quote: Sorry we implemented a new rule around here it is called the ignore rule.What part of the 'new ignore rule' eludes you?

quote: I am in store for a seat of cimatron, near future. Smart move, Cimatron flat out smokes Mastercam for 3D mold / pattern type work. That is, after all, the primary niche the software is written for, and it has improved immensely since they completely re-wrote their legacy UNIX interface in favor of Microsoft Windows. The company I work for already has more seats of Cimatron than it does Mastercam and they'll be adding another in the not to distant future, for me too.

quote: I want what I PAID FOR.......PERIOD!!!! What you paid for was a license to use the software. When you agreed to the terms of that license you agreed to accept the software as is. So technically you did get what you paid for. I know, that hurts a lot, but it is what it is. The only course of action you can take if you're not happy is to speak with your wallet. And I'm with CNC Apps Guy on this one (hey! there's a first time for everything you know ), I recently did a job in X3 which had 1.5+GB (that's gigabyte) MCX files which posted many hundreds of megabytes of nc code and didn't have a single problem with data corruption. Can't say the same for X2, I'm 100% sure I would have lost some work (time) if I used it for that job.

quote: Anubis was it directed at you??? Crazy^Millman, was my post directed at you?

quote: Yeah I learned my lesson with X1 also, and now I wait until there is a MR or at least SP before updating. The initial release of X was a major overhaul to the software. Knowing that I waited until MR2 to start using it. That's right around the time this forum started to quiet down after X was released as many of the initial show stopping problems were eventually resolved. Since then, I've treated X2 and X3 as I did previous version level changes (I've been using Mastercam since v3.21 in mid 1992), and that's with diligent caution by taking absolutely nothing for granted. It's much easier to avoid making scrap that way. The only major issue I have now has been lurking in Mastercam since it was first implemented in version 9 and that is with the WCS. I seem to recall reading somewhere the WCS is getting an overhaul in X4. Or maybe that was just a figment of a wishful imagination?

quote: Unless you have an existing business I don't know of anybody who would give a down payment for a mold to a non-existing business.

quote: Programmes must be foolproof ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That`s a job for Jon Banquer . You complain about trolling and personal attacks yet do those very things yourself on a frequent basis. Are the forum guidelines to complicated for you to comprehend?

quote: I would never give anyone up front money. So you expect other companies to totally finance your own projects? You're out of your mind. No respectable mold shop takes on work without getting at least the cost of materials as down payment these days. Typical terms are: 1/3 down 1/3 upon delivery 1/3 upon approval ...else a shop is setting itself up to get badly burned.

If there aren't any flat areas to pick depths up from on the shape to be burned, establish a known depth on the shank of the electrode past the burn and the EDM guy will pick up from that. If there isn't enough of a shank to do this, than an extra "pick up electrode" should be made for that particular set. I avoid using ball end mills for finishing unless either the shape dictates their use or if cycle time would be ridiculously long using bull nose tools. Ball tools do last longer for roughing, up to 3/8 dia at which size PCD tipped indexable bull nose tooling is readily available. For the radius at the base of a wall, you must, without fail, extend the electrode past the wall or corners will get rolled slightly exactly as your EDM guy says. This particular thing is elementary. It should have been one of the first things you were taught about electrode making. Hope that helps.

quote: So how do you cheat on a ball mill doing a surface?Don't use ball mills when surfacing electrodes for 2D orbit. I use bull nose tools almost exclusively. Both Powermill and Cimatron indeed do this far better than Mastercam ever will. But it's not at all impossible with Mastercam, IF you use your noodle.

Program the contour from Z+.190 to Z0 and use depth cuts. Then change at point from the chain manager to change ramp final depths. Will cut some air this way however. To avoid air cutting you'll have to use surface paths. Trimming the air off will just create more air.

You're welcome.

quote: A lot of the newer machines have a compact flash drive. The fellow just stated their use of these types of devices has been "cut off".

I would think most controls capable of reading a USB flash device would be Ethernet capable too and that is likely the best way go. The first thing you need to do is find out how the control is capable of communicating. RS232? Ethernet? Both RS232 and Ethernet? Fanuc Data Server via Ethernet? Mylar Tape? Punch Cards? What?

Break circle at 180° if it isn't already. Write contour at Z0. Open Chain Manager. Right click on chain. Select Change at point. Change depths accordingly.

I had a similar situation recently in X3 and solved it with the usual things: a) a hard reset of the computer changing cut tolerance slightly c) changing step over slightly d) verifying containment didn't overlap itself, not necessarily in that order.

Rough machine - heat treat at ~300°F for a few hours cooling slowly to stabilize - then finish.

2 axis orbit is easily achieved in Mastercam by cheating tool diameters. Isn't ideal for all situations but gets the jobs none the less.

Does Haas still use a 'deadbeat' timer on their machines? That is, don't make the initial payments, don't get the code to unlock control rendering machine useless. That's a big enough deterrent to not hold back money if you need the machine to ship product but making payment is effectively accepting the equipment as is. I do not envy shop owners due to things like this. Plus they often need to hire arrogant arseholes like me to program and run their machines.

quote: Make a shortcut (with this 'Target') c:McamX3mastercam.exe vbLastFile.vbs Heh. A blonde moment and I'm not even blonde. Musta' inherited it from my wife! Is there a limit on the length of the command line? I keep my Mastercam config files under my home directory in 'documents and settings' which works dandy with roaming profiles on Windows networks. Disadvantage is the path name is quite long when calling the main config file on the command line.

quote: Cant this be done with a VB-script ?? I cant say since im retarded in that arena I'm just as much if not even more retarded with VB scripting. I do some Bourne (sh and bash) and C Shell (csh) scripting on UNIX systems as well as some Perl script hacking on same, but know eff all about VB script. I also have a shiny new iMac at home and intend on dabbling in Apple scripting sometime in the near future, between Cimatron tutorials. If it takes more than 500 milliseconds to run a VB script after launching Mastercam the 'Alt f 1 Enter' key sequence is still faster. Or can Mastercam be configulated to launch VB scripts when launched? Please be gentle, ignorance really is bliss!

Yep. Starting Mastercam and doing the following keystroke sequence is the quickest way to open the last file: Alt -> f -> 1 -> Enter

I regularly run 2-3 sessions of Mastercam. I do think generating big surface toolpaths in two sessions at the same time on the same computer is not a good idea since I've had problems doing that in the past. But having one session crunching toolpaths and doing some 2D toolpathing and geometry editing / creation in other sessions hasn't ever been a problem for me with vX and above. As for overwriting files, performance complaints, and suchlike, that's not a software issue at all. That's entirely a blob between the chair and screen problem which often can be fixed with some persuasion by a clue-by-four.

How about work coordinate system related bugs which have been hanging around since version 9? Any chance they'll be fixed before we're (human race) capable of just inter-planetary travel?

You might as well be asking when is the human race going to be capable of trans-galactic travel.