Has anyone tried to use the Test surface options to try to fix the surface problems? There should be an icon under anylize that lets u trim overlapping surfaces, delete small surfaces and such. Usually it helps with problem models. Or sometimes u can export it into other software and import with differant options to fix problem models.

Ive tried everything that has been suggested. i have also looked at several other threads and did alot of experimenting. Usually i am very addept at fixing toolpaths and have in the past used scallop with very nice results. In x2 i had it down to a pretty consistent science but with the release of x3 i have ran into a whole new bee hive of problems. Scallop used to be a very versitile toolpath now its almost worthless since i am getting guages in parts that are undetectable in verify and backplotters. The only way i have been able to fix it is to switch to another toolpath. Which means alot more work for our complicated parts. I believe it is a mastercam issue. Ive been able to get rid of the ripple effect of the toolpath but not the guage problem. If anyone has anymore suggestions i would appreciate it. Thank you.

We use wear if its a 2d operation that we wanna be able to offset out at the machine. other then that we use computer and occationally i use off if i want it to run down the center of the endmill. Ive never used control comp. Thanx for the suggestion tho.

I tried to run a 1/2 endmill into a pocket today and the start of the pocket has a smaller then .25 rad and then i was going to go in with a smaller end mill and 2d the extra stock out. The 1/2 endmill ignored the arc all together and wiped out the 1st corner. Has anyone else noticed that if you use a larger endmill to 2d something and theres a small radius on the entry or exit move it just ignores it? To get the 2d program to work properly i had to add an extra line to lead into before the arcs then it calculated correctly.

I have been using mastercam since V9 and havnt had this issue until installing the new x3 version. When using a scallop toolpath and runing over a small vertical only a couple hundred tall every once in a while i get gauges out of the aluminum. Typically i try not to run scallops over verticals but in the past as long as its not a very large vertical its been fine. It dosnt always do it and it dosnt show up when you backplot but when you run the programs theres a very visable notch taken out of the part your working on. You can kinda get rid of it if you drop your tolerance down to .0001 but if you ever have a large scallop program that would not be the best idea since your program would take a very long time to process. I usually run .0002 to .0003 with a 2:1 RATIO on scallops and it was always fine in the past. Sometimes i adjust up or down to make a smoother path but never before X3 has it cut in like this. Is anyone else noticing that scallop programs are not as reliable as they were int he past? Or does anyone have any suggestions that might help the situation? Thank you,

I have been using X3 for about a week now or so and i was wondering if anyone else has noticed that every once in a while when you go into the parameters of an op to make a simple change or even if u dont change anything it asks u if you want to update your tool. Almost like you had changed your tool when u actually didnt do anything to the tool. And if u hit yes to update the tool it turns any of your Ops that use that tool into a dirty OP and makes u regen it. And if u hit no then u have to go back in and make your changes that you had already made once. And usually it doosnt do it the second time you make the changes. I havnt changed any settings since x2 mr2. At first i thought it was only my old files that were doing it but after i started to make new files and it was still doing it i started to doubt that was the case. Anyone else noticing little glitches like this in x3?

I agree with mold100. ive done several holes just like what he discribed and using a 1/4" flat bottom endmill and rotoring out the hole and finishing with a nice carbide endmill should do the trick. Have a gauge pin handy that is the size you want and do your final pass with a 2d with cutter comp until the pin fits. Carbides tend to be a thou or 2 off so dont forget to take that into account.

I recently upgraded from 2 gigs to 4 gigs and sadly saw no increase in speed with the benchmark. It seems processor speed is much more important. I have 2 comps with xeon processors and one that is not a xeon and the xeons run almost twice as fast for MC.

You could try seeing what the operators think are the best way they think you should be setting something up. Because if they are taking a long time seting up the way you think it needs to be setup theres a possibility that you are taking them out of thier confort zone or that they arnt completely understanding your plan. Communication between programmers and operators can sometimes cause alot of conflict and make building the parts take alot longer. As far as lake of training if you can afford it bringing in someone to train you for a week isnt a bad idea. If thats too expensive the books are a good help but even they only take you so far. One of the ways i figure out how to use differant areas of mastercam is to just experiment with differant things. Because you can make the same program on two differant blocks and end up with 2 totally differant programs.

It could be that you set your mastercam to make your current view your tool plane and when you rotate or change views it thinks your telling it to change your ops to that tool plane. what setting do you have in your config for your WCS or click on the plane button on the bottom of your mastercam window and see what its set to.

Sorry bout the delayed response. If youd like i could take a look at the file just put it on the ftp site somewhere and tell us where it is and which operations your having trouble with.

Also if the surfaces are all linked and your trying to make them all cut in the same direction every once in a while if you hit single row it sometimes helps the UV all go in the same direction. But it dosnt always work.

Just so theres no confusion all those options i talked about changing are under the operations parameters G83 peck drill tab.

To change the start of your peck you need to change the top of your stock to absolute .1000 which will take it to .1000 above z zero. Then make your clearance height 2 inchs incremental. Your retract can be incremental 0. Then change your depth to incremental and enter how ever deep you would like to peck. Hopfully that should work for ya.

I had a boss that was the same way. everytime things got a little slow he would have me mess with the speeds and feeds like one day i was magically going to figure out a system for any possible situation. Lucky for me he also programs. So one day i sat him down and showed him all the things we would need to change. We came to a mutual agreement and made dafualt and common tool files for our most used tools and saved them. Same with the materials lists. We managed to set it up so it came out fairly close to what we wanted and the machinists can just adjust using the button on the damn control cuz thats what its there for. We are a mold shop so its not very comoon to make the same part over again. We also have 10 different machines. which changes everything. It took a long time and alot of ajusting and there a couple of other areas that we set up to do this that i dont really feel like going into detail about. Such as machine definition stuff so your endmills will calculate right for which ever machine your on. Cuz we all know a 30 year old lablonde dosnt run the same speeds and feeds with the same endmill as a brand new okuma. Now the tricky part is explaining that to your boss in a way that dosnt xxxx him off.