quote: Colin, imagine how much faster your system would be with non-parity RAM instead of ECC. It would scream Chris, I agree with you , but the Error Correction and Control on this ram means super stable toolpath generation. That is why I got it. I haven't seen a crash yet with V8 when generating a toolpath. It is also very good if you plan to host a web page, which is something I've got in the works. Besides, my computer is so fast now, I don't know if I would even notice the diference Colin Gilchrist Cimtech Technical Associate Cimtech Home

The real advantage to the P4 is its ability to utilize a higher bus speed. The frontside bus on your computer is what your computer uses to talk to its various components. CPU, Hard Drive, RAM and other components communicate through the bus. Most machines that ran a P3 or lower have at max a 166MHz bus speed. (Please note that you may have a higher bus speed, but you are likely a minority and I'm not trying to offend you ) Most bus speeds on the P3 are actually closer to 133 MHz or 100 Mhz. I have a Dell Precision Workstation 330, with a 1.3 gig processor, 256MB of ECC ram and a SCSI 16o ultra HDD. The key to this system however is the 400MHZ frontside bus. I can't believe how fast this thing is! It blows every P3 I have used with MC8 out of the water. At $2700.00 it may seem expensive, but sometimes you really do get what you pay for. Colin Gilchrist Cimtech Technical Associate Cimtech Home [email protected]

I too am a big fan of the HP Designjet series. I can't say enough good things about them so I'll be quiet. Colin

It's not an ANSI standard, but if it gets you the finished part more quickly, then go for it. Remember, the print is just instructions for the guy who actually has to make the part. Just my 2 cents from having been a production machinist. Colin Gilchrist Gilchrist Consulting Services [email protected]

Bill, Be sure and pick your check surfaces first. The check surfaces are modal, so you should be able to define them and then view them using the show check surfaces command. Be sure that you also turn the toggle box on the toolpath parameters page to "use check surfaces". I personally over look this one quite offen. I have also found it necessary sometimes to put a small value in the stock to leave on check surfaces parameter. .0005 is usually sufficient. Hope this helps, Colin Gilchrist Gilchrist Consulting Services Custom CNC Programming & Mastercam Instruction [email protected]