The simple things.

[litnin]

Hi all.

 

I was just wondering if anyone else out there has a problem with mastercam's ability to make the tough things seem effortless and the simple things REALLY FRUSTRATING!!!...ie. the taking of simple random single cuts.

We have only recently started using M/cam. we also use CADDS5 R12 and it has the ability to take single cuts easily..ie. CUT TO an Entity, CUT PAST an Entity, or CUT ON an Entity. Plus taking cuts with no reference to Entities, Solids or surfaces without having to create lines or points. Those of u who have used CADDS5 will know exactly what i'm talking about.

 

I look forward to hearing ur views.

 

Litnin.

 

[ 05-03-2003, 08:44 PM: Message edited by: litnin ]

[foolsh]

if you think you can do simple things with cadds then go ahead,no need to brag about it.mastercam is different nad if you are trying to condemn mastercam please leave!

[litnin]

No No.. I think u've got me all wrong here, and maybe I should have said this in my original post, I think M/cam is a really good piece of kit. Especially considering its less than half the price of a "BASIC" CADDS5 package.

In fact I would even go as far as to say that it does just about everything else a lot better.

What i'm trying to get at is the fact that it can do all these difficult tasks so easily but it doesn't really support SINGLE CUT MOVES which can be very handy at times.

 

I appoligise if I've upset anyone, It was not my intension. And i'm definately not here to 'DIS' M/cam because the more i get used to it the more i enjoy it's flexability.

[Brendan P]

quote:

---

We have only recently started using M/cam.

---

This is the sole reason why you can't do the things you say are "so easy" in the other program you have.

Too many times I sit here and read post from new users/new forum members about the same things you seem to be complaining about.

After you have been using mastercam for a year, then tell me if you want to go back to this program that (can't be that good,cause I've never even heard of it).

IMO,before you go and say that something cannot be done,why don't you post it here first and see if it can.

Rather than trying to compare mastercam to some other product.(this does not go over too well)

I do not think that you have used it enough to be making statements like this.

Also...how much "formal training" have you had with your local reseller or tech school?

This could be the answer you are looking for.

[litnin]

Ok. point taken.

 

I get the feeling that I should maybe shut up and Delete this post before I'm made to feel un-welcome here. And I guess I'll most likely neeed u guys before u need me.

And believe me when I say 'THIS WAS NOT MY INTENSION'.

 

Again. 'Sorry if i've upset anyone'.

[Thad]

Litnin,

 

Welcome to the board. Don't let these guys get you down. I think they're overreacting. Sorry I don't have an answer for you, but I hope you stick around to see the friendlier side of this board.

 

Foolsh: Please get a few more posts under your belt before asking someone to leave the forum. Of your whopping 3 posts, 2 of them contain no useful (Mastercam) matter.

 

Bucket Head: Relax buddy. Litnin didn't say that MC *couldn't* do something. I don't think he's comparing MC to CADDS5 (which I've never heard of either ) to say that CADDS5 is better. He is giving an example of something that he would like to do in MC that he can do in CADDS5. This is a legitmate question.

 

C'mon guys!

 

Thad

[0bsessed]

I think he's talking about 1 of 2 things here. 1 stock left on cutting surface, or 2, what side of the cutting surface, i.e. left, right, or center.

 

Is this correct?

[cadcam]

Litnin, Welcome to the board .

Hang out for a while ask some your thoghts on things you want to do and share some files.

 

You might be surprised at what it can do.

And you might be right in some place that the other software just might do some thing better the MC.

 

This goes both ways with all CAD-CAM softwares.

Some of this might be your opinion like some are going to mine.

 

But don't go away you will find the support you need right here.

 

Some are not happy with the way you came in lets just move ahead.

 

Now why if the other software is so good are you now using MC,What made you change?

 

Thanks

[CAM-mando]

Litnin,

 

Imagine your mom invites me over for dinner cause I left my wife and I suck at cooking. So I show up and before I finish my salad, I notice the meatloaf cookin and I say "ya know ... my X wife used to put ketup on tip of her meat loaf... She couldnt cook other stuff too well, she cheated on me with my best friend, she sold my power tools and cleaned my bank account out, but her meatloaf was soooo good. Your moms meat loaf seems so difficult .... " I think thats kinda what you just did (albeit without realizing it.

