One option to stay away from is the rack and pinion drive system. I have had to replace the one on my table and we do not use it that much. It also gets jumpy around the quadrant points when cutting arcs and circles. By the way, it is a LA Enterprise Warthog machine.

I had posted this on the instructor's forum but I am hoping for more input on the main forum. I did some searching and found this thread http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...ic;f=1;t=014425 on the GeForce 6800 graphics card and it concerns me. I would like the new system to work correctly without turning down graphics acceleration or any other fixes if I can. Thanks to 35K CHIPPER and James Mayette for their input in the instructors forum. If anyone has any suggestions, I am listening. I only have one chance to order my new computers... Pentium® D Processor 840 with Dual Core Technology (3.20GHz, 800FSB) 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 4DIMMs USB Keyboard 19 inch Ultrasharp™ 1905FP Digital Flat Panel 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) nVidia GeForce 6800 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ Genuine Windows® XP Professional Optical USB Mouse Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ double layer write capable

Thanks for the replys. In our old computers, we had an NVidea Gforce card and it caused us all kinds of problems with mastercam. We couldnt see the pick boxes (AutoCAD term!) or sometimes even the lines. This time I wanted to ask the pros their opinion and see if there were any known conflicts.

Below are the specs for some computers we are going to bid out for my lab. I don't know what half of this says. My question, is there any known incompatability issues between mastercam X and what we will be getting? Thanks again in advance for the assistance. Pentium® D Processor 840 with Dual Core Technology (3.20GHz, 800FSB) 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 4DIMMs USB Keyboard 19 inch Ultrasharp™ 1905FP Digital Flat Panel 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) nVidia GeForce 6800 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ Genuine Windows® XP Professional Optical USB Mouse Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ double layer write capable

Does this embossed lable happen to include the Jayhawk??? Gotta love them seniors on the court this year! Fellow Kansas resident and Jayhawk fan... As for the file, I have the full Adobe program if you want me to try.

Lee, it is a '93 fadal 4020 with 10k spindle szelag, I teach at a school therefore I do without alot. The machine was even donated! A radius cutter would be a great option. I also wanted to learn how to do it in solids using a ball nose though. I have other project ideas that will use this method.

Thanks for all the help. I cut the powercat today. Had to break the program up into two seperate ops to get my fadal to accept it. It was too large and my fadal is too old! Came out looking good though. If anyone wants it, I posted it in the just for fun folder on the ftp site as "powercat". ftp://www.ppcadcam.com/Mastercam_forum/Just4Fun/

I will post it to the ftp site when I am done. With all this help it sure makes the problems easier!

Thanks for all your suggestions. Joe, your idea of cut depths was what I was looking for but could not find it. lynnz, do you have to create a seperate op for each section of curve and arc? By the way, Harper is not that far from here! Glad to see another local. Stop by Clearwater if you ever get a chance.

I have a couple of ford logo's if you haven't found what you need. I think one of them I got from the ftp also.

I have been trying to do a project and have not been able to get the toolpath to do what I want. I have a powercat file uploaded in the just for fun section of the ftp for someone better than I to look at. I am trying to contour the fillets on the powercat with a .125 ballnose bit but I cannot get it to work correctly. The current toolpath I left on there works but it cuts the vertical surface also. I am sure there is a better way to do this than what I have and would appreciate some assistance or advice. ftp://www.ppcadcam.com/Mastercam_forum/Just4Fun/ Thanks

Robert, I received your email asking for plans but your address was not valid. Will be glad to help you out if I can! Ron

Does anyone have any good 3D engravings I could use? I am looking for a flower or leaf pattern to use on wood molding. Thanks in advance.

I am looking more for a reference. Since I am teaching hs and have a limited time frame to teach in, I generally do not use text books chapter by chapter. I am looking to incorporate a little more study work into my lessons rather than mostly drawing and cutting.

Sticker Shock... Mastercam Handbook / Course-in-a-box Student version $98 level 1 Student version $98 level 2 Instructor version $125 level 1 Instructor version $125 level 2 Class of 10 plus one instructor $2210. These are paper back books also! Hard to justify this to use for a couple years or until V. 10 comes out.

This is why I posed this question. Without extensive review and time spent, I never would know about the errors. I am checking into costs on the Mcam from CAD/CAM. If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know. Thanks for all the help once again. Ron

I have looked at the mastercam solids tutorial book but was not that impressed with it. It is all just step by step instruction. Ron

I had asked this question on the instructor forum but it doesn't seem to get much traffic. Has anyone had any experience with any books on solids? We are running V 9.1. Thanks

Can anyone give me their opinion on the best text to help teach solids with MC 9.1? Thanks Ron

My schools Fadal 4020 VMC (around '89) video monitor or something connected with it has ceased working. All we are getting are random dots on the screen. We have tried shutting off power and powering back up but still random dots. Has this happened to anyone and does anyone have any good suggestions that does not involve shooting the thing? Thanks in advance.

I teach High School South Central Kansas. We have 1 router and 1 Fadal VMC 4020. Have 14 seats of Mastercam. Sign me up.

I think I understand your suggestion. I want to output a M code to stop spindle and raise z axis to allow us to flip stock over. Remember, I am by no means proficient with code but am learning.

How do you get Mastercam to pause the program? I need to reposition stock after machining the first side. What is the best way to do this? Ron

Those are some good ideas. I have made several projects on the router. Firstly, I would standardize them so you can just post and cut and not have to worry about different clamping set ups for each one. I have found that push type toggle clamps work the best. There is no profile of the clamp above the wood to crash a bit. An easy project for beginning woods is a cd holder. Ours holds 12 cds and is roughly 11.25 x 6.5. Contact me directly and I can give you a pic. Another one is a 4 x 4 x .75 block that they can program in up to three letters. we do relief cutting where the letters are raised and all other material removed. Hope this helps. [email protected]

I also have looked for a single line font for engraving purposes. The only one in MasterCAM I know of is Drafting font. If you find a good source for them, let me know also. I even had some of my internet savvy students searching for them and had no luck although they did find a wide variety of fonts they could use. Ron