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Machine/Control Definitions & Posts on network location


MIL-TFP-41
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Years ago when Version X came out we migrated all of our machine def's, control def's and posts to a network location. It is organized like so:

Mastercam Machines/Mills or

Mastercam Machines/Lathes

or wire or mill-turn, ect

When 2017 came out, to ease with the migration to the new interface, I decided to give people the option to use X9 for a bit longer or jump right into 2017...So I made a new network location:

Mastercam Machines 2017/mills

Mastercam Machines 2017/lathes

ect.....

Now that 2018 is out, I would like to continue this approach and am looking for a way to streamline. So I make a new folder, Mastercam Machines 2018. Problem I run into is when I run the migration wizard, everything runs just fine, EXCEPT the post processor location in the control definition does not get updated to the 2018 folder. It stays pointed at the 2017 folder. Short of going into each control definition (it gets WAY cumbersome when you have 50+ machines) is there a better/easier way to do this? When I made this change to 2017 to a new location, that is what I had to do & it does take a while & tons of patience. (some machines use more than one post & makes it more of a headache)

 

Another issue that is similar is my tool libraries. Many of the tools & alot of the holders are defined in by a DXF file. The file path would be "Mastercam Machines 2017/Tool Libraries/DXF". When migrating to a new location all the DXF file paths do not update. Is there anyway to do this without redefining every tool?

 

158.jpg

 

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I always bring everything to a desktop structured folder to do the migration, then I put it back and relink....

Yes, it can be time consuming but it is bullet proof....

If you don't take the time to do it right, you have have all kinds of issues with file locations and cross population....

Personally, I hate the network setup but it is what it is in some places.

 

Per your pic, you need to go into you 2018 control defs and now point them at the 2018 post, making sure to remove the 2017 post locations

 

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10 minutes ago, JParis said:

I always bring everything to a desktop structured folder to do the migration, then I put it back and relink....

Yes, it can be time consuming but it is bullet proof....

If you don't take the time to do it right, you have have all kinds of issues with file locations and cross population....

Personally, I hate the network setup but it is what it is in some places.

 

Per your pic, you need to go into you 2018 control defs and now point them at the 2018 post, making sure to remove the 2017 post locations

 

Yes Ive been down this road with almost every release. Was hoping for a quick & dirty secret. FYI, opening the control def in notepad++ and changing the path there blows things up, lol.

With 50+ machines and 10+ seats of Mastercam spread across 4 buildings a network location is the only option.

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Just now, MIL-TFP-41 said:

With 50+ machines and 10+ seats of Mastercam spread across 4 buildings a network location is the only option.

Yup..

A  place like that used to pay to have me or someone else in their facility for the day and get it done while they did their day to day stuff....was cheaper in the long run

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For the toolgeo and library's i made:

C:\MCAM-files\

  • Tools_DXF
  • Tools_X6
  • Tools_X8
  • Tools_X9

Now there is only one place for the DXF files

We've only 2 seats here, by this way it's easier to synchonise those files.

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There's really only one right answer, put the entire "shared mcam2018" on the network and point both pc's Mastercam to use it.  if you do this updating from version to version is as simple as running the migration wizard. 

 

Any other configuration requires re-linking to posts, tool libraries, etc..  While not necessarily a problem it is time consuming and in the case of re-linking posts can have terrible effects if done correctly.

 

below is a pdf file that goes through the process of sharing files over the network.  The pdf is for 2017 but the process is identical for 2018

 

HTH

Mastercam 2017 Sharing Files Over The Network.pdf

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  • 2 years later...
On 6/27/2017 at 3:31 PM, Roger Peterson said:

There's really only one right answer, put the entire "shared mcam2018" on the network and point both pc's Mastercam to use it.  if you do this updating from version to version is as simple as running the migration wizard. 

 

Any other configuration requires re-linking to posts, tool libraries, etc..  While not necessarily a problem it is time consuming and in the case of re-linking posts can have terrible effects if done correctly.

 

below is a pdf file that goes through the process of sharing files over the network.  The pdf is for 2017 but the process is identical for 2018

 

HTH

Mastercam 2017 Sharing Files Over The Network.pdf

Hi Roger!

 

We're looking into this solution in our shop. I downloaded the pdf you provided here, but the link to the Prototek Engineering sharefile is not available anymore.

Is this a program you wrote just to make the process easier, or do we need it to reverse-engineer something in Mastercam to make this solution work at all?

 

I'm thinking about doing it like this:

- Move entire "shared Mastercam" folder to desired network location

- Relink path in Configuration > Files > Shared Data Folder 

 

After this I will mirror the whole installation of Mastercam on my computer, and push it to all the computers in our shop.

In my head this is a viable solution. What do you think?

 

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Unfortunately Roger passed away last year.  Eric at Prototek and Mick from Mastercam teamed up to update his file for Mastercam 2021 though.  It can be found here http://forum.mastercam.com/Topic27430.aspx

 

I've been using the Prototek tool for a few years but before that I did it without.  I can't remember all the details but I think you can just move the shared folder to the network and then change the configuration file on each computer to its location.   The Prototek tool is probably the safest way though.

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4 hours ago, 5th Axis CGI said:

I do the same thing I never use the migration wizard on posts.

Why is that exactly? I ask because I upgraded the post a few times & I just hit yes when mastercam asked if i wanted to update.

 

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17 minutes ago, byte said:

Why is that exactly? I ask because I upgraded the post a few times & I just hit yes when mastercam asked if i wanted to update.

 

I have years of bad experiences doing so and when something works and works the same way correctly I will stick with that method. I use to try all of kind of things when I more time to test, but the last few years I have not had much extra time to test all the different things, methods and ways like I use to. Before I went thorough every dialog and every function one by one for weeks with every new release to see what was working and what wasn't. I always felt like it was my job to help break it. Better it works the easier my job is so time well spent, but just can't afford that kind of time like I use to. I still have my share or reports I send in, but I do projects that may have up to 400 hours programming per part so only so many of those you can do in a year and still keep your sanity. 

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1 hour ago, 5th Axis CGI said:

I have years of bad experiences doing so and when something works and works the same way correctly I will stick with that method. I use to try all of kind of things when I more time to test, but the last few years I have not had much extra time to test all the different things, methods and ways like I use to. Before I went thorough every dialog and every function one by one for weeks with every new release to see what was working and what wasn't. I always felt like it was my job to help break it. Better it works the easier my job is so time well spent, but just can't afford that kind of time like I use to. I still have my share or reports I send in, but I do projects that may have up to 400 hours programming per part so only so many of those you can do in a year and still keep your sanity. 

Thanks for the tip! I will need to look into this.

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