Dave, Are you using dual monitors?

Joels Is it a 4-axis clamped down vertical or a 5-axis tilted vertical?

Anyone know if they are offering discounts on 5-axis tilt rotary tables?

Thoob, You should be able to set it to off by going into operation defaults and turning it off.

The only way I know to do what you want is to hide the brown lines by setting the system origin color to the same color as your graphics background color. Then you will only see the the blue lines when using multiple origins. Really there is no need to do this. You can tell what what WCS and T/Cplanes are active by opening the view manager or by looking in the bottom of the graphics area. Here is another thread on this topic: Link

Our mastercam file names are a combination of the part number and the operation number in our job traveler. For example 999-888-777-666-OP40. We log the part number into a program log book and assign it a program number. An example of a program number would be 500-A-34.NC When we create a setup sheet for the job our setup sheet program automatically prints labels that show the part number, the program number, and the machine the job is going on among other things.

If I have a bunch of identical surfaces that are not connected and want to use a flowline toolpath I usually do one and then use a transform toolpath to finish the rest.

I am reaming .192 diameter holes in 304 on a job now with great success. 750 rpm and 5.0 ipm . This is my process: Drill to .177 diameter (4.5mm Guhring series 5514) Plunge holes with a .1875 carbide endmill Ream to .192 diameter with a 4 flute carbide tipped reamer I am using coolant only and I made sure the reamer was indicated true. I usually like to leave a little more for the reamer but in this case it is working fine. When holding tight tolerances with reamers +-.0005 I usually order a few different brands and test them in a bridgeport to see what size they actually ream to before putting them in the machine HTH

Ron, Our Fadals do not go home during tool changes. We use Format 2 and we use the mpmaster post. This is how we set up the machine for 3ax, 4ax, and 5ax: 1. Jog all axes to the cold start position so the slide markers are lined up. 2. Type in SETH (This sets the home postion for all axes) 3. Set your part zero using fixture offset 1 thru 48. (E1=G54 E2=G55 E3=G56...etc) 4. Post out the code with mpmaster and at the tool change you should only get G91 G28 Z0. The X and Y axis should not move. If you have a 5th axis on the machine be careful not to tool change over the top of it because the tool can hit it during the tool change. I get around this by using a manual entry to send the table to a safe tool change location so the code posts as: G91 G28 Z0 G0 G90 G54 X-25.---ADDED FOR SAFE TOOLCHANGE T5M6 Sounds like you won't need manual entry HTH

pip, I used to have the problem with my default geometry color changing to black every time I opened mastercam. I beleive it went away when I installed X4MU1 or X4MU2. Just out of curiousity what do you have it set to under settings/configuration/colors. As far as the problem with the level manager. I have not seen that issue. When I start mastercam my levels are set the exact same way as they were when I shut down mastercam.

You may want to use a 3mm endmill (.118) diameter so your contour ramp will be more of a contour than a zig/zag.

Contour set to ramp for rough then finish with a 2D contour. This will eliminate the need to drill holes. Y

mhenson, I agree. We compensate for backlash on our Fadals in the control. On the particular job I am running I have some holes that are +-.001 on the position call out so I want every advantage I can get.

CESARHART, Use the analyze drop down menu on your top toolbar to anylyze geometry in mastercam. Once you click on analyze you will have options such as analyze entity properties, analyze position, analyze distance.....etc. To dimension a part use the create drop down menu. For example create/drafting/dimension/vertical or create/drafting/dimension/horizontal. Add the dimensions by clicking on two points on the geometry. HTH

