Our large format copier is on it's last leg....over 10 years old. Possibly time for a new copier. Any suggestions???(up to D size drawings minimim, black & white) We now have a OCE 7050 Thanks in advance.

I didn't have that file either. I did have a little time for T & E and did get it to work. (project blend 3d) It's a nice tool to use. I wish it had control on the cusp height or shallow options, this would be very helpful with the shape I am trying to cut. I appreciate everyones input.

thanks for the help.....but ....went to mcam9 mill mc9 samples...there was no file called 3d-project-blend-I.MC9. There were no sample project files. I'm running ver 9 mill level 3 with solids.

I seen the reference to project - blend in previous post. I tried to use it.....I got nothing! I know what a projected toolpath is, how do I project over ribs,tapers and rad's and maintain a constant stepover or cusp height?

I'm using mill ver 9 level 3. I have a solid that I want to use flowline toolpath on. The form/shape has 13 faces on it. 6 curved or tapered faces, then a flat face, then 6 more curved or tapered faces. The question I have is can flowline handle flat faces? It won't generate toolpath when I have the flat face selected. I will generate toolpath when I have any other combination of faces selected. As soon as I include the flat face I get an error. I want to use flowline as its "cut direction" follows the shape the way I want it to. I also want to cut all faces with the same toolpath to have a smooth final part.

We save the nc and mc9 files.....we don't bother with the nci file. good luck

Thanks for the answers. I thought that it was a problem from the acad side. (my customer) I wasn't sure if there there was any "fix" options in MCAM. I will import to solidworks and see how the file looks.

I'm running mill v9 all updated. I'm converting dwg files and they are not converting cleanly. (ie:lines are not meeting at intersections etc...) Are there any parameter or tolerance settings that can be adjusted to fix/repair this kind of thing?

Thanks for all your in put everyone. It looks like we save/store our files the same way most of you do. Using dwg #'s, print #'s, files, folders and directories. Kathy I am interested in your MS Acess database, would it be possible for you to send me a file so I can view it? I have never used MS Access, any of your input will be very helpful.

Thanks for responding everyone. I'll check all my options.

For many years it was just myself doing the programmming for our CNC machines. Now, due to expansion over the last year I still program full time but there are 3 other people that program as needed. We now need to develop a system for naming, storing, backup, sharing etc... all of our CNC programs. We have a DNC system and we are all networked together. Any ideas, suggestions or guidance on how to keep all of us programmers and programs organized will be greatly appreciated. Also during our initial quoting process for new or repeat jobs, our sales staff has no way of knowing what NC programs are needed (if any) for a particular job and if it's a repeat job they don't know if we have an old NC program or we need to create a new NC program. Any Ideas on how to manage this type of function will also be appreciated.

If pryor to machine purchase, the rep stated that you would be able to hold this tolerance and produce parts in an acceptable time frame.....I would say this is not an acceptable machine practice. This sounds like a production job. Production means "produce parts" not stop and check! MHO Ken

I'm using mcam ver 9 sp1 How accurate is the verify function?(toolpath,tools) I have a part that has a 1/4" uncut/dig on it. The program verify's fine from many different views. When I backplot I don't see any unusual moves. ( maybe bad post ) Please help.

Thanks everyone, once I read "nominals" reply. I was all set. I'm an idiot

I'm using Mcam ver 9 sp1 I have a cone form/surface. It's 1" dia. at large open end and tapers down to .125 dia. at small end. I have to drop a .500" tooling ball into this cone. I can create a .500" ball/sphere. How do I drop it into the cone? How do I know it's tangent at final position? Your help is greatly appreciated.

I have mcam v9 sp1 all updated. I define a cplane using entities. I save it by number (say 12). Then I save file. Then I close file. When I open file up again defined planes are not there! Why and how do I solve this?

J Coulston...thanks....that worked just fine.

Thanks for the quick response!!!! Do you know when MCAM 9.1 is due to be released?

I am using Mastercam ver9 SP1 mill level 3. I want to do a direct conversion from Solidworks to Mastercam. When I go to convert a Solidworks 2003 file (.sldprt), these are the errors I recieve. warning - can not find parasolid data warning - error opening d:.............sworksin.x_b PK error code 58 I can convert Solidworks 2001 files (.sldprt) with no problem. Can Mastercam handle SW2003 files?

using MCAM v9 all updated 1) When using verify........at the end of the simulation or if I stop during simulation.....I can't reset my parameters (icons are not accessible/active). I have to close out of verify and start over. In ver 8.1 I could stop/start, change parameters in verify many times over (without closing). What am I missing here? 2) During File - Get...How can I set the default to be All Mastercam files (mc9 mc8 mc7) ?

Thanks for the help!

I have horizontal machining questions. Would it be possible for you to make this information available again? These links are from May of 2002. Here's some Topics in the past that have covered Horizontal Machining. You may find these useful: http://www.emastercam.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000558.html http://www.emastercam.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000929.html http://www.emastercam.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000786.html

I was just in the geometry creation mode. I haven't created any operations yet. As far as "dirty" goes.....does that mean operations won't function as created?

Has anyone encountered this problem? (v9 mill level3 sp1 all updates) I was working on project "A".....constantly saving what I newly created.....then I had to get project "B" that I worked on last week (so far no problem)....when I went to get project "A" to work on again these are the errors I received.....1) cannot read/find D:MCAM9TEMPBNCI.BIN 2) cannot read/find D:MCAM9TEMPIDS.TMP.....even though the .MC9 file was there Mastercam would not read it. So I rebooted my system in hopes that this would cure the problem....it did not. I went and searched for these files......I found them but not where the error message said they would be. I found them in the D:MCAM9COMMONTEMP. So in an effort to get my Mastercam to read this file I created a D:MCAM9TEMP folder and copied those 2 files from the D:MCAM9COMMONTEMP folder. What caused my initial errors? Will this cause any future problems?

Thanks for the info.