IT is looking to purchase  this desktop computer for me.  Any thoughts on how HP is working with Mastercam these days.  I have been using Dell for the Past  eight years but our company is shying away from Dell because they are starting to phase out windows 7 and we are not ready to switch to windows 10.  Right off the bat I would ask IT to upgrade the RAM from 16 gigs to 32 gigs. Also any thoughts on the Quadro M2000 video card.  I thought M was for mobile as in laptop but I could be wrong.  Price is  about $1900.  Anything else out there for around this price or maybe a little higher that would work better.

Any advice is appreciated.

Here are the specs and a link.

• MT
• 1 x Core i7 6700 / 3.4 GHz
• RAM 16 GB
• SSD 512 GB
• HP Z Turbo Drive G2
• DVD SuperMulti
• Quadro M2000
• GigE
• Win 7 Pro 64-bit (includes Win 10 Pro 64-bit License)
• vPro
• monitor: none
• keyboard: US
• Smart Buy

Under the view tab click the drop down menu for show axes and make sure the axes you want to view are selected.  If they are turned off F9 does not work.

Thanks for the replies.  The tools I saved with the holders were not showing up because I did not have the assembly button selected.

All is good now thank you.

I recently started to define tool holders in Mastercam so they match what we have out  in the shop.  When I save a tool from my Mastercam file to a tool library the tool holder is not being saved with the tool.  Is there a way to save the tool and the holder together so I can pull in the entire tool assembly when I select my tool. I am currently running Mastercam 2018.

Any help is greatly appreciated

Just and observation but in the first screen grab the smooth one the model has been enhanced 100%.  In the second screen grab  I can't see the slider bar for model enhancement.  It automatically enhances when you zoom in or out or change the postiion of your verified model.  Did you give the software enough time to complete the model enhancement before you did the second screen grab of the choppy verification?

Awesome can't wait to try the drag and drop tomorrow!

Have your tried creating the tool in the stand alone Tool manager.

Windows Start Menu

Mastercam (2018)  "Or your current Version"

Tool Manager

HTH

Do you have a containment boundry selected.  If the curve around the top of your part is your containment boundry the tool is trying to stay inside that area.  Since the area is covered by your check surface it can not detect anything to cut.  Take the curve around the top of your part and offset it outward by some distance greater than the diameter of your tool and use that for your containment boundry.  

Here is one way to do it.  First check your surface normals by selecting analyze dynamic.  The arrow should be pointing outward on every surface you want to machine.  Next create a surface that covers the top of your part and select it as a check surface.  This will keep the tool from cutting on this inside.  Finally create a containment boundry around the part that is large enough to allow your tool to cut the outside of the surfaces.

HTH

I get files like this from our engineering department and I always have to create my own geometry to drive the engraving toolpaths.  Sometimes the text can be long and I have to proof read and spell check everything, not to mention get the characters to come out the right size which always involves some trial and error.  I wish there was an easy button for this kind of work but I haven't come across one yet

This may help.  Open your machine definition then go into your control definition and select the linear tab.  Under Rapid motion select "All axes arrive at destination simultaneously".  This may help for moves between different tool planes but it probably will not help for multi-axis drilling.

Bill

Create a point in the center of your pocket.  Chain the point first using the point chaining option then chain your pocket.  When you choose helix as your entry motion type there is an option to center on entry point.  Check that box and you should be good to go.

You may get more help if you share a file. It will be easier for everyone to understand what you are trying to accomplish.

It sounds like the surfaces are being blanked when you copy them to the new level.  Turn off all levels except the level you copied the surfaces to and hit the statistics button on the home tab.  If  the statistics tell you there are surfaces then they are there but you cant see them.  If this is the case hit the unblank button on the home tab and select all entities and they should appear. Another possible reason this could happen is if your surface color matches your graphics background color.  If this is the case window select over the area you think the surfaces are and change the color.  If neither of these options fix the problem restart mastercam and they may magically appear or  you will now be able to copy them  to the new level.  Levels can be buggy sometimes and a restart normally fixes the problem. 

Hole axis used to be a c-hook now you can find it under model prep.  You can use hole axis to create axis lines in circular holes in solid bodies.  Once you create the line you can use it to create tool planes or drive toolpaths normal to the center line of the hole you selected.

It looks like it is picking up the endpoints of the projected arcs which may mean you have splines.  If you analyze them are they arcs or splines.  If they are splines try the simplify spline option to convert them to arcs and see if that helps.

I sometimes get the same error message when using verify and have to go through the same procedure.  I believe it started happening with windows 10.

The direction you chain the geometry determines the direction the tool will cut. If you already chained the geometry in the wrong direction you can do the following. In your operation manager left click on geometry.  This will open the chain manager.   Right click on the chain you want too change and select reverse chain then regenerate your tool path.  Arcs can be tricky to chain because by default you can not see the start and endpoint of the arc.  If you go to the home tab and turn on endpoints you will be able to see the arc start and endpoint which makes controlling your chaining direction  much easier when chaining arcs.

HTH

Try this link to Harvey Tool.

http://www.harveytool.com/prod/Diamond-End-Mills-for-Non-Ferrous-Materials/Material-Specific-End-Mills/Browse-Our-Products_247/Diamond-End-Mills-for-Non-Ferrous-Materials---CVD-Diamond---Ball_192.aspx

5/64 should do the trick but they probably make a 2mm as well.

On the home tab there is an option to turn on endpoints.  If you turn that option on you will be able to see the start and end point of your circle.  You can use the options mentioned above to change the start point  or as another option you can rotate the circle about it's center point until the endpoint is lined up where you need it. I normally just click on the geometry icon in the operation manager to open the chain manager then right click on the chain I want to change and select start point.

I have been using the free version of Cura that came with my printer.  It works great but I wish I had more control of the feed rates when it does small arcs kind of like slowing down a CNC in tight corners. Not sure if that possible but a free slicing program is probably your best bet.

Colin,

I really appreciate you taking a look at it.  I am attaching the machine definition, control definition, and post.  I was going to upload a zip to go but I think that sends the 

Mastercam part file which I'm not allowed to share.  Let me know if I have supplied you with enough information. Any help is greatly appreciated.

2018_HAAS 3X .mcam-control

2018_HAAS 3X .mcam-mmd

2018_HAAS 3X .PST

Colin,

Thank you for the reply.  It looks like I need to take your post editing class.  That is something I plan to do in the future when I finish school.  I'm currently working days and going to school at night.  I'm certain the post I am using is not an MPmaster post.  I am doing this job for our other facility where I do not normally work.  I'm not sure where the post originally came from but I have updated it from MCX6 to MC2018. I think my best option may be to start fresh with the latest MPmaster post and try to incorporate the changes from there.  I'll let you know how it goes.  I may have some time to work on it over the holiday weekend.  Thank you again for your time.  

My current Haas 3-axis post processor will post out min/max Z-values for every toolpath.  Is there a way to have it post out min/max XY values for each toolpath. I want to use this information as a secondary way to verify my toolpaths are safe to run.  I'm working on a big part with no extra material and an unfamiliar post processor.    I don't trust verify because its running off the NCI file.  

Any help is appreciated.

I decided to go with windows 7.  Thank you everyone for the replies.  The information on ITAR was extremely helpful. Here are the rest of the specs. I went with the 15.6 inch display because I'm tired of lugging a 17 inch laptop around.