X6 lathe

[BenK]

Chris,

Yes it happens in the latest version also.

[Glenn Bouman]

Guys just go back to V9 it works well

 

If I was a shop owner and my programmer gave me that response his days working for me would be numbered, or his pay greatly decreased, as he is probably applying that "head stuck in sand" to other areas of his work.

 

I do come across some users that are still using V9 and after spending 1 or 2 hours with them going thru their hangups on what is holding them back they are happy to make the switch and would never go back.

[Guest]

Glenn, I don't disagree with you at all but......

 

You knew there had to be a but didn't you

 

Many of the guys I work with are just machinists, they just need to get the job done, they rarely have the time to play and figure something out to get it to work ,they just need it to work. So they stick with the beast they at least know

 

 

With that said, I did have to tell one guy this week trying to run V9 on Windows 7 and having issues, it wasn't going to happen.

[MIL-TFP-41]

If I was a shop owner and my programmer gave me that response his days working for me would be numbered, or his pay greatly decreased, as he is probably applying that "head stuck in sand" to other areas of his work.

 

I do come across some users that are still using V9 and after spending 1 or 2 hours with them going thru their hangups on what is holding them back they are happy to make the switch and would never go back.

 

I think you missed the sarcasm in that statement....however.... there is alot of truth to it. Lathe is essentially unchanged since V8. Version X brought in a more modern interface....thats about it unless you actually count things like the ability of verify with a round boring bar. The day you can backplot (note...not even verify) a pinch cut or a stock transfer (pretty simple stuff) I will say that things are improving. Adding grooving cycles does not exactly impress.....I was doing that stuff with Fanuc's FAPT cut in friggin 1990. Yes....Mastercam lathe IS that far behind the times....amazing to think that software I was using 22 years ago had the same basic functionality that Mastercam is pimping as "enhancements".

 

That being said....I would never work for a company that was stuck on V9.....I absolutelyfockinghated that interface

[GoetzInd]

I think you missed the sarcasm in that statement....however.... there is alot of truth to it. Lathe is essentially unchanged since V8. Version X brought in a more modern interface....thats about it unless you actually count things like the ability of verify with a round boring bar. The day you can backplot (note...not even verify) a pinch cut or a stock transfer (pretty simple stuff) I will say that things are improving. Adding grooving cycles does not exactly impress.....I was doing that stuff with Fanuc's FAPT cut in friggin 1990. Yes....Mastercam lathe IS that far behind the times....amazing to think that software I was using 22 years ago had the same basic functionality that Mastercam is pimping as "enhancements".

 

Agree 100%. Not much a can do now with X6 that I couldn't do w/ V9. Mill's a different story. The only reason we use MC for lathe is because we do 90% milling and so we can stick w/ one software. If we were a more lathe heavy shop, I wouldn't even consider MC.

 

Mike

[BenK]

I have a seat of mill at home and all I can say is that I will look to another software when I'm ready for a lathe seat.

[Chris Rizzo]

Has anyone used another software packages lathe module? I'm curious how it compares.

[gcode]

Not recently... I had a Tek Soft 2.5D mill/ lathe package in the late 90's and it was decent.

It did 80% of what you needed to do in lathe very well but the other 20% , it couldn't do at all.

I do remember that the roughing cyles were sweet but didn't have a lot of options

 

 

in 1997 they outsourced their code writing to India and that year's release was a useless crash-fest.

After waiting and waiting and waiting for a patch I got a postcard saying the patch was ready for download.

The patch was 40 meg and this was the days of 15K modems.

I called and asked if they'd mail me a copy and they said no.

I bought a seat of Mastercam shortly after that.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Has anyone used another software packages lathe module? I'm curious how it compares.

It all depends on what kind of lathe you have (i.e. Multi-Spindle Single Turret, Multi-Spindle Multi-Turret, B-Axis, etc...) and what you want your Lathe software to do.

