I rarely jump up to the new version quickly, but I did this year and was an early supporter of it...but the longer I used it, the more bugs I found. One was quite catastrophic: Mastercam repeatedly changed my custom WCS workplanes. One time I posted a drilling program and the tap drill and tap for the same holes had workplanes 90 degrees different from each other. My reseller told me about 'locking' the planes, and that did seem to fix it. But the fact that Mastercam is on update #5 should say something about the bugs they've been forced to fix as I have NEVER EVER seen more than 3 updates of any yearly release that I can remember (correct me if I'm wrong).

That said, I feel kind of trapped in the never-ending cycle of new releases and constantly having to find work arounds for the inevitable bugs which seem to be a feature of those releases. All of us who have used Mastercam for any amount of time have complained to no effect about these bugs...and why they won't take just one year off from offering new bells and whistles and instead really work hard to stabilize the core programming and constant bugs...but eh, that's in a perfect world...

5 minutes ago, Jake L said:

Good to know. Is there a way to take an assembly and save the tool (without the holder) into a library?

Not totally sure. I create ALL my tools in the stand alone library. Are you saying if you create an assy/tool inside Mastercam, and then you want to save just the tool?

If you are in the internal Tool Manager (Toolpaths--Tool Manager) and right click on an assembly, you can save that to the stand alone library (I think), but I couldn't figure out a way to save just the tool from that assembly...maybe I missed it...

On 10/6/2023 at 9:27 AM, Jake L said:

If I could take a second to hijack this thread... Is there a way in the stand alone manager to sperate an assembly? Meaning split the tool from the holder to use the two separately or in another assembly? 

Actually, you can simply drag a tool onto the assembly and it will accept the new tool....I do it lots when I'm just changing from steel to aluminum but using the same diameter drill. And so, I thought I'd try doing the same with a completely different tool before I replied to you, and it still worked.

don't know if this would work. They are our Mastercam reseller, and if I understand correctly, they developed this themselves:

FASTProbe | FASTech, Inc. (fastechinc.net)

5 minutes ago, JParis said:

Sight unseen, I can only speculate here but I would be looking for ways to trim that initial solid down in size....defeature things that were unimportant, finding and deleting any extraneous solids or surface fragments that might be coming in on import....if it has threaded holes that I don't need to process, I would remove them....hell, I'd trim out sections of the model completely that I didn't have to touch.....I would simplify it as much as I could prior to any tool path creating to help keep that file size down.

I view it as time spent upfront saves me time on the backend trying to wrestle and manage large files.

yeah, that's why I always do it in surfaces and move EVERYTHING except the actual shape of the nest and the patches to fill all the cutouts and slitters to other levels until I need them. I typically spend an entire 8 hour shift just doing geometry creation to prep it for toolpathing. They are the most complicated things I do, and I enjoy them for that reason, but as I get older I'm struggling to hold all the information in my head like I used to do, and so I chop it up into a lot smaller steps than I did in the past.

49 minutes ago, JParis said:

A lot of what I do, I end up with files that are in the 4-500 meg range....on these systems I spec'd we do well with them. There are days where around lunch time things get a bit wonky, that's when I and tell  my guys, to save the file, shut down Mastercam and restart it...sometimes you just need to flush out the system.

Yeah, that's a pretty typical range for me, too, but when I do a lower dash inner trim receiver casting I often hit a gig or more, but on a good year I only do 5-10 of those...

1 minute ago, gcode said:

BY default, System Config is set with no limits on the number of Undo events it stores or the file size of the undo cache.

If you are creating a lot of geometry, the number of events and the undo cache can chew up a lot of RAM and buffer file space.

Back in the early X days I used to get a lot of crashes when  working of some types of files.

Setting limits helped. 

Now days my computers are more powerful and the software and OD is much better.

I don't have these crashes and I've gotten lazy about setting limits. 

Try setting some limits here and see if it helps

 

Thanks! I'll give that a try.

