Kam- This has always been a pain to do for those of us who deal with forgings. I form the barrel in solids slightly longer than the finished part( a couple of thousandths) and then make a drafted surface from circle wireframe at the proper location. Then trim the solid to the surface. May not be the easiest, but it works for me.

Bill Makes me sick and disgusted when I see americans say these things. Soros and his moveon.org, Streisand, Garafalo and those morons Al Franken and Michael Moore should fly their private jets to the middle east see just how long they would last there. Its too bad our soldiers have to fight for IDIOTS like them.

Scott- Tried to call this AM, but apparently got a wrong #. Mine is: 818.846.3761. Hope to hear from you. Have been watching FOXNEWS about the fighting in Fallujah and praying for your nephew.

Scott- What's a good time to call?

I received a letter yesterday from my 19 yr. old son in Iraq with the 1st CAV in Baghdad. He was in a QRF(Quick Reaction Force) to help some Marines in an ambush in Al Anbar on April 9th. He lost his best friend in the vehicle ahead of him to an RPG. He said he rushed to him, but he was already gone. They then loaded 4 other soldiers into the ambulance and tried to get them back to the Aid Station. They were then ambushed again by Iraqi civilians. They shot their way out of this mess and got back OK. He had the feeling that they were helping when they first got there in January, but since then it has been nothing but hatred for the troops. I think maybe it is time to flatten Fallujah and cut out all the negotiations. Our guys are nothing but sitting ducks now. We have the firepower-lets use it! If these people want their freedom, then THEY need to fight for it. This war has become another political football just like the one I was in- Vietnam. Enough of my soapbox- I just had to vent.

Have always used Surface, Finish, Project. Love it!

I have wished for this for years! We get 1000-2000 surfaces in Pro-E and Solidworks. I always do a "check model", but sometimes I still have problems. Hope this feature could be added to MC.

I just left the # on your line. Thanks again

Jay- Shall I just send the AI to you by e-mail and then you can convert for me to either MC8 or MC9? All is well here. I have not been to work since last September because of an eye problem. Still recovering from surgery. I have one more surgery to go. My son is in Iraq right now with the 1st Cav, so that wears on us all the time. Let me know what you want to do with this AI file. Thanks for the help.

I'll try to see if I can do that. Thanks

I tried to save the DXF as version 13 and 14. Still not there. Checked the wintopo site and I can't use a scanned drawing with the freeware. I am scanning from a HP scanner. The file size with version 13 and 14 is larger at 25-30 kb. Thanks for your continuing help.

Thanks for the help guys. Tried all the suggestions-still do not see anything. The file size is fairly small in DXF and DWG. 5kb! the gif file from Adobe is 250kb! The DXF file could be the problem. Adobe asks for the AutoCad version- I put in 2000, but there are others.

I have a sketch I need to put on blueprint template in MC8. I scanned the sketch in Adobe Illustrator and then saved as DXF. I then tried to convert the DXF file in MasterCam 8. I do a file, converters, DXF, read and nothing appears in MasterCam. I think this old fool has done something screwy here. Anyway can someone please help. Thanks in advance.

Thanks guys for the help. We have Solidworks- I really am not happy with it. I feel with solids in MC now and I have used MC since 3.11, that Solidworks is more of a engineering and assembly software. I thought of that, but as Steve said, those are the constraining dim's. Maybe this could be something added to a later version of MC, but actually MC is meant more for machining a part- that is it's selling point.

I rarely do any real drafting in MasterCam-usually I draw a 3D model for a forging either in surfaces or solids and toolpath it. But we have a job now that I drew in solids and then did the solid layout(very cool!). My question is: Can I automatically dimension the part- just say "dimension the drawing"? I thought I saw this feature once at a MasterCam seminar. Am I crazy? The wishful thinking part!

Arlene- Glad to see you on the board. Yeah those were the "good ole days". YOU have always been a lady. Thanks for all your help over the years. Say hello to everyone at Cad-Cam especially Dennis, my railroad "bud".

