I tried some toolpaths today on another project and all seemed to work OK. Yesterday after the system crashed, I brought up my AUTOSAVE file and all my NCI files were 0K. In other words, V9 seems to be a bit "twitchy". But I will continue using V9 to work the bugs out, because I really like the enhancements. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises El Monte, CA

To all- I downloaded the new patch for V9 this morning dated Mar. 06, 2002 and when I regenerate ALL toolpaths, Mastercam crashes (performed an illegal operation). Any suggestions? Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises El Monte, CA

Elad- Go to Mastercam's main site, not users forum. Click Support, then free downloads. The V9 patches are on the top of the list. There should be 5 patches, one is the big one APPMCH90.MPK. Good luck. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

To all- I had some toolpath problems with V9. But yesterday I found many new patches available for V9 on Mastercam's support, free downloads site. Maybe these can help with your bugs. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

APPMCH90.mpk is now available on Mastercam's support site. Many patches for V9 now available. Apparently these became available this AM. Thanks again. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

Glenn- I tried to download from cadcam.com (FTP) and it froze Internet Explorer with a timeout. Considering the number of replies to this problem, it would seem that Mastercam would have the patch (appmch90.mpk) readily available to all users of V9 on their site. This is a toolpath used by many moldmakers and die sinkers-used very often in my case. Any more suggestions? Thanks in advance. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

Glenn- How do you get into the FTP site to download the patch? Used my users password and it did'nt work. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

To All- This afternoon I did a pocket surface project toolpath in a simple vee cavity and the cutter literally bounces. Many, many Z moves. Never had this problem in V8.1.1. I am wondering if this has to do with the filter settings? The filter dialog box shows arcs to XY, XZ and YZ. Also shows one-way filter. Anyone used this? Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises El Monte, CA

Glenn- Are these add-ons for vector-raster through .ai, a patch available on this site or through the Mastercam dealer? We will be doing logos and I could use the info. Thanks for the help. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises El Monte, CA

Thanks- I found it. X-form, squash. Has its own dialog box. I love V9! Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

Anyone- What happened to Squash.dll c-hook in V9? Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

Do you mean "copy Holder MC8 to Holder MC9"? Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

Yesterday I installed V9 in our computer at work. I loaded some items I really did'nt want. Can I uninstall V9 using Add/Remove programs and re-install V9 with a little more care. Or will there be registry problems, etc? Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

I am self-teaching myself SW 2001Plus now. I am able to draw some parts we need. It is not that difficult to learn, even with the online tutorial. Still not Mastercam's ease of drawing, but can be learned. Have used MC for over 10 yrs. self-taught, some classes. SW and Mastercam work great together. SW is about $3500. Hope this helps. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA.

Jay- I agree. I think I would leave over-clocking to the experts. And yes, the Fry's on Hollywood Way. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

Hey guys- Went to Fry's today and I think you are right about the cost of a SCSI system. Although the seek time is quick, I don't know if it is worth the extra cost. The SCSI adapter is more than the HD! But I did find a T200 Titanium card with 128 mg of ram that looked pretty good ($230). But for Mastercam, the ram and the P4 2 gig should be a big difference. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

Hi Jay- My daughter's boyfriend (fresh out of the USMC doing their networking and computer work) recommended all of the items. I believe that the Oxygen card is the one I will get. The ram and 10K rpm SCSI HD I need because I need speed in toolpath processing. I need a fast video card because most of my files are 10-15 megs. Thanks for the help Jay- see you at WESTEC. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

Thanks for the help guys. Being a 58 yr. old die maker from the days of "turning handles", I appreciate the help from the younger guys. My daughter's boyfriend is building this computer for me and I will pass this info about the MX card along to him. I am presently using a pentIII 450 with a Diamond Viper 32 mg and it has performed "ok" except for really large shaded drawings in rotation. I'm anxious to see the difference in toolpathing speed with this new machine. I do large multiple surf Catia and Pro-E machining cavities in forging dies. Thanks again. Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

To all- I'm starting to build a new computer for Mastercam. Here's a partial list of components- would appreciate any feedback. Win 2k Pro OS 2.0 GHz pent4 1 gig. 2100 mHz. Ram 18.8 gig SCSI HD 10,000 rpm 64 mg. GeForce 4 MX 460 Video card Gary Armitstead Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA

It's an old term used for an irregular shaped surface- i.e. airfoil or fuselage surface in areospace work. Hope this helps. Gary Armitstead N.C. Programmer Burbank, CA

To all who replied- Thanks to everyone who replied to my question on the dialog box problem. I went into Control Panel, Display, Settings, Advanced-set the fonts to Small(other options are Large or Other). Seems to be working OK now. BTW my resolution is set at 1024 x 768. Gary Armitstead Burbank, CA

I was busy talking to Dennis at CadCam Cons. wanted to see you about the network setup you talked at the seminar. Never got the chance. Gary

No Jay. What I'm saying is that when I go to do a File Save, the dialog box that comes up has changed. There is no space in the lower left hand corner for file types( MC8, MC7, GE3 or all files) nor is there a BUTTON to click to actually actuate Save. I can only press Enter to get Save. The same problems occur for File Get. Someone in the family did change the font size to Large fonts- this ihas been the only change. Thanks Jay P.S. Great User Seminar last Wednesday at Sequoia.

To all- I'm using 8.1.1. My dialog box has changed for File Save and File Get. Don't know why. Been using MasterCam for 9 years. First time this has happened. There is no area showing a Save button or the box in the lower left hand corner for types of files. No bitmap area showing for thumbnails. Any suggestions? Gary Armitstead Burbank, Ca.

Michael I work in private industry here on the west coast using Mastercam for machining cavities into forging dies for aerospace. I do my own 3D surface drawings and 3D surface machining and use Catia and Pro-E drawings from outside sources. I do not have a teaching credential, but have taught some Mastercam classes at Glendale Community College in Glendale, CA. and am now teaching three other people in our small shop(6)including the owner. I'm the "old guy" at 57! During this time I have found that understanding construction planes and using them has been a problem. Everybody coming into Mastercam wants to do 3D work, but unless you grasp the concept of visualizing, on a flat screen, a 3 dimensional object and the planes involved, people always seem to have difficulty. I always have them draw a cube in 3d Wireframe and then put lettering on the faces(front, back, lt. side, rt. side, bottom)so that the lettering can be read correctly as you turn the cube. You can surface this cube, fillet it and trim. It makes a good exercise and you can readily find where your people are in their skills. Just a suggestion. Hope it helps. Gary Armitstead Die Sinker and Shop MC "guru" Santa Fe Enterprises Burbank, CA