Old bugs back again. Thanks alot CNC!

[Aeroguy]

and post proccessors.. a HUGE investment

 

Actually, the investment in posts for other CAM pakages isn't as bad as you might think. Based on my experience with MC so far at my company, whenever we need a new post, we have to pay Xk per post to in-house, plus it is linked to your sim. That was unheard of back in my PM days. You paid a fee for a post yes (nothing near Xk mind you) BUT, it wasn't locked to a particular sim. I could transfer that post to anyone, anywhere and it would work perfectly. So realistically, you could probably find your posts online for FREE and not have to worry about anything.

 

Just something to think about.

 

Oh, and you could create your own posts too, provided you know what your doing that is

[neurosis]

I wouldnt pay for a post that I was not free to do with as I pleased.

[gcode]

Oh, and you could create your own posts too, provided you know what your doing that is

In Mastercam I do, I've built dozens of posts. I draw the line at Cinnci , Seimmens and Hiedi multiaxis post.

Those I have to buy. When I said posts were a huge investment I meant time as much as money.

I've spent 15 years learning to do it and untold hours tweaking them to do what I want.

My current employeer has a half dozen lathe posts, a dozen 3 and 4 axis mill posts, and seven 5 axis mill posts.

3 or them were purchased, I worked up the rest using mpmaste and mpgen5x as has a starting point.

 

I could not do that in a different software package. I'd have to pay somebody, or use available stock posts

and live with the output whether I liked it or not.

[gcode]

I wouldnt pay for a post that I was not free to do with as I pleased.

 

 

then do your due diligence before you switch..

[neurosis]

So I change one plunge rate for one operation to save a couple of seconds of time and look at what happens.

 

Why does the stock model go dirty? Why did the operation go dirty that I changed the plunge rate for in the first place? Why did all of the surface high speed tool paths go dirty that do not even use that tool?

 

These shs paths take about 3 - 6 minutes each to regen. So this is going to cost me 20 minutes of time because I tried to save a few seconds.

 

Thanks CNC!

[peon]

Yep Neuro!! SUCKS!! And, it doesn't happen all the time. My partner and I are taking bets whether the paths are gonna go dirty or not.

[Dtm]

I haven't heard Gibbscam mentioned while discussing other cam systems. I purchased Gibbscam about two months ago and was given 14 posts for free. If you want the post modified it's also free. Not to mention the first post I had modified they did it the same day. Gibbscam is a very stable and powerful program. Hands down there is no comparison when working with solids. It also has fixture recognition and is much easier to learn. Just my thoughts

[neurosis]

I haven't heard Gibbscam mentioned while discussing other cam systems. I purchased Gibbscam about two months ago and was given 14 posts for free. If you want the post modified it's also free. Not to mention the first post I had modified they did it the same day. Gibbscam is a very stable and powerful program. Hands down there is no comparison when working with solids. It also has fixture recognition and is much easier to learn. Just my thoughts

 

 

We have Gibbs at our shop. I dont like it and do not use it but that was just my personal preference. We did like it for lath work. We dropped our maintenance some time ago, before Cimatron and Gibbs (merged?) so I am not sure of any advancements.

 

I do know that they used to be a pain in the xxxx about the posts and they would not offer any solution for editing/modifying posts yourself.

 

Also, see if they will give away, edit, or modify a 5 axis post for free.

[K2csq7]

So I change one plunge rate for one operation to save a couple of seconds of time and look at what happens.

 

Why does the stock model go dirty? Why did the operation go dirty that I changed the plunge rate for in the first place? Why did all of the surface high speed tool paths go dirty that do not even use that tool?

 

These shs paths take about 3 - 6 minutes each to regen. So this is going to cost me 20 minutes of time because I tried to save a few seconds.

 

Thanks CNC!

 

I've got one, yesterday I had a program running on the floor and the operator asked if I could change an entry move for a chamfer cut... I changed the angle of the line in my toolpath and all ops below it went dirty (that's fine). So I regen, check it out in backplot, looks good so I post & send it to the floor....

ALL OPERATIONS THAT USED THAT TOOL LOST THEIR TOOL OFFSET NUMBER. = Egg on my face

What do I say to my boss when that happens.......

 

I was told by someone at CNC that this issue was going to be fixed before the re-release, so I stuck with it. = egg on my face again.

I'm done with X6, and done sending files in. Going back to X5 to try and gain back some of the confidence our operators have lost in me.

I was happy to help until I had smoke blown up my xxxx.

 

(BTW this tool used an unusual offset # so I was overriding the check I had in my post to prevent this from making it to the floor.)

 

 

 

 

 

[Thee Rickster ™]

My partner and I are taking bets whether the paths are gonna go dirty or not.

 

My co/programmer left for a different job in sales a month + ago

 

Who ever had to restart MC the least amount of times in one day for the Waterline rest paths

to regen, would have to buy the Timmys coffee in the morning. so I would give him all the

jobs I thought hat the least of those paths....

[Dtm]

We have Gibbs at our shop. I dont like it and do not use it but that was just my personal preference. We did like it for lath work. We dropped our maintenance some time ago, before Cimatron and Gibbs (merged?) so I am not sure of any advancements.

 

I do know that they used to be a pain in the xxxx about the posts and they would not offer any solution for editing/modifying posts yourself.

 

Also, see if they will give away, edit, or modify a 5 axis post for free.

 

Your probably right about the 5-axis post. It is possible the are treating me so good because I'm a new customer and just spent mucho bucks on the software.

