An STL File is always output relative to the Top WCS plane. This can make them a pain to work with sometimes. John is right about using Xform STL. Its your best option for positioning an STL file. Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site

Stability = Great for the next 5-7 years. The 787 is kickin in and we are swamped. Salary = about 50-90k a year. I know it a big range but I'm not in HR so I have no say. I'm not sure I'm really supposed to say that, but the salary range is shown to every applicant, so I hope its ok. If you have specific questions feel free to email me. I'll answer anything that isn't proprietary. Thanks, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company

Looking for a change? Come work with some of the best and brightest people in a great work enviornment with incredible pay and benefits. Boeing has an open job requisition for an NC programmer at the Everett Washington plant. We are looking for a programmer with Mastercam and Vericut experience. This requisition closes on Friday 09/29/2006, so apply now. All applications are done through the Boeing website. You will need to submit your resume through the website according to the online instructions. Boeing NC Programmer requisition Relocation assistance is available... Best regards, Colin Gilchrist Interiors Responsiblity Center NC Programming The Boeing Company

What about naming your first level in the set, copying the level set name, and using your mouse to select the next level set entry field and pressing Ctrl + V to paste in the level set name. I can paste the level set name into the level set entry field faster than 1 per second. I'm not sure how long it takes you to save your named levels to excel, modify them, and import them back in, but the Left Click, Ctrl + V, Left click on the next entry field, Ctrl + V, ect. to paste the name is really fast. HTH, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site

WOW!!! Somebody please call the cops in Japan. Sounds like Mr. Crack needs to hear from Software piracy police.

Go with a diamond coating. What size of bits are you using? Try Carolina Speciality Tools or Diamond Tool Coating (this is a coating service and you would have to send them your bits). HTH, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site

How about "delete all operations and tools" in the operations manager....

If you want to use canned text, you will need to write it into your post and you will need to add a description to the "Text" section of your control file. I can post an example tomorrow if you need one. HTH, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and beta test site

Hi Lee, Do you use the mist collector with every program you write? I can think of a couple options to make it easier on you than a manual entry toolpath. Not that Manual Entry is a bad way to go, but this could save you some time. 1. You could "hard code" it into the post in the psof (start of file) post block if you want to turn it on with every program. 2. You could set it up as a canned text output. Using canned text would make it very easy to include in your first operation. You could also setup the canned text section so that you could enable/disable the mist collector with "the flip of a switch" on each individual operation through the Canned Text button on the Toolpath parameters page. HTH, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site

Gotta maintain control somehow.... ( "Because I said so, thats why!" )

Data Flute has some pretty good cutters for Stainless. I would go with a 5 flute if you can. A good coating will go a long way towards helping your tool life. Call up data flute and ask them what coating they recommend for 17-4 H900. Don't ask them about cutters unless you need the info. That should keep the jabbering in your ear down to a reasonable level. HTH Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site

MasterShake, You've got mail! I'd be happy to test your chooks. Just let send me an email. Thanks, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site P.S. Thad, why would sharing your sim # be any kind of a worry? Its not like anyone can do anything with the number...

Good luck on getting the Macros to work.... I've tried several times, but I think there is a bug in the macro recorder that does not properly recognize mouse clicks. I've sent in several reports to CNC about this but no word so far on a fix. Your best bet right now is to do a File - Merge. HTH, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site

That depends on the total depth of the slot... The main limitation with a ball endmill is the lack of RPM and Flutes in the center.

What type of toolholder interface do you have on the new machine? You should talk with some tooling reps in your area (Ingersol,Sandvik,ect.) and ask them about horse power requirements for their tools. You should be able to take a 1-2" inserted tool holder and bury it a couple of inches deep in a slot cut in steel. The limiting factors will be available horsepower and toolholder rigidity (determined by tool overhang and interface type). You can get incredible metal removal rates with the right toolholder/tool. HTH, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site

Rick, Here are some links that should help with your VB script writing. Lots of useful code snippets to show you how to format and populate fields with data in Word or Excell. Free from Microsoft. Enjoy. Word VB link Excell VB link Thanks, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site

Perfect. I love it when a plan comes together. -Colin

+1 to only selecting the faces you need on large models. If you select the entire solid, it does add to the calculation time. If you want to speed up the calculation time of your toolpaths, make sure you have a good toolpath memory allocation setting, and disable the "display surface/plane intersections" check box in the configuration file. HTH, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company

Mowens, You could also create actual dimensioned prints in Mastercam X, print them out, and just let your operator use Demo to preview the toolpaths, Verify, Backplot, ect. Its more work, but a copy of Design LT is still some ca$h. HTH, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site

Shawn, The text strings that show up in the misc. integers dialog box come from the "Text" section of the control definition file. When you do a post conversion from version 9 you must have the .pst and the .txt post file. This automatically fills in the text fields in the control file. That being said, you can open the Machine Definition Manager, open the Control Definition file and go down to the "Text" section and fill the strings of text in. Then save the control Def, Machine Def and shut down Mastercam. When you restart the strings will show up in the Misc. Integers dialog box. If you have a file that already has toolpaths in it, you will need to go into the Machine Group Properties dialog box and click on the replace button. Then you can select the machine def that you have modified and do a replace. HTH, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site

Hi Mowens, I'm pretty sure the demo version is setup to NOT display dimensions accuratly so that people can not use it to create 2D drawings by drawing and dimensioning geometry and then printing the geometry with dimensions. The only option your operator has with demo is to use "analyze distance" or analyze point. Kind of a pain, but that is a limitation of Demo. HTH, Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site

Can you upload your file to the FTP site?

It can also be set by the Control Definition file. Open your Machine Definition Manager and select the Control Definition button. In the Control Definintion dialog box, select Machine Cycles option. In the "Height return options" select the radio button for either initial height or reference height.

It is ususally in your post processor. What post are you using? Colin Gilchrist The Boeing Company MR2 and Beta test site

If you are programming for the machine you will need to add some special codes in the psof post block to have the machine check and see if the first tool in the program is already in the spindle. If it is and you don't have: IF [VATOL EQ Txx]NATO1 you will get an alarm. HTH