Fair enough. What happenes if I create the code I need from mastercam, post it out and then cut in the safety lines and whateva else etc from a text file? Can I then save that as the post processor? Or do I need to first send out the nc file and edit it at the machine and then send it back? It should overwrite a generic file right?

Salute MC Gods. My company purchased MCX in april of this year and after some rather sped up class time with my re-seller I proceded to jump into the software with both feet. I've been programming for Fanuc based machinery for ten years now and my skills at manual programming have served me well. I can caluculate radi in my head now simply because of the amount of programming I've done. What I discoverd with mastercam after a few errors was that I can simply cut the text from the generic posts and paste it into what already is in place with text files. My question is this; Should I go to the trouble of setting up post processors for any given machine when all I have to do is cut and paste in to what I already have? It's a mystery to me. I'm fast man, once you get a few things in your head with mcx the rest seems pointless.

No wait, it was xxxx!! Ya it was xxxx!! Muwahahahahaha.........xxxx, or was it nipple?

Did someone say nipple?

Flippin bunch "O" whackos in here I tell ya.

Your control may be of an older type. If it is it won't understand "R" as being a radius value. In that case I and K are used to indicate arc rotation. It may also not read decimal places in the feed rates. .007 would look like 70 in that case and .012 would be 120 etc. As stated before I don't promise anything. % :0001 N1 (ROUGH TURN) (CNMG 3/32 TOOL NOSE RADIUS MINIMUM) G99 G50S1400 G0T0101 G97S700M3 G54X8.25Z.2G96S500 M8 G71U.1R.02 G71P100Q101U.005W.002F120 N100G0G42X-.065 G1Z0 X0 G3X7.874W-3.937K-3.937 G1Z-5.25 X8.25W-.05 N101G0G40X8.25W.2 G28U0W0M9 M0 N2 (FINISH TURN) (VBMT 3/32 TOOL NOSE RADIUS) G99 G50S2500 G0T0303 G97S700M3 G54X8.0Z.1G96S500 M8 Z-3.8 G71U.04R.02 G71P200Q201U.005W0F120 N100G1G42X7.874W0 G1Z-3.987 G3X7.4254W-1.31I-3.7127K.05 G1X8.0 N201G0G40X8.0 G0G40X8.0 Z.1 G42X-.065S600 G1Z0F100 X0F.007 G3X7.874W-3.937K-3.937 X7.4254W-1.31I-3.7127 G1W-.05 X8.25F300 G0G40X8.5W.2M9 G28U0W0 M0 M30 %

Be carful to stand your blank off of the jaws a little as you may feed/rapid into them. Do the math on that back ark and give yourself about 1/2" of room.

This may work and it may not, depends on your control and my math(you take your chances in here man). No garunteees. % :0001 N1 (ROUGH TURN) (CNMG 3/32 TOOL NOSE RADIUS MINIMUM) G99 G50S1400 G0T0101 G97S700M3 G54X8.25Z.2G96S500 M8 G71U.1R.02 G71P100Q101U.005W.002F.012 N100G0G42X-.065 G1Z0 X0 G3X7.874W-3.937R3.937 G1Z-5.25 X8.25W-.05 N101G0G40X8.25W.2 G28U0W0M9 M0 N2 (FINISH TURN) (VBMT 3/32 TOOL NOSE RADIUS) G99 G50S2500 G0T0303 G97S700M3 G54X8.0Z.1G96S500 M8 Z-3.8 G71U.04R.02 G71P200Q201U.005W0F.012 N200G1G42X7.874W0 G1Z-3.987 G3X7.4254W-1.31R3.937 G1X8.0 N201G0G40X8.0 G0G40X8.0 Z.1 G42X-.065S600 G1Z0F.01 X0F.007 G3X7.4254W-5.247R3.937 G1W-.05 X8.25F.03 G0G40X8.5W.2M9 G28U0W0 M0 M30 % [ 09-27-2006, 10:04 PM: Message edited by: ShiftZ ]

Ahh yes, the "simple" accuracy test. If you gents have no experience on CNC machinery may I suggest you get the dude in that shop who does because according to that dwg your little test will require two set ups. BTW, little rads work just as well as big ones and only require one safe op.

Not only that but the surface is relived, that is to say that there are two diameters that will be in place after machining. This isn't a hack job. The helix approaches to one point from 180 degrees by two arcs over 360 degrees, simple for mastercam guys. I did it with a calculator two years ago but have since decided that 4 hours of manual programming can be done in 30 seconds of understanding how cad works. I need help, not snide comments.

I'm creating a full machined path that takes out 70% of a surface diameter, not a thread.

I'm having some difficulties creating a helix pattern on a diameter. I use "create rectangular shapes", locate my datum and establish my length and height. After that I add rads to the left end from the datum and delete the entity at the reference point(meaning the vertical line that joins the box). From that point I change my view to isometric and locate the pocket toolpath feature. From there I chain a toolpath, making sure that I have selected the "open" for pocket shape. No problems. I then switch on the grid feature making sure that it matches my diameter and is brightly attired. From that point I insert a circle center point to match the diameter. Now I'm lost. I do realize that I need to extend a line from the center of the circle matching the circumfrence and draw a line back to the "oal" but before I do that I need to "XForm Roll" and it's here that I encounter all of my pain. Help out a newbie boyz, Salute!