[peon]

Neuro. I changed the feedrate and plunge rate on a 2d contour ramp and the path went dirty. I regenerated. Opened the parameters and changed the feedrate and plunge rate again. This time it didn't go dirty. Just for @#%$! and grins, change the feedrate and plunge rate on one of those toolpaths and see what happens.

[Tyler Robertson]

I haven't heard Gibbscam mentioned while discussing other cam systems. I purchased Gibbscam about two months ago and was given 14 posts for free. If you want the post modified it's also free. Not to mention the first post I had modified they did it the same day. Gibbscam is a very stable and powerful program. Hands down there is no comparison when working with solids. It also has fixture recognition and is much easier to learn. Just my thoughts

 

we've had customers who had other systems tell quite the opposite story when it comes to posts - however this can often depend on where you are/who you're purchasing from and what kind of relationship they have with developers. So I'm glad you had a good experience

 

I don't want this thread to turn into a CAM compare _______ contest - both because of the mc-fanboys and the non-fanboys pot stirring. Also I don't want to take away from issues some users have raised about things they've run into in X6, especially if the cam-arguments get heated.

 

There's been a lot sliding into the thread here, but I think the issues some long-time mastercam users are bringing forth are important. In the past we've always said the forum wasn't for discussing other cam systems, or mastercam vs. something else. There are a lot of independent/cam-independent forums that you can bring up anything you want. Obviously this forum is pro-mastercam and run by a reseller and used by mastercam users.

[Teh Bear without Brains kinda idiot]

i DO NOT NEED NEW FEATURES

I need stable and safe Mc

That`s what I lack

[Teh Bear without Brains kinda idiot]

BTw WHAT SIZE OF THE FILE cnc SOFTWARE MAKES TESTING ?

Cause more complex the part and more toolpathes more chances for bugs

My files tend to have 250 toolpathes minimum

[Thee Rickster ™]

I purchased Gibbscam about two months ago and was given 14 posts for free.

If you want the post modified it's also free

 

Surfcam also does not scam/charge you to make your CNC run with their software.

All free too.

[The Chipmaker]

i DO NOT NEED NEW FEATURES

I need stable and safe Mc

That`s what I lack

 

Wouldn't that be nice! I am not going to install X6 for a while X5 is running fine for me. I don't need the aggrevation for the little bit the "new" features are going to help me out.

[Thee Rickster ™]

reseller and used by mastercam users.

 

and lots of ex MC users

[neurosis]

Man, this is getting xxxxing ridiculous. So now I make a change to one of the rest rough paths and regen. I then go in to the next operation and make a change. The next operation was copied from the previous. I make an adjustment and regen. Now the previous operation goes dirty (that I just regenerated!)and tells me that there is no stl file for that operation and it will not regen. Now to fix that issue and regen those path YET AGAIN! I am beginning to sorely miss Volumill.

 

 

I hated X3 and X6 is proving to be a huge pile of xxxx even compared to that!

 

 

BTw WHAT SIZE OF THE FILE cnc SOFTWARE MAKES TESTING ?

Cause more complex the part and more toolpathes more chances for bugs

My files tend to have 250 toolpathes minimum

 

Notice the picture in my post above. It shows operation number 204 - 213? There are 470 operations in this file. I agree with what you are saying. The bigger the file, the more unstable it becomes.

[Thee Rickster ™]

^^^^^^^^^ This is one of 3 issues that worried me before X6 was released and is still very prevalent ,

so do I install it or wait for MU1?

[rocheey1]

Who knows if this nasty bug of locking the toolpathes with "repaired nci " still happenes in X6 ?

 

 

Im still in X5 MU1, and I have that happen occasionally here.

[mayday]

X5 here Rick, 6 has been a turd and really wonder if an MU1 will show up

[mayday]

This one irks me too. They develop tool library's and tool paths based on Iscar tooling. Guess what, we dont use iscar. we use Kennametal and Sandik. Where are my toolpaths for there tools?

[gms1]

^^^^^^^^^ This is one of 3 issues that worried me before X6 was released and is still very prevalent ,

so do I install it or wait for MU1?

 

There is no way I am going to install this what-so-ever until I see an MU. The really crappy part is we have to wait for that MU that's going to come with more cost added features instead of just bug fixes that we pay maintenance for. Come April (I think) when our maintenance comes due I dunno what I'm gonna say. We just waited over a year for X6 and all this is happening. It isn't my money but it sure is my reputation making a recommendation for buying into this.

 

This is the first time since version 6 I have given pause before I downloaded/installed the newest release and I'm glad I did.

[neurosis]

What pisses me off, is the fact that our maintenance is getting ready to expire. With things being the way that they are in X6 I am afraid that I am not going to be able to convince the boss to renew. Well that will pretty much leave us xxxxed with this giant pile of xxxx software that they labeled X6 because they dont release patches to fix bugs in this garbage that they call a cam system. If I cant convince him to re-up our maintenance then this version of the software along with the files that I have created in it are worthless.

 

Sorry for the attitude this morning, but I have spent two hours now fixing xxxx ups caused by the software not working properly. Im getting sick of it.

 

^^^^^^^^^ This is one of 3 issues that worried me before X6 was released and is still very prevalent ,

so do I install it or wait for MU1?

 

If you plan on using any of the opti* tool paths or take advantage of the stock models, then I would recommend waiting and at the same time praying that they fix this crap if they do indeed release a MU.