This sounds like a good application for 2D swept. hope this helps,

Gary, you are not doing anything wrong. On a VMC with a fourth axis you will need to create your back and bottom views. if you set your tplane to back or bottom and hit alt > F9 you will see that the x direction is the oppisite of the front and top views. For a Horizontal Machine this works great, the front, right, back, and left views all have the same y and x direction in relation to Z. Something you can do is create a dummy file with all the correct views you need and open this file before you import your geometry and make sure do not delete the current file on import. This way you won't have to create your views again. As far as the WCS being horrible, anyone who I have trained on the WCS can't beleive how time and effort they save compared to the "old way" of doing things. There is also a good tutorial in the support section of mastercam.com. I have not gone through the tutorial, this was all that was needed for programmers with good working knowledge of t and cplanes to get the hang of it. Check it out it may make your life much easier. hope this helps,

The offseting of surfaces works ok, surface trimming can be an issue, the shell works much better. Depending on the geometry you don't neccesarily want to go negative in the z just the x and y. Doing a scale XYZ can work well and splitting up your toolpaths into steep and shallow portions can also work. Unfortunately I haven't found any one thing that works every time for everything. If you can machine your whole trode with surface toolpaths you can use negative stock to leave. [ 04-18-2003, 10:28 AM: Message edited by: Roger ]

Hello all, anyone out there machining stl files in Mastercam. Any comments, do's, dont's or things to watch out for would be appreciated. Thanks in advance,

No problem, you have to get lucky once in a while. Let us know how much fun you had pounding the slug out...

In the mcam9 > mill > mc9 > samples > newv9 directory there is a file called 3d project blend-I.mc9. This file will show you what your missing out on. Very cool stuff. With 9.1 you have a spiral option that basically eliminates transition marks between cuts for some applications. Again very cool stuff. let us know what works out,

Heavy, do you have multiple passes or depth cuts in the 2d contour operation. This is probably why. I'm glad this is working out. One of the nice things about this toolpath is that you can bring everything down to a height and then step it down again. I have used the drilling method but depending on how deep you go you have a long way bring up the chips. Let us know Heavy,

Heavy, one thing I see I didn't mention is that you will have to create a flat boundary surface at the bottom of you hole. If there is no surface directly below the where your tool cuts there is nothing to project the nci path onto. Other than that I am not sure without looking at the file. Heavy, in your 2d contour you need to compensate for the tool diameter plus some stock to leave to inside of the boundary of the hole. Did you do this? If you have cutter comp set to off it will do strange things. Let us know, [ 04-16-2003, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: Roger ]

Heavy, yes you can and it works quite well. In the plunge rough toolpath you can do zigzag or nci. Before you do your plunge roughing toolpath do a contour toolpath around whatever shape you want to plunge around. When doing this use the same tool as your plunge rough toolpath and leave some x,y stock to leave to make sure your plunging doesn't gouge the wall. What I do to keep the slug from falling or tipping and breaking the tool is not go all the way through the part by using the cut depths. And as Steve said a nice big hammer and metal chisel will get your slug out from the bottom. This also works with pocketing routines for die work. hope this helps,

imhome, there is a MPAB7320.pst on the install. I am not farmilliar with the Allen Bradley code but this should get you going until you can work with your reseller. Please read the FAQ at the top of the page. FYI FAQ = frequently asked questions. Asking for a post is one of the most frequent. ps. FYI = for your informations pss. ps = ....... you get the idea good luck,

I will say this. There is much more to building a "production mold" than I could have imagined. Steve hit the nail on the head. I have seen molds that were sent overseas for the price of the blank steel and mold components, not the moldbase. Technology doesn't do you any good if you can't afford to turn it on. This was a very simple push pull mold, nothing fancy. I beleive Currently the more complicated molds or even large scale simple molds, molds with hot runners..., tend to stay here. Why? Warm fuzzy feeling, reputation, ability, quality, who knows. There are people that worked in the molding industry for 20 years that are now in china "managing" "sweat shops" giving away the knowledge earned the hard way. I was always told, by an old toolmaker, the only thing that cannot be taken from you is knowledge. Who needs to take it when people are giving it away. I do beleive that by implementing more modern manufacturing techniques, such as hardmilling and highspeed machining, we can do well. I also agree that the longer any shop can turn a profit and hang on the better it will be, chinas prices will increase as they become more industrialized. next...

