G, That much I understand, and that was what I was meaning when I said that they were sometimes there and sometimes not. I was reloading my machine def and then rechecking the files page to see if there was a change...and there usually was. Ray, I went into that and checked it out and here are the two problems that I see/encountered. 1. The default ops is a local file. Will that op not still be local because I am going thru that? Or is it that by going thru that I am 'hard coding' that MD/CD to read only what I select? 2. Went into the !, up to the files tab but when I open that up, everything is greyed out. How do I access those from in there? Thanks for the help thus far!

Hey All, I have been using alot of files such as tool librarys, default ops and the ops library on a network drive. I set them up thru the Machine Def and control def in the appropriate spots, saved and reload. If I click on the Machine Group Properties/Files tab (in the TP Manager). Sometimes it lists the right files, sometimes it doesnt. I can check it, and it's all good, then exit, check again and its not. And I am not sure why. Any help getting them locked down would be much appreciated.

Does it matter if you declare you variable after the FMT statemet? Example: fmt I 16 idontknow idontknow = peck1$ Does it work in this order or do you have to declare the variable first?

FireGL for me.... expensive, but works very nicely.

Curious, are said variables accessable thru X2, John? Since I am working primarily with X2 MR2 here (on the office computers anyways)...?

Thanks John I will have a browse and see if I can figure it out that way. The thing that occured to me while I was waiting for a response (fiddling too) was that in the pcomment2 section it has this if gcode$ = 1053, scomm_str, scomm$, scomm_end, e$ #Group name And to make said function work, you must click the little check box at the bottom of the 'Files' tab in the properties section of the TP Manager for 'Output Group Comment'. With this it will output the comment properly, but I have been trying move it around and it seems to either be there or no where.. Hmmm... Any thoughts on this idea?

I havent really tinkered with this in the past, but I am wondering how one would go about extracting information directly from an NCI file? Persay I want to extract and post out register 1052 (Group Comment I think that one is)...how can I accomplish that? Tks!

This is what my ptlchg$ looks like code: ptlchg$ #Tool change pcuttype toolchng = one toolcount = toolcount + 1 if toolcountn <= tooltotal, nexttool = rbuf(4,toolcountn) else, nexttool = first_tool$ if wcstype = one, #Work coordinate system [ pfbld, n$, "G28", "X0.", "Y0.", "Z0.", e$ pfbld, n$, "G92", *xh$, *yh$, *zh$, e$ ] if mi10$=one, n$, *sm00, e$ if mi10$=zero & mi4$ <> 1, pbld, n$, *sm01, e$ if mi4$=one, pbld n$, *sm00, "(CHECK BORE)", e$ ptlchg_com This gives me on my horizontal (but only 4 axis) a complete return to home for each tool change. What does yours look like?

Assuming your using Mastercam, since you are on a Mastercam forum, why dont u just change the output in the Control Def. to output Radius (under 'Arcs') instead of Delta to Center...? Easy fix, repost and done. Welcome to the Forum!

Wow, what a response! lol! The reason this thought arose was because I got an Advent threadmill for doing an 8round thread (.75" TPF, 2.9" long...cutter is 1.5" flute, 8 TPI) and they supplied a program for it. The program was absolute trash (a +.02" offset?!? to guage properly). So I am working thru this on MC. The Advent program climb mills the tool, CW (M03)from the top it spirals up (out of the part), moves to center, moves to the bottom and spirals to blend in with the upper portion. Works fine from that standpoint...just thought their program was trash... So, looking at the depth of my thread, I think it would be better on the cutter to mill from the top (spiraling towards the top of the part), then step to the bottom and blend with the top, but MC doesnt do this. And to calculate the blend properly for a tapered thread is...tricky. I will submit a request to QC cause I think this could be an incredibly useful application. Thanks for all the feedback!

Hey all, Been a while since I threadmilled, but I am just wondering something. Why is it that when doing a multistep threadmill (cuts at 2 or more Z start depths) do we have to have it 'climb mill' but start from the bottom? I obviously want to climb mill, but I would rather start from the top and then do the deeper Z depth second... Is there a way around this?

