Yeah, I figured you can Todd. I was just trying to figure out which programming route we need to go. I talked to Kevin today and told him I'd get back with him sometime soon.

We just bought a Nl2500Y. We are trying to get information to our reseller about getting the post we need. We ordered a 0-90 adjustable angle rotart holder for the machine. Does anyone use one of these? If so, what are your procedures to set tools/program? I don't know if the machine has polar coordinate conversion. Any ideas so we can get the post modified? I realize maybe some of you don't think angled drilling is neccesary and we should have got a different machine and such. This is what we have and want to make it work. Any help is greatly appreciated.

The new home learning edition is full featured and you can save files now. You can't ever post or read your files in real mastercam though. It helps if you are practicing in a file and need to turn it off to work another day. I believe your reseller will send one for free if you request it.

I have mu2 installed. Maybe I just have to remove it all and do a fresh install.

The error is, encountered improper argument

I'm running XP pro 32bit. Seems to happen more since mu1. Most of my crashes happen when selecting different toolpaths in the op manager. if I am working on a program I get a crash about every 7-10 minutes. Like I said, usually when highlighting toolpaths to get ready to verify. Sometimes when selecting the post button too. I'll post back tomorrow with the error code. The only other program I have on the computer is office 2000.

How many software crashes are you supposed to have per day? Seems like they happen more frequently now. I'm just trying to figure out if my number is high or low. What is the expected average?

That would be a good advertisement.

- It hardly ever crahses. - Bugs are fixed very quickly. - It has lots of nice pretty colors. - You never get confused when trying to select faces of solids to machine because they are clear as day. - The engraving package is really cool.

For futher explination of the ellipse, PeterM means having the small sides of the ellipse going around the cylinder, and having the other sides touch your original circle at the center of the points where it drops around the cylinder. It will essentialy produce the same thing as a 3d chamfer. You may have to play around with finding the right ellipse ratio between different parts and figure out depths.

I had a file I made in mu1 last week. Today I changed a depth on an operation and posted the entire program. I have manual entry M00's in the file for clamp removal/bolts, etc. After I posted with mu2, the op after the M00 didn't have a tool change, work offset, spindle command like it did previously. If I wouldn't have caught it before it went to the machine, I would have started taking some major roughing passes with a .250 endmill instead of the .625 tool that was supposed to use. I use prestaging after each tool change. I tried posting a partial of some of the ops before and after the m00 area in question. It posted the toolchange fine. Select all the ops, the tool change disappears. I'm going to try a zip2go tomorrow to send to our reseller. I'm really nervous now.

We probably just need more beta testers. I used to be a beta tester before I moved companies.

Should we call the customer and ask them to redesign the part to work with our software?

Does it have anything to do with the type of surfaces mastercam is set up to create? I'm having the same problem with a 25 inch long 5.5 dia model that i essentially wraped a 7/16 round bar around with a 1.75 lead helix. I did a boolean add to combine them and then I converted the solid to surfaces. I did alt-s to shade and it started thinking. I came back 20 minutes later and it hadn't shaded it yet. The cpu was pegger at 25% (a great advantage to having a quad core, 1 core is used) Then I got a bunch of out of ram errors because mcam was using 230mb of the 2gb system ram. I eventually just had to alt-ctrl-del out of it because it didn't seem as it was ever going to respond. I thought this would be a quick turn-around on just running a basic time check program, but not at all. Half the day back and forth and never even had a chance to tool it. I guess I just need to stay away from solids and surfaces unless someone has a workaround. I tried loading the file after the mu2 update but it did the same thing. I created everything entireley in Mcam.

Why do people hate the tree? I like the format because it lets me calculate feedrates without going to the feed speed calculator. I too wish there was a bug fix list. I never wait to install a new release. I'm always hoping it will fix all the broken things. I know it won't and we just have to kinda give up on thinking the software will ever be bug free. I know that not every scenario can be tested to have these errors come to light. I have just learned to live with all the new problems with each release and try to rethink new workarounds. I'm getting better at trying to save as much as I can, before and after each toolpath creation. I installed mu2 tongiht before I left work, so I'll be checking it out tomorrow. There are alot of problems with the software, and there always will be, but I'm the one who convinced our shop that this software would be the best route. I just have to try to hide the bugs from everyone so they don't say "Why did we buy this?"

We have a 2 year old hurco vmx42 with a 12k spinlde. We have been running it for about 2 months now at about 10-11k rpm. We haven't heard any abnormal noises or anything. Yesterday it was running and made a weird slow-down noise and shut down the servo. It was in the middle of a .005 chamfering cut in 6061 alum. The spindle and tool were really hot. I know that you can't ever feel any heat on the tool during the day. Whats the deal? Do bearings fail instantly without any warning? I know people probably dont like hurcos on here, but that aside any ideas?

I was so mad at it yesterday. I just have to save after everything because it is so unstable. It's not a good program for a company that has to make quick changes to something. If your guy is running a program and you want to make changes to reload on the next part, it will let you down.

I have the same problem. I didn't have it in X4 but now in MU1. I also find that I get random duplicate entities occasionally. I haven't been free enough to experiment what is causing it. Sometimes in MU1 I try to copy geo to another level. I go through the process and complete it, but the geo doesn't transfer. A regen doesn't help this one, only a restart. Haven't narrowed it down to when this is happening either. I'm sure that's of no help to anyone. I had several crashes on wed thur and friday when i was selecting and unselecting toolpaths in the toolpath manager. I have quite a few transform paths in the file. I just know I need to save and save alot because I can depend on the software to crash.

Did anyone ever use or see clearcut mill? It was made by anilam. It was almost identical to mastercam if i remember right.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I already ordered a 3/4 2 flute 45 degree helix ball. Anyone know what the cusp height would be for a 125 fin?

I'm going to be machining a 30 inch rad as a profile on the face of a part. It is a convex rad about 4 inches long. I need to get it done as quickly as possible while maintaining a 125 or better surface finish. There is also a .500 radius between the large radius and a flat. The ball mill would have to profile this too. Any suggestions on type of tool best suited, no of flutes, feedrate, stepover etc. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

You can do a solid chamfer. You should already have the hole in the solid. You can specify edge selection, and pick the edge of the top of the hole. You can specify and angle and width. It doesn't have to be a 45.

What are you referring to Neurosis?

I am thinking I need to take the dynamic mill toolpath out of the picture. It only applies to 2d toolpaths. It also seems it doesn't work too well on some outside profiles. I will try and bring a file home from work so I can upload it to the ftp from home. I meant to say I can't upload because I don't have internet access at work. For someone to try the 2d high-speed toolpath, dynamic mill type, heres a simple part I was trying yesterday. Draw a 5.875 long by 2.750 high rectangle. Chamfer two corners at one of the end with a .875x45 deg chamfer. Center this profile within a 6.200 long by 3.000 high rectangle. Select 2d high-speed and select both as chains. specify dynamic mill, and open pocket. I chose a .03 stepover for the toolpath and it didn't seem to hold to anything close to that on the two chamfers. If someone can make it take equal passes, could they upload to the ftp? I will finish the job today by drawing out the toolpath geometry to get it to do what i want, but I'd still like to see what I was doing wrong. If anyone knows If I can access the ftp on a blackberry, let me know also. Thanks for everyone's help.

I'll describe the part a little. Imagine a triangular shaped part with a sharp edge at the highest z point, bar is 5 inches long by 1 inch wide. I want to machine the angled sides from the outside in so I can use as much of the flute as I can. So the deepest passes would be the first ones moving in by 030 a cut and up whatever it needs to follow the angle. I can upload a file because my computer here doesn't have internet access.