Is this a "negative" X lathe? I had to reverse the G02 & G03's for our Mori's in order for the arcs to work. You said "some arcs" that seems impossible that all the arcs wouldn't be wrong or correct. Have you considered using I's & J's instead of R's? Also, using canned cycles is not advised since they do not work correctly. This has been a bone of contention with Mastercam lathe users for some time. Scott

Yes, I had that issue but I figured out what I did wrong. I had uninstalled all of my older versions of mastercam (going all the way back to X) and I neglected to reboot my pc before installing X4. If I were you, I'd uninstall all your old versions, reboot and reinstall X4. See if that works. It did for me. Scott

Use a smaller tool!!! That 3/4" tool will probably grab the material and bend it inless you play musical clamps all the way around. At .125 thick you could use a 5/16" 2flt. end mill and just contour it. Your machine and how well you are holding the material will determine what you run at. Remember, Speeds & Feeds are more related to tool life than anything.

markov, Sure & sorry for the late reply. my email is Thanks! [email protected]

I've gotton very fond of the C-hook Zerron wrote to switch background color on the fly. I've move to X4 from X2MR2 and would like to know if anyone could make this work in X4? Thanks, Scott

A clean install did it! I think I didn't reboot after removing version X (original) since it didn't prompt me to. X4 didn't crash once and converted fine as far as I can tell. Thanks, Scott

I'm using the update folder utility in MC. In there you can set what version you are converting from, all the way back to V8. Funny thing is my mill tool librarys converted fine but not the lathe?!? Also, why does MC always crash instead of an error message? I've never seen software so touchy! Thanks for the info. I just spoke to my reseller and since they are 5 min. away from us they can send someone over to sort this out but not until tomorrow. Just to be safe I brought in my laptop with X2MR2 so I don't get my xxxx chewed for being down.

Hi All, Having a few issues converting to X4. 1) Lathe tool library will not convert but mill did(???). MC crashes. 2) Wire defaults will not convert (again crash) 3) .control files Copies are made and originals left alone. Is that normal? Is it just acting like a backup utility? Per John Paris, I checked out my data paths and all look ok. Shouldn't be an issue since my X2MR2 was in c:mcamx the same as X4. I made a copy called c:mcmax_old before installing X4 which is where I'm converting from. Anything wrong with that process? Thanks in advance, Scott

Good to hear that you are turning the corner so to speak. Who do you work for? Are you a job shop? I've actually been thinking of moving to Batavia in the future (way better school district than Genoa).

Nope, we haven't sold a machine since September. We let go about 7 people last week. I've been told that they would have to be shutting the doors before they let me go so that's reassuring. Hopefully something starts to break soon. We have alot of quotes out there. If even half go through we could be in trouble making delivery. I'd rather have that problem though that the other, i.e. layoffs. If you don't mind me asking but why were you at Weiler? Do you do work for us?

We use a customized version of the HTML set-up sheet from IHS except no silly pictures of endmills and all the extra info that most people don't need. We did add an operations page that outputs a line for each operation. I actually use it to check my program. It outputs key info like R & Z levels for drilling as well as the cycle line EX: G83 Q.15 F3., RPM, feedrates, cutter comp, tl-offsets & stock left as well as my comment from the operation. It acts modally so if something doesn't change it isn't re-output for a very clean look. This gives the operator a good idea of what I'm doing and allows me to make changes quickly (like revisions) since it forces me to comment my operations. The front page has notes as well as where prog. zero is at as well as a screenshot of the verified part. Use a shareware prog. that let's me get a fixed size window so it always fits on the first page. I also have a macro for my ultra edit editor (cheap at about $60 with a great compare prog. as well) that adds color to the html file for printing on a color printer. When I showed my boss this he loved it and said it is exactly what we needed. We have an old cam program that is text based so the set-up guys are used to seeing the "source code" so this sort of mimics that. If anyone is interested in some screen shots email me at [email protected] Scott

Thanks for the offer but I've got my reseller looking at this. I'll let you know If I get it reolved. Thanks.

