Hi Xleng,

Call your reseller for help. They are your quickest resource for getting a post. The other thing you could do is contact In-House Solutions, the host of this forum. They write excellent posts. How many different configurations of machines do you have and what kind of controls are on them? This will help determine the best course of action. If the controls are Fanuc based, it shouldn't be too hard or cost too much to get a Post done reasonably quickly.

The other options would be to hire someone to write the posts on contract, or to modify an existing post yourself with the help of the forum members. I do a fair amount of 3 and 4 axis posts myself. I also know a couple of people who do more advanced posts (5 axis, Mill/Turn and laser machines) as well. Let me know what kind of stuff you have and I'll try and give you a best/worst case scenario. I can also give you some good contacts should you desire to hire someone to just get it done.

Thanks,

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

MasterShake,

Making the functions visible would help.

Thank you,

Colin Gilchrist

resourse hacker.... I'll check it out.

Thanks for the help Master.

You are the man!

Ok, never mind. I opened the Chooks folder, right clicked and did a refresh, and there it is. Please disregard last.

Thank you,

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

Hi Zerren,

I can't seem to find the GraphicsBackground_CHook.zip file on the FTP site anywhere....

Thanks,

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

Thanks MasterShake, This is going to be great. I'm going to have to buy Resource Tuner so I can create custom icon images for some of the "Key Event" generic buttons. I can see these options being very handy. Thank you for the quick response.

Did you see my question above about rotating about the current WCS and using Cursor placement for the Zoom In/Out functionality?

Again, Thank you.

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

Oh man I'm stoked. I really like being able to use the buttons for "ESC" "RETURN" (Enter on the keyboard) and "ESC RETURN" (Its like pressing "Apply" then "Escape" sequentially). Thanks again.

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

You could also copy your Libraries (Tools, Ops, Defaults), MD,CD, and Posts to the new machine and then update the MCX file pretty easily. We store our Libraries, Machines, Controls, and Posts on a network server. This allows us a great deal of freedom. Any one of our 20+ programmers can work on anyone else's job. What is it you need to accomplish?

Thanks,

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

The other thing that would be really nice for your Zoom utlitity would be the ablility to zoom in/out from the mouse pointer location on the screen. This is the same functionality that the center scroll wheel currently has in X. Right now your Ctrl + Shift function zooms in/out from the screen center.

Thank you,

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

MasterShake,

Very good job on the Chooks. I really like the Zoom/Rotate/Pan functionality. The only thing I would like to see changed would be the ability for the "Rotate about Z function" (Ctrl + Alt) to use the Z axis of the current system WCS. Right now it rotates about the system Z axis origin. Thank you for the free utilities. I think they will be used more at my work than the X+ utilities (Sorry Gunther, X+ is still cool!). I really like the ablilty to customize the "AI X menu". Very Handy. Is there a way to setup keyboard shortcuts for the functions listed on the AI X menu? That would be really nice.

Thank you,

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

Watcher,

Don't forget to enable "Helical entry/exit" at the top and bottom of the thread. You will also want to use some type of cutter comp. (I usually use the wear setting) so you can comp your thread in at the machine. I usually define my thread mill as being .001 bigger than it actually is. That way you can cut a test thread and then comp the cutter until your gauge fits the threads. I like to sneak up on a thread size if its a new job.

HTH,

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

Hi Bogus,

Don't pay attention to the instructions about drawing your tool at 1". This is only true if you want to be able to "scale" the tool profile. Just draw the tool profile at its actual size. Remember you are only drawing half of the tool profile and it must be in the 1st quadrant (all positive X and Y values). You do not need to draw the centerline. Mastercam will automatically assume that the Y axis is the centerline of the tool.

When you create your undefined tool, select level as the location of the tool profile. This level can not contain other geometry. Now input your actual diameter and the dashed yellow line should line up with the radius of your tool profile. Don't forget to draw the flat on the tip of your thread mill.

HTH,

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

Hi John,

We use the VB scripts quite a bit to automate certain tasks that we do quite often. We also use Chooks/NetHooks for more advanced features. Here are some examples of the types of VBScripts we run:

Documents - We have several VB Scripts that generate setup sheets in Microsoft Word. The advantage to this is that we get to place data and graphics exactly where we want them. When the script runs, the user is prompted with a series of dialog boxes that they can input data in. Then the Script builds a Word document and populates the fields.

Dovetails - We have a script that creates a geometric pattern on lines of a certain length. We seperate the lines onto a level, run the script and it creates our geometry.

Table Grid - We have a script that creates a grid of points in Mastercam that represents the tooling pin locations on our table. We create these points for our setup documents.

CHooks/NetHooks would be used for more advanced applications. ProDrill, ATP, and the Zip to Go utility are all good examples of the functionality that can be added by a Hook.

The only real limitation to using a CHook or NetHook is your level of computer programming experience and your knowledge of the programming language you are using. Visual Basic is probably the easiest to get started with. The nice thing about a VB script is that you don't have to complile anything. Just create the script and run it. VB does have more limitations as to what functions you can use with Mastercam though.

