Good point Philcott. Perhaps the Hasp # can be used to help verify that the user is legitimate But there may be other users out there who may have be out of work and continue to look at the board to keep him/herself abreast of new updates, ideas, and other conversations (i.e. job leads) Norbert

quote: hi there. i live in san jose california. i want to learn how to use this software but i don't know where. can some one help me? thax Ben, does the shop you work at have Mastercam or are you looking at trying to learn it to make yourself more marketable? There are numerous options available (see the links on the page header). You can also contact the dealer to get training up at his office -- right down Hwy 17 and into the mountains before Santa Cruz. E-mail me if you want a number.

quote: Every shop has (at least) one guy who always knows better...AMEN It's the one-up-manship that's prevalent in all professions and trades.

Nothing is impossible!...for those who don't have to do the work!

Beagle, If you haven't already figured it out already do this: 1. From the command mode, SETP 2. Press enter 'til you reach the IMMED FIXED CYCLE. 3. If it says "NO", Toggle to "YES" 4. Press MANUAL to exit. Problem over!

quote: I was thinking MACRO was the way to go. When your programs are dependent on contingencies, I would use a MACRO as well.

Gordon, I tried playing with the IMPORT function and did not notice any wierd additions or changes (on my end). Is your Operations Manager clean when you IMPORT the operations from a previous file? Check to see if there are any tools showing in your tool table prior to importing the operations. You may have an orphaned tool resident. What is the difference between importing operations from previous files as opposed to importing previously saved operations (.op8) -- from the Ops Manager>[right-click] Get from library...?

Backyard Mechanic's Metric Conversion Tip: 1. 1/2-20 UNF Bolt = M12 x 1.25 [ 06-25-2002, 11:18 AM: Message edited by: n_tydingco ]

Talk about going from one extreme to the other -- sounds like your car crash wasn't going to set back your shop success "The only stupid question..."

Hugh -- after creating the text using CREATE>DRAFTING>NOTE, click on the the area of the text and it will select the whole note entity (MODIFY>BREAK>DRAFT/LINE)---OR--- if you use a window, set it to capture INSIDE AND INTERSECTING (In + intr).

My coaxial indicator has seen limited duty on the VMC's. Unless I am sweeping a hole larger than 1.5", I just use our test indicator mounted in the holder; eyeball the center; adjust the x-axis; then move the y-axis til it matches the x-axis readings. Remember -- you only need 3 points to find the center of a circle.

I have not received any SPAM here at work. As you can see by the majority of the responses, your SPAM problem may be a result of something else. You will lose a great information resource by simply dropping out Talk to your IT people

Nice site Salah What did you use for the picture animations? Are they canned options already in Frontpage 2002?

Just in case anyone is looking into this, I rebooted my computer and opened the same file and did a regen on all the toolpaths and it all worked fine. I believe my problem was related to memory usage -- I had two instances of MC, IE, Outlook, and a couple of other applications for my Palm Pilot. Thanks anyway.

I just finished placing the file (MCPINFRONT.MC8) on the FTP server.

With a deadline looming, I am coming upon a serious error that is preventing me from regenerating my toolpaths. The error message window ("DEBUG") contains the following message: quote: bnci_section(): cannot delete nci section! Temporary file created: C:MCAM8COMMON...etc. This all started after I had deleted one operation from the Ops Manager and has gotten worse. I tried to change the NCI name and got no results. I'll post the file on the FTP server if anyone wants to look at it and advise. Thanks.

Hi Keith, I tried going through the steps you had outlined with the exception of: quote: then, go to, contour/create new tool/tool type tab/press-undefined/press- help/read topic-"about custom tool profiles". For this step I went to NC Utils/Def. Tools/Library; right-click, create new tool; and select Custom Tool Profile from the Define Tools tab menu. I tried several options including Undefined Tool, Slot Mill, End Mill, and Dovetail and have not had any success. I read through the help file but was unable to rectify the problem as I created the tool geometry to the 1 inch dimension as detailed and also to the actual dimensions on the cutter. Any other ideas?

Thank you Keith. I'll give it a try right now.

I need to cut grooves on the OD of a part using a 60 degree double angle milling cutter with the following parameters: DIA = .75 Thickness = .1875 HSS How can I create that tool in V8.1.1? Thanks in advance.

LOL! You got it Jay. Exactly like that. Any ideas what is causing it? At this point, upgrading to V9 is not likely to be the fix for us.

Cadcam, that image at least showed some consistency. The picture I get shows 1 good part and everything else hacked up because of the wierd drilling angles. I can e-mail a copy of it but I don't know if it helps anything.

I need your expert analysis to find a solution to this issue: I am getting verification display errors when viewing a part that has transformed toolpaths. It seems to affect only the drilling operations. It shows the tool making it's cut at an angle that is different from the tool plane that was used. The result is UGLY , but just during the verification process. The posted output seems to be okay. The transformation parameters used where: TYPE: TRANSLATE, METHOD: COORDINATE and BETWEEN POINTS. I posted the file on Cadcam's FTP site: 1sktrear.mc8 Thanks in advance.

No problem Mark. This forum is an excellent resource for answers and opinions. I'm only giving back what I get

Hello Mark, I looked at the file and made the following change: Go to NC Utilities>Def Tools>Current> Right-click the grooving tool #7373 and choose EDIT TOOL Go to the INSERTS tab and change the total width setting (Item so that it matches the cutting width of the tool (Item D, .094). Regen your operation and it should come out properly.

Hmmm, I couldn't find the file on the FTP site. Is it bong.mc8?