How many of you on the west coast remember when the Westec Show was called the Machinery Show and it was held at Pan Pacific Auditorium near Gilmore Stadium (Hollywood Stars baseball team of the Pacific Coast League) and then it moved to the Great Western Exhibit Hall in East L. A. just off the Santa Ana Fwy? That is where it was when I started in the trade. Ah- the girls What happened with that? Oh yeah- politically correct.

I have a son in Baghdad right now with 1st Cav. On Sept. 11 he was still in high school. But as soon as he graduated June 2002, he enlisted as a medic in the Army. He called last week and said he feels we have to take the fight to the terrorists and not have them come here. I was really *issed to see the Spanish cave in to these animals. A Kerry administration will do the same- cave. Europe is concerned that this move by Spain will embolden the terrorists to take on the soft underbelly of Europe. The U.S. could become very alone in this fight, but, hey, we've been there before and won. Just my .02! Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Santa Fe Springs, CA

We have a shop with about a dozen hydrotels in it. They are only used for roughing. NO machine comes close to hogging metals like these brutes. They are literally indestructible!! You can't give them away now. They are usually scrapped out for the lead in the counter-balance. When I first started in the diesinking trade in the early sixties, these machines new were going for 200K to 300K for a 28inch X 120 inch machine with 40 HP chain-drive. Now scrapped for 100-200 bucks! We drill pin-holes for guides into Finkl blocks with high-speed spade drills up to 6 inch diameter and 12 inches deep or more with large radial arm drill presses with NO problem. A lot of younger ones on this forum must be thinking these machines must be from another century, but in our shop they co-exist with Haas cnc's and two stations of MasterCam 9.1 SP2! Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Santa Fe Springs, CA

I have been machining Finkl steel for the last 40 years. All of our forging dies are made from this steel. It is not a big deal to cut- have used high speed and carbide to cut it. Have used Bridgeports, hydrotels and Haas CNC's to machine it. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Santa Fe Springs, CA

Thanks guys- That exactlly what I needed. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Santa Fe Springs, CA

To All- I have a drawing I want to fax to a customer. I have a hard copy printed from an HP laser printer. But the lines are to faint to fax. My question is this- can I change all the line sizes on the drawing by windowing the drawing and changing the attributes of the lines? I just don't want to re-draw this with the new attributes. I am using V 9.1 SP1. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Santa Fe Springs, CA

To All- I have been using MasterCam since v.3. I started at Glendale Community College the first year they offered it. The professor was learning at the same time we were. We were taught by a 18yr.old who had it in high school. This was 1990. I took this for about 3 years at night. Frank Paton(from Paton and Associates) would come by every once in a while to give us a hand-everything by the seat of our pants. Eventually I went to work for a small company that wanted to start using some kind of software to sink forging dies. I recommkended MasterCam and he bought it. This was 1994. The fella I worked for and still do, worked with me and he and I worked very hard (school of hard knocks)to learn the software, with the help of Dennis Neil of Cad-Cam Consulting here in Huntington Beach, Cal. I continued with Glendale College and the same professor until he retired in 2002. I was actually teaching some classes at the school for the last couple of years before he retired. We all learned the hard way by just starting to "push buttons". We are still making forging dies using MC v.9 and 4 NC machines. Also, I am a 60 yr. old Die Sinker with 40 yrs. in the trade. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks. No certifications, just learn it because you have to! Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Entertprises Santa Fe Springs, CA

Never had a Vet's Day off yet in 35 years! US Army 9th Inf. Div. Mekong Delta, Vietnam 1966-67 My son, US Army Medic, 1st Cavalry Division, Iraq 2003-04 Gary Armitstead Burbank, CA.

Haggai- I live in Burbank. I'm home now recovering from eye surgery, but would be willing to help. Have about 10 years experience with Mastercam in the forging die industry- 38 years in the die sinking trade. Gary Armitstead burbank, CA [email protected]