On 10/3/2023 at 5:16 PM, cbarton said:

Whenever I'm doing a lot of modelling or wire manipulation with ribbon hotkeys (For example alt+w+e for line endpoint or alt+t+x for dyanamic transform, etc) Mastercam gets less and less responsive over time. Eventually it gets so slow (Alt -> G4 U1. -> W -> G4 U1. -> E -> G4 U1. -> Line endpoints dialogue appears) that I have to restart it to get it back to being snappy(-ish, heh). I've personally experienced this on three completely different computers (two programming machines at different companies, and my personal machine with HLE at home). My co-worker runs into this issue as well. Has anyone else noticed this? Is there a fix? I haven't been able to find anything searching around online/on the forums. It's by far my biggest frustration with using this software and it's kind of driving my nuts.

Thanks,

I think it's a systemic issue with the software. I don't use hotkeys, but when I'm doing a lot of geometry creation to prep a model for machining, I notice the same thing. Sometimes it gets so bad, Mastercam will barely move. Close and restart it and it's back to what is normal for it...My co-worker literally just told me this morning he's struggling with the same issue down on his computer when he was simply using analyze contour to find gaps in the curve he had to use for a check fixture he's working on...

just literally got done adding 'A2' tools to our library...Now we've got AL, FE, A2 and a few REN tools, and 1500+ tools to wade thru. Personally I'd rather just change the sfm if I'm in tool steel rather than add more to my library, but I'm not in charge...

We use the stand-alone manager and have our tools, extensions and holders separate (other than shrink fit holders which are standard 50,80 and 110mm lengths). Once you build your holder assy in the stand alone and then import it into your toolpath operation you can easily edit the length of the extension on the Holder page. Simply right click on the picture of the holder and it will take you back to a copy of the original drawing of that extension, and then you can modify that drawing (without affecting the original in your library).

21 minutes ago, gcode said:

Soldis take more horsepower than surfaces.

I program 5X impellers ranging from Ø35" to  Ø72" 

Historically I've always created the surfaces I need to drilve my toolpaths

We were originally supplied  with only IGES files containing points tables, lines and lines

Recently our customer has gone to model based definitions with no points.... and at the same time

Mastercam 2024 has gotten much better at solid chaining and using solid surfaces for driving 5X toolpaths

Last month I tried programming an impeller using only the solid model.

Chaining the curves and picking the solid surfaces was really easy. 

The toolpaths crunched quickly and yielded excellent motion. 

Hower, the more operations there were in my file, the slower toolpath parameter pages took to open.

The more toolpaths I added, the slower it got, to the point it was taking 20 to 30 seconds to open a 

toolpath.  

By this time the file was about 350meg and I was at a standstill. 

I ended up going back about halfway through the file, creating surfaces from solids and reselecting those

to get the file finished.

It was a disappointing result as the workflow at the start was really nice and selecting my geometry 

directly from the solid model was a huge time saver.

 

Yep, that happens all the time with us even working in surfaces and moving all the useless stuff off onto another level. Heck, a lot of the NX parasolid files I read in from my engineers start at 100-200megs. And it's downhill from there as far as Mastercam getting slower and slower until I will 'limp' to the end of the 3axis stuff, and then I start a 2nd file just do the 5axis stuff so I'm not waiting 20-30 seconds, like you said, just to have a window or operation open that I click on...

1 hour ago, jpatry said:

I've never understood the reason for this

I'm Terry's co-worker. Solids are useful, but they also have a ton of useless information in them when we are working with huge castings or even molds and other things which have a bunch of internal stuff like gundrilled holes and waterlines which we don't actually do ourselves. So, I like to work in surfaces and move all that extraneous information that I either won't need at all, or won't need until the very end when I'm doing the side work, onto another level. Then Mastercam doesn't have to mess with it when calculating our toolpaths to do the surface contour on top. It's also helpful to have the 'top' and 'bottom' surfaces on different levels so that when I'm backplotting I can see more easily if I hit anything that might be hidden below, or if I take drills from the bottom too deep and hit the surface 'above.'

When we first set up our own, customized holder library using the stand-alone manager, the guy who helped us downloaded a bunch of the holders from the makers, but he never really showed me how to do that, and the few times I've tried I haven't had great success. So, since that original time in 2019 when we set up everything, I draw most of the holders and extension we have added to our tool crib. They may not be perfect, but we've never had a holder hit a part unless it was an oddball holder that was made slightly different by a different maker of a similar holder.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind a good course on how to customize tooling and holders. We have a Frankenstein library of generically generated Mastercam tools and others which I have drawn the best I can, but like I said, when I download stuff...idk...it will have the internal shapes as well as external, and it's just not something I've felt like delving into deeply to figure it out...and our library works 'well enough' and like everything, it's never something our employer cares enough about as long as things 'work'....

