Thanks for all your input. I will investigate the two recommended softwares. Unfortunately, my need is fairly immediate (I can't/don't want to wait until 2007 for a solution). Programming our Mori manually is killing our response and program prove out/setup time. If we add a swiss turn machine I'll have to clone myself and the operators. After seeing the Simpson's episode last night where thousands of Homers are created, that's a last ditch kind of plan.

When we began investigating Mastercam, we were assured that M/C would soon have the ability to accurately simulate our ZL200SMC Mori-Seiki mill/turn machine. This machine has a front and rear chuck and a lower and upper turret with the ability to machine on both ends with either turret. The machine also allows for simultaneous operations (sometimes called pinch turning), where you can rough and finish at the same time on the OD, or turn and bore at the same time. Obviously, this opens the possibility for some huge crashes. I have used Virtual Gibbs for many years and they already have this capability. V/G displays the tools, turrets, chucks, etc. and allows you to graphically demonstrate that no collisions are going to occur. Because of some other reasons, we decided not to upgrade V/G to program our lathe and purchase Mastercam X instead. We are still trying to institute Mastercam, so I am a rookie at the software. The reseller tells me that none of this is supported by Mastercam (he says they thought it would be in X, but now is postponed until some future date). We are currently looking at a Star or Citizen swiss machine, and both vendors are pushing other programming software, both claiming that Mastercam will not program these machines effectively. Question 1 - Anybody know when Mastercam intends to upgrade their multi axes mill/turn capabilities? Is this the lights out manufacturing that was 2 years away from happening in 1975 and is still two years from happening, or something that will actually happen in the foreseeable future? Question 2 - Anyone have an opinion on the captive programming software for the Star or Citizen machines versus Mastercam (other than the salesman trying to pinch an extra 10 grand out of me)? Is anyone using Mastercam to program their cnc swiss machines?

Thanks HPM. I just spoke with my rep about a differant issue and he told me the same thing, and offered to give me a new HASP if I fried it.

I received a notice from In House Solutions on the newest updates. Part of this message included the following: "** PLEASE NOTE: Due to an issue with the SP1 installation, you may lose your HASP connection after running this update. Removing your HASP while running this update will make it much less likely this issue will occur. If this happens, download, extract, and run drivers.bat from this location: " I believe the only way to do this is to pull the HASP while the computer is running. I know the old style HASP that plugged into the printer port should NEVER be hot swapped or removed while the computer is running. Are the USB style HASP different or am I just missing something?