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Traking MC, users, dates, times etc.


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Our CNC department is having issues with multiple users

on different P.C.'s where some one made a mistake on a

job and after other users opened that file and made changed and saved,

we have now way of knowing who did the mistake.

 

Is there a software that my IT guy can set up on the server that

would make everyone using mastercam in that department on the

NET hasps log in to a job and record who, and when an MC job was worked on.

 

Would be even better if it could show what changes each user did

in Mastercam.....

 

Any thoughts and possible solutions would be greatly appreciated,

 

Rick

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If you're already using SolidWorks, why not look into their PDMworks.

 

That should cover the tracking that you're looking for.

 

I've heard it's full time job running PLM or PDM though. So if you have enough work flowing through it you may need to designate an administrator to run it for you.

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Like JP said, PLM software, or if you can trust your coworkers, you can make a log file with Excel. I think you can set it up so you can add info, but not alter or delete. If you can't prevent users from deleting or altering info in Excel, Excel has it's own internal tracking. Once somebody fills in a field and saves it, then they go back to delete or alter for what ever reason Excel can track the changes and output them on another page. If you want something like this let me know and I can get something for you. I've done it just been a while and I'll have to clear out some cobwebs to get it working.

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We have had similar issues here. We have it setup now to where the programs, NC, and setup documents are on a server that only the primary programmers have write access to. If someone on the floor makes a change they have to save it to a temporary folder and notify our department by email that they made a change, who authorized it, etc.. If we make a change within programming we ghost the original toolpath and create an entirely new toolpath with the requested edits. The geometry, if any, are on a separate level as well. Then we create lettering on another level saying what was changed, why, when, and by who. This isn't the slickest system by any means but it works for us so far.

 

It's an honor system but if I had someone I couldn't trust to follow that system in my department, they wouldn't be in my department much longer.

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If you're already using SolidWorks, why not look into their PDMworks.

 

That should cover the tracking that you're looking for.

 

I've heard it's full time job running PLM or PDM though. So if you have enough work flowing through it you may need to designate an administrator to run it for you.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This

 

We have PDM Works to control all of our Solid Works models and it works very well.

We also have a full-time administrator who oversees the vault in addition to his duties as a designer.

 

The control factor for files going in and out of the vault is excellent.

It is 100% traceable for tracking changes.

We haven't fully integrated our Mastercam files into the system yet, but that will happen in the future.

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in our company (we have "only" two seats of Mastercam) i set up directly into postprocessor line "programmed by: ..." on each computer. But this solution doesnt cover changes in models etc, but we can find responsible person for NC programs.

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The MasterCam .net API allows a program to be notified just before, and just after a save is done. I'm running my own little macro on myself, partially to keep track of what, and when, things were done. It pops up a little box letting me add a description before it saves, then logs the date/time/description of the save.

 

You might also wish to check out these post parameters (I have never used these, myself)

 

15087 Selected for editing, deleting and reordering (True/False)

15095 Binary NCI of operation has been edited (True/False)

15326 Number of times the operation has been edited

15338 Toolpath edited (True/False)

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How about requiring a user to log changes into the Verisurf add-in notepad tab, date, time, changes and reason for change.

The "part note" area will stay with the part file, while the "note" area will stay with M/C regardless of file opened, including closing and reopening M/C

Small thinking, but maybe small enough to chase down the offending party, and create some projected accountability. :)

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How about requiring a user to log changes into the Verisurf add-in notepad tab, date, time, changes and reason for change.

The "part note" area will stay with the part file, while the "note" area will stay with M/C regardless of file opened, including closing and reopening M/C

Small thinking, but maybe small enough to chase down the offending party, and create some projected accountability. :)

 

As a cax admin I've learned that is very hard to have people's buy in in this sort of thing. It needs to be done automatically.

 

As far as I know cimco pdm is the only one with specific integration with Mc. Other pdms will treat its files as a regular doc. They can version it but can't extract data from it.

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  • 1 month later...

As a cax admin I've learned that is very hard to have people's buy in in this sort of thing. It needs to be done automatically.

 

As far as I know cimco pdm is the only one with specific integration with Mc. Other pdms will treat its files as a regular doc. They can version it but can't extract data from it.

 

I am getting this software soon. I am already using the dnc network but now in the process of trying to get a pdm network up and running. (I guess naming files sergeyisana**hole.mcx-7 probably wasn't the best way to keep track of files.) I got a trial demo of the pdm but still working on nailing down all the integrations.

 

How reliable is this software? It seems like Cimco PDM is a little pain to setup but how often do you have problems with it?

 

The DNC has been rock solid but many features I have not figured out yet, like drip feed. Unfoutanatly my reseller support kinda sucks and there isn't a website to ask for help. If I have any questions Watcher do you think you would be able to field them.

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I am very experienced with Cimco NC base but not the PDM product.

 

However I can ensure you Cimco support is second to none and if you drop them a line you will get it.

 

PDM has now even a job scheduler integrated with the database so it's a new product to do things that usually requires expensive and cumbersome erps... They do it with a better interface and a workflow thought for the NC programmer.

 

Every new job I start I try to bring cimco because the products are simply great.

 

Going through this right now. I asked them for a 90 days trial key for NC base and the PDM. We'll test both.

 

I'm considering to use NC base for the NC programs and PDM for scheduling NC programmer's workload, by defining them as machines in the PDM database.

 

NC base don't offer this. I need to confirm with cimco if we can use both. In theory yes as they have the same database.

 

(Sent from my Moto X via Tapatalk)

 

 

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Like JP said, PLM software, or if you can trust your coworkers, you can make a log file with Excel. I think you can set it up so you can add info, but not alter or delete. If you can't prevent users from deleting or altering info in Excel, Excel has it's own internal tracking. Once somebody fills in a field and saves it, then they go back to delete or alter for what ever reason Excel can track the changes and output them on another page. If you want something like this let me know and I can get something for you. I've done it just been a while and I'll have to clear out some cobwebs to get it working.

 

 

Yes, you can setup Excel to allow users to enter, but not change data. I do this with the programming schedule that I wrote. Allows people to check in and out of jobs to calculate program times, but they cannot alter fields.

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If you're already using SolidWorks, why not look into their PDMworks.

 

That should cover the tracking that you're looking for.

 

I've heard it's full time job running PLM or PDM though. So if you have enough work flowing through it you may need to designate an administrator to run it for you.

 

Cimco PDM instead of SW PDM. Trust me on this. ;)

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Well it took some doing but it looks like I got the system up and running. Cimco needs to work on consolidating the systems together. I have to run a license server, a pdm server, a dnc server, and an nc base server. Way too many steps in my opinion but it seems to be working ok. I am working with the reseller to get the final kinks worked out.

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Well it took some doing but it looks like I got the system up and running. Cimco needs to work on consolidating the systems together. I have to run a license server, a pdm server, a dnc server, and an nc base server. Way too many steps in my opinion but it seems to be working ok. I am working with the reseller to get the final kinks worked out.

 

No need to consolidate in my humble opinion. The products are modular: you buy what you need. Almost every software out there works this way...

 

There are people only using DNC-Max, others only NC-Base... The PDM Server is NC-Base server... And if you need to float, you need a license server...

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