Up till X8 there was a button "Display relative to WCS" on the Planes page of a tool path. I used that to check myself frequently, especially when doing 4/5 axis work. Is there an easy way to check if tool plane origins are matching WCS in X9? Two situations brought it to mind: A fellow worker selected an incorrect TP for a tool path and some cuts were 4" from where they should have been. And on a kind of big part I misplaced an origin by .05" and caused some problems. Both parts backplot and verify correctly in MasterCam but were caught by Vericut. Both parts the mistake would have been immediately apparent by checking the Plans settings page, neither mistake was obvious from using the Planes Manager.

Yes, one could move (or copy) the geometry to a location that would work. But I would end up having 3 copies of the part (one for each position) in different places and orientations. That makes verifying the part a pain. And will lose location relationships to other CAD/CAM platforms. That IS one work around and I used to do it all the time.

Thank you, I will try Parallel to Curves. I also have some Project Curves tool paths that are close to what I wanted.

I had been doing everything with the 'classic' multiaxis tool paths, because they are easy and I've been using them since MasterCam first offered 5-axis (v5?). But now classic toolpaths don't work if you are using WCS that are too far from the world and rotated, so I am learning the new stuff.

In multiaxis surface/solid swarf milling toolpath (X9), how do I lock out the 5th axis? It's got to be there somewhere, but I can't find it.

Or something. I'm just not exited about adding a whole bunch of work for myself or trying to explain to my boss why it is going to take all day to add a hole to a program.

Here is the reply I got back from CNC: So, it's broken now. Moving the part only fixes one operation and the other positions won't work correctly. I will either have to reprogram with different tool paths or leave existing parts in X8.

A 4 axis VMC project was done in X8 and works fine. When I bring it into X9, I cannot seem to get the 4th axis tool paths to regenerate correctly (they are all dirty due to new 'WCS awareness') I am using WCS and tool planes a couple of hundred inches from MC and rotated. When I just regenerate a path I get no 4 axis motion. I remember we had to fudge the machine definition and rotation axis to get it to do right in X8 so I made changes to see what I can do. Everything I try seems to get no B motion or way wrong, almost looks like it is trying to reference MC planes instead of WCS and TP. If I regenerate in 5axis, everything looks as expected, but I can't use that. What am I missing? Attached is a file with a couple of tool paths the way they come into MC X9. t.mcx-9

I've cut a lot of parts from 7050 plate, and have a pretty good feel for how the material moves (stress relieves) while you cut it. Now I have some parts from 7136 extruded bar, ~4" x 6" x 160" and it's been 15 or 20 years since I've messed with something like this. Question is: how much is this material going to relieve when I cut it? If I rough 1/2 way through (to the webs) how much spring can I expect? Is it going to rip itself out of the vises while I'm cutting or smack the operator in the head when he releases it?

Thank you, Rickster. Yep. I am way past it now, but it bugs me. If I really cared I guess I would make a new file.

If I delete everything in the file, all levels show empty and no operations are left. Stock model is still there, blanked.

If you press Screen/Un-blank Entity, then the stock model appears in the temporary display. Like all stock models, it is not on a level, they show as blanked whenever you toggle display off in the operations manager.

Deleting everything does not work. RAM saver does not work. Save and re-open file does not work.

Stock setup in properties in the operation manager? I have no such option.

I have a good part file and did a "save as" to simplify programming some of it's fixtures. Then I deleted all the operations including a stock model operation. BUT the stock model is still there, blanked. How do I get rid of it? (I am using X7 MU2)

Set the feed plane to "0" to keep the tool down between passes. Non-zero number less that your step down will yield a rapid retract at the end of the toolpath.

My machine and post processor do not handle 5 axis rapids well so I need to feed the cutter all the way in and out at the beginning and end of the tool path. Changing the retract and feed plane to something smaller than my steps makes a tool path that looks OK (except for the rapid at the beginning and end). This tool path generated like I wanted in X6, this has been this way since X7 was released.

Here is a sample toolpath T.MCX-7

A simple 5 axis swarf toolpath to zig zag down a wall. Set the roughing to stay down BUT the tool retracts and re-enters at each end of the path. This a file that acted correctly in X6, when I regenerate in X7, it is wrong. "Keep down" button makes no difference. "Retract only at beginning and end" makes no difference. What do I need to do differently now? Has anyone else seen this?

I loaded fresh machine and control definitions.

I have rebooted. I see this in only this one file, nowhere else.

No groups. Toolpaths are all simple contour, drill etc. with a few 3-axis finish toolpaths. No highspeed, nothing fancy. Manipulating or creating geometry is unaffected. The only things that are slow is anything from the operations manager. Selecting ops, back plot, verify, etc

Removing all solids from the file makes no difference.

I am trying to fix another programmer's part he did in X6 last year (I am using X7). Verify and the operation manager are v e r y slow to respond or do anything. Other files appear to be acting normally. I have saved the file in X7 and have regenerated all the operations, and have tried saving the file on my hard drive (we work on a network). I reloaded the machine def and I tried a different machine. The part file is only 44,061 kb with 41 ops. What is slowing me down and how do I fix it?

That was it. If you edit the machine file, front page has a check box at the middle bottom labeled "Toolbar State".