If you are interested in learning VB you should check out:

"Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Step by Step"

By Michael Halvorson, Published by Microsoft Press

Its a great tutorial/reference and it starts at the very beginning (which is where I'm at). I'm about half way through the book and its really opening my eyes. Very easy to understand and there are no typos at all. The other language I would like to start learning is "C" because that is what the MP Post language is based on. Learning "C" would really add to anyone's post knowledge.

HTH,

Colin Gilchrist

IRC NC Programming

The Boeing Company

I run almost the exact same computer. Its perfect for Mastercam.

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

Heavy,

You need to set the work offset number in the "Planes" button inside each toolpath. This is the offset that Mastercam reads and then outputs at the pwcs call. BTW, if the box is unchecked or if it is set to "-1" then Mastercam will assume that your work offset hasn't changed and will not output a new work offset number. The "-1" value tells Mastercam to ignore that feature (kind of like turning that switch off).

You can also assign a work offset to a WCS automatically if you go into the "View Manager". Use the attributes section to assign a work offset number to each plane.

In your pwcs postblock you have it set too:

g_wcs = workofs + 1

This means that whatever work offset number you enter in the work offsets data entry field will get the number 1 added to it. That means a work offset entry of "0" gets output as E1. I would change the g_wcs line to:

g_wcs = workofs

( just delete the + 1)

Then the number you enter in the work offset data entry field is the work offset you get. 0=E0, 1=E1, ect.

I don't know how much custom stuff you have in your post, but Mastercam X ships with two Fadal posts, a format 1 and a format 2. Both of these posts require almost no editing to get perfect Fadal code. You might consider just taking the new Fadal post for version X and making changes to it. Both post are already setup for the E series of work offsets, X style coolant options, ect. If you can't find it on the X install disk, contact your reseller. They should be able to send it to you.

HTH,

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

Well lets hope they release and let us test Beta 3 before the "offical" release date.....

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

Pune, India?

Hmmmmmm........

Elraiis,

In the future you can also use the Mastercam X text editor to do a find and replace on your code. It sure beats going through it by hand....

HTH,

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

+1 on Predator Virtual CNC.

I've used Predator and it will give you the same functionality as Vericut for about 1/3 of the cost.

We use Vericut here at Boeing and it is awesome, but if it were my money, I'd consider both carefully. Saving around 20k of my own money would be a huge deal. You will need to get some training either way though. Both pieces of software need considerable amounts of configuration/knowledge to be able to use them well. Vericut does offer a service where they will build you a model of your machine and create a Control file for you. I'm guessing that it is pretty expensive, but considering the time involved, it might be worth it. I'm not sure if Predator offers this kind of service, but I'm sure you could get them to do the same kind of thing. After all, money talks. I'm sure you could get all the support/training you need with a small part of that 20k. Let us know how the decision making process goes.

HTH,

Colin Gilchrist

IRC NC Programming

Mastercam Focal

The Boeing Company

I'm happy to help guys!

Thanks,

Colin Gilchrist

IRC NC Programming

Mastercam Focal

The Boeing Company

Hi Matt,

The X+ utilities only output a setup sheet as Excell, not the Tool list.

Thanks though,

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

The worst control I've found so far was an ancient Allen-Bradley. Running one is slightly more painful than having teeth pulled, sans novicane.

-Colin Gilchrist

Lstar,

You could also potentially modify your post so that the G00 movement codes are on different lines. There are some switches in the Control Definition file to accomplish this, but your post must have the logic routine to use it. If your post was converted from a Pre-X post then you might need to make some changes.

All of our posts are set up to move up in Z first before making any XY moves when retracting. When plunging, the post is set to move to the correct X,Y position, before plunging down in Z. Setting up your post in this manner eliminates the "Dogleg" rapid moves that can get 'ugly' really quickly.

In the Control Definition file, go to the Linear topic. Set the XY, X,Z and Y,Z sections to Break Rapid Moves. This will cause your post to output Z, then XY moves for Retract, and XY then Z for plunge if it is enabled in your post.

HTH,

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

3D comp only works on machines that support 3D cutter compensations. This is usually available only on higher end controls.

HTH,

Colin Gilchrist

Mastercam X MR2

Nope, I'm not Charles, but I used his Handbooks to teach classes at Cimtech Inc. the Washington State Mastercam Reseller. I taught Mastercam X full time for over a year before joining Boeing. We did evaluations on all of the training materials available and the Handbook series offers the most knowledge for your dollar. The only negative comment I might make is that there could be more tutorials included. The information about Mastercam and its toolpaths is very good though. In all fairness we also used the Mastercam X Training Tutorials from In-House Solutions. These books are excellent tutorials, but lack the depth and explanations available in the Handbook series by Charles Davis. I would recommend both books actually. They complement each other superbly.

Thanks,

Colin Gilchrist

IRC NC Programming

Mastercam Focal

The Boeing Company

Mastercam MR2 and Beta Tester