Doug, That did the trick thanks for all the help

Doug, I got it to work but I had to change a few things. When I put the line if mi3$ = 1,"M46", e$ in the pdrlcommonb post block it was outputing the M46 on three different lines. I ended up putting it in here: pdrill$ #Canned Drill Cycle pdrlcommonb if mi3$ = 1, pbld, "M46", e$ #USE MI3 TO TURN ON M46 CODE JB pcan1, pbld, n$, *sgdrlref, *sgdrill, pdrlxy, pfzout, pcout, pindexdrl, prdrlout, [if dwell$, *dwell$], *feed, strcantext, e$ pcom_movea Then I did the same thing for the other fixed cycles I wanted to activate it in. I turned it off in this section of the the post: pcanceldc$ #Cancel canned drill cycle result = newfs (three, zinc) if drillref = 0, zabs = initht_a #Make the initht the modal Z value else, zabs = refht_a prv_zia = zabs !zabs ps_inc_calc prv_gcode$ = zero if cool_zmove = yes$ & (nextop$=1003 | (nextop$=1011 & t$<>abs(nexttool))), coolant$ = zero pcan if mi3$ = 1, pbld,"M47", e$ if drillcyc$ <> 8, pcan1, pbld, n$, "G80", scoolant, strcantext, e$ pbld, n$, sgfeed, e$ pcan2 I also had to first activate mi3. The only thing is now I can't get it to post an N number on the M46 and M47 lines. Thanks for all the help

Doug, I'll give that a try and let you know how it works out.

Ron, Thanks for the info. I'm not sure how to do what you are suggesting and would appreciate more help.

Doug, I would like it to work on all fixed cycles (G73-G89). The M46 code causes the machine to move the X and Y axes in a negative, then positive direction before the execution of a fixed cycle. It helps eliminate positioning errors do to backlash. The M47 cancels the M46.

I am using the X4 mpmaster post on a Fadal 4020 VMC. I want to use a misc integer to add some codes to my drilling cycle when when needed. The codes I need are M46 before the drill cycle and M47 after the drill cycle. Here is a sample of how I want the code to look: N1 G00 G17 G20 G40 G80 G90 N2 G91 G28 Z0. N3 (DRILL .177 THRU 3 PLACES) N4 T3 M06 (4.5MM YG DREAM DRILL) N5 (MAX - Z1.) N6 (MIN - Z-.0822) N7 G00 G17 G90 G54 X-2.12 Y-.3554 S2000 M03 N8 G43 H3 Z1. N9 Z.1 N10 G94 M46 ------- NEED TO ADD THIS HERE N11 G99 G81 Z-.0822 R.1 F4. N12 X0. Y-.62 N13 X2.12 Y-.3554 N14 G80 M47 ------- NEED TO ADD THIS HERE N15 Z1. N16 M05 N17 G91 G28 Z0. N18 G28 Y0. N19 G90 N20 M30 I want to be able to turn these codes on or off using a misc integer. Is this possible and is this a good way to go about accomplishing what a want. If so can someone point me in the right direction with some post editing help.

Have you tried the mpmaster post. It works like a charm when using dwell.

I had an issue with engraving on a Fadal before and it had something to do with the way the arcs were being broken. How are your arcs being broken in your machine def. I would use delta start to center for arc center type and break them into quadrants. I try to stay away from R's. IJK gives much better results from my experience. Let me give you an example: On an older Makino we were interpolating a 7.00 inch diameter boss. Using R's and breaking arcs at 180 degrees the part measured 7.00 in the X axis and 7.03 in the Y axis. Hard to belive I know. When we switched to IJK and broke the arcs at quadrants the boss measured 7.00 all around.

Forklift with straps through eye-bolt to put 5th axis on and off Fadals.

Pacetoolmaker There is a way to do this but it is much easier to do what you want using a solid model. If you have solids you can verify your toolpaths directly over your solid model to check for gouges. To do what you want with an STL file you need to select Xform STL and translate the STL file to the correct position so it is lined up correctly for veriying. This process can be time consuming. Verify also has a feature called compare to STL but I'm not to farmiliar with it.

I can give you an easy example of how I create net surfaces. For simplicity sake say your wireframe geometry is four lines making a square. Select singe then chain the top horizontal line in the X+ direction. Select single again and chain the bottom horizontal line in the same direction. Select single a third time and chain the left vertical line in the Y- direction. Select single again and chain the right vertical line in the same direction. If your vertical or horizontal lines consist of more than one entity select partial chain instead of single chain. HTH