I have had a crash while saving a file and gotten my file emptied. I have in V9.0 had several chrashes that corrupted my file and when I tried to re-open the file I get an error "run V9 conveter"?? or something like that. No crashes in V9.1. Crashed every time I tried to helix into a small circle pocket in V9.1SP1, but not during file save. One crash so far in V9.1SP2 during file save, file gone 0k file size, was about 8meg. I lost only about ten minutes work thanks to autosave to Backup.mc9, but ten minutes is bad enough. quote: never put all your eggs in one basket.

I don't worry about layoff, but I am concerned for the long term survival of the company I work for. It is family owned (Owner's sons are shop forman, wire room supr, trim die supr, and vice pres) and I am not family. I supervise the cnc mills and barley make enough here in Alabama to make ends meet. I think the only reason I am here is to take all the cr@p that nobody else wants to build. We have been fairly busy considering the economy, but the company still claims to be broke. I have machines in need of new ballscrews (.015 slop in z on one) and can't even get it done because the shop is cutting corners. I have to rough on one machine and finish on another. Sad. That being said the vice pres just moved into his new $300,000 house and the owner just added a $50,000 sunroom to his house, but nobody has gotton a raise in 2 years because of a slow economy and low sales. Go figure.

I normally stay out of these type topics but I have 2 cents on this one. I also feel that bug fixes should be free to non-maintainance customers. I also feel that upgrades and point realeses should not be free, but the price per seat should be lowered to reflect the loss of service (I think phone support will also be lost to non-maintainance customers) and enhancements. I am reasonably happy with V9.1SP2 and if necessary I can continue to program successfully with it for many years. I will be a little scared of VX for about the first 10 bug fixes anyway. I see the maintainance program as a safety net for CNC Software in case VX doesn't go over well if it is released any time soon. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks to all! I got it to work perfectly! I just copied the sub a few times and renamed it and it works. I also used the Mcam example that named a level and added the names to the new levels as well! Thanks again for the original thread Mick. I would not have even experimented with it if not for seeing it on the forum. Thanks again quote: If you want it to be good, expect it to be perfect (or make it using MasterCam).

I tweeked the program a little to keep the original color of the objects the same, but it works perfectly. I get my geometry from 2D Autocad as a stacked view of several pieces of a part. I move all entities to level one to keep for refrence and copy to different levels for each piece face and back (6 levels). I have to; screen, change levels, copy, all, entities, level ?, done; six times for each part. I am hoping to use the VB to do this for me in one hot key (awsome!). I have a lot of work to do. I think I can add a loop and a counter to the existing program from Mick (Thanks again!) and define the new level number as the counting number and stop after 6 times. Now all I have to do is learn to program VB!

WOW!!! Written in a few minutes! Thanks for the help. I was not expecting such an in depth program to be given on the forum, but THANKS! I will print out the code and try to apply it to my program today. I am new to VB but I can usually figure it out with a good example. Thanks again, quote: If you want it to be good, expect it to be perfect.

I have been playing with the VB since the podt by Mick and I have a small question. I would like to use VB to copy all entities from one level to another. I have been able to get it to move everything, but not copy. A small sample of the commands or functions used to copy entities in MastercamVB would be helpful. Thanks

I am having some minor problems with sp2. My box is Dell dimension 4400, 2.0Ghz, 512mb ram, nvidea(?) video card, Windows 2000. My display sometimes freezes while working on a part program. I can manipulate menus but the screen is frozen (no zoom, no repaint). when backplotting an operation while frozen the path is not shown and the cut is not even close to the proper place. Close and restart mastercam and everything is fine. I also have an occasional software crash when I hit file-save (very annoying). If anyone else is having these problems please confirm so that PDG can have a go at fixing them. Thanks

I don't mind paying for it, but I can't find it at any of my known reputable sources. Anyone have a source?

Anyone know where I can download a copy of windows 3.1.1 (workgroups)? Thanks

Thanks Millman, I have tried the html sheet but the output is too large. I need a simple output with "just the facts". I am fairly familiar with editing posts, but I haven't had any training and I don't have any books or programming manuals for reference. I usually just write a note on the tool sheet to tell the operators how much tool overhang is needed.

Thanks guys. Sorry it took so long to get back to the site. I just installed SP2 and reconfigured my defaults. I've been at it all day on and off. I am training new operators on finish work. I will check out the mpmaster to see how the variable is applied. I want to use the .SET post file to calculate the amount of tool I need sticking out of the holder. Thanks again.