.

thanks everyone. I appreciate it. Like I said: it wasn't our IT guy. He literally left the company because the grandson thought he knew more than our IT guy. After a year of things falling apart so badly (phones not working, computers not working and more), the grandson got the boot and our IT guy came back. He wasn't happy with the gaming computer I was given, but it's mostly been working, but I've sent along your suggestions and perhaps he will be willing to get me a new card. I know those were supposedly on the list of things to get replaced this year...

2 minutes ago, JParis said:

eek!

Retired my 4000 years ago...I'd say 3-4 years ago

There are days I stress the hell out of my current RTX-4000

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure my coworker is using my old computer (maybe 2 computers ago, can't remember....I want it back!!!)

3 minutes ago, gcode said:

right click the desktop

choose NVIDIA Control Panel

thanks. he's got a Quadro 4000

12 minutes ago, Aaron Eberhard said:

Yep...  Another company making stupid naming decisions, too..  It used to be easy "Just make sure you get a Quadro!" 

Now, it's "Make sure you get an RTX, not a Geforce RTX!"  "In terms of how this affects product naming, NVIDIA GeForce GTX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs are separate product series from NVIDIA RTX GPUs."   Yes, I had this link handy because I've sent it to three people in the last two weeks.

Sharles - Any idea what video card your coworker has?

not sure. he's on a totally different windows system...haven't been able to find his graphics card info yet, like I said: I'm not much of a techy...I'll try to keep looking

I have a gaming computer instead of one designed for cad/cam work. There was a power play between a grandson and our IT head. Our IT head ended up leaving over the clash for a year until they finally kicked the grandson out, but I know our IT guy isn't thrilled with my computer...maybe this is part of the reason....

1 hour ago, crazy^millman said:

Well I did Tech support for a Mastercam dealer and no matter the age of the system if it is not up to the correct specifications it didn't matter. I was trying to help by getting some information, but see that will get me no where. Hopefully you get it sorted out. 

Ron, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to blow you off. If you want something specific, please let me know what and also where to find it: I'm not a techy when it comes to computers.

yeah, I spent 30 minutes with my reseller. It's part specific and only on my computer. If I run it on my coworker's older computer, it runs just fine. If I run other parts I've recently done, they run fine on my computer. I've had this sporadically happen in 2023, but never bothered to try to figure it out.

My reseller is going to send it on to CNC Software or Module Works and see if they have an idea.

1 hour ago, Aaron Eberhard said:

Just to be clear/pedantic - When you say slow down, is it the simulation itself slowing down or the interface (opening menus/changing translucency, etc.?).

machine simulation slows down...barely even moving...

1 hour ago, gcode said:

Have you tried switching between Time Mode and Length Mode

Depending on the type of toolpaths you are running through Machine SIm, these switches can have a huge effect

on simulation speeds

 

 

 

I've tried all 3 modes. None make a difference.

Ron,

I don't think it's a computer specs issue because my coworker can run my parts thru machine sim on his computer just fine and his computer is MUCH older than mine. My reseller suggested we reinstall the machine sim stuff in case it got corrupted like the configuration folder does sometimes. So, that's the next step, I guess. My IT lady reinstalled my graphics card driver and that didn't help...

Hey guys,

for the last couple of versions of Mastercam, from time to time my machine simulation will slow down when trying to run operations to the point it's nearly unusable. Sometimes even within the same part, some operations will run fine and others will barely run at all in machine simulation.

Anyone have any ideas?  I moved the part off the server and onto my desktop, and that didn't help. My reseller had me uncheck "Disable GPU processing" and that didn't help. They said they can run my part fine, so, it must be something on my end, but I have no idea what.

Thanks,

11 hours ago, MrFish said:

Maybe check your default locations for operation files etc, seen similar behavior in the past on systems that don't run the default locations. And for this reason and ease of transitioning between releases I have set up our current system to use default locations on all computers with a backup software like Karen's Replicator handling the job of keeping the files backed up and at there latest state.

My machine defaults are all in default locations. However, my import files I keep on my desktop so I can find them easily.