 

If you have a single turret, single spindle lathe (even if it has milling and Y-Axis), Mastercam does quite nicely in my experience. Add that second turret and all bets are off. All manual Syn/Wait codes... Simulation is not there at all either. All that said, since I've got CAMplete Turn/Mill now, the sync/wait stuff goes away, and the simulation goes away. CAMplete is more powerful on the simulation front than Mastercam will EVER be... but you have to have a Nakamura lathe to use it

[Guest SAIPEM]

Has anyone used another software packages lathe module? I'm curious how it compares.

 

Yes, I have.

 

For basic 2-axis stuff , MC lathe is passable.

 

Because I've had a need for Mill/Turn for some time, I had to move to ESPRIT.

ESPRIT Turning has its quirks but its light years ahead of MC.

The same for EdgeCAM although I would place EdgeCAM a several steps below ESPRIT Lathe at the high end.

 

The minute you need to synchronize a second turret, MC is a bloody abortion.

It is this area that shows how little MC has done with Lathe over the years.

 

Back in 1998 I was using Turn5 from from Missler.

Back then it supported Multi-Spindle, Multi-Turret with synchronization

that could be viewed during backplot and simulation all on a WinNT box!

Never underestimate the ability of the French to screw up a good thing.

Missler's TopSolid Turning is just now getting to the point where Turn5 was back in 1998.

 

If I was a new potential customer and all I needed was simple 2-Axis lathe, Mecsoft, OneCNC and BobCAD offer a more cost friendly solution.

 

If I needed really good Mill/Turn with Synchronization, I'd be looking at ESPRIT and Siemens NX.

It's obvious that MC has no intention of ever producing a real MTM solution.

 

However, I'm sure the world is getting ready to jump to the new Mastercam SwissExpert.

[MIL-TFP-41]

However, I'm sure the world is getting ready to jump to the new Mastercam SwissExpert.

 

LOL....yea I am going to get a software that has virtually no user base....how good could the package of even been if it was going bankrupt & therefore was easy pickings for CNC software to aquire? Partmaker on the other hand has a large user base & has a proven track record. GoetxInd has a great point.....what can you do in lathe now that couldn't be done in V9 or even V8? (Translators don't count) Tool inspection on grooving cycles??? How many people have a post that actually supports that?

[Watcher]

It's obvious that MC has no intention of ever producing a real MTM solution.

 

However, I'm sure the world is getting ready to jump to the new Mastercam SwissExpert.

 

 

Wow... good to see that someone finally had the guts to say it up front...

 

Wake up folks... when it comes to lathe - you are being cheated... for at least 10 years...

 

After 5 months of tests:

 

Usability - Part 1

 

Usability - Part 2

 

JM2C

[gcode]

getting back to the orignal topic of this thread, files going dirty when there opening and requiring the toolpath chains to be reselected.

 

This morning, using the current public release of X6, I open files form V8, V9, a couple of X3's, X4's, and X5's that have been in my archives

 

for up to a decade.. they all opened properly ( not dirty)

 

This weekend, I also did a quick contract job, fresh in X6, simple turning, 2 ops with a stock flip.

 

Over the course of the wekend, I've opened it a half dozen times and it always opens in the same condition I left it.

 

I also saved it to my backup network server, and opened it on my laptop via my wireless network.

 

In all cases, the file opened OK.

 

I've also done similar test with X3, X4 and X5 networked files files at work with good results.

 

This has got to be caused by a bad path in the config file, a corrupt config file or machine def or a corrupt install.

 

The simplest thing to try is to move your config file out of

 

C:\Users\**** your username here ***\Documents\my mcamx6\CONFIG\mcamx.config

 

and start X6.

 

X6 won't be able to find the config file so it will create a fresh default file.

 

Then do a couple of test files and see if they open clean..

 

You can do the same with a machine def,

 

Switch to a stock default machine def and build a test file..

 

Last idea is a total uninstall/reinstall.

 

If none of that works, I'm stumped..

[robk]

Hey Daniel what's up with your blog? I thought you were(are)doing a great job, but you have been quiet for a few months.

