I put....# (pound) in front of line....this did not work....I did not get prompted to enter print number.

# --------------------------

# Misc strings

# --------------------------

# sprntnumb "Default Print Number"

I tried to create one called sprntnumb

this is what I had.......

# -------------------------

# Start of File and Toolchange Setup

# -------------------------

sprntnumb "Default Print Number" # initilize string variables for questions

fq 1 sprntnumb Enter print description: #format questions

pheader

"(PRINT NUMBER - ", sprntnumb, ")", e

# --------------------------

# Misc strings

# --------------------------

sprntnumb "Default Print Number"

Was I close??????

creating curves/all edges/from solid is more efficient than creating surfaces from solids then creating curves/all edges from the surfaces .........less duplicate entities

jmo

my next question......

I want the post to prompt me for Print Number.

I have e-mailed my reseller to request post cd so I can have the list of all variables. But in the meantime can someone let me know what the variable for print number is?

examples....

scustname "Default Customer"

spartdesc "Default Description"

s???????? "Default Print Number"

Don.....thanks for the help

the mcam tutorial helped me as well....

Don, I actually have these same notes printed from the mcam forum....the problem is...i don't know....

it just doesn't code correctly....i think i'm following your examples to the "T".

could it be where these items are in my post?

where should tooltable be?

where should bldnxtool be?

thanks for taking time to e-mail me

this is section of my post, I put this "#" in front of #ptlchg, #ptoolcomment and #pbld

....these changes did not get rid of the tool comments after every line.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

ptlchg #Tool change

pcuttype

toolchng = one

#if mi1 = one, #Work coordinate system

# [

# pfbld, n, *sg28ref, "X0.", "Y0.", e

# pfbld, n, "G92", *xh, *yh, *zh, e

# ]

pbld, n, "M01", e

pcom_moveb

c_mmlt #Multiple tool subprogram call

pcan

pbld, n, *t, ptoolcomment, e

comment

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This will be an ongoing Q&A thread for me.... so please check back often over the next couple of weeks as I will attempt to make my post almost perfect......I've been experimenting w/tooltable/bldnxtool/pwrrt/tcnt....I've read past threads to get this far.

1st problem ....tooltable/list at beginning of program.

*** this is what I have now....

%

O0000

(PROGRAM NAME - KTEST.NC )

(CUSTOMER NAME - Default Customer )

(DESCRIPTION - Default Description )

(TOOL LIST)

G20

G0 G17 G40 G49 G80 G90

T1 ( TOOL 1 - .75" ROUGHER )

( ROUGH 2"THRU HOLE )

M6

G0 G90 G54 X-12.8051 Y-3.5139 S2500 M3

G43 H1 Z3.

G5 P10000

( - .75" ROUGHER )

X-12.8051 Y-3.5139 Z.1

( - .75" ROUGHER )

G1 Z-1.45 F25.

( - .75" ROUGHER )

G41 D21 X-13.7851 F45.

( - .75" ROUGHER ).....................

T2 ( TOOL 2 - .75 E MILL )

( FINISH .830 DIM )

M6

G0 G90 G54 X-13.1801 Y-10.6962 S3000 M3

G43 H2 Z3.

G5 P10000

( - .75 E MILL )

Z.1

( - .75 E MILL )

G1 Z-.825 F25.

( - .75 E MILL )

G41 D22 Y-10.0962 F48.

( - .75 E MILL )

X-23.537

( - .75 E MILL ).....................

T3 ( TOOL 3 - .75 OD X 45 DEG C'SNK )

( MACHINE CHFR ON THRU HOLE )

M6

G0 G90 G54 X-12.8551 Y-3.5139 S3000 M3

G43 H3 Z3.

G5 P10000

( - .75 OD X 45 DEG C'SNK )

Z.1

( - .75 OD X 45 DEG C'SNK )

G1 Z-.238 F50.

( - .75 OD X 45 DEG C'SNK )

G41 D23 X-12.2551 F40.

( - .75 OD X 45 DEG C'SNK )..........

***this is what I want....

O0000

(PROGRAM NAME - KTEST.NC )

(CUSTOMER NAME - Default Customer )

(DESCRIPTION - Default Description )

(TOOL LIST)

(TOOL 1 - .75 ROUGHER )

(TOOL 2 - .75 E MILL )

(TOOL 3 - .75 OD X 45 DEG C'SNK )

G20

G0 G17 G40 G49 G80 G90.......

What is causing the toolcomment to be posted after every line and not at the top?

These are settings from our DNC server to communicate with are A2100 Control.

baud rate: 9600

port: 8

data: ascii

hshake: hardware (= rts/cts)

parity: none

data bits:8

stop bits:1

eob nulls:0

eob: cr lf

advanced options: strip header of incoming data

hth

feature-less brick....see above

w/o solids....mcam direct...I would assume will import sw solid file as surfaces into macam

hth

john - thanks for the advice

tim - we want to have 1 central dnc server not a dnc server for serial connections and multiple pc's for dataserver/ethernet connections. we want to remote request any file to any machine at any time whether to it's control or dataserver.

we have 4 machines w/dataservers.

we want to hook-up all 4 data servers thru a hp-procurve 2626 switch.......which is then connected to our dnc server and network.

right now we have 2 computers with 2 ethernet

cards communicating with these dataservers. we would like to consolidate all of our machine communications thru our dnc server whether it be to the machine control or dataserver.

is this possible?

thanks in advance.....

tried to vote but i was too late.....

i'm in......is the pay-pal account set up yet??

in a perfect world "rapid retract" would mean exactly that.....but!......i'll go with entering a retract rate however....just to be on the safe side.

thanks all

Mayday,you are correct....a finish-surface-parallel had an F0. on it's last move.

I've found 1 post mentioning...when using Mcam HSM.....F0. can be output by accident. (this is a logged bug)

I am not using HSM.......every couple of months a program will post with F0.'s in it.

.....very frustrating on o/n runs

On my op page....

feedrate, plungerate have values

retract rate always set to zero

rapid retract always checked

Any clue on what is causing this?

thanks gentlemen....

We are very seriously thinking of upgrading our present DNC system to Cimco DNCmax with add on NCbase. I also know that Cimco offers other 3rd party add-ons to MasterCam.

Is Cimco a solid company with a long future?

Any thoughts pro/con will be appreciated.

like tony....in sw i save as a parasolid *.x_t then in mcam files-converter-parasolid....this works all the time.

i also use the "mastercam direct" option in sw as well.

hth

offsetting surfaces or programming overburn

what i did to solve my problem was import my customer/catia/igs file into SW, then save file as a parasolid/.x_t, then i import into mcam as a solid....create surfs from solid....and all is well.

thanks for all responses....

bottom screen stated reversed 291 surfaces, this reversed some surfs, but all surfs are not in same direction relative to cplane......i still have to analyze dynamic then analyze reverse normal....a major PITA.

If surfaces are not shaded you can see which are reversed....if they are shaded you cannot, this seems like a function that needs to addressed!

there all revolved and/or nurbs

I've tried modify-normal-set....did not work

I think I'll have to check into the Catia translator.