Update, I had to go into work this morning on a non related issue. While there I picked up my machine def and post for these jobs. I'll post the code later. I also tinkered around with curve-5X last night and came up with a toolpath that looks promising. I will post that code also.

Bruce, The rails are all splines. I tried edit/simplify but I had to increase the tolerance to .002 in order to convert the geometry to arcs then the converted geometry was not connected so I could not chain it. I have not tried curve 5X or any of the advanced 5X toolpaths because I do not know how to use them. What surfaces should I select for advanced 5X. I would think the surfaces between the rails. Any advice would be appreciated.

This is the part that stalls. It takes about four minutes to take two passes which should take less than a minute. Rails are also in red. [/img]

Here is the part that runs good. The rails are red along the top edge [/img]

I am making two similar parts that both require 5-axis swarf toolpaths. On one part the swarf toolpath runs very smoothly with a constant feed rate. On the other part the the swarf paths stalls almost coming to a stop at times then speeds up. All of the parameter settings are the same for both parts. Also the upper and lower rails for both parts are all splines and both are being posted with the same post and machine def. The code for the part that runs smooth has a single G93 before the cut. The other part that stalls and speeds up switches back and forth between G93 and G94. It slows down when it reads the G94 then speeds up when it reads G93. I believe it is switching between IMP and inverse time. I can't post the code on here until I get back to work on Monday but I am going to add some screenshots of the parts. Any Ideas why one toolpath would use a combination of G93 and G94 and how to prevent it from happening.

belearner, You can create dimesnions directly from a solid model using the create drafting command and then selecting different points on the solid to make the dimensions. Once you select create/drafting you will have options such as vertical, horizontal, note, etc.... HTH

George, If you install X+ you will be able to change posts on the fly.

I have a rep who is going to let me try a Sandvick insert mill. He says it will handle 200ipm at .150 doc. I'll give it a try if that does not work the SGS Scarb endmill looks good in the video.

The only reason I wanted the inserted cutter was because I thought I read something on here a while back about insert mills cutting aluminum very fast. We use all mitsubishi insert mills and face mills 1" diameter and up. They work very well but there is always a possibility that there is something better out there. I have never pushed a mitsubishi to 200 inches a minute because most of the parts we make do not require that fast of a feed rate do to thier size. I have a rather large part 36 inches long that has a lot of detail to it. I wanted to rough it out leaving minimal material to finish as fast as possible. We use Destiny Tool Viper endmills here on a regular basis but I have found that the bullnose do not rough very well. We also use powdered metal three flute roughing endmills with much success. I have a recomended cutter from our mitsubish rep. I cant remember the exact model but I am thinking of trying it. By the way the inserts in "The Ripper look exactly like the inserts in the mitsubishi's we use

Thanks for all the replies. I'm looking into all these suggestions

I am looking for a two or three flute 3/4 insert endmill for roughing aluminum. I would prefer a .125 radius in the inserts. I have 10000 RPM max and would like to rough at 200 ipm or faster. I am hoping to be able to take .150 depth cuts using surface rough pocket or a surface high speed roughing path. Machine is a Fadal 4020 with a Fanuc 0I control. Can anyone reccomend a good insert cutter.

cunder, You should not have to actually change the radius by .0001 to fix it. If your tool was defined with a .125 radius you can delete the .125 value then re-enter the same .125 value and regen. CNC APPS pointed out to me yesterday that when you bring a file into a newer version of mastercam it is always a good idea to regen all of your operations. Regening your operations may fix the problem without redefining the tool radius at all. jonahelisio, I have had this problem with prevoius versions of mastercam as well. It happens randomly when rerading files into newer versions of mastercam. The toolpath type does not seem to matter. It happens with bullnose endmills only, and only in verify. The tools look good in backplot

cunder, Was the file made in an earlier version of mastercam? If so see this thread: Link The quick fix seems to be re-define the tool radius even if it is defined correctly then regen the operation. You may get away with just regening all your ops.

cnc apps, Thats good advice

J Coulston, I am not sure where to find the setting your talking about. A strange thing just happened. I saved the file as an MCX4 file then reopened the file and all the operations were dirty. I regenerated the toolpaths and now verify looks fine.

I'll try to send it in today. It also used to happen when I would go from V9 files to X2MR2 files

When I take a file I programmed in MCX2MR2 and open it in MCX4MU1 the tool radii on ballnose endmills are not correct in verify even though they are defined correctly on the tool definition page. Verify shows a much larger tool radius. I can fix the problem by redefining the tool with the same size radius and regening the operation but this becomes tedious. Any suggestions?

I sometimes have a similar problem but closing then opening the level manager will not fix it. The only solution that works for me is to restart mastercam. X4MU1

Matt, This may or may not matter but I normally close mastercam before installing any add-ons. Was mastercam closed when you tried the intall?

Thanks for the replies. If I run the install program again no option comes up for uninstall. There is an X+ uninstall icon in my MCX2 folder but not in my MCX4 folder. Any more ideas?

Roger, Thanks there was an entry for the verisurf add-ons and I uninstalled them. I'm still looking for a way to uninstall X+.

When I click on the link to download X4MU1 I get the following message: Mastercam X4 Add-ons / third-party applications / chooks need to be rebuilt on the X4 MU1 platform. Not doing so may cause crashes or other problems with X4 MU1. Please contact your add-on vendor for more details. I previously installed X+ and the verisurf Add/ons for mastercam X4. Do I need to remove these before the install. If so how do I remove them? Thanks

Thanks Tim

I installed X4 a few months ago and made custom machine definitions and posts using X4 mpmaster. If I upgrade to X4MU1 will my posts and machine defs still work or will I have to update them?

Here is a simple example.