Thanks CJep. This is what I figured. I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something basic. I've never worked with custom drill cycles. No time like the present to do some research I guess.

I need to do a combination of a chip break and peck drill cycle. I would like to chip break at say an 1/8" or so and then do a peck every 1/2" or so. What's the easiest way to accomplish this (machine is a Haas VF-2)? I've had no luck stumbling across anything on the forum yet...but still looking. Thanks in advance for any help.

I tried setting to trimmed surfaces instead of solid and it still didn't work; however, I did notice while on this configuration screen that Edge Curves was not checked. I then switched back to solids and left edge curves on and Voila I'm back in business. I missed this parameter when comparing all my settings from X4. Thanks John. Thanks too for the input Ranger Dan and K2csq7. Back to work now....

In the past versions (X - X4), I didn't even have to Create Surfaces to translate. I imported the model in (which came in as a wireframe looking solid) and then my very next command was Xform, Translate. This would move all surfaces to the new location and then I would simply delete the wireframe solid that was imported 9which stayed in the original imported position). I think I will be able to use the Create Surfaces command from Solid and accomplish what I need to do. Just a few more steps involved in doing it this way. Thanks for the input.

Thanks K2csq7. That's the way I've always done it too, but for some reason it's not working for me in X6. Apparently there's a setting somewhere I need to tweak.

I'm having trouble moving imported models. I get a warning "Solid Options not available. Contact your Mastercam dealer". However, I've gotten this error in all past versions (with X4 being the last version I ran), but it still lets me translate a copy of the model and then I've always just erased the original imported model that was left behind. Any ideas as to what has changed or if something in my setup needs changing? I've tried to verify all my settings are the same as X4, but nothing has worked as of yet. Any help greatly appreciated.

I do now. That did the trick. I don't know if I inadvertently changed this at some point or if default is now 2D when it used to be 3D. No matter, it's working now and I actually still have a few hairs left! Thanks again.

I'm having trouble getting the bounding box to work correctly. For some reason, it's not picking up on the Z value. It always returns that as a 0 value. I can manually edit Z to the correct thickness, but I never had to do this in X2 and X3. I'm wondering if there's a setting somewhere I've not selected. Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your response. After reading your reply I went back to ver. X2 and X3 and didn't have the problem, so I didn't think it was the video card. I actually had a Configuration Setting in the Drafting Settings under Display called Greeking checked. I changed this to Any View and all now works. Out of curiosity, I need to see what Greeking is/does, but in the meantime I'm back on track. Again, thanks for your reply....it was just enough to get my wheels turning this morning.

I'm having trouble viewing text and dimensions when in the isometric view mode. I can apply a dimension in isometric mode, but it's not visible until I switch to a top, front, or side view. Anyone have any suggestions?

Crazy^Millman: Yes, I have checked the runout and everything seems to be in order there. As far as chip clearance, I can't get the tool to make it that far in the cut. For example, I put a Hanita 3/8 Carbide 4-flute end mill in for a cut and as soon as the mill finished the plunge, it snapped immediately when it started it's linear movement. I did find that i was forcing too much coolant into the cut and not letting some of the chips out, but i have tried dry cuts and also cuts with a minimal amount of coolant flow which both helped but still not enough. Right now I'm running a 1/4" Hanita 4-flute Varimill in CRS at 10 ipm with axial d.o.c. at about .150". Even at this rate, I'm still getting some slight flex when the mill changes direction.

Thanks for the input guys. The reason i'm looking at Powdered Metal is because I'm having a hard time running carbide mills (small diameters) due to breaking. I do good to get half a manufacturer's recommended feeds (even on CRS). I have a 40 taper machine and recently bought some Kennametal short collet chucks to try and reduce tool length. Those didn't really help. I'm still getting some flex somewhere. I believe this flexing is also causing the larger diameter carbide mills to wear prematurely too. Oh well, we'll see how this pm end mill works in the meantime. Thanks again for the input.

Anyone have any recommended SFM parameters for using a 1/4" 4-Flute powdered metal end mill in AISI 1018 material, mostly for slotting? Thanks

Thanks for the info and suggestions. I just scheduled a tool rep. to come in and hopefully get us headed in the right direction. Thanks again.

Stock has been saw cut.