Mayday, I would love to upgrade the workstation I use to the latest holy s#!t CPU/hardware/etc. But that isn't going to happen any time soon. Anyway, I went in to check my RAM allocations and found that I haven't changed it since we upgraded to V9 (last month.) I increased the memory allocations to 32 mb each (from 16) for toolpath and database and the problem seems to be resolved.

I'm getting a ton of speckled lines across the screen when I am trying to do anything that involves using the mouse pointer and the systems auto-highlight (e.g. dynamic pan, analyze, etc.). It looks like everytime the auto-highlight locks on to an entity, a line of dots appears across the screen where the entity was highlighted. Our (my) system specs are: P2 500 512 mb RAM (PC 133) 3D Labs Oxygen VX1 32mb(?) Win NT 4.0 Other than, "get a new computer...," anyone have any ideas on this? (I have a screenshot but it's a large .bmp -- no apps to convert to web friendly format on this workstation.) Thanks.

quote: ... I have customers cutting 3/8 lexan at 18,000 rpm and 325 ipm dry. What kind of finish comes off of that combo and what secondary ops are done to restore the clear finish?

We are using a cable that is running over 200' at a baud rate of 19,200 bps.

Jammer, I hope you were able to solve your problem by this time. If not, do the following: 1. Check the baud rate setting on your Fadal. Use the SETP command and toggle through the parameters until you see what your baud rate is set at. 2. Check the baud rate settings on your computer (CIMCO EDIT) to ensure that they match. Also check to make sure that your com port setting is correct as well (i.e. COM1 or COM2, etc.) You can get the "Transmission completed" message without the data actually getting to the machine. We do it here every once in awhile when we forget to change our data switcher. 3. If the first two steps don't get you there. Check your data cable. It may be that you need to use a null modem adapter. It's not that tough to build your own com cables with hardware from Fry's or any other electronics/hardware shop. Just follow the diagrams in the Fadal manual. Good Luck!

I tried a few things with the tool parameters (definition) and in the post but was unsuccessful. Got a good tip from our MC dealer here that works -- redefining the pitch from .5 to 1/.5*25.4 (50.8). The posted code gives the correct pitch (Q in Fadalese) value of .01969. Thanks guys!

Thanks guys I'll give it a try and report back shortly.

Jimmy, In the tool parameters tab, I unchecked the Metric Values box; recalculated the speeds and feeds; and saved the tool to the library. Went back to post the op and still got the same lead value of 1/.5 (for an M3 x .5 tap).

Every once in awhile I have to post a (rigid) tap cycle but my post calculates the lead using the metric pitch value, I'm thinking of modifying the post to do the conversion when a misc. integer is set to indicate (0 or 1) that a metric tap is used. I also thought of just creating taps that use converted values. Right now I'm just manually adjusting the values as they are posted. Any tips for this one?

BC, aren't you able to use the tool and material library instead of making a completely new one? I add tools and materials as we go along and save them to the library.

...and how about stopping by Tim Horton's and getting a sandwich, soda, and donut combo? I'll have a dozen Timbits please

Three Canadians and three Americans are traveling by train to a hockey game. At the station, the three Americans each buy tickets and watch as the three Canadians buy only a single ticket. "How are the three people going to travel on only one ticket?", asks an American. "Watch and you'll see," says a Canadian. They all board the train. The Americans take their respective seats but all three Canadians cram into a bathroom and close the door behind them. Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes around collecting tickets. He knocks on the bathroom door and says, "Ticket Please." The door opens a crack, a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The Conductor takes it and moves on. The Americans see this and agree it was quite a clever idea. So after the game they decide to copy the Canadians on the return trip and save some money. When they get to the station, they buy a single ticket for the return trip. To their astonishment the Canadians don't but a ticket at all. "How are you going to travel without a ticket?" asks one perplexed American. "Watch and you'll see" answers a Canadian. When they board the train the three Americans cram into a bathroom and the three Canadians cram into another bathroom nearby. Once the train leaves the station, one of the Canadians leaves and walks over to the other bathroom where the Americans are hiding, knocks on the door and says "Ticket Please".

quote: But OH MAN what a flukey goal!!!! That'll teach Fleury to try to knock the puck up the middle of the ice! The boys showed a lot of heart to keep plugging away even though they were down by 2.

Thanks for the responses guys! We just got the power connected to the machines and now I need to evaluate our comm situation. I like the multi-port serial server because I can see being able to use the network to communicate with all of the machines. Yes, the easiest way is to add another switch to the open port, but, we've already got three switchers inline and forgetting to set one of them is a common issue. Jay, I'll call Greg or it'll probably be easier to communicate via e-mail since I'm not always at the desk.

Thanks. We had a rep come out to our shop almost two years ago and we were only in the market for a comm cable. We're still pretty much in the same economic boat -- pretty tight. It would be nice to set-up everything up on a wireless network

We are installing a couple of machines (Sodick A500L & Fadal 4020) and I need to run data lines to them. Problem is we have 2 "A/B" switches for the computers in the office upstairs and in the shop; and 1, 6-port switch, for the data going to each machine, with one port open. Adding another manual A/B switch will only add to the confusion that happens when one switch isn't set at the right letter when a download is attempted and networking the controllers is out of the question. Does anyone use an auto data switcher and if so, what brand/model? Thanks.

Thanks Stefan.

Hi Thad, I wanted to see if I could find one that is already converted over so I don't have to use Streamline to convert them -- like the Harley logo on Cadcam's FTP site.

I am looking for a Raiders logo and other sports logos -- particularly hockey logos and graphics -- that are already converted to a vector file and/or a Mastercam file (V8). Thanks.

I haven't tried this yet using MC, but if you were to do a multi-start thread and you needed a certain pitch, divide the pitch by the number of starts. I used to cut double and triple lead Acme threads for gate valve stems and -- if I remember correctly -- that's how they were done (manually.) hmmm...[looking for gingko biloba drink]

Motty, in your other post, you were asked to copy your tool library files to the MCAM9 folder and change the extension to .tl9 -- did you change the extension in MCAM8 prior to copying it over to the version 9 folder?

Interesting. Thanks for posting your test results. I'm wondering if those differences would also apply to other applications (i.e. video-editing, etc.).

quote: Intersection points and points selected from solids are not actual points but rather theoretical points. Ahhhhh, "I see, said the blindman as he picked up his hammer and saw..." That's exactly what I tried to do -- pick up the origin as an intersecting point from 2 line entities. Thanks for the enlightenment.

hmmm...interesting theory James. I don't remember exactly how I got into this predicament, but I will try to prove your theory when I get a few free minutes. I somehow got the associativity checkbox to become active again when I chose EDIT VIEW/SET ORIGIN, and picked the endpoint of my bounding box. The only difference being that I tried to create a new view last time (TPLANE/ENTITY -- pick two lines -- SAVE, etc.) and this time I edited the existing view.

Gentlemen, Everyonce in awhile I come across this issue where my user defined Tplane and Cplane origins show up as not associative. Not every user defined Tplane has this problem -- so I'll have two associative and two non-associative Tplanes/Cplanes. Any ideas on how to resolve this? I've already tried to redefine a new Tplane and when i went to choose the origin it dimmed out the Associativity check box.