4 minutes ago, Werktuigbouwer said:

In the mastercam file

What version of Mastercam are you using?

Try these settings for your translations

Method: Tool Plane -> Include origin

I'd post the file but your MC version is older than what I'm using.

I don't think that you're going to be able to get it to do what you're looking for that way.  You're other planes are just a visual aid at this point and not used for anything. When you mirror your path, it's using that original tool path plane which is why you're getting the wonky Y values.  If you're doing something this simple I would just program each part individually using the planes.

If you were doing something more complicated you could translate the toolpath up to the opposite side of the G55 part, then mirror that, and it should give you the correct numbers. 

I could be out in left field here but my head tells me that this isn't going to work.

3 minutes ago, Newbeeee™ said:

And it really should be (as close as possible) one-click.

I don't know what's out there anymore having been stuck on MC for the last 15 years.    How many CAM systems have a 1 click easy setup sheet button that doesn't require paying for or learning how to tailor it to your liking? 

TS has a pretty nice setup sheet but required a LOT of work to get it to look how you wanted. Even then, it wasn't one click. You still had some work to do.

38 minutes ago, Jobnt said:

But IMNSHO, AR was a mistake and should never have been considered for the job at hand. That or someone had a lot of clout (i.e. a laptop with some weird stuff on it) with CNC Software and convinced them the worthless old relic was somehow a good idea to shove down everyone's throat. 

I actually don't mind it. Does it do everything that I'd like it to, no, it's definitely not perfect. But it's free and you can design a pretty nice setup sheet with it if you spend some time learning how to use it.  I've never reached out to anyone but I would guess that you could pay to have one made that looks pretty professional? 

3 minutes ago, Jobnt said:

t always opens full screen

Yes, that's very annoying,

33 minutes ago, So not a Guru said:

That's excel not word

Which is why I said "it doesn't look like it".   

It's just a coincidence that was where my mouse was hovering when I hit print screen.

40 minutes ago, Newbeeee™ said:

Serious Q as I'm only familiar upto 2020....does the latest version save in native MSword format yet?

Doesn't look like it

I've been asking for this for years. 

Seemed like the reason they haven't done anything about it has been explained but it's been so long ago I can't remember what that was.

36 minutes ago, Tinger said:

I'm kicking myself for not saving a previous version backup.

I learned that lesson years and years ago.    Make a backup, and then back up the backup.    

I'll usually have 3 versions of MC installed at the same time. Some times that feels like a waste of space. But some times it doesn't. 

1 minute ago, Jake L said:

As for the sample file, there was no holes in the solid model.

You don't really need a hole axis.  Just use wireframe and create a line normal to a point, select the surface (solid face) and a point.  You can put the point anywhere and still figure everything out.

1 minute ago, Jake L said:

This idea is untested, but I think I could load in a 5 axis machine, create a surfacing op, and set the tool axis perpendicular to the angled face. Then if I post that operation it should give me the two rotation angles. 

I believe that you're right but I haven't tested that in mastercam.  I do that occasionally in TopSolid if I want to save some time.  Before we had T/S I had to figure out how to do this in MC without the math.  We were doing this a LOT and my math skills leave a lot to be desired.    

I don't know if this is what you're looking for

Read through that and see if it is.  

It's certainly not an easy button but it works to get the rotation if you're trying to mill (or drill) a compound angle and you're stuck on a vertical machine with only a one axis tilt table.

You can create the plane that you want to use for the section view and then 'edit' the plane while still in the section view and move it in a single direction dynamically.  That might give you close to what you're looking for.  When you move the plane it will move the section view along with the plane.

In the arc filter I clicked 'output 3d arc entry motion' and it added the helix without doing anything else. 

I don't remember having to do that in the past (pre 2023).  I'm on 2024 now but 2023 seems to do the same.

3 minutes ago, gcode said:

They act like they are talking to a pack of 14 year old skateboard stoners  

They probably are.  Well,  25 year old skateboard stoners. 

13 minutes ago, Jobnt said:

Smartcam, holy xxxx you're old!

Not too old.  I've been programming since I was 18 years old.  I got kinda lucky.  The shop I worked for at the time just fired their programmer who just happened to be the owners son.    I told the owner that i was willing to come in after work and learn the programming system on my own time.  After a couple of months I was programming parts for them and have been programming ever since.

I had no official training on Cimatron. That was a difficult system to learn.  I had to figure that one out with no training and no help.

36 minutes ago, Jobnt said:

I didn't know they were even out back then. I was still using Cadkey doing surface modeling.

