Thank you sir for your response. This information is very helpful. I will pass it on to our engineering staff so that they can be sure to rebuild their models before the do the final save in SolidWorks.

Good afternoon everyone. This might have been covered but I couldn't find anything in any search. Sometimes when I open a .SLDPRT file from SolidWorks 2017 I get this error box: It is a simple fix to open it in SolidWorks and save it again but it is a PITA. Is this a MasterCam Issue or a SolidWorks issue on the computer of the engineer that is saving the file? If anyone has figured this out I would appreciate it if you would reply here or post a link of the posts that have addressed it before. Thanks

Good evening guys. I am interested in having my post output B and C axis positions on every operation even if the positions don't change from one op to the next (on null tool changes). I have worries of inexperienced operators doing program restarts improperly and getting the rotaries out of position. Is there a relatively easy way to force the (example) G0G90B0.C0.? I do have safe retract turned on so that Z goes to the top if there is a rotary position change, but I would like the safety of having a rotary position call at the beginning of every operation even if it is redundant. I would rather not have a G53 Z2. move if it is avoidable but I can live with it if it is not. My post / machine def is set up to reset rotaries to the programmed position at actual changes so that is not an issue. Thanks in advance for any help. Example: G00G17G40G49G80G90G94 (1/2" GARR 5FL SQ ) (PATH 1 TOP) G53Z2. T3M06 T4 M08 G00G90G54C0.B0. S1528M03 G254X.5324Y.992 G43H3Z12. G187P3E.001 Z.05 ...... I-2.563 G00Z12. (PATH 2 TOP) M83 S7334M03 ****** add a "G0G90C0.B0." here even though it is redundant ******* X-1.563Y.5 Z.05 ........ G00Z12. (PATH 3 TOP) M88 S1069M03 ****** add a "G0G90C0.B0." here even though it is redundant ******* X-2.6879Y-1.8203 Z.055 G01Z.005F25.

I guess I can reply to your 666 post. I am getting about the same finish as I did with the hybrid path, but that finish wasn't all that great either. The parts I am running have +/-.005 tolerance and will get buffed smooth after we mill them so finish was not as important as tool life on these parts. I am using a .010" step over with a 3/16" ball. The motion is easy on the machine with both paths so gouges are reduced. I tried several paths to get the cut time reduced and still get a decent finish and the hybrid path has been working best up until the 2019 update. I also tried to use a 45 degree plane instead of front and back to use the side of the ball instead of the tip but the tool life was about the same. The only difference is the side of the ball got dull instead of the tip and I had to add a path to cut the underside fillet so it took a little longer.

Good morning guys. I changed the toolpath type in the hybrid paths to equal scallop and it gives me a good toolpath that doesn't double cut. That should get me by until the Hybrid path gets fixed. Thanks for the help.

Thanks gcode. I don't have duplicated groups in the materials page but the path still cuts everything twice. The strange thing is I cut both sides, one in front view and one in back view, and the front view path is fine. The part is symmetric so I though about just doing a transform mirror path to do the back view. The only issue is I have 20-25 programs that are using the same path and I would have to change all the programs to use the mirror path or just keep them in 2018 until the problem gets resolved.

Hello guys. I have been having some issues with my hybrid paths double cutting and retracting differently than they did in 2017 and 2018. I used to get good smooth paths from the inside out on some oval parts I build every few months. Now I get 3 or 4 retractions and triangles cut on the ends and places where the path cuts the same area twice. Is there some setting that was added or changed in 2019 that I haven't noticed? This is the 2019 path. Notice the darker path areas that get cut twice and the multiple retractions: This is a similar part with the 2018 path: If anyone has any ideas or help for me I would appreciate it. Thanks

Thanks for the replies guys. This will be a big help in getting our maintenance update pushed thru.

Good afternoon guys. I am trying to talk the company I work for into updating our maintenance that expired last July. We are importing parts from SolidWorks into MasterCam, but we have to check the "import SolidWorks history" box or we get the "cannot find parasolid data" error (X9 update 2, we can't get update 3). As you probably know, it takes a while for the file to load and we usually end up with a "brick" anyway. I would like to know if 2017 beta versions are pulling in Solidworks 2016 files without any major issues. Also can we get sketch text to come in with the part file if we don't import the history? That would save us a lot of time waiting for the history to try to load. Only way we can do it now is convert to step or parasolid for the body and then make a DWG/DXF to get the text or wait for the history to load. I know this is an old question. If it has been fixed in the new version it will give me some ammunition to go to the owner for the maintenance update. Thanks,

Thanks for the reply. I hope I can convince the bosses to consider a 5-axis mill instead of another horizontal. Having a simulation will better show them what a full 5 axis machine is capable of. I have ran some sample parts in verify to try to get them to understand, but seeing one of our parts being machined 100 % complete in one setup will be a game changer I think. Thanks again.

Is it possible to do 3+2 machining on a 5-axis mill without having the multi-axis option in Mastercam? I haven't tried it but I have been programming some parts on a Horizontal with a 4th axis without it and I am getting good programs with B-axis outputs. I am wondering if I could use one of the generic 5-axis machine definitions that come with Mastercam to do some test programs to show the bosses what we could do with a 5-axis machine. We are only in need of 3+2 for compound angle positioning to cut under some part features instead of using disk mills and lollipop tools. Our reseller would likely give us a temporary key code to test with, but if it isn't necessary I would rather not go to the trouble. We are running X8 and X9. Thanks.

I checked in the eia programming and operating manuals and could not find it. would it be in a different manual?

I have a macro made up to calculate G54.2P1 from G54 and G54.1P1. We have a new VCU machine that uses the new G54.4 for dynamic fixture offset. Is there an L number for G54.4 that I can use in the G10 data setting? I have searched the internet for a couple of days and can't find anything. I can work around it by using the G10 to set another work offset and use macro variables to copy it to G54.4 but having the L number would be much cleaner. L2 P(1-6) is for G54-G59 L20 P(1-300) is for G54.1 P(1-300) L21 P (1-7) is for G54.2 P (1-7) L?? P(1-8) for G54.4 P(1-8) Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks. I did have the X8 version but it gave the error "invalid user application". We updated the C++ redistributable to version 12 and it worked. Thanks again for the help.

Thanks for the help guys. I loaded it on my computer and it works fine. Another programmer that doesn't have X9 installed yet tried to use the one for X8 and it would not run. I think it is the C++ version that was updated with X9 that he needs. Could that be it or maybe something else? Thanks again