Günther Thank you for the help. This appears to be working. It tool a little doing because I have never used a subfile before but once I figured out all the syntax I started getting the results I was looking for. Danke schön!

X4 MU3 Router Hi all I have a post question that I could use some guidance on. During posting, I would like to find all the Toolpath/Point operations with a specific canned text attached to them, record the x,y & z values of that Point operation and then output this information at the beginning of the NC output regardless of where they actually occurs in the program. There could be several places within one program where these occur. I suspect I will have to capture this while reading the NCI file but do not see how to do this. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Roger Yes, apparently they have to do with some custom mouse control (pan vs. rotate) that we added in at one time. I guess they just don't play well with X4.

I think I found the problem!!! Woo Hoo! I copied my C:mcamx directory into another folder, removed X4 from my PC, deleted all the remaining files in C:mcamx and then reloaded X4. At that point my VBScript worked. I started loading in files from the previous X4 load that were not loaded in the new load. In C:mcamxchooks there is a set of 4 files called: AI_XMENU.dll, AI_XMENU.ft, AI_XMENU.txt & AI_XMENU_.ft. As soon as I copied these into the new X4 the problem reappeared. I take them back out and the problem goes away. I have looked online to see if I could find out what they did but have not determined that yet. X4 seems to run okay without them so we will run this way for now. Thanks

Okay, this is going to sound a little crazy, but this is what I've found. When I looked in C:mcamxapps (X4) I found a file called "MCVBScript.dll" (150KB). I copied over it with the X2 version of the same file (146KB). When I tried to launch my VBScript, I could not even get the VB window to pop up. I copied the X4 version (150KB - exactly the same file I started with) back into the the apps folder and ran my VBScript. It worked and continued to work until I shutdown and restarted Mastercam. At that point it went back to crashing mastercam. I repeated the above steps and it is back to working again. Now I am really lost. Is this a MCX4 instillation problem or is there some switch somewhere I should toggle or ????????

I have tried cycling out the bad electrons (Rebooting the computer) but that is not helping. I have a very simple X4 program and am running the above VBScript directly from X4 and getting the problem. I did a comparison of the .dll's used in X2 vs. X4 and swapped a bunch out but that did not help either. It still crashes X4 when it get's to the "save" or "Saveas" line. Any other thoughts or directions I can look to help solve this? Thanks

We are having trouble with a portion of one of our VBScript in X4. It doesn't matter whether I am trying to SAVE or SAVEAS, it crashes in X4 but works great in X2. Is there a new syntax for this or is this a X4 bug? Here is a sample program with the problem. Call Main() Sub Main() Dim strMCname strMCName = "C:mcamxZZTest-1.MCX" 'Next line works in X2 & X4 call SetCurrentFileName(strMCName) 'Next line works in X2, crashes in X4 call SaveMCAs(strMCName, True) 'I tried this instead but with same results 'Next line works in X2, crashes in X4 call SaveMC(True) 'Next line works x2, not in X4: Insufficient 'memory to perform operation call openmc(strMCName) End Sub Anyone know what's going on?

Mick I can not send you the whole VB.net project (not that you would want the thing - it's mighty big) because it is Boeing proprietary. I am working on an abbreviated version but will not have that done until Monday. Thanks for the help.

I use buffer files in our 5-axis posts to store a bunch of critical data (gathered using the fq1,2,3.. questions at the beginning of the posting) so it does not have to be typed in every time you relaunch a program. The only time it asks the questions is when you launch a different file and that resets the data in the buffer file.

The .dll & .VBB files are in the correct directory (in our case it is C:mcamxapps) and the path for the VBScript is correct. This VB.net application is for model management and the VBScript adds the correct workgroups to the Mastercam file for the specific job being charged out. The VBScript is being built okay but when we try to launch it then Mastercam locks up and crashes.

We have an application written in VB.net 2005 which creates and launches a Mastercam VBScript. It worked great in X & X2 (We skipped X3) but now does not work in X4. Any idea what we are doing wrong? Here is the line of VB.net code that does not work: Mastercam.GUI.RunVBScript("c:mcamxMOM.vbs") If I launch the VBScript directly from X4 it works fine. Thanks for help

Ptlchg0 would be right for a V8 post. They added the "$" for Ver 10 (X).

I have a bunch of points on a few levels in MC and would like to make a VB script to convert those points to toolpath. Specifically, I would like to put them into Circmill toolpath and then add the parameters. I have no problem making a script to isolate & group them I just do not know the syntax needed to create an operation in the toolpath group. I have searched years worth of posts here and been through the ftp/vbscript site and can find no examples of how this is done. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Settings/configuration/CAD Settings Near the bottom is a box to check/uncheck "Display arc center points" Uncheck it. This is how it in in X2, I am unsure if X3 is the same.

If it is the same program name it will overwrite. If you use a unique name for each one then you can have several programs open in the editor.

Success Well it took a while but I finally got it working. My goal was to take a helix move (in Circle mill/roughing) that outputs one G2 line for each 360 degree revolution and combine them into one G2 command for the entire helix. It was fairly easy to do that for a helix where the bottom was an absolute coordinate. The challenge was making it work where the bottom of the hole was defined incrementally (By where the actual geometry lies in space). I tried to load a word file to the FTP site showing my changes but could not due to our firewall. If you are interested in knowing what I did to make this work then PM me and I will send you the word file of the changes I made to our post. Our post was written for a Cincinnati-Milicron 3-axis gantry router using a Acramatic 950 control.