Chris, the first thing I would do is go into your screen config and set your system tolerance to .00005" and your surface deviation to .0001". You may occasionally need to loosen this up depending on the tolerance that the file was saved out as. As far as the total tolerance I usually have mine set to .0005 with a filter ratio of 2 to 1. If you click on the Total Tolerance button you then have options of picking your filter ratio or setting up a custom one. And while your in there check and make sure you have create arcs in all planes checked and for zig zag type toolpaths checking the one way filter can also enhance your finish. If you have any questions please call. Have a good weekend,

Scott, try checking out Komo, or Milltronics for low $ and big travel. I'm sure theres more and depending on what you are cutting there are a lot of strickly wood routers out there. good luck,

Sandybar, I would have to agree about the fadal toolroom mill, I haven't heard too many good things about them. I would also check out the Milltronics toolroom mills. Their machines seem to be quite rigid with many spindle options and their controllers are very easy to navigate.

Mark just a couple of generic things: could it be that the bull nose cutter is going into a corner smaller than .375, have you tried doing an stl compare or a collision/gouge check. Both the stl and the collision/gouge check work very well. please post a file or let us know where your at,

Tplanes and Cplanes are used for 4 and 5 axis work and also in 3 axis to do the occasional undercut. For multiple setups in a 3 axis machine you only need to move the wcs. hope this helps,

I have been a part of this conversation several times with some of our customers. One of the main reasons that a company will purchase Mazaks is because of the online programming. But by using this you need detail prints which are being punched in to the control. Working in Mastercam allows you to work right off of the part geometry and reduces the risk of hunan error, you have offline files that are graphical and gouge checked and easily changed for future revisions. FYI some have switched to g-code, some have purchased the mazak post from Camaix. Any decision you make is completely based on your company, the quality of the machine operators... Don't ask me why Mazak charges extra for g-code which is about as close to a standard as you can get in this biz. good luck and let us know

A little something I found in V9.1 is that in thej ops managers display options you can select display WCS in the header of each toolpath. Anyone who uses the WCS will love this. later,

Mick, what version of Mastercam are you using? If you want to use contour use the high speed loops and a start length of at least .050". You will have almost no transition marks and they will be spread out around your surfaces instead of in a line up the side. 3d project blend is also an option with the transition motion set to smooth the wittness lines you talk about will be much less noticable. Good luck and let us know what worked out.

This is just me but I would drill a .3125 hole at each end of the pocket making sure I leave .015" stock or so. Then draw a line from the center of each hole in Mastercam and do a contour ramp with no cutter comp on a .3125 em. Inside of the ramp parameters set it to plunge and set the depth to .200". This will cut -.200" deep in one direction then plunge down to -.400" and cut back in the other direction and so forth. And then to finish it I would use a .250" em with .250" flute and the rest clearanced and do a ramp toolpath down to the depth of -2.010 fron each side. If you can put a small radius or even just break the corner on the end mill where the clearance starts you will get a very nice finish. my .02 cents let us know what works I reread your post and you said .125 radius, my finish tool would then be a 7/32 em instead of 1/4

Create -> line -> closest and then analyze the line. hope this helps,

Thank you guys, Chris has contacted us and said he asked some questions here and liked what he saw so I thought I would come here and say thanks. Jim thank you for posting our web address. He has sent in a couple of files and I think we can take very good care of him, no problem.

Unfortunately most of us didn't have this forum when starting out in Mastercam. Someone much more intelligent than I said the only stupid questions is the one that goes unasked, everyone has an opinion and this is America. But I think some common courtesy goes a long way to adding to the professionalism of the forum. I have never used Smartcam but if you are importing dxf or iges files you may want to convert a directory and use the entity attributes manager to set levels, colors etc. I have seen Rekd help many people on this forum so don't be too harsh, he'll come around. my .02 cents

Slick, I think you hit a chord here. I would also like to take a look probably with many others. Could you maybe post it on the ftp? Thanks in advance. Has anyone created a .set file that will output a file that can be imported into excel. This is something I have always wanted to do... think of the possibilities. Thanks again,

Coated HSS cutters last several times as long as non coated ones in plastic. HSS tools do give a much better finish, if that is important to you.