Mastercam Learning Group

[SledGeek]

Nice bass MCM !

 

Can't upload to ftp. Carry on w/o me til I can get this worked out here at work.... : /

[Rotary Ninja]

LOL. well, you already had it posted here MCM so it makes no difference

 

It will be ok. It will be like some of the customers we get models from here. Some are very nice, and some are freaking terrible.

[Rotary Ninja]

Wow, I just looked at that MCM. Very, very nice work!

[MotorCityMinion]

"It will be ok. It will be like some of the customers we get models from here. Some are very nice, and some are freaking terrible."

 

Oh no...lol, let me clarify that, I recreated the entire Model a long time ago, this should be fine. I actually intended to make a full modeling and machining tutorial out of this but read somewhere that X7 now handles boundaries and check surfaces differently in some tool paths and I did not want to create a conflict when the X7 HLE rolls out.

 

Guys, with regards to the new topic, Jazz Bass, please put all new post in the topic named..... MLG - Project 1 - Jazz Bass Guitar

[Rotary Ninja]

I just uploaded SledGeek's file to our folder on the FTP... IDLER BRACKET - BILL.EMCX-6

[The_kid]

I uploaded mine to the FTP I'm having trouble with the cleaning up the radius. I'm thinking if I switch to surfaces for drive it would help a lot. where is the toggle for the level manager and wcs manager? they're no longer at the bottom of my screen. I can use command keys but that doesn't help to change levels of entites.

[MotorCityMinion]

Alt + Z for the level manager. As for the wcs. Perhaps the Mastercam screen was resized larger than your monitor while in restore down mode. Try ALT + F4 to help you remember what you did.

[The_kid]

I know the hot key for the level manager. But you still have to right click on it to be able to change levels of existing entites. Screen appears to be good.

[Rotary Ninja]

So kid, did you get your screen fixed? How is your PC handling this stuff?

 

By the way, good programming guys. I like the simplicity and the finished result. Bill really makes me feel I spent a bit too much time programming

[SledGeek]

I ran that job as a one off piece of aluminium that was stopping everyone from leaving early on a sunny Saturday morning !! Still takes time to tweek, but if there's any changes it's quick to regen.

This is fun stuff to see how many ways people use and adapt these toolpaths. Such an awesome way to add tools to the arsenal ! Wish I had more time to spend on fun stuff

[Rotary Ninja]

LOL. I like your reasoning

[The_kid]

yes got it. My PC at work is handling it just fine. I haven't had the chance to change to surfaces yet. As you saw model drive wasn't cleaning up radius.

[The_kid]

Kevin you are the man I reset the dialog in the control applet and it reloaded the screen perfect.

[within a thou]

That is why we are here in this group. To learn.

 

So do you normally work from a wireframe using a DXF? If you need to put a wireframe on the part try this... Go to Create>>>Curves>>>Curve on all edges. Then, in your selection bar will be a button to "Activate solid selection". It has a green check mark over a blue cube. Click that. More buttons just to the right of it will become usable. One is "Select face" and one is "Select body". Un-highlight the "Select face" so only the "Select body" button is highlighted blue. This means when you click the model to apply curves only the entire solid body will be selected. With the select body active click the solid. The edges of the solid will highlight. Then click the "End selection" button (green circle). Click OK (the check mark in the ribbon bar).

 

If this is not what you are having trouble with let me know and I will do what I can to help you out.

I see this coming up a lot so far in many posts but are people aware of the options tab in the file open dialog box. When you choose to open the sldprt and import you can choose to import with edge curves. Then use delete duplicates to clean up the file

[Bob W.]

I am just curious... How long would it take you guys to program a part like this idler bracket?

 

Can you post a picture or two of the part?

[Rotary Ninja]

 

[Rotary Ninja]

We aren't taking these parts too serious Bob. It's just a way for us all to share some programming techniques. If you look on the FTP there is a folder for the group. Currently we are putting all the files there. Webby is working on some things to make this a lot easier and hopefully more organized. Will keep you all posted.

 

Kevin you are the man I reset the dialog in the control applet and it reloaded the screen perfect.

 

Good to hear. It was a lucky guess

[Bob W.]

I wish I had been following the whole project. How long is it taking folks to program a part like this? I have a few employees that are pretty green at Mastercam so I am curious just what my expectations should be for programming time.

 

There are several different approaches I would take on this depending on whether the part was production or prototype. It it was production I would get all of the proper radius tools and bull mills and it would be about a 5 minute part (run time) assuming it is about 3" wide and 1" thick. For prototype I would do what I could with standard toolpaths and surface machine some of the fillets and radii using flowline if I didn't have the right tools on hand. I'm guessing I could have a part like this programmed and ready to hit the machine for op1 in 20-30 minutes. Designing and making fixtures for op2 would take 60-90 minutes, and programming op2 would take ~20-30 minutes. This is all for prototype. If I was setting up for production the whole project would probably take a 8-12 hours before parts were coming off the horizontal machine.

 

I need to get the HLE so I can see how other people are approaching this.

[Rotary Ninja]

I think it needs to be installed on a PC without Mastercam on it Bob. I guess we could ask... does anyone have the Home Learning Edition installed alongside a licensed copy?

 

I realize most of us would attack this stuff differently depending on if it were production or prototype. I went at it as though it were small runs and just designed some soft jaws. Others on here just did a one off and didn't do any fixture work in their programming. I am anal about fixture design, so I hope to get some good examples thrown into some of these programs we will be doing. But it's not a requirement that these be programmed complete or even have a fixture design in mind. I think it will be best if everyone completes as much of the part as they have time to do. Just keep it fun. And I hope everyone can come away with a few new tricks. I know I have already

[RayD]

you can have MCX, and HLE installed on the same PC

[Rotary Ninja]

Oh cool. I will put the HLE on at work too then.

[Rotary Ninja]

I wish I had been following the whole project. How long is it taking folks to program a part like this? I have a few employees that are pretty green at Mastercam so I am curious just what my expectations should be for programming time...

 

Oh, I forgot to answer you here. We are kind of going on a play it by ear schedule. It's been 3 weeks and some people I think are still programming. RayD had his done before I was done modeling the part It took me about two hours to program it I think because I lost some work when Mastercam crashed on me and I hadn't setup my autosave yet. A few of the others here are still learning to program parts like these so they are using our examples to learn.

[MotorCityMinion]

Bob, see this. From Page four of this topic, and welcome aboard!

 

Strange, all of our products are supposed to ship with the HLE install disc, unless you got it before the X6 HLE was released? Regardless, your account here has permission to download it from eMC. You can find the 32bit and 64bit versions here: http://www.emasterca...oads&showcat=29

 

If anyone else here would like access to the HLE, PM me and I'll hook you up.

[Rotary Ninja]

I am very anxious to see some of Bob's programming techniques. He reminds me of a guy I used to work for that also programmed and ran his own machines.

[The_kid]

I have spent about 3.5 hrs on it though I'm green and come from programming live tooling lathe. I'm also experimenting with diffrent techniques and seeing what results. Assuming prototyping and not having all tools on hand.