All the grooves can be done 2+3 .+ transform Gracjan

I had it happen once. I opened a saved file and the origins were all wrong. I am 100% sure , as I had a fully machined mold half to prove on the machine table. However , it has not happened again , therefore it went unreported. (Hotfix 4 ) Gracjan

create a sheet from them . "Solids from surfaces", choose the four surfaces . This will create 1 logical element from 4 surfaces.. Gracjan

Does anybody have a KNUTH UWF 10 from around 1992 with a Heidenhain 360 . A guy I know just lost all his parameters from the control.... He did not have any backups. If you have the papameters plz send to: [email protected] . Gracjan

Yeah , I thought that too. ... But this reaffirms my feeling about this subject. No macros in Mcam , the other possibilities require such time investment that everybody is doing it long hand...

1.Please elaborate off the top of your head Maybe I'm heading in the wrong direction. The examples I gave were also off the top of my head. 2.When I was studying at the Helsinki University of Technology , I was given a task to write a 3-axis post in a mainframe environment( I did it) . The department that had the little Starmill machine had also Autotrol 5000 CAD system , where the NC-programming was to take place. The nearest place where I could access the mainframe was my own department, a 700 meter /yard walk .(The Autotrol machine was not plugged to the network, we are talking 1991 ! ) No way was I going to walk back and forth just to post simple APT files with only GOTO as movement. Laziness took over and I whipped up a post using macros on a word processor in about half an hour, (I think it was called WordPerfect.) . I therefore postulate that macros are a powerful way to automate automation. Mastercam had 1 surface machining along UV-directions capability at that time 3. I can also do the example I gave about the insert n the same file, but I find it easier doing it in a separate environment. 4. VB hints, anyone ? Gracjan

You guys are focusing on the examples . I won't go into details about why I'd do this that way or the other ..... Many of us deal with the problems at hand in their own way. Given , that you have thought out your own way of doing something , how do you go about automating it ? Other software packages enable their users to automate repetitive chores involving creating geometry and toolpaths by creating macros , and we don't have have them in Mastercam . And I don't want to write my own mold software . It's not what I do . The only thing I can see is VB . So If someone could give me clues about how I'd go about writing them , I'd be much obliged. Gracjan PS. If I have a solid created in Mastercam , the first step in creating an insert is to copy the solid part . That means that I have all the wireframe geometry associated with the part doubled on the screen. It's much easier to take the part into a new session , cut it into the form I want , delete all the tens or even hundreds of wireframe geometry so that it won't coincide with the wireframe controlling the mother geometry and bring it back to the original "assembly" file as a dead object .

Instead of drilling cooling holes in molds I often resort to milling channels with a O-ring groove on both sides. 1. I draw a 2d chain - Cut with it using Solids extrude and thin wall /both on . 2. I then create an edge from the bottom of the channel, project it to the surface of the mold plate and offset it 1-2 mm . this will be the internal border of my O-ring channel. 3 Solids / extrude with thin wall /direction 1 on I create the O-ring channel. This is an iteritive process , as the channels might run into ejectors , so I delete all the solid geometry , change the 2d chain and go from point 1 to 3 again. I would like to automate this iteration process. Gracjan

ok 1. I would like to cut a solid with a 2-d profile paste it into another fresh session of mastercam , and create an insert there (hence the 2d profile ) strip it of all history and bring it back to the original file. 2. I do all my mold design in Mastercam. We have no viable mold package so I would like to develop shortcuts for mold design. The mold package from Portugal is all about juggling pins so No Thanx I would like to develop it myself. 3. Whenever I create a new toolpane I use a neat trick taught by someone here on this forum. For the origin of the new toolpane I : 1.press the select new origin button , 2 . Go to The planes button and choose Top. 3. With the Top chosen , I can now choose from the AutoCursor "Origin" and that will always give me the point that coincides with the origin of the WCS. Gracjan

I have tried a few times to automate some things in Mcam which I do on an everyday basis, but as nothing works , nothing gets automated... The only route possible it seems is VBscript. I have never done them , so I was thinking if I could get some hints from You guys... Gracjan

It's those little tidbits of info everyone is after here cherokeechief79 Gracjan

do you have moldplus ? if you do , then there are several ways to go ahead. 1. Parting /Part surf / Offset (Direction set : Normal : 90 deg ) 2.ElectrodeMkr /Modify Trims /edge Offset if you don't , then the suggestions above my answer will have to do Gracjan

1. create a contour toolpath using the spline and use the toolpath arc filtering to fit arcs and lines. (compensation set to "Off") 2 You now need to change the toolpath to geometry from the Backplot menu using the "Save as geometry" button 3. lines and arcs are created at an accuracy of your choice , Voila ! Gracjan

The destruction of the workspace file happens very often . I myself encountered it twice and just today a customer next door phoned that yesterday everything was ok and now all the icons are missing. The file was 206k and this morning it was only 26 k .... Make a backup of the whole Config directory is the only practical soöution.

Hey Krzysztof , I'll take a look at it. plz send me the your pst file as I am sure you must have done something to it . Usually when someone has a problem like that , there is a part rusting on the machine and there is pressure to get it done yesterday. I take it this is not the case.... I'll look at it tonite. GRacjan

All is well . ... The reason why the font size would vary , was because I had several instances of Mcam open. ....Just my bad. Gracjan

Krzysztof , in my 20+ years of experience I have only seen one postprocessor that worked straight out of the box. If you don't tweak , they would not be calling it a postprocessor. Gracjan

I'm the only user on this machine. Also I am not familiar with the term a$$hat . I can also perfectly live with that as well as the small font. I bought a new 32" screen and the default font size is rather small now. Gracjan

true dat. gman..... It's permanent on another machine(X8).....I can live with the resizing Gracjan

defintion of permanent = the next time you open a new session of Mcam it is what you wanted it to be Gracjan

Gracjan

I tried the generic HAAS 5ax post VF-TR Series and no meaningful code came out of there

Just to be sure of the Transform parameters: Type : Rotate Method : Tool plane , include orogin : off, save views can be on or off Source : NCI On the Roate page: Instances : 11 center of rotation : your center of rotation. angles : 30 and 30 Rotation view : same as your WCS

send me your post and I will send you the toolpath back Gracjan [email protected]

Crazy guy's solution will be the one to most probably work , Tried both methods on my post / machine and drilling was definitely not setup to work with C-axis rotating (Heidenhain/ DMG DMU 60). Tranform by toolplane went thru' without a glitch. Gracjan