create Curve edge/all edges works great and fast/easy

 

 

Shhh!!! You'll spoil the whine

[BenK]

This would be fine when you have a solid to work with. But it's not going to help you much when you get a surface model.

 

Well then ask the customer to send you one of the many solid formats Mastercam can use. Problem solved.

[Aeroguy]

Create Curve edge/all edges works great and fast/easy

 

Yeah that works, but you get quite a bit of overlapping wireframe too. And yes, I am aware of the delete duplicates as well, and yes it does clear out quite a bit of extras, but not all.

[Aeroguy]

Shhh!!! You'll spoil the whine

 

I'm not whining... much ... but I think it would be nice if Mastercam caught up with everyone else finally. It has quite a few good features, but it still needs major improvment.

[CamNinja]

 

The way the WCS and stock is handled is very confusing to me right now....

 

Thanks

 

If you can get X4 or up it has a dynamic gnomon which I find much easier to use.

[gcode]

Every software has its strengths and weaknesses.

When I switched from Tek-Soft to Mastercam V7 back in the dark ages, I hated it.

I'd purchased V7 with my own money so I was determined to make it work.

My biggest problem was that I was trying to force Mastercam to work like Tek-Soft

and that wasn't happening. Once I left my Tek-Soft habits behind thing went much smoother.

I suspect people making the transition from FeatureCam to Mastercam will

go through a similar process.

[neurosis]

Every software has its strengths and weaknesses.

When I switched from Tek-Soft to Mastercam V7 back in the dark ages, I hated it.

I'd purchased V7 with my own money so I was determined to make it work.

My biggest problem was that I was trying to force Mastercam to work like Tek-Soft

and that wasn't happening. Once I left my Tek-Soft habits behind thing went much smoother.

I suspect people making the transition from FeatureCam to Mastercam will

go through a similar process.

 

I know that when I was transitioning I was not at all happy. It took me a while to learn to work around the limitations of the software and still find myself having to at times. The upside to my transition was that Cimatron's UCS (wcs) creation is similar so I didnt have any trouble figuring out how to work with them in MC which seems to be a stumbling block for some. When I go back to Cimatron now to work on older part files I start to realize that it had some limitations of its own as compared to MC (Cimatrons Macsys).

 

MC has progressed quite a bit in the last two versions (X5 and X6) and I am much happier now (bugs excluded). I remember the boss attempting to force me to change over back in the V9 days and even after I read about how happy people were with the software I could not understand what they saw in it (and still cant really).

 

I am very happy now that we are getting closer to a half way decent stock recognition even though it is more or less just a glorified version of using STL's. I do wish that they would add the ability to use it in 2d as well. It will be far more convenient than what we had in the past but sadly, i've seen far lesser systems that the stock recognition is light years ahead of what we have in MC today.

 

I have a friend that uses FC and has been using it for years. He shows me things in FC that are very cool. The thinking in that system is so different that I could see the transition being cumbersome to say the least.

[Joe788]

Yeah that works, but you get quite a bit of overlapping wireframe too. And yes, I am aware of the delete duplicates as well, and yes it does clear out quite a bit of extras, but not all.

 

What file format are you opening where you're getting surfaces without wireframe? Do you have "Edge Curves" checked in the File>Open>Options window?

[Buddy J]

Yeah that works, but you get quite a bit of overlapping wireframe too. And yes, I am aware of the delete duplicates as well, and yes it does clear out quite a bit of extras, but not all.

 

c-hook FindOverlap.dll

One of my favorites!