I've used the 3-1/2 drive to drip feed on a Haas. It's only 1.44 Mb but that's a lot bigger than 600Kb.

I would love it if Mastercam would ask me if I wanted to use my current ea manager settings when I open a legacy Mastercam file.

I don't know about a usb stick, but I have certainly run a sub from a disk drive on a Haas.

Play with the entry/exit arc clearance value. This has a huge effect on how the tool enters the cut, and acts differently weather you are using control or wear ccomp. I prefer wear like most others on this forum because it is much more flexible. In the dark ages before wear ccomp I used to make a dummy contour toolpath to get my entry/exit values and write the helix moves by hand (gasp!) It's a PIA but it gets the job done when all else fails. I have also used the programming apps by Vardex and Threadtek to calculate threadmilling paths. Hope this helps.

It's not super simple, but here is how I do it. Create the lead in/lead out arcs as you would like to see them cut. Then chain the geometry, which can be a pain. In the cut parameters page turn off infinite look ahead. This allows Mastercam to ignore the crossing geometry.

G28 only returns the axis, or axis's called home.

"Just looks to me like there is material left there that would not be cut. Is your tool defined in Mcam EXACTLY as it really is? (does it come to a sharp corner at the bottom, or is there a bit of a flat on the real tool, but not the one in Mcam) Is your toolpath leaving a bit of stock in Z? " Ditto that. But the other thing that occurs to me is that the previous tool has left stock in x,y. Did you adjust the previous cuts to compensate for an insert rad?

Ditto just like Newbee, line numbers are a waste of memory and a distraction when reading the program.

I do transform ops often, certainly weekly. Using a slightly modded hass post " Maintain source's operation" always works for me. I Set my first workshift. Pre X6 I used "assign new and set "Start" to what I wanted and "increment" to 0, but I can no longer set increment to 0 in X6. Still works for me.

I have Fanucs and Haas, this is what I use. (G10 USED TO RECORD AND/OR CHANGE WORKSHIFT) (P1-P6 =G54-G59) G10L2P2G90X0Y0Z0 There is a lot more that g10 can do, but this should get you started.

I sent this to qc and they told me that it was because I did not have art installed.

Oops, I need to update my siggy.

Yes running X6. It does save as the mastercam filename, which serves me well with our file naming conventions.

I have a separate directory for my setup sheets, no problem. I do not have it automated and save from my browser.

I can't brag about our set up time or truly horrible QC bottleneck, but one thing that we do in our milling department is to have two jobs per machine. When you do it right, one job is in inspection while the other is running. We run two shifts so the simple/stupid job is intended for 2nd shift. Day shift handles setups.

When I started programming conrtol comp was all that I knew, and you can make almost any tool run without error using it, just follow the rules. I switched over to wear in V9, it is much more flexible, and you generally don't get the big crashes like you might get when the setup guy forgets to input the rad of the new tool and a larger tool was in that tool pocket in the last job. The biggest problem with wear vs control ccomp is with the operators. If you have a large library of old jobs, as we have where I work, then you need to identify which jobs are using what ccomp, or you can expect crashes. I modded my posts a long time ago to state which tool comp is being used, it is part of my setup sheet, and I edit old programs to include the ccomp. We still get an ocasional crash with old jobs.

"but our management often thinks there is a majic "Program This" button and it magically programs itself" Ditto that. We got an IT guy several years ago who sold management on the corporate model where any employeee can sit at any pc, log on, and voila' its your very own computer. No one bothered to consult with Engineering, or Programming, where we have these neat little things called dongles. That worked well.

Wow David our Upper Management just bought 4 new PC's... for themselves.

You know, Chris has a point. I know of at least one bug that has been around since v8. BTW a bug that I long ago communicated to cnc software, now how long has that been? Perhaps I am being too picky, but I think of an enhancement that doesn't function correctly as just another PIA.

This is what I came up with. create a line crossing both curves in the aproximate area where you want the connecting line to be. break the line, trim both resulting lines to their companion curves. Create two lines perpendicular from the midpoint of the trimmed lines. Finally create a line from the intersections of the perpendicular lines and their companion curves. This was even simpler with an arc/curve combo.

Instead of plunging a 45 deg tool to create the chamfer why not contour the chamfers instead, use incremental z depth and use an entry/exit that will accomodate the smallest hole.

In Firefox I use print preview, fit to page usually works, sometimes I need to reduce to 70% or 80%. I was having Firefox/printer problems a while ago, and switched to the Avant browser, print preview works the same way.

Here's the thing, I never installed the temporary codes. It seems a complete waste of time to me, as Mastercam runs on the old hasp codes and I will only need the new maintenance code when Mr1 or what evver needed to be installed. Also, I have never had All installed versions lock up on me before.

Here's a new one. I finally got one of the Lathe programmers to install X5, I have X5 mill, it works but I am waiting for a memory upgrade before I make the transition. This morning he gets an error saying that maintenance had expired, then mastercam Closes. He asks me to help, X4 will not start either, same error. It turns out that the Hasp utility start and end dates no longer say Unlimited, and earlier versions will not run. Our reseller told us that this was new with X5. I got him going by reading an older hasp code which I had filed, but X5 still won't run till the boss pays the outstanding bill for maintenance. This could be a real game changer for us, I have to twist arms enough around here to get the owners to cough up the moola for maintenance as it is. Has anyone else out there come across this?

Like Cuda said Select All Surfaces. Then right click the colors button, select the color that you want, and Voila', done. Peter