Organizing Files

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

This is what you have control over when reading in other file types.

[Guest]

I've gained another week of experience with MC but I've still got a long way to go and I'm in need of some advice on organizing your files. I've got a folder full of .step files that I'm working on and I am machining pockets and holes on all sides, can someone explain a good way of organizing the file to be machined? What I used to do with GibbsCam is drag my solid in, then I would create "work groups" in MC it's called "Levels" and I would extract geometry for the machining of the first op. Face mill would be work group 1 and then I would put the pockets on another work group and so on...... Then I would do a "save as" and call it "operation 2" and put the part in the correct orientation to machine the second side and I would do this for all the sides as required. How do you MasterCam pros do it?

 

This is where the WCS can help immensely. There is no reason to have different files for different Operation. Create everything you need for your first OP, when you're ready to do the second OP, just create a "New" WCS in the orientation that you need and machine your second operation. The WCS can be your friend

 

 

How do you cut and paste geometry from level to level?

 

If you preselect the geometry on your screen that would want to cut or copy, after that on the lower part of the screen in the place it says "Level", right click, it will pop a menu that allows you to type in a new level, if you uncheck the Main box, or click the box and create a new level as your desire. Also, with the level manage open, if you right click, you can cut/copy/paste right from that menu as well.

 

 

When I first drag the step file in, it's just a wire frame and the solid so I would keep that on the first level and then create another level to extract geometry to?

 

After you've imported your model, to verify it IS wire frame and a solid, on the menu across the top, click on "Screen", then Screen Statistics, this will put up a dialog box that tells you whats already on the screen.

 

 

I'm a little confused to say the least. It seems when I extract geometry using the "Create curve on all edges" and select a face I end up with duplicate geometry a lot. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

Now, if you imported with wire frame and then you start using Create curve all edges and start selecting faces you will get a TON of extra geometry. Also, when picking faces, you need to remember if you have a face with 4 edges, you'll get wire frame on all four edges, if you pock a face that has an adjacent edge and select the face, you'll get overlapping geometry on adjacent faces. I avoid this in one of 2 ways, either create curves on all edges during import, then picking out only what I want and moving it. Two, Create Curves on one and creating JUST the edges I want.

 

 

I don't mean any disrespect because I'm not that guy, but this is a forum for directly helping people who use MasterCam and if I'm wrong please tell me. You are directly representing MC and if you don't believe me the title of the website is "eMASTERCAM.COM" so when I come here after my employer has spent more than $for the software I would hope that I could get a little help, is that too much to ask? I learned a lot from the GibbsCam forum and I am forever grateful for that, I would think that the direct competitor would do the same but I guess I'm wrong. I am just trying to do my job well so I spend my weekends on my own time trying to better myself for my employer. How dare I! I'll let our local reseller know that their public forum for helping their customers is useless because their moderators direct them to an outside source for training. Thanks for all your help......

 

Dylan

 

 

This is why when I messaged you yesterday, I suggested you contact us.

 

We(S4A) are your direct resource, James is correct, this is a help forum, not a training forum.

I understand you're trying to work through some changes, one thing I have heard fairly consistently from people going "to" Gibbs is you need to forget everything you know about any CAM system becasue Gibbs functions differently. Now Gibbs is one system I don't know so I don't know if that is accurate, though I have heard it once from more than one person, so to me it means something.

 

I provided my work email, our support email and our contact, I will be in touch with Steve on Monday to see about getting this worked out.

[dylskee]

There's help then there's training. There's some basics you need to get a handle on, there's no way around it sorry to say.

I represent nobody but myself here.

 

I've spent my free time helping people in here for the last 11+ years, and I'd venture to say that the number of people I've helped is in the thousands easy. It's been HELP, not TRAINING. There is a difference. I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, pissed off, or whatever. I have no qualms about reccommending outside sources for training. I believe they even advertise their services here for just such needs. I did fail to mention Mastercam U. My apologies. There are things that those sites offer that make learning MUCH easier. Don't be offended because I directed you there. Believe it or not, I'm doing you a favor by pointing you in that direction. People that want to be effective programmers use whatver tools are available to them.

 

Just sayin'

You're right, I'm a little frustrted. And thanks for the links.

 

This is where the WCS can help immensely. There is no reason to have different files for different Operation. Create everything you need for your first OP, when you're ready to do the second OP, just create a "New" WCS in the orientation that you need and machine your second operation. The WCS can be your friend

 

 

 

 

If you preselect the geometry on your screen that would want to cut or copy, after that on the lower part of the screen in the place it says "Level", right click, it will pop a menu that allows you to type in a new level, if you uncheck the Main box, or click the box and create a new level as your desire. Also, with the level manage open, if you right click, you can cut/copy/paste right from that menu as well.

 

 

 

 

After you've imported your model, to verify it IS wire frame and a solid, on the menu across the top, click on "Screen", then Screen Statistics, this will put up a dialog box that tells you whats already on the screen.

 

 

 

 

Now, if you imported with wire frame and then you start using Create curve all edges and start selecting faces you will get a TON of extra geometry. Also, when picking faces, you need to remember if you have a face with 4 edges, you'll get wire frame on all four edges, if you pock a face that has an adjacent edge and select the face, you'll get overlapping geometry on adjacent faces. I avoid this in one of 2 ways, either create curves on all edges during import, then picking out only what I want and moving it. Two, Create Curves on one and creating JUST the edges I want.

 

 

 

 

Dylan

 

 

This is why when I messaged you yesterday, I suggested you contact us.