Cimatron had just started their attempt at adding solids to Cimatron iT.  Their sketcher was so horrible that it wasn't even worth trying to use them.  I'd been surface modeling everything using Cimatron up to that point but even with the horrid sketcher, you could see the advantages to using Solids. 

When we purchased Gibbs, someone talked to us about Solidworks. We'd never heard of it.  We got a demo and purchased it almost immediately. 

When I talk about people using Mastercam the way they did back in the old versions, I do the same with Solidworks.  I learned how to use it in it's early days and now, having not had any updated training, suck with it.  Or at least compared to someone who's been properly trained. Lots has changed, added, etc. since those early days

Prior to that, it was all Smartcam for me.     I'd been using Smartcam since 1988 or so. 

Man have we derailed this topic or what? 

1 minute ago, Jobnt said:

I was introduced to CAM with Gibbs when it was Macintosh only and came in 3 separate modules. Then Virtual Gibbs came out for Windows and they discontinued the Mac version. Real shame too because the Mac version was way more powerful than Virtual Gibbs. 

I also used Cimitron for a short stint doing 'trodes. Real powerful but a YUGE learning curve and I hated the way it trapped you in modules.

We purchased Gibbs the year that they moved to PC. I can't even remember what year that was.  We purchased Solidworks around that same year so I assume that it was around 1996.

13 minutes ago, Jobnt said:

Methinks "they" were mistaken. Unless they were talking about GibbScam.

I've been putting multiple ops in the same file since v9.

They'd been using the software since the very early days. 

I've talked to people during the V9 era who learned how to use the software that way and still did.  One of the guys was doing some contract work for us and training a kid who no longer works for us to use Mastercam. That was the way that he used it.  I think that he'd also been using it since Mastercams early days. 

We purchased MC about a year before X came out. 

For the record, we were also an early adopter of Gibbs. Back when we were using Cimatron it had no lathe module to speak of. 

If I thought that there was enough people still participating on the forum to matter I'd make a poll to see who does and doesn't create multiple job operations under a single machine group and who doesn't.  I'd be curious to know how others are using the software.

2 minutes ago, gcode said:

My training has been 47 years at Hard Knocks U.

I've only had a few minor sit-ins. No official training.  When I sat in with the local resellers we were trying to get to the bottom of some bugs I was encountering. 

I was doing fairly large assemblies back in those days as well and by the time I would get about 4 parts and 20 operations  (machine operations, not tool path operations) deep, you couldn't open the part file without it crashing. 

2 minutes ago, OVodov said:

You can use Mastercam in many ways, it just your own preferences. I use different Machine definitions on a part and a fixture within one file, even if they made from the same material. Flexibility it’s a prone of Mastercam, but also it’s a con.

I had an experience with SoliCam, Setup - how they call Machine definition is can be set the only one way for the whole part machining.

I know that you "can".  I'm asking because if that is the way the software is intended to be used, it makes sense at least as to why they are steering the software in that direction and we're probably not going to have a choice but to just get used to it.

6 minutes ago, gcode said:

I use a separate Machine Group for each operation.

Been doing it this way for years

Is this the way the software is intended to be used?  When you go in for official training, is this how they train you to use it? 

I've never used the software that way.  The only time I use separate machine definitions is if I'm working on either different material, needing to use a different library of tools, an operation is on a different machine (vertical vs horizontal). 

I've spent a little time with the local reps but it was way back in the X6 era and they told me that in the old days, every operation was a different part file.  ugh.  Messing with X, at least on the parts we were working on at the time, they had me create the different operations under the same machine definition.  Back then, the software would crash if you had too many things going on so.. 

56 minutes ago, Newbeeee™ said:

HolyMoly. That's some grade 1 BS right there, that REALLY wants an urgent patch to fix it.

Yes - toggle on/off just the same as a level. Surely?

It's total b/s. 

They've been leading the software in a direction that made sense for  having multiple operations under one machine definition and then ripped the carpet out.  lol

Hopefully they plan on adding toggles to the fixture area so you can add the levels and then toggle them on and off.  That would be a lot better than what they have now. 

27 minutes ago, MrFish said:

As I begin to use 2024 in my day to day programming the biggest annoyance for me so far is the selecting of fixtures.

I have other minor complaints as well, but this is exactly what I've been complaining about for the last several days. 

3 hours ago, SlaveCam said:

I'll wait until the third maintenance update, thank you.

I've already started to find some annoying bugs but nothing has been bad enough that I wouldn't want to use the software.  Other than the new annoyance discussed in the other thread, I don't mind 2024.  For an initial release that was pushed out as fast as it was, it seems pretty solid so far.  There are a xxxx ton of bugs in 2023 even after the updates.   I'd say that 2024 is no worse so far.