Thanks Alex It is good to hear from you again. I actually thought about using a drill cycle early on but decided to see if I could do it in the circle mill first. I am sure there is a way to capture the final depth on an incremental hole but I just haven't figured that out yet. I'll get it eventually. Take care Randy

Oldguy Welcome onboard. We program for a bunch of large 3 & 5 axis Cincinatti routers where we cut composite plastic panels out at a little aerospace firm in the Seattle area. Ployd We too have one 5-axis Quintax router. It's the newest one on the shop floor and hopefull the first one we get rid of when the time comes to replace machines. I hope yours works better than ours. When it runs it's awesome. Unfortunately it spends a lot of time being fixed usually with an axis allignment problem.

Greetings one and all I am working on changing the output of the Circle Mill/Roughing helical approach in our post. I am currently getting one G2 line of code fore each 360 degree rotation the helix makes. So if the helix makes 10 rotations on its way to the bottom of the hole I am getting 10 G2 statements with XYZ IJK components. What I would like to see is one line of code for the helix. I have been successful at this if I use Circlemill Parameters/Depth as an absolute number. What I can’t figure out is how to make it work if the depth is controlled incrementally (Defined by where the actual geometry is in space). I have tried the Prmcode #10029 (toolpath depth) but that is not giving me the right numbers. This is what I get: N430G2X31.1641Y-15.5319Z.8853I31.05J-15.475K.2147F20. N440G2X31.1641Y-15.5319Z.6707I31.05J-15.475K.2147 N450G2X31.1641Y-15.5319Z.456I31.05J-15.475K.2147 N460G2X31.1641Y-15.5319Z.2414I31.05J-15.475K.2147 N470G2X31.1641Y-15.5319Z.0267I31.05J-15.475K.2147 N480G2X30.9359Y-15.4181Z-.0806I31.05J-15.475K.2147 N490G2X30.9844Y-15.3657Z-.1I31.05J-15.475K.2147 This is what I want: N490G2X30.9844Y-15.3657Z-.1I31.05J-15.475K.2147 F20. When I looked at the NCI output I see a pair of lines for each 360 degree rotation of the helix (Not surprizingly). So my questions are: 1) Is there another way I can capture the final depth of an incremental depth in circlemill? 2) Is there a way I can change the way the NCI file handles the helix to only give me one pair of lines of code for the helix? I am sure there is something simple I am missing to do this. Any help is greatly appreciated. Finally, all the above code is propriatary information to the Boeing Company so if you use it to make your own helical hole Mother Boeing will come after you and might even slap your wrist (That was humor in case you missed it. Sorry, sometimes my sense of humor is a wee bit different). Thank you for your help

Mastercam is full of Black Magic so sometimes things do not work as one would expect. I think my next approach would be to make sure the machine def you are using is in the defaults. Go to the main menu bar - Machine Type/ Router (or mill or??)/Manage list and add your machine def to the list. I do not know if this will make any difference but it is the next thng I would try. Good luck

If you go into Settings/Machine Definition Manager from the main menu bar you can assign the control definition for that machine def. This should be the same as it was done in X.

Does anyone know how to create a program unique path for a string buffer file in the Mastercam post? I have tried creating the string for the file path in the variable assignment section of the post as well as creating pprep$ & pq$ blocks (preparatory blocks) and building the string there but still can not get the buffer file to write to the generated path. If I hard code the path it works fine but that is not what I am looking for. first try . . . s_launch2 = ""fil-blv-09evtncmcncw" + s_filename + "" + s_pgrmname + ".txt" sbufname6$ = s_launch2 fbuf 6 1 80 1 1 Second try - added this block . . . . pq$ s_launch2 = "fil-blv-09evtncmcncw" + s_filename + "" + s_pgrmname + ".txt" 3rd try, added this block . . . pprep$ s_launch2 = "fil-blv-09evtncmcncw" + s_filename + "" + s_pgrmname + ".txt" What am I missing?

Thanks Roger & Colin. It's going to take me a while to digest that Generic GetRows VBScript Class but on first glance it looks like it could be useful (If not this project then some future one). Anymore suggestions from our educated masses?

Hi all I am working on a project where I post a job. During that post I would like to query a database file and return the results of that query to my post before completing it (the post). The results will be output in the psof$ block of the post with a custom G-code. I have been trying to develop a strategy to do this and have not been completely successful yet. My current plan is to create an .exe file (probably in Access) that I can call from the post (LAUNCH command) and have that .exe file save the data on my computers C-drive in a .txt file. I can then access that .txt file as a buffer file from my post (I think). My question is does anybody know if there is a more direct way to open and retrieve data from database file that doesn’t require all these steps? I have done a little exploring using a Mastercam VBScript to do this but do not see anyway to open a database file with that. I am just in the planning stages of this so my options are still wide open. As always, thanks for your help

Some people say the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. I am going to test that theory (even though I am pretty sure I already know the answer). Is there any magic that needs to happen to convert a .mmd (Milling Machine Definition) to a .rmd (router machine definition) or is it as simple as changing the file extension (assuming that the guts of it are close to right)?