 

We(S4A) are your direct resource, James is correct, this is a help forum, not a training forum.

I understand you're trying to work through some changes, one thing I have heard fairly consistently from people going "to" Gibbs is you need to forget everything you know about any CAM system becasue Gibbs functions differently. Now Gibbs is one system I don't know so I don't know if that is accurate, though I have heard it once from more than one person, so to me it means something.

 

I provided my work email, our support email and our contact, I will be in touch with Steve on Monday to see about getting this worked out.

Thanks John, things are starting to make a little more sense now. I was going to talk to Steve about training the end of next week so I'm sure we'll be in touch.

[MotorCityMinion]

Wow, I just read through this entire posting and thought I would add a few comments. Some of these may be redundant.

 

This site is not maintained by CNC software, it's made available through the good graces of In-house Solutions. The forum itself is free and is a good place for tips but does not include or imply any liability or obligation on behalf of eMastercam or the forum members themselves . Go to the store and purchase Mill level 1, level 3 , Solids, and Design tutorials. For under $300. bucks you'll have enough material to keep you busy (or interested) for quite a while.

 

Several weeks ago, a incident occurred in another post with regards to training material. I was going to post some links to free training material in the educational forum that would help everybody and possibly make the redundancy of the training questions less frequent. I realized that this would also be links to direct competition of In-house and thought it would be just flat out wrong. Do a few searches on the INTERNET, and in no time you'll find legitimate material everywhere.

 

Speaking of searches, there is a search function in the upper right. You've asked some very basic questions that quite a few of us might even say were fundamental to all CAD/CAM applications. Those questions can be answered in short time using the search function. Try and limit your questions to a single topic.

 

All of us have been where your at now. Over the last several years I've witnessed and experienced this time and time again. Employer purchases a seat of MC, or any software for that matter, and maybe a new PC. Expectations are high. Now the fun starts, No training material. It's irresponsible to say the least, that somebody would fork out over 5 digits and not spend a few hundred bucks on training material. So now, the employee gets assigned with the task of figuring things out for himself . This happens with machinery and measuring equipment just as often. Aggravation starts to set in and the employee starts cursing the task at hand. The forums now become a place to vent frustration.

 

Ok, to answer one of the questions about creating curves and receiving multiple entities. When 2 faces of a model touch one another, your going to get geometry from both of those edges when you select create curve on all edges and have selected both faces. Hence the duplicates. If the model was not water tight or just poorly created, you may end up with even more geometry that overlaps or doesn't appear to make sense. 1 curve may be .0001 longer that the curve from the adjoining face and it's in the model, not necessarily an MC issue. My preference is to import the model as a solid, with edge curves created at the time of import. This seams to limit the number of duplicate entities relative to importing surfaces. Keep in mind that importing crappy models into any CAD/CAM package can give you poor results. I then move the solid to a separate level. No need to create a copy of the solid, just moving it to a new level and turning that level off allows easier selection of the lines and curves you need to work with. Once I decide on what geometry I need to use for chaining, I'll copy just that geometry to a new level so that I don't have to look at or dodge all the entities that I don't want to use. I never delete any of the geometry created on the first import as I may have to retrive this again for any number of reasons later on in the programming process.

[Dtm]

You're right, I'm a little frustrted. And thanks for the links.

 

 

Thanks John, things are starting to make a little more sense now. I was going to talk to Steve about training the end of next week so I'm sure we'll be in touch.

 

I know how you are feeling right now. E-mail me [email protected]. I had all the same questions you have.

[Guest]

Dtm,

 

Why don't you try giving your reseller a call, maybe you'll find someone there to help you along, instead of just getting frustrated

[BenK]

My preference is to import the model as a solid, with edge curves created at the time of import. This seams to limit the number of duplicate entities relative to importing surfaces.

 

I personally like to import my model without wireframe geometry and then just "create curve single" and only create what I need. It keeps my file much cleaner.

 

As far as training goes the In-house books and MastercamU are great tools, I have used them both.

[Dtm]

Dtm,

 

Why don't you try giving your reseller a call, maybe you'll find someone there to help you along, instead of just getting frustrated

 

Thanks. I pretty much got it, mc that is. I have been using for 10 months now doing lathe, mill 3,4 and 5-axis. I use to talk with dyslkee on the gibbs forum. He probably has the same questions I had. I was just going to offer him some help. Coming from gibbs we could really relate on the differences.

[iowajim62]

Yes I understand I need training on the basics, hence my posts asking for help in which yours doesn't seem to help much except for stating the obvious! I've used other Cad systems before that are much more user friendly, MC IS NOT one of those systems but I have to learn it if I want to continue to eat. I have got a grasp on the levels now so the road to progression has begun. Next time try being more helpful then stating the obvious, that's more annoying then not knowing what I'm doing. Being a moderator I figured you would know this.

 

 

I don't mean any disrespect because I'm not that guy, but this is a forum for directly helping people who use MasterCam and if I'm wrong please tell me. You are directly representing MC and if you don't believe me the title of the website is "eMASTERCAM.COM" so when I come here after my employer has spent more than $for the software I would hope that I could get a little help, is that too much to ask? I learned a lot from the GibbsCam forum and I am forever grateful for that, I would think that the direct competitor would do the same but I guess I'm wrong. I am just trying to do my job well so I spend my weekends on my own time trying to better myself for my employer. How dare I! I'll let our local reseller know that their public forum for helping their customers is useless because their moderators direct them to an outside source for training. Thanks for all your help......

 

 

Coming from gibbs we could really relate on the differences.