Ron, Thanks again for your reply. I'm still a little confused I was reading in the Fadal manual and to me it looks like B0 should be set at the cold start position. At this position the tilt head would be to the left so the A-axis would be rotating about the X-axis. Our post only gives us the correct B output if we have B0 set at -90 degrees from the cold start position. I may as well mention this is a custom 5-axis V9 post and if possible I would like to be able to set it up so it would give us the correct B output when B0 was set at the coldstart position. I hope this makes sense. Like I said I am very new to 5-axis programming, and this post was customized long before I was hired here. Is it possible to change the post to give the correct output when B0 is set at the coldstart position,I would prefer to use the custom post we have now instead of trying to start from scratch with the generic 5-axis mill post. Maybe someone could let me know if I'm way off the mark here and should just leave everything as is. After all the post does give the correct code it just seems like we have to set up the machine incorrectly to get it to work. Finally we also have X2 does the update post C-hook work with a 5-axis post.

For anyone interested try this link: http://www.compumachine.com/Support/Downlo...60__Formats.pdf As far as Fadals are concerned I can see where John is coming from. We have four Makinos and a Fadal. The majority of my frustration in the shop comes when I am working on the Fadal, but having said that we still make plenty of good parts with the Fadal. The main thing that gets me is that when using the Fadal I end up wasting a lot of time trying to solve all the wierd problems that only seem to happen on that machine. I still have never met a CNC mill that I didn't like. Justin

Thanks Ron, I'll try to make those changes and see if it gives me the code I need. From the way I described our machine setup does it seem like the B-axis is oriented correctly. Should B0 be to the left or straight up and down. Thanks again, Justin

I am new to 5-axis programming and was recently hired by a new company. We have a fadal 4020 with a five axis rotary mounted on the right side of the table. The A-axis rotates about X and the B-axis rotates about Y. We have an older customized 5-axis post. In order to get the correct output from our post, we set B0 in the position where it is straight up and down so the A-axis would be rotating about the Z-axis. Is this the normal zero position for the B-axis or is there something strange going on with our post. Also when I try to use a generic 5-axis mill post I get B and C output for all of my rotary moves when I need A and B moves. So my questions in general are is our post and machine set up correctly and if not what would I have to change in order to get the generic 5-axis mill post to post A and B moves. Sorry this is so long, Justin

Dave, Dave you make an excellent point about using the filter and the speed of verify. It is much faster. Justin

I also just noticed if you click on document when using setup sheet and uncheck tool list you will get an operation list instead. Then the tools are listed in order they are called in the program. Thanks again Justin

JDOWE, Thanks, Thats what I was looking for.

I'm setting up a job that someone else programmed a while ago using V9. The tools for the job are in random order because they usually stay in the ATC. So the program may call up T7 then T11, then t1, etc...I used the setup sheet function from NC utilities and printed a toolist. The toolist is in numerical order and I would prefer if it printed out in the order that the tools are called up in the program. Is there a way to get the toolist to print this way. Thanks, Justin

I've only ran scallop not high speed scallop, but I do as Paul does 2:1 with my total tolerance set to .001 or less for finishing. If I don't have a lot of memory and I am roughing I set my total tolerance to a higher number. It creates less code and most of the time I can get away with a less accurate toolpath on my rough opeation. Justin

I'm not using MR1, but when you click toolbar states and you see the of various toolbar names on the list to the left there should be an asteric next to your default toolbar. Thats the one that should appear when you open a session of Mastercam, and it shouldn't be rearranged. If this doesn't help I'm sure you will get plenty of answers Monday morning when everyone gets back to work. Justin

David, I should have been more specific. The problem I was having was selecting the letters with window. My letters were drawn at Z0 and my Z depth was set to Z.200 When I went to window the letters the chaining mode was set to c-plane not 3D so when asked for a search point I would select the endpoint of my first letter and Mastercam would not find anything. By setting my Z depth to 0 the window function was able to pick up the letters. The other fix would be to set the chaining method to 3D. Regardless, this was all done while trying to use contour not the engraving function. I thought I would throw it out there in case Ray was having a similar problem with his chaining method and the window function. I hope this makes more sense. Justin