[mayday]

Impressive vidio's. your using Topsolid?

I like the B axis turning ability

[Watcher]

Hey Daniel what's up with your blog? I thought you were(are)doing a great job, but you have been quiet for a few months.

 

Lack of time to update it... I'm always in the middle of a post...

 

I really apologise for the long delay since the last post... I'm on the middle of a whirlwind now coordinating a global rollout to the latest version of Pro/NC + a million of small fixes in our post-processors and user training...

 

All I can say is that I'll try to compensate and make the next post worth the wait...

 

Thanks for asking...

 

Daniel

[Watcher]

Impressive vidio's. your using Topsolid?

I like the B axis turning ability

 

We're evaluating it Wes. So far, it's being good. Missler provided us temporary codes to evaluate it under the condition we would send our users to attend formal trainings in the product. We sent 4 guys (including myself) for a 2.5 weeks training (1 week CAD - 1 week Milling - 4 days Lathe) and got codes for 4 seats + standard post-processors to test it.

 

Stock update for turning and milling is just AWESOME. No air-cuts at all...

 

The lathe package makes you happy as Heroin... - I have to check from time to time if I'm taking the blue pill

 

B-Axis turning was one of the things that made us to look into it...

 

The US reseller is one of the best ones in the world for multi-tasking machining in TopSolid. He's been helping us, but I really wish he was our local dealer.

 

Best

[crazy^millman]

Daniel, good to see you are doing good. Was good seeing you at EMO last year. Might make it to Brazil this year if I do I will look you up. Take care and be talking to you soon. :welcome:

[Watcher]

Daniel, good to see you are doing good. Was good seeing you at EMO last year. Might make it to Brazil this year if I do I will look you up. Take care and be talking to you soon. :welcome:

 

Hi Ron,

 

It was an imense pleasure to meet you there too... Your wife is also a lovely person and I'm really blessed to have spoken to both you.

 

Anything I can do to help you here I'll do.

 

Take care!

 

Daniel

[Ron Branch @ 5th Axis]

You take care as well. It was good to meet you and put a face to the name.

 

She is pretty awesome glad she got to go to Paris and Hannover with me.

[Chris In-House Solutions]

Just a little update on this thread. The original topic was dealing with a lathe issue where the user was having an issue with regenerating his toolpath's upon re-opening his part file. I got a chance to view the file and ended up re-programming it in the most current version of the software V15.0.4.3 and upon reprogramming it in the current version the users issues went away.

 

I then checked his zip2go file and noticed he was not using the most current version of the software. As I have said on another thread please ensure you are using the most current version of the software. It will only make things easier for yourself as well others who are trying to help you with any issues related to using the software.

[BenK]

This morning I opened the file and everything worked without having to re-select the toolpath geometry. I didn't change anything so I don't know what changed.

[YoDoug®]

We have Mastercam, Esprit, HSMworks, and Gibbs here. Every license has all of the options. Even with those choices I still use Mastercam a lot for quick simple lathe programs. The turn-groove toolpath is pretty handy. If it is single spindle, single turret I almost always use Mastercam. If it is a twin spindle or twin turret I almost always use Esprit. Esprit does a great job with B axis mills turn like a multus. It also has great simulation which helps me a lot for machine demo/time studies. However, geometry creation sucks in Esprit. Often I cannot get the machining feature defined correctly in Esprit from the solid and I know it will be a p.i.t.a. to create the geometry manually in Esprit, so I will create the geometry in Mastercam and export it as a dxf to bring into Esprit. For mill programming I do a mix of Mastercam and HSMworks. Of all of the different CAM software I have been able to use over the years I have spent most of the time in Mastercam. It may not always be the prettiest but I know I can always get the job done.

[Watcher]

Hey Daniel what's up with your blog? I thought you were(are)doing a great job, but you have been quiet for a few months.

 

You asked, so here it goes:

 

CAMZone Article - Post-processors

 

Hope you like it!

 

Daniel

[rjw]

Guys just go back to V9 it works well

 

+1000