Hey Rick, I've had similar problems and started using a utility to *completely* clean my system of older drivers before installing any new ones. Check out DriverSweeper it works well for me. If your system came with an nvidia card, then there are drivers in cab files that get replaced when the system thinks they were accidentally removed. My version of DriverSweeper can actually remove these from the cab files...preventing Windows from replacing them on restart. Good Luck! John

I'm still having this issue with X4MU3 regardless of whether the solid was opened directly, merged or created by me, shaded or wireframe. I've found that using RAM Saver seems to temporarily fix it...but you also lose anything cleared by RAM Saver.

Is there a VBS equivilent to the "All off" button in Level Manager? I'd like to avoid looping thru all levels individually. Thanks, John

Thanks Roger

Hey Gang, Can the "Renumber level" option from right-clicking in the level manager be called from a vbs? I want to move ranges of levels, with the new levels retaining the level name & level set. I know there's a vbs that moves entities but it doesn't assign the level name/set to the new level and it doesn't delete the old level. Thanks, John

Hey Gang, Anyone else see this... Importing ops, tools *already* loaded in the parts tool library: With "Assign tool numbers sequentially" CHECKED, the tool#, len & dia offsets all match the existing tools...PERFECT! With it UNCHECKED, only the tool# matches existing tool, the len & dia offsets match the tool on the imported op...BAD! Didn't have this issue until X4MU3. Problem is that our Okuma MA-400HA has 100+ tools loaded on the machine and I use the existing tool numbers on all its programs...so obviously I have "Assign tool numbers sequentially" UNCHECKED for this machine. Now, every time I import an op, I have to manually change the len & dia values. Is this a bug? In what circumstance would you want the tool# to match existing tools but not the len & dia offsets? Either *all* or *none* of the fields should match...don't you think? TGIF! John

Hey Gang, Anyone using these drivers may want to read this: ZD Net Blog John

I've had this problem now with X3 & X4. Solved it by un-registering/re-registering mcview.dll using the MC control panel applet. there should be only one copy on your system in "C:Program FilesCommon FilesMastercam" John

Martin: No closed chains. All simple wireframe. Matt: As I said above, this is exactly what I did. Copy of modified post/MD/CD in Z2G.

Hey Gang, A little something I’d like to share… I was talking with the machine tech for our new Brother VMC and he said that we could reduce our cycle times significantly if we used max feed rate moves instead rapids for any moves 1 inch or smaller. Now I know most of you are probably thinking, Duh! But! It’s *not* because the machine never reached full rapid or ramp up/down times but because it takes .15 seconds just to *process* a rapid-feed change vs .06 seconds for a feed-feed change. Doesn’t sound like a lot…until you add it all up! Quick exmple… I have a fixture with 10 parts on it. The parts are long rectangular tubes. I want to machine the ends of the 10 parts with one op Using straight lines just to clean. Full depth of cut. Keeping the tool down. Using cutter comp. Lead In on the FIRST part only. Lead Out & Cutter Comp OFF on LAST part only. Between parts, Feed at machine Max Feed Rate (Remember above!) Sounds simple… My first thought, create extra geo and do “Change at points” to switch between Feed & Max Feed. Had some difficulty getting the “Change at points” to work but with some help from JP@S4A, I succeeded. Then I thought unless there were something I needed to avoid with a very specific path, this was way too much work. I experimented a bit and ended up using mi3 as a switch to indicate Max Feeds instead of Rapids, modified our post (modified copy of Mpmaster), and got good results. It’s not perfect, but so far I’ve knocked 7.8 minutes per fixture off! I’m always open to suggestions, so if you have a better way…I’m listening! I’ve uploaded an example Z2G file for anyone interested. PHM Hi-Feed Rapids A Happy & Safe Holiday to ALL! John

Thanks Ron

Hey Gang, Tried the V9 chook and it doesn't work..."Unknown file type". Anyone know of a replacement? Thanks, John

Yup...I got it...but mostly affecting solids. My workaround, run RAM Saver & save the file, translate works...for a while. Happy-Happy-Joy-Joy!

Ok, thanks guys.

The log lists the lines mentioned above and states they are duplicate declarations. According to my VAR, this *should* be corrected because future versions of Mastercam won't allow it. The post seems to be working so far, I just don't know what issues it may cause later.

Hey Gang, Updating our post which is a modified Mpmaster for X2. It's been updated for each new version of Mastercam. I've manually added everything new in the X4 version to ours but when I run updatepost to verify all is good, I'm getting error messages about duplicate declarations. I've narrowed it down to this: Line 335 of Mpmaster for X4 initializes these variables: #--- Do not change the order of these variable initializations cabs : 0 cinc : 0 cout_i : 0 indx_out : c9k #Rotation direction calculation #--- Then on line 971, it formats these same variables: fmt A 11 cabs #C axis position fmt A 14 cinc #C axis position fmt A 14 cout_i #C axis position fmt A 4 indx_out #Index position I've been told that although this "duplicating" was allowed in previous versions of Mastercam, it will not be in future and should be fixed. Not knowing the logic behind it, I don't know to go about fixing it. Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks, John

Will do...Thanks.

Yes. Also, Mastercam X4 (13.0.3.31)

No, I don't.

Hey Gang, I've run into this issue a number of times but haven't figured out the exact steps to reproduce it...anyone else seen this? Create a solid using a bounding box *OR* Merge a solid model Select the solid using either Select All - choosing the Level the solid is on, or windowing in on it. Move the solid with Xform Translate. Doesn't matter which method is used. All wireframe entities selected along with the solid move but not the solid itself. Select All doesn't highlight the solid, windowing in on it does. Click directly on the solid to select it and it will move. After the first move, it can be moved using either method mentioned above with no problem. Regards, John

Hey Gang, I want to keep all the temp files Mastercam creates in C:TEMP. I've unchecked "Use Windows Temp Directory" and specified C:TEMP for the "Temporary files root" in my config however; some files are still created in my local profiles temp folder. It doesn't seem to work as described in Help. Anyone know how to fix this? Thanks, John

Hi Pete, That explains it...thought I was being stupid with something in the code. Thanks. John

Hey Gang, What is the maximum value I can pass to SetLevelName? I have a small script that I'm using to move entities in older MCX files from the 9000 range to the 100,000 range. No problem actually moving the entities but I can't get the level name to stick. Thanks, John UPDATE: Just did a test and see that 32767 is the highest...so how do I access the 2 Billion X3 says I can Name & Use? [ 04-10-2009, 04:24 PM: Message edited by: John Hill @ Poplar Hill Machine ]

Hey Gang, Had a similar issue a while back and found there were two different versions of the mcview.dll on my system in two different folders. Copied the newest one over the old one and re-registered both and the problem went away. See my previous post: http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...t=032888#000000 Have a great day! John

Günther, Check your email. Thanks, John