Thanks for the replies guys. I learned a couple things scott

3.82, I had a similar problem when switching to xp. When MC would even load, I had no menus, buttons, prompt, etc--just a blank screen that I couldn't do anything with. quote: There are a few very knowledgable folks around here (both human and non-human)who will probably be able to give you a better explanation.While I'm by no means one of the above, I think Winnie hit the nail on the head. I wiped out my .cfg file (back it up first!, just in case) and rebooted the computer. Then fired up MC and let it write a new .cfg file. It worked--I just had to reset some of my screen config parameters. Good luck, scott

+1 betts, you just made me realize that I screwed up when I put that file on the FTP. The stock to leave on all finishing passes should be -0.0100. I left all toolpasses 0.010 heavy so I could check geometry and surface finish. Must not have resaved after posting and running. The "outside 0.010 fillet"(at the top of the trode) will go to a sharp corner and the "inside fillet" will become a 0.0200 radius. Both are critical. I should note that the bull with a 0.030 corner is the smallest corner radius bull cutter I have available right now--and this was a quick turn job. I couldn't wait while a more suitable cutter was ordered. Thanks for the input, though. I'll give your methods a try and see how they come out. scott

Kannon, it's been sent. Thanx and have fun scott

Oh yeah, btw... the 4 sidewalls shown as purple surfaces are for indicating and positioning only. They won't be burning any geometry. scott

Happy Monday everybody! (Yeah, I know....But I'm hopped up on some nuclear coffee right now ) I put a file called "Scotthead1.mc9" in the MC9 folder on the FTP site. It's an electrode I have to cut, and hold within +/- 0.0002 on the tolerances. I alreay cut some of these and they came out great. But I'm just not satisfied with the program--I probably could have done better, especially with the finishing shallow toolpass. This isn't important(seeing as how I already have enough electrodes to burn with). I just wanted some other opinions for future reference. Later dudes scott

Our mold designer still designs molds the old fashioned way--in autocad, 2D. But I'm happy to report that all electrodes and prototypes are done in Mastercam. scott

quote: Señor Hardmill LOL. I think you're about 1 chalupe short of a fiesta. MMM, taco bell. Gotta go, the bell is calling. El Scotthead

quote: What give w/ the mexican theme?? Corona, tequilla jello shots, and bowling. Need I say more

+1 to Ron and Cam. http://www.jabro-tools.com/images/TORNADO_2005.pdf That link is what I use when cutting graphite. The numbers given are good for coated carbide end mills, and are a conservative starting point for diamond tools. Go down to page 19 and there is a chart called "Depth - Width of Cut". The numbers here are given as a percent of tool diameter. I didn't see where it explained this, but "ae" = radial width of cut and "ap" = depth of cut. HTH Scott

What is the name of the file? 1 from bottom on my screen is some rectangular pocket--I don't think its yours. Scott

quote: if you notice that around the edge of the part the 'land' is thinner at say 90' and 270' than 0' and 180' I noticed this also. This may be a dumb question,but....was this intentional, Leehound, or did you mean to have uniform land the whole way around? Scott

hmm, I'm with you Kannon--I thought I was pretty good with solids. This one'll be a good learning experience. Scott

OK, so I shut down my computer and left it sit for about 5 minutes. After restart, I still can't right click and change nci path(on this file only, others work fine). But now all ops will post. Any thoughts would still be appreciated though.

I've triple-checked that all ops have the same nci path/name--They do. Funny thing I've noticed is that when I highlight the op group, right click, and click on "Change NCI Destination", nothing happens. I put the file on the FTP site, in the "MC9_files" folder. The file is called "Venture1.MC9". Hopefully you will see something I didn't. Scott

Good morning all, I had a problem this morning. I had a toolpass group consisting of 3 ops--surface rough contour, surface finish contour, and surface finish parallel. After cutting the trode, I decided to use a smaller finish endmill. I copied the surface finish contour and parallel toolpasses, picked smaller tool, and regened. I purposely left the original finish contour and parallel passes as semi-finishers. However, only the 3 original passes will post. NCI is same on all 5 ops. Why won't the 2 copied passes post? I worked around it by creating these 2 passes from scratch, but would like to solve this problem. scott

I've found that when I have a large(inch-wise) surface model, it will take forever to open, shade, and toolpath. Murlin's approach of "cleaning up the geometry"(even making new surfaces) seems to help the most. Sometimes making a solid works too. Both approaches take some time, but when compared to the time(an aggrevation) of working with a slow model....well, you see where I'm going. Good luck, scott

Eeyore and Iskander, great link. Much thanks. I can actually get to the FTP site now. WOOOO-HOOOOO! Scott

John, We asked our autocad dealer about it, he said to change such and such settings in autocad (I don't remember them off the top of my head, there's notes somewhere). The changes did nothing for us. Maybe it's just an impossible dream. Iskander, That'd be great. Can you email them to me so I can play later on this afternoon? Scott

As always guys, thanx for the quick response John and Lee, That worked for windows explorer, but not autocad--seems to rule out Windows as the culprit. Any idea what the autocad parameter might be? Eeyore, Thanks. I downloaded it, but haven't gotten to play with it too much. Seems cool, though. Maybe now I can figure out how to get on the FTP site. Scott

Happy Tuesday to everyone. I have a question concerning windows XP--it has nothing to do with mastercam. I hope it's still ok to post it. I know I'll still get the help I need(excluding the psychiatric help, of course ) Whenever I open a file using autocad or open windows explorer, the window pops up and the files are shown as tiles(icons). This is really annoying--I'd like the files to be shown as a list. I can go under "View" and change to a list format, but every time I change directories, it defaults back to the tile format. The computer guy here is "sure" I need to change some Windows default parameter, but he has no clue which one. Hopefully, someone here can be of more help. Hope to hear from you all soon, Scott

Looks like Hevy got you all sqaured away Threept. He beat me to the punch on this one. Good luck. Scott

Theept82, I'm sorry--I was a little confused last night. I got my surface finishes mixed up and was thinking you wanted an 8 micron finish, which is pretty rough. For the finish you want, I'd definitely leave my trode a little heavy and polish it. I'd also probably cut back on my finishing stepovers to about 1-1.5% of tool diameter. Another thing no one has mentioned is make sure you're using good graphite. I can't count the number of times I've been burned with cheap graphite(usually the customer wants to save some $$ and they order the graphite themselves--they buy the cheapest stuff ) Go with Poco 3, or even better, copper impregnated. Scott

Theept82, I cut alot of graphite. You shouldn't have to polish your electrodes at all for an 8 microfinish. My general rules of thumb for stepover/stepdown are as follows. I got them from some cutter catalog years ago and they seem to work. I usually use TiAlN or diamond coated carbide. For roughing, stepover should be no more than 10% of your tool diameter and stepdown should be 22%. For finishing, the cuts are much lighter. stepover = 2% of tool diameter, and stepdown = 3%. This applies to stock to leave on drive surfaces. For example, if I want to finish a trode with a 0.125 ballmill, my finishing toolpass will leave 0.0000 stock. The second to last toolpass will leave 0.0025 stock (2% * 0.125 = 0.0025). I also try to keep my spindle speeds in the 25,000 to 35,000 rpm range(my spindle goes up to 45k). This seems to give better surface quality on the trodes. For speed and feed data for graphite, do a search. I asked this forum a while ago and got a good response. I found good numbers on one of the web sites, although I can't remember which one right now. HTH Scott

Thanks Jody, I've been meaning to look that up for a while, just haven't gotten around to it yet. Scott