We've got some 2 billion levels and 16 million colors available, but only 10 tool colors can be assigned in verify. Yeah, I get the point.

This is a legitimate question. Is there another work around to the apparent limitation of being able to set colors to only 10 tools? I say apparent because maybe there's a way that isn't obvious to add some more? I've run into this situation myself and have had to do extra work because of it.

Have you considered using STL compare?

Roku-Roku's have permantly lubed ceramic spindles and I've yet to use one that spit any oil. They also have a constant air purge through the spindles to keep the dust out. I've machined tons of graphite, some renshape and done some hard milling in them. Good machines they are.

Solid or indexable?

quote: Does anyone know if there is ANY plans to make a hyperthreaded version of Mastercam which would take advantage of the four cores in my computer?You mean making Mastercam a multi-threaded application. Rumor has it it is being considered. Caveat emptor. History has a tendency to repeat itself. CNC Software will likely be the last of the major players in the market to finally implement and get it right.

quote: Does that mean uni-directional positioning?Exactly.

On a Fadal control M46 is positive approach. M47 cancels it. I can't offer any advice on its usage since I've never used it.

I do grinding on VMC's. Lately it has been threaded cores for unscrewing molds. Here's an example of the work in action, a die molding magnesium nuts for an automotive application. Be patient downloading, the server the video is on is slow and the file is 13.4MB. http://bdhi.ath.cx/download/magdie.avi The programming for the form dressing is a mirror image of the shape being ground. For dressing thread forms I use precision radius chisel point diamonds, one for roughing, one for finishing. (60° threads) For programming the wheel dressing I offest the form geoemtry the radius of the diamonds and write "zero tool" toolpaths. To compenstate for the changing wheel diameters for both dressing and grinding I incorporate the posted code in macros and use variables. (Fanuc controls) I don't know anything about Mill level 1, but if it can't toolpath and post in XZ or YZ planes you should be able to program and post in XY and manualy edit XYZ and IJK accordingly. Hope that makes some sense, and even helps.

quote: G28Z0 , tool will rapid to Z0 G91G28Z0 won't go to part zero before going home. I always use G49 to cancel tool offsets on a Fadal though. It's the way I was taught and do it out of habit. G90G0G49Z0 = G91G0G28Z0

Link See the last post in the thread by gcode. It worked for me. Suggest also deinstall the previous drivers, reboot, then use the latest availabe from the Nvidia web site.

quote: pop-up doesn't always show up and I have to do it two or three timesThat could very well be a graphics card issue.

Colin, I always use the RMB hold and drag method when I can't afford a mishap, like when working on huge files with huge toolpaths. But I like using keyboard shortcuts because doing so is faster and doesn't require near perfect aim with the cursor. I could rant about software for Windows not being totaly Windows compatable but I'd preaching to the choir methinks so I won't. I was just wondering if anyone has seen the same thing more as a sanity check than anything else. Thanks.

On a similar note, copy-cut-paste in the operation mangler using Windows hot keys Ctrl-C / Ctrl-X / Ctrl-V has been hit and miss the last couple versions of MC. Fortunatly is more hit than miss though. Sometimes it just doesn't work at all. Anyone else ever see that or do I just bang on the keyboard too much?

File size is considerably different between the two. x_t is a plain ASCII text file which can be opened and read with any text editor. x_b is a compressed binary format and is handy for file transfers over the Internet and suchlike.

quote: I'd like to have the extra 4G of spaceMy X2-MR2 installation is 795MB. You'd probably be better off just deleting that which you don't need starting with sample files and tutorials. Then move on to jobs, nc programs and temp files no longer needed if you store them in Mcam's folders. That should get you 3 of the 4GB you're looking for back at least.

Graphics drivers are a major issue with Linux gaming today. For example my PC at home has dual GeForce GPU's running in SLI mode on Windows but the Nvidia driver for Ubuntu Linux on the same machine doesn't offer that option. The only way to do a fair framerate benchmark (measuring rendering performance) between Windows and Linux on that hardware with say America's Army is turn off one of the features in Windows the computer was explicitly built for. The reason I mention this is that CAD/CAM developers would be faced with this and many things like it in a Linux port. Richard M. Stallman's worshipers and the hardest core Linux faithful do not help this cause either. If they had it thier way companies like CNC Software would put themselves right out of business by giving away thier intellectual property and trade secrets in the form of source code for Mastercam.

Suggest clear your browser cache, and cookies, then try again.

quote: Maybe 5 years from now Mac will more mainstream.If Microsoft's next release of Windows is as "succesful" as Vista has been so far ::chortle::, that may not be as far fetched as it sounds today. We'll see.

Here's a good video on the fate of Microsoft. Enjoy! http://force.power-net.org/swf/kimble_themovie.swf

quote: craptronicsLOL! Would be hard to be any more succinct than that.

quote: But that is just the beginning, you will need to turn off the trig help function (as this will cause arc errors) and run a G18 arc on the machine to ensure it cutting in the right direction.Be very careful with CRC too. Both standard (G41/G42) and Milltronics auto cutter comp (G46/G47 IIRC) can cause problems. Plot toolpaths using cutter comp *with the control* to verify they work correctly. If they even work at all that is.

Milltronics VMC, eh? You have my condolence's.

quote: Anubis it is my understanding that BSD is very much like linux in that their kernels both evolved from a common source, UNIXBSD has its roots, mainly, as the first TCP/IP stack in the original AT&T UNIX. Linus Torvalds based the original Linux kernel on Minix, a Unix variant written for i386 computers. I've used both BSD (FreeBSD and OpenBSD) and various Linux distros on servers and desktops. IMO, BSD's are great server OS's whereas Linux is better suited for desktop computing. However, neither has what it takes for a developer to consider porting a top CAD/CAM application such as Mastercam to run on them, and that thing is market share. You might think this thread was hijacked, but my comments about Macs were done with a purpose in mind. Microsoft easily has 9 times the market share Apple does and Apple easily has at least 10 times the market share Linux does, probably even much more. It should be clear to you now few people if any besides myself are knocking on CNC Software's door to port Mastercam to Macs where they obviously have a much better chance of selling thier software than they would with a Linux port. I've been down the road your traveling before, multiple times even, and even though your quest is nobel it is one that will ultimately lead to disappointment. Microsoft Windows is what Mastercam is written for and Microsoft Windows is where it's going to stay for a very long time, or until market forces dictate otherwsie, whichever come first.

Cultist?! Surely you jest! Years ago I was indeed a Linux zealot (had myself convinced the evil empire was out to get me because I was being forced to used Windows at work... drank too much of RMS's koolaid at the time - heh) but I eventually outgrew that phase of my life, got my brain back, and went back to Microsoft Windows. Me a Mac cultist now? Not yet!