 

Anyhooo, I am not familiar with cads5 and maybe I misunderstand the simple things you describe but Ill try anyway.

 

quote:

---

CUT TO an Entity, CUT PAST an Entity

---

Do you mean contour a line but have the tool stop short of the end or cut past the end ??? Is so check out adjust end points on teh lead in / lead out parameters page.

 

quote:

---

Plus taking cuts with no reference to Entities

---

I always work from model geometry, but I f you want to just make point to pouint moves, there is a function ... Toolpaths > Next Menu >Point> Goto XY(Z). thats [T] [N] [p] [X] or [z] for the typists You togle between rapid and feed using the Feed option, you can "jump" the tool up or define depth. After defining the path, hit escape and enter tool / operation parameters. Also Drilling can be done using "manual" (no existing points required).

 

This is not an efficient programming methood for what I do, but the functionality is there.

 

BTW, awful sensitive for a guy that says

quote:

---

I look forward to hearing ur views.

---

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Dave

the "everything relates to food since Jacks Quisine thread"

 

[ 05-04-2003, 12:54 AM: Message edited by: CAMmando ]

[litnin]

Hi Guys,

 

Nice to see a few members who aren't so touchy.

 

quote:

---

I look forward to hearing ur views.

---

I was really looking for some sort of constructive response, not the hostilities I received...

To describe what I meant by cut to, past, on would be hard, u'd really need to see it to know what I mean.

Any way, I think I'll leave this subject and concentrate on Support problems in future.

 

Cheers

 

Litnin

[ProductDevelopmentGuy]

Man - I'm glad I'm not a first time poster! The reaction that 'litnin' got from his post is embarassing!

And I see this happening a lot lately. Someone comes on with a comment that isn't "Mastercam's the greatest" and suddenly he's got people jumping down his throat. We KNOW we've got shortcomings... We KNOW that there are things that other packages do better... We KNOW that users who switch from another package might be losing functionality they had before... We KNOW that we need to hear these things. In 'litnin's case, he tried several times to explain himself, but people were still on the attack.

This forum is supposed to provide support for Mastercam users. Let's try to keep it at that.

 

PDG

[Rekd™]

quote:

---

To describe what I meant by cut to, past, on would be hard, u'd really need to see it to know what I mean.

---

I'm really curious to what you're talking about. Are you talking about leaving material on the feature you select to cut? If so MC does this easily. Are you talking about what side of the feature to cut on? (Left, Right or Center.. i.e. G40, G41 or G42)

 

Please let us know. We'd be glad to help, though it may need seem like it at first...

 

'Rekd teh (Singing in a lady's voice) Anything you can do I can do better, I can do everything better than you..

[MACHINEMASTERG]

pdg +1

[Frank]

Hi Litnin:

Without any remarks, I think you might be talking about chaining. If you only need to cut something quick and easy, try this. Create, Line, Endpoints, create a line anywhere. Then contour, chain. If you want the cutter to just feed on the line forward and back. Click: contour, chain, partial, then click your line, then where is says wait......make it a y, and click the line again, end here. Then when you get to the contour parameters page turn the tool compensation to off. If you use compensation with the cutter you can adjust the start and finish of your cut with the lead in/out button. I hope this helps.

 

Frank

[CPeast]

Free Mouse Pad To whoever gueses what the hek he's talking 'bout

 

On the subject of hammering guys who badmouth MC, I was a bit taken back by this at first, and think the flaming should wait (at least 'til post #2 ) but I also bleong to the Cadkey Forum. Right wrong or indifferent that forum turned into nothing but a bi!@# session. wading through the same posts from the same whiners to find legitimate posts is at times a daunting task. So I understand the "nipping in the bud". In the case of the post at hand, litnin has posted 4 times and really hasnt clarified what he is trying to do that MC doesnt do well.

[chris m]

Mr. Litnin

 

Tough way to break in .

