Hopefully not a moment sooner either:) Andrew

Mill Crasher Well only the mills that have been crashed! Just funnin ya, seriously though, we have haas mills here (ie cheap) and they will move .001 to .0015 inches from cold to warm. That might not sound like much to some folks, but we build molds, and its a mile! If I give our sinker department trodes that are .0015 off they come unpluged so to speak. And I dont blame them. My motto "Indicate early, indicate often! or spend more money on the machine" have fun! Andrew

Welcome, Andrew:)

Lets all Give Ray Culver at CNC software a big hand for this one. It appears from his message that this trick came to us via his initiative. linky Andrew

Andrew

daryl_y, Try this, its not as easy as a default, but works slick. In the files section of your machine group, hold down the CTRL key and use your mouse to click on the little file icon to the right of the nc file name. This will auto set the path and nc ame to equal your part file name. I have been using this and I may need to edit, but I dont need to type out the whole thing. Hope this helps. Andrew

Thanks pete, I see now, one for the files drop down, and one for the tool bar. Cool. Andrew

So why is this setting in two locations? That could be a bit confusing. Andrew

Peterm, try right clicking inside the operations manager, and from the menu that apears select"Edit Selected Operations" then select "Change Program #" If you change your program # this way it will post out correctly without mucking around with it. I know there is a reason why it wont change from within the "Properties/Tool settings page" but I cant remember why. Its not a bug though. I seem to recall some incompatibility with regard to tool path groups. If you were alowed to change the program # from within the tool settings page it would change all your operations, instead of just the operations within the selected tool path group. Dont quote me on this, I might be wrong. andrew

quote: What about "reverse toolpath" checkbox in the toolpath transform mirror dialog ? I like it! I did not know that option was available. Thanks Matt for the tip. Andrew

Bill, Good question, I am interested to hear some answers on this one as well. I have been doing it as you describe in your post. Can be a pain on complex parts. Andrew

Kathy, I did this by going to c:mcamxcnc_machines folder, and moving all the .mmd and .control files, except for the machines that I use, to a subdirectory. This helps allot when your trying to find the machine you want out of the list. andrew

I am glad we just got hispeed service at work cause this thing is a big one! I cant wait, Im goin fer it! Andrew

Went to update mastercam, and mr1 was available. YIPEE

I am trying to write a script for mc9.1 that will set up a contour operation for all entities on a certain level. The problem is I cant get the depth cut parameters set up properly. I can set the MaxStep, and FinalStep, with the SetDepthCuts function, but I dont seem to have control over the "keep tool down" option. I have the operation defaults setup with "keep tool down" NOT selected, but when I run the script with SetDepthCuts function the "keep tool down" option gets set From the documentation it looks like the SetDepthCuts function only gives you control over MaxStep and FinalStep, is this correct? Thanks Andrew

Wow this is great information for those of us who have not had the oportunity to tackle the HMC. I think this forum is the best! Harold, hope the job interview goes well. Andrew

Thanks for the status report Ken! Andrew

Thanks Italian, Nice work! Works great on this end:) Andrew

I find that with communications option set to "mastercam", and "Quick Send" checked, that our system attemps to send when I close the editor, but sends up a port error. I can send the program from inside the editor manualy just fine. I cant wait to have this fixed in MR1. I was previously under the impression that the "send to machine" check box did not work at all, but with the "quick send" enabled it tries to send, but cant get past the port error, wich according to Mick should be fixed in MR1. I think I have this correct now? Thanks, Andrew

Baker, Tried to send you email, but it bounced back. Andrew

Baker, X saves information about machine setup inside the .mcx file, so if it differs from the default settings in X, the ones saved in the .mcx file will be used instead. Check to see that the files for your "tool path group" are the same as the files you set in the default configuration. A bit confusing to me, I hope I explained ok? check your email. Andrew

Looks like I should read before I post! Thanks Mick, aside from the port error, "quick send" did it for my system. with foot in mouth, Andrew

Sergio, I have been told that the "send to machine" checkbox inside the post processing dialog box is not functioning correctly in X. We use this function in V9 all the time, and sure do miss having it. I hope somone can prove me wrong on this one! Hope this helps, Andrew

Baker, I had this problem when trying to make communication changes in the post processing dialog box. I found that if i used the machine definition manager, selected the control defenition icon, then changed the settings for the control under the comunications tab, that those settings became the default, for that control. In X there are numerous ways to do just about everything. hope that helps, Andrew

Mitchell For the file get problem, try finding a program that came with mastercam 9 called "CNC Reg" open that program and change the "file get dialog box" option to "standard windows" instead of "mastercam" and see if that works. Be shure that you have "v9 mill" set as the "installed product" when you make the change. I found the program under start menu-programs-mastercam9.1 Hope that does it, andrew