Tim, Thanks for the info. I'll try that when I get to work tommorrow. BTW, I live in Genoa and work in Elgin, not to far from St. Chsrles.

I'm trying to define a 1/8-27 N.P.T. tap for the lathe and I keep getting invalid geometry. Do I draw it vertical like the mill tools or horizontal and if so which quadrant? Do I need both the tap & holder drawn with color 55 & 116 respectively? I haven't tried that yet but I figured someone has had to have done this. I also would like to single-point this but we don't have an i.d. threading tool small enough. Thanks.

I had to edit the post...I was trying something just before I sucked that out for the post. I wiped out the "B" Take another look....

All, This code is for a Kuraki boring mill with a rotary table, B-axis. There is an extra negative sign for the B-15 deg. location so I get B--15. Has anyone seen this before and could tell me where in the post to look for what's causing these double negative signs? See note on code below right... Thanks in advance... Scott % O0000 (10799#5) G00G17G20G40G80G90G94 (RGH. ANGLED NOTCHES - PASS 1) N1(5/8" RGH. E.M.) G91G00G30Y0.Z0.W0. T11 M06 M11(UNLOCK) G00G17G90G54B15.X-.3216Y-.05W0.S275M03 M10(LOCK) G43H11Z1. M08 Z.3326 G94G01Z.008F15. G42D11X.3784F2.5 Y0. Y1.375 Y1.425 G40X.2784 G00Z1. X-3.2111Y-.05 Z-.4416 G01Z-.7662F15. G42D11X-2.5111F2.5 Y0. Y1.375 Y1.425 G40X-2.6111 G00Z1. (RGH. ANGLED NOTCHES - PASS 2) X-.3296Y-.05 Z.3326 G01Z.008F15. G42D11X.8704F2.5 Y0. Y1.375 Y1.425 G40X.7704 G00Z1. X-3.2191Y-.05 Z-.4416 G01Z-.7662F15. G42D11X-2.0191F2.5 Y0. Y1.375 Y1.425 G40X-2.1191 G00Z1. G91G28Z0.W0. (RGH. ANGLED NOTCHES - PASS 1) M11(UNLOCK) G00G90G55B--15.X-.2832Y1.785W0. ---- double neg! M10(LOCK) G43H11Z1. Z.3326 G01Z.008F15. G42D11X-.3832F2.5

All, We use a custom version of the HTML set-up sheet from In House Solutions. We customized it to output an operations list with critical data like the stock left for milling ops, Z depths and the canned cycles for drilling ops with R & Z values. I use it to check my programs. It also kicks out the length & cutter comp values for each op if the change from the 1st one for that tool (modal) I can email anyone some screenshots if interested. This works for lathe as well but without operation comments. I print out the G-code and the comments are in there. If you want to get a copy, contact your reseller and I bet they can get a trial version from IHS. Just tell IHS it is the one for Weiler Engineering & Russell Jennison would know about this. [email protected]

ckwhite, Look for the ptap$ post block and find *peck1$. Remove the asterisk in front. That forces it to output everytime. I should be just peck1$ Scott

I'd try using oil instead of coolant or if not practical, really jack up the coolant strength to get more lubrication on that tap. Is it possible to just finish the tap by hand, just have the machine start the tap?

Peck tapping is only going to help break the chip so unless you are having problems with chips peck tapping might make things worse. Are you breaking taps or are they just wearing out?

Emuge or OSG taps are what we use.

What material? We do S.S. here all day long.

Are you taper reaming 1st? That makes a big difference with pipe threads.

Thanks for the info, I suppose I should have opened a file to see 1st. We'll have to see which one works best for us over here. Scott

Can anyone tell me the diff. between these 2 parasolid files and why one is used over the other? Thanks, Scott