emailing it on the way Del! Thank you! Roger, I will try that out. Thanks also!

Hello, I am trying to chain a 4-axis wire contour but keep running into a couple snags. The first problem I seem to have is that it won't let me select a cut point and it runs the wire back through the center of the part to the thread point. When I chain it I am selecting the thread point then the lower contour then the thread point again then the upper contour and it works. If I try to add the cut point into the program it says I can have no more than two contours??? The second problem I am having is that it allows the toolpath to run when 4-axis taper is selected but when I change it to direct 4-axis is says unequal number of entities. I have analyzed both contours and each one contains 241 entities??? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx, Lans

Yeah, sorry. I read that back to myself and it isn't very clear. Let me try this again... On my mill and lathe control definitions I have always made changes through the machine defintion because changes made outside of the machine definition don't stick. I guess I have never had to edit the operation defaults before. I didn't realize that there was another tab to edit outside of machine definitions. I had always assumed that the conrol definition within machine definition was the same. Is there a specific reason why the control definition is different depending on if you open through the machine definition or indepently?

I am digging this post up from the grave here... Why is it that operation defaults for wire does not fall under the control definition in machine definition but it does under the control defintion outside of the mach. def? I got it to work out. It just seems that this is a little out of order with the trend that all of my other machine defs. follow.

WOOT! It's Fanuc. That is relief! I was starting to get worried when you mentioned that Dwain! Thanks again,

The stuff I am seeing in the program manual says CT-graphic preview...CT-Expert. So it looks to be CT. Thanks Dwain,

Hmmmm. It is definately not Fanuc so I am hoping it is CT. It has a windows based touch screen and runs on G-code. What is the easiest way to find out? I have the book in front of me right now checking into it.

I have had the same problem ever since X came out and have always had to manually edit it. I know exactly how to alter the control def through the machine def but what is the exact button you click or option you select so that every tool gets numbered sequentially regardless of libray number. It always pulls the library number into the tool # (1012 or whatever). Then it puts a -1 in the head number and leaves the len offset and dia offset at 0's. Is it capable of sequentially numbering the tools for each job and matching the cutter comp number and hieght offsets so I don't have to change them? Like I said, I fully understand making changes to the control def through the machine def. It just seems that no matter what I change in the tool field the problem isnt fixed. Thanks,

hmmmm, that sounds believable since Agies supposedly is in some kind of joint deal with PEPS software. Our Agies guy said that they are owned by the same people so they strongly recommend PEPS with the machine. He also said that He hears a lot of people using Mastercam and if that is what I am used to it might be better to stick with one software. I would like to do that if possible but if it takes too much to make it happen efficiently then maybe not...

I haven't decided the training on the Mastercam part of it yet. I'll have to see what I think about it when I start to use it. I am going to get a crash course, more or less, on the Charmilles and we have a guy here that has run the same machine. All that I usually do is the programming for all of our machines. About once a month I go out on the floor and set-up/run the lathes and mills as needed. I have a good knowledge of those and they would like me to have the same amount of knowledge about the wire as well.

Good morning guys. I am a long time user of Mastercam mill and lathe but don't have any experinace with wire. We just purchased a Agie Charmilles FI 440CC and I am going to be trying out Mastercam Wire on it. Is there anything I need to know? How does it compare to mill? Thanks,

We have a mix of Yasnac, Fanuc, and Mitsubishi in our lathe department. The only machine currently available is a Yasnac. I tried a G32 with a program that Mastercam lathe spit out for a 2-d contour of the root profile on the Yasnac controller and it worked. Thanks for the help Leandro!

No go on the G73 so I'm back to the beginning.

Thanks. I just drew the root of the thread on Mastercam and now I am going to try a G73 cycle to cut it on the machine. Only time will tell.

Hello. I originally posted this in off topic as a contour threading question but now I am trying to get Mastercam to cut the theads. In the Lathe thread toolpath I see that there is an option for "Draw thread" in the thread definition. Does this feture allow you to define the root of the thread with geometry? It seems like it is, in reality, just a "view thread" rather than draw thread. I cannot get any activity on the screen for this...my cursor will not create or select. If anybody has suggestions on how to cut the thread via Mastercam or manual data entry, I am all ears. Thank you,

HA! I know all about "those" people here as well. Wanting to spend 1 1/2 hrs. changing a process on a prototype 1pc. job to save 5 min. in run time! Argggh! Just curious about the rotary issue...do you get any backlash when you are rotating both direcions? We have Nikken rotaries on Kitamuras and find that our repeatability is much better if we rotate in one direction as opposed to back and forth.

Thanks Neil. I am getting my files from our engineer who uses UGS so he can export as anything I request. We used to use mostly .IGS but they don't come over with lines and are not as manipulative as .STP so I recently started requesting these. The only thing I dont like is the color thing. They all come over on seperate levels. I'll have to find out which .STP file he has been exporting and have him try the other one. Thanks again, Lans

Hello, Could someone tell me if it is possible to designate different colors on .STP file assemblies when bringing them into Mastercam? Everytime they come in on my machine I have 20 solids that all come in the "solid" designated color. This makes it difficult, at a glance, to decipher the seperate parts of the assembly. I know that the same assembly brought in as a .IGS file with surfaces designates colors for each part of it. Just wondering if there is setting for this or not. Thank you, Lans

Cool, thanx for the input. Only about 1/2 of our Kitamura's are new and the other ones don't have a large amount of internal memory. We try to only run the surfacing parts on the new ones but can't always do that.

Tha's pretty much where I was going with this Prosin. I love Mastercam way better than the others but I have to adjust the tolerance way back and make huge programs that have to be drip fed to my machines. Even then the surface is not quite as good as the others (and not enough better than the higher tolerance to justify the length in program). I just thought there was a slight possibility that I was missing some simple secret that smoothed things out a little better. I'm sure there is a way around this by using certain toolpaths a certain way and what not...just curious if I didn't really have to do that. I defintely would like to hear people suggestions and tips though! Thanx again, [ 01-03-2008, 01:57 PM: Message edited by: LansB ]

Cool thanx!

Look at that.....wouldn't ya know I just found where I wrote that down. It should be in the MCAMX2 folder < "bad surface finish" Shows up for me, let me know if it works

Thanx, I'll have to write that down

username and password?

I'll give it a try....haven't done that in a while.