When I tried to extrude something MC gave me this message. Anyone have the a clue what this means? I dont have the foggiest

I just got the in-house solutions books for mill, 4th-5th axis, and solids. Super fast shipping btw. Barely 24 hours from the time order was placed. Premium shipping: $10.75 extra. Not having to wait 1-3 weeks: priceless. Hopefully my problems will be gone as soon as I plow through these.

Zipped and sent. They are through. It was created in Mastercam. Thanks!

Mail sent. I dont have the box checked. All I have checked is 'Include blind holes' and under 'sweep angle' 'ignore' like in the above pic.

OK, I got my head out of my arse as far as the FTP is concerned (unchecked 'use passive FTP' box). The file is named DRUM AND HOLES in the MCX folder. I'm trying to drill out the 16 .3125 holes. ...Also when I rotate the drum and stantions (lvl 3), the skin of the drum doubles in thickness. What gives? An example is saved as 'DRUM AND HOLES ROTATED' in the MCX folder. Thanks for looking.

I have a clindrical drum with holes on the curved surface every 45 degrees in two bands. Two rows of two holes every 45 degrees. When I use 'solid drill' it only drills half of hte holes. I know It can 'see' them because they all show up in the solid drilling dialogue box. It doesnt drill the holes opposite (on the other side of the cylinder) of the ones it does drill. This sounds like some simple parameter I'm not putting a check mark into or something. The FTP isnt working at the moment (reset). I can email it if anyone wants a look. Thanks, Ryan

I think the viewer is hte one I dl'ed, but I'll try again. Thanks.

I looked at Mastercams books and they looked just fine. Cheap too. The streaming teacher thing sounds nice too. I guess I'll just have to figure out what will suit me best. Any other opinions?

I am in need of some 4th axis and 3d surface machining training. My boss was going to bring in a consultant, but I thought Mike Mattera's CD's looked like they fit the bill nicely....though it is a rather large bill. Is there anything that comes more highly recommended? I just want the best, in case I end up paying for it. Thanks, cheers, and goodnight.

What program to view Hardmills tutorial on WCS? I thought it was Powerpoint, but I downloaded powerpoint and it wont recognize the file type Any suggestions?

What's EDM? And you're right. A little more messing around and I got the thing pretty well dug out. I just need to get at the vertical edges. I filleted both of them (the verts of the locator). Maybe I can contour around them and use the lead in/out to avoid cutting off my locator. As always, thanks a ton.

I sent you an email, but I dont know how to attach the file as I can't see your email address. Pardon my ignorance. Thanks!

K. File sent.

You bet. As soon as Yahoo finishes attaching the file ( )it'll be in your box. Thanks!

So I've been working on creating toolpaths for this lid I've drawn. This is my first MC part, and I've never even seen a mill make a single chip (thats my level of inexperience), so I am having to kinda guestimate my way through this. First, my process: I drew the finished part and having been creating the toolpaths on that. I also drew the rough casting we will be machining from on a different level. I have been using the casting to verify. Is this how I should be doing things so far? I created surfaces from my solid part model to make things 'easier.' About all I really know about MC is that there are ten ways to skin a cat. This seemed easier as there were more toolpath 'tools' to use. One of my problems lies in the oil fill hole on the lid. There is a locating tab for the oil cap and I dont have a clue how to machine it. If anyone would be willing to look at my part I would greatly appreciate it. Any critiques or suggestions about anything would also be well recieved. ...Darn, I cant seem to upload to cadcams FTP. It says the server is reset.... Thanks for looking,

That made a huge difference. Thanks again.

Awesome, I'll give that a try. Thanks.

I've tried running some toolpaths on my newly created solid part model, but only with limited success. The part looks like a long double-d shaped pan (rectangle but with the short Y-axis ends rounded) with several bosses sticking up from the base. After reading Go Navy's post 'tool paths on solids' I used the method: create curves on all edges- toolpaths-contour- and selected the inner vertical face of the pan by chaining its lower-most geometry. The toolpath looks perfect. It even follows the tight S shaped contours at either end. When I verify the long straight walls come out clean, but any curved contour only gets cut every 20 degrees for about 5 degrees. Like the cutter is skipping when cutting the inside radii of the pan wall contours. I am using a .250 flat endmill and the smallest thing that need be cut is a .5 DIA arc that travels 180 deg. Is this when I need to use an stl to verify? Am I chaining my geometry incorrectly? Should I not use the create curve function? Its probably something mind numbingly simple that will (hopefully) come to me when I wake up in the morning....but if not, Thanks for reading folks.

Gotta bring this one back from the dead in case some of the other newbs could use this info. Bump.

Slepydremr, you got it again. You too Peter. Thanks guys. I guess I just need to extrude a boss in the shape I want.

Awesome, thanks folks. I will probably need more info on this in the future, but I haven't even ran a toolpath yet so its a ways out.

I am getting ready to make some toolpaths on a part I just got done drawing. I've seen a lot about converting to an .stl file for verification purposes. I searched and read a dozen threads on stl's in general, but I still dont understand why convert to one in the first place? Thanks, and goodnight.

I cant look right now as I dont have the hasp, but Ill check it out later. I shoulda just drawn this from the beginning. Thats what I get for relying on my big dumb mouth. I actually wanted the fillet going the opposite direction as in the above drawing. As if you were doing a face to face fillet. With the arc of the circle starting from the outside of the block and extending in toward the center then curving upward toward the top. Like if a chamfer were to have a concave arc across the length of it. I'm sure everyone is highly frustrated with me by this point so I'll just leave it alone if I haven't been any clearer. I should have my hasp back by sometime tomorrow morning. I'll post a pic. Thanks for putting up with me everyone! You've all been such a great help that I got my first part done today. It looks freakin' awesome too. Cheers.

Maybe Im using the wrong verbage too. Sorry to sound so confusing.

Hmmm, apparently Im not being exactly clear. When you fillet two pieces together, lets say a long rectangle 1" (z)tall 1" (y)deep and 10" (x)long laying on a flat xy plane. If I were to add a .50" fillet to one long vertical edge of the rectangle it would ADD material between the upper outside edge of the rectangle and connect a .50 arc to the plane thereby enlarging the overall size of the rectangle. If you now measure the footprint of the rectangle its 1.50" at the base and still 1" at the top. I would like to take that theoretical long rectangle and cut a .50 fillet into both sides of it. i.e if I were to fillet both sides thusly our long rectangle woudl now look like a long tee-pee with saggy walls (sorta..). It would measure 1" at the bottom still and the fillets would meet in the center of the y axis for a nice point that ran along the x axis. Clear as mud right?