 

While I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about, I still bump into some frustrating issues with "simple" things in Mastercam; both milling and turning. There has been many a time when I thump my mouse off my desk and say "I could program this move out of my head in 5 seconds; why the !@*#&$ won't the software do it?!?!?" but I just keep working until I figure it out.

 

Many of my problems stem from not understanding how to approach a certain feature using the software; once I figure that out it is usually a breeze to re-create the necessary steps in a different situation. Sometimes (rarely, these days) it seems that Mastercam just doesn't "want" to do things the way I would really like, so I just suck it up and live with Mastercam's [serviceable] way of approaching some features.

 

If you run into a specific situation where you are encountering these problems there are a lot of guys out here who can probably help you out.

 

C

 

[ 05-05-2003, 09:35 AM: Message edited by: chris m ]

[Nominal]

litnin,

 

Sounds like APT to me. The code written in the 50's upon which all cam systems were created. APT was and still is purley text based cam programming. You define geometry without seeing a graphical representation of it ( pretty tough for most humans ), then you create tool paths by telling it exactly how you want it to go. For example TLLEFT GOFWD/L1,TO,C1 GOLEFT/L2,PAST,L3 etc.. In APT if another APT programmer was to look at the code he/she would know what it was doing ( after some headaches usually ). Using a graphical cam system do we really want tool motion without any associated geometry? You may know what you did 6 months from now, but I'd pity the next person that has to work on your stuff after you've been hit by a bus. I want to see everything I did at a glance without having to decipher anything. You may find it easier in the long run to create geometry that speaks to the next guy. So if you need a check surface to be a certain distance from something else, create it there. Thats my .02 for today. Sorry you were getting mugged, people are sensitive about their software. Good luck.

[Noel]

Litnin

Why not upload an example of what you are trying to do to the FTP site and then everyone will understand what you are talking about.Just a thought.

Noel

[McRae]

Transitioning from other systems is difficult - What is the application that you are looking for, with leadin and lead out settings, cut to, past, etc can be allomplished. CADD5 will be using an associative parametric model and so to apply a machining stradegy to it will require parameters that act on the "Existing" geometry - From, To, Past etc... without creating any additional geometry. This way when the design model is created, then the process model is automatically updated - (Given that the designer hasn't deleted any parent features that your process/machining model hinges upon!)

 

In Mastercam the methodology is to create associative geometry and then use the settings - and geometry modifications, to create the desired tool path - all acting on a single design model without any associativity outside of itself. Most users here are fine with that and need to update their process model with each revision of the design model. Associative tool paths are nice in that you can re-select the geometry quickly and then regenerate the part but this is only Quasi-Practical for an enterprise wide system.

 

[ 05-05-2003, 10:25 AM: Message edited by: Andrew McRae ]

[jeff]

Litnin,

Just keep playing with Mastercam and the "problems" that you have on a regular basis will soon fade away.

That's what happened to me.

I love it now.

[Brendan P]

litnin,

My apologies if I seemed to be offensive to you.

This was not my intentions.

IMO,you need to work with the program more,and then you may see that it wiil do what you want it to do.

As the old saying goes...

"There is more than 1 way to skin a cat".

I have stated more than once that I do respect all members here.

At that,welcome to the forum.

[Rekd™]

/me re-reads bucket's original post and shrugs

 

'Rekd teh "You're the guy from the... ... ... Hammmburger train... ..."

[litnin]

Hi Guys,

 

Was almost in tears reading thru all the posts .

But on a serious note. I'm back at work tomorrow after the bank holiday. So i'll sit down at my CADDS station, go thru the moves, and try to put it into words as i'm doing it. AS BEST I CAN.

 

Wouldn't it xxxx a few people of if I just didn't bother....

 

Thnx guys.

 

Litnin.

[cadcam]

quote:

---

Wouldn't it xxxx a few people of if I just didn't bother....

---

Yep. but it would be all your fun ,Now would'nt be.

 

Glad you decided not to all this to hart and hang out.

[Jack Mitchell]

litnin,

 

Good topic title.

 

As you have witnessed, many times we can give and get attitude.

 

This forum represents an excellance in both Mastercam and machining in general - few would argue the expertise shared on this forum.

 

A big welcome and thank you for toughing it out so to speak.

 

 

Regards, Jack