Hey Colin, Essentially yes, it is huge...it's the mill head on a Mazak Integrex e500...15" Diameter (at biggest point) and 31" Long. What I have done is drawn the spindle head, as well as the tool holder (vflange'd holder) as one part...I did actually draw the Vflange. I wonder if that is causing my issue. That is the only 'undercut' kinda area on the draft. No duplicates, all are on the same Z level and it is a single chain...I will try the undercut thing.

Hey all, I have changed the MCX file that gives you the 'look' of the spindle to better reflect my spindle so I can see clearances better. Now, every time I back plot I get the warning (in the title) and am not sure why. Is there size limitations on what you can draw up for the spindle head? Thanks!

Scsandor, you have mail

Justin, I havent looked at your file (nor can I see your pictures...bloody IT Dept...!!!) but from what you describe in your last post, I totally get it and I ocassionally get the same (or similar) thing. I create custom ring groove tools (oil/gas industry) and typically draw then up as the holder is. The insert sticks outta the holder by around 5/8" and then the holder flattens out, so I draw it taht way. Usually I have to change the holder to be higher up the 5/8" because for some reason it either cones into the part as you have said or crashes. This I have not been able to figure out why...

Nice website. Job sounds like it could be a real nice one to get your hands into. Good luck with the search!

Hello all, I need to do a 'Multipass' contour with 1.2" deep x 1.7833" tapered wall'd DOC's. What I am getting is that it seems to over rule the DOC with Multipass, thus doing all the multipass's first then the DOC's after. How can I get it to step each DOC with each roughing pass (inside Multipass)? Thanks!

Hey all, I have never had my MC (X2 on this comp) do this before. When I verify a thread (ID) Mastercam basically freezes and then allows 1 cut about every minute or so. I have no idea what might cause this and it's really annoying. Any help would be great. Tks!

I would tend to agree with the 'not automatically increment' statement. I have found that quite annoying in the past. I do believe I even started a thread some time ago about having a new operation hold the previous op's G54, 55, ect until it was changed... I still think that is a good idea.

This is what I have in one of my horizontal posts. This portion goes in the general output commands near the top of the post code: rigid_tap : 1 #0 = Floating tap output, 1 = Rigid tap output (suppress spindle output and output M29) Alter your pfspdinleout to look ast the following; code: pfspindleout #Spindle speed and M code output forced if not((opcode$ = 3 | opcode$ | 16) & nextdc$ = 3 & rigid_tap), *speed, *spindle Alter your ptap section to reflect the rigid_tap portion below; code: ptap$ #Canned Tap Cycle pdrlcommonb #RH/LH based on spindle direction if use_pitch, pbld, n$, "G95", e$ if rigid_tap, pbld, n$, speed, sm19, e$ #Rigid Tapping if use_pitch = 0, Any questions, feel free to email me HTH

I get a site, but only V9 ads ... no files to d/l

Hey all, With my post out I have included a header for filing information. In one block I have code: stpgrpname In our case I use the tool path group name as the drawing number to be output to a specific feild in the gcode. Now, if an error is made, let us say 'RB-1235' is input there, then you do all your toolpaths and such, notice it's wrong at some point (after posting out a time or two already) so you change it to 'RB-1234' and repost. The repost still shows the 'RB-1235' output. How can you force it to reload this value? This occurance is the same with the matierial type (if I edit it after I have toolpathed), the the main group name and a couple others. Thanks!

I have found that in a lot of posts the "G80" is hard coded, and as such you should be able to just open the post (with notepad or similar) and do a search for G80. The line may look something like this pbld, n$, "G80", e$ (or similar) And you can change it to be pbld, n$, "G80 M52", e$ HTH

Ron, Since you and I have been talking (some 6 or months ago) I have been using stock transfer for my Integrex. I can admit that on the 'rare' occasion I do get the error from which you speak, but it is very uncommon. I do get dirty ops on head 1 when I do something on head 2...again occasionally, which kinda baffles me cause if head 1 is done already why would working on head 2 have any affect on head 1?? That aside from nearly never getting that operation error about the stock, I find stock transfer to be very useful, adaptive, a little primitive I will admit, but functional. Good chance there is something you did wrong in the transfer itself to cause this error. Usually I save just prior to my transfer and when I get silly things happen (again, rarely now) I just reload and try again and usually that fixes it.

K, I can get my output to be XZB, even if I try to Sub both the X or the Y axis, I get the same result... Is this something I would need to modify within the machine def? This is a vertical machine.