Is there a variable I can use in my set-up sheet post file (.set) that will read the top of stock number from the tool parameters page. Any info is helpful. Thanks

good call on the lead in. I turned off the helix and it works

It's a pocket. Helix in ccw.

I can't figure out the problem. I can do everything is 9.1 sp1 great except for pocket of a simple circle. Every time I try Mcam crashes and closes. Just a simple circle say 1". Pocket out with a standard pocket routine use a 3/8 tool. tool or speed/feed makes no difference. Every time the software crashes. Any other shape works fine, just not a circle. Even a broken circle causes the crash. Someone else try it and see if it's me or the software. Thanks

I have recently swiched all high speed tooling to Rego-Fix er collect holders. The rep guarantees me .0004 runout max on standard collects and .0002 on ultra precision collects. So far he has been right. I only run 12000 max rpm. I use mostly solid carbide tooling.

Thanks for the help guys, I have gotten used to using the post button and it is easier than using the set-up sheet option. I used to have trouble right clicking in the ops manager without selecting one op instead of getting the right click menu. With the post button no right click. Thanks for the input and I hope some users were helped by the answers.

I just updated my set-up sheet .set file with all the updates in the set-up sheet fix file on Mastercam's web site but it still doesn't work just right. If I have three ops in a row with the same tool I only get a depth output for the first op. I would post the file to the ftp, but with the new trouble.... If anyone else has the same trouble let us know or if anyone knows how to fix it please let me know. Other than this V9.1 kicks a**.

I've been reading a few replies tonight and I felt a need to reply to this one. I am a 30 year old multi-skilled (trained at least) machinist. I have worked in 2 differnet professions over the last ten years, extrusion tooling and production machining for assembly. I was trained to run a lathe by a 60 year old guy, a mill by a different 60 year old guy, and I pretty much taught myself to run everything after that. I have ran CNC lathes and mills for the last 7 years and you would be supprised how much "old school" practices help when applied properly to new high speed machining. I am now a CNC dept. head and program and run machines daily, and without that "old school" knowledge I don't think I could get maximum output (if that is possible) from my macnines today. For example, I learned that when reworking nitride coated parts spray a little turpentine in the cutting area for coolant and the stuff cuts right off. I do agree that some of the old school moldmakers might be a little slow compared to CNC's, but I also think that the American over-population could not support itself if all employers ran at maximum efficiency and cut the work force in half or less an kept all the profit for themselves. Then what would be the point of being streamlined to make things that nobody could buy because they are unemployed. I guess we could all move to China or Mexico.

Thanks Dave, but I found a .set file that was updated to V9.1 in my posts directory. I then used Cimco's file compare to make the necessary changes to my old file. I just got it working. Thanks for the heads up though.

I forgot to mention the problem, My .set set-up sheet is not reading null tool changes. It prints out every pass in a pocket operation. Also it no longer outputs the min/max xyz values.

Uhhh? My reseller sent me a copy as soon as he got it. I'm not sure if he was supposed to or not, but he did it anyway.

My set-up sheet I used for V9 doesn't work for V9.1. Has anyone updated their .set set-up sheet to work with V9.1 yet? Please let me know. Thanks

I finally got time to get back to check the forum. The set-up guy finally got here today and got the machine powered up (he got called away for a warranty call down the street this morning). I'll try to address some of the questions from the other replies. No, this is not our first Mazak, we have an older model AJV 25-404 in my cell, and three others in the die-cast cell. Die-cast has a new FJV with chilled ball screws and all the bells and whistles (show machine). They also heve a large machine they use for holding blocks and large dies (50 taper) and another VTC. We are very pleased with all four machines and are very impressed with the looks of the new Nexus. We got the standard pressure pump for the thru-coolant (71 psi.?). I do see a lot of openings around cables and hoses that could leak coolant (I will probably silicone around these) and we didn't get the optional tool changer door to cover the opening where the tools come through into the work area. The machine has covers and drains in the tool changer area to drain coolant back into the machine if it gets through the opening though. We will be using standard g-code programming (eai/iso) as most of our operators would slow the feeds in Mazatrol down so that they wouldn't have to set up as often. We also have a couple of Bridgeport Torque-cut machines that run O.K., but they are so hard to get parts for that we are phasing them out and going to Mazaks. I think I got all the questions and I'll get back to the forum when I get the machine up and throwing chips. Thanks for the replies.