The way that works for me is: Settings/Customize/Toobar States. Then I arrange the toolbars how I want them and save under a new name for instance "Custom toolbar 1". Also check the default checkbox and your new custom toolbar should appear just as you left it in your last session the next time you open Mastercam

How are you selecting the chains I use contour with cutter comp off and window the chains. Once using X2 when I windowed my letters nothing was selected. As it turned out my Z level wasn't set at the same height as my letters. When I set it at the same height it fixed the problem.

If my WCS is set to top and I click the WCS button on the bottom toolbar then select rotate WCS It asks me to rename it unless I rotate it to a position that ends up being a named view. For instance rotate about X 90 degrees is the same as the front view. In this case the system automatically sets WCS TO front.

You guys are great. I'm sure there will be many questions to come. Thanks again, Justin

Thanks Colin, I will reread everything you wrote whehn I get home from work. That helps a lot. Justin

Thanks for your replies. That makes more sense now. I have a long way to go, but this is definately something I am interseted in learning so I will continue to put forth the effort. I appreciate any and all input on this subject. Justin

I have been reading the V9 Post reference guide and I understand what files files make up a post processor and in general how a post is organized, however when the reference guide starts to talk about the components of the MP language I'm lost. For instance when it talks about variables to produce NC output the example given is: n, scoolant, next_tool, e. What if any NC output would that produce, or what does that represent. Also in general how can I make sense of the MP language. Do I need more of a background in computer programing to understand the MP language. Thanks, Justin

I'm no tapping expert, but I am doing a job that is aluminum 6061 that has four 10-32 helicoil tapped holes. The taps reccomended to me, which I ended up ordering, were OSG spiral flute taps since I would be tapping into blind holes. I know the spiral flute taps evacuate the chips so that is one more thing to consider. I will have to use a floating holder because the machine available for the job does not have rigid tapping. I will let you know how they work out. Justin

Thanks everyone, I have a lot to learn about customizing post processors. I really appreciate all the help I get in this forum. Justin

I hear people reccommend that you should always make a copy of a post before you make changes to it. My question is should you just make a copy the post customization file and rename it, or should you also make a copy of the post text file and rename it with the same name as the post customization file. Thanks again Justin

John Thanks that link helped. I guess the easiest way to do what I want is just to use reference point and set the z retract to Z10. on the toolpath before my rotary move. That seems to post the way I need it. Thanks again Justin

How is everyone? I am running a job on a vertical mill that has the A-axis rotating about the X-axis. The program rotates to position, does some cutting then rotates to another position and does some more cuttting etc... What I want to be able to do is have my tool come up to a clearance height for instance Z 10.0 every time before the A-axis rotates. The rest of the time I would just like the tool to go to my clearance plane set on my parameters page. My question is can I do this by using a misc value and if so can someone point me in the right direction on how to set this up in my post. I know very little about editing post processors but I am trying to learn. Thanks in advance, Justin

Thanks again for all your replies. Adding a B0 to the program fixed the problem. However, this is my first four/five axis job, most of wich is all four axis. Just rotating to position then cutting and I am trying to customize the MPFADAL1 Post. So far I can get it to post the A rotation moves but there are alot of other issues that I need to fix. It should be a real good learning experience. I'm sure I will have some questions for you guys. Anyway thanks again Justin

I talked to Fadal and they said it's because I have a value in my fixture offset table for an axis that is not being called up in the program. In this case it is the B-axis. The machine I am running is a 5-axis machine but the program I am using only uses XYZA not B. So Fadal says I have to remove the B-value from my fixture offset table or put a B0 in my program before the first G2 or G3. I won't know if this works until tommorrow when I get to work but I will post the result in case anyone is wants to know. Thanks again Justin