Ahh, that got it. There are two settings that had to be turned off. Thanks.

I see the coolant setting in the display options. But unchecking it doesn't hide the parameter. Just the word "Coolant".

In the Operations Manager window in X6 there is now a coolant parameter. Can this be turned off? I am so used to clicking the last item in that list to backplot my toolpath I find myself opening up the coolant parameters instead. I rarely ever go to the coolant page in the parameters so this is a very useless and cumbersome feature for me.

Right-click on the toolpath and select "Toolpath Editor". Click the up-down arrows after the Point window to select the point in the toolpath you want to edit then click the "Edit Point" button. From there you can change the feed, coolant, etc. Make sure to set the coolant because for some reason when you edit a point the coolant defaults to "Off".

We use similar mandrels. They work pretty good.

Yeah, I don't know what kind of butter you use, but ours is a little softer here I'm thinkin' Where I am at now aluminum is the norm too. Might as well be cutting Balsa Wood.

Where is the Mother Ship located? Because here in Indiana I have seen more work with Hast X, Inconel, Rene, Waspalloy, etc than I have anything else. Five out of the seven shops I have worked at specialized in exotic materials. Just curious because around here getting that kind of work is very competitive.

I have cut a lot of Hast X and K2csq7 is giving pretty good advice. Your tooling, no matter what you use is going to take a beating. Maybe rough with a bullnose with a .050" stepover leaving .010" then finish with the ballnose? If you can get the surface on an angle, to cut with your ballnose at about a 30 degree angle to the material you will be better off. This will get you away from the center of the endmill and give you better tool life and less breakage. The biggest endmill you can get away with will of course allow the biggest stepover.

I Never knew that button was there. That will help. Thank you! FWIW - I still wish the entities would remain selected after effing up =)

Stop putting bad words in my mouth!

Wow. I see you have already been down this road. Interesting that they haven't fixed this. Of course I figured they would fix it by X2 so I never said anything. Then X3 came along and I thought they would fix it in X4. Etc. So here I am. There are worse things to complain about. But right now I can't think of any.

I haven't looked at the part since I don't have Mastercam 6 on my box yet... but have you used the Trim toolpath before? It sounds like you have one boundry you need to cut inside of, then another you want to stay away from? Another way I avoid areas in Z axis is on the Rough Contour Parameters tab click the cut depths button. Set it to Absolute and right click in the Minimum Depth box and select "Z = Z Coordinate of a point". Pick the top of the surface where you want to start cutting then subtract your depth of cut. So if the top of my surface is -Z- 0.0000 and my cut depth is .100" this field will read -.1". Then do the same thing in the maximum depth, then if you need an overlap subtract that. So if the lowest area I want to cut is say -4.0000", and I want my tool to cut past this by .100" this field will read -4.1".

And yeah, I saw this. I will try to start doing this. This is just a work-around though because it still requires another step. Because after clicking the wrong command you have to select ALL>>>Xform Result. Then Xform>>>Translate. If the entities just remained selected I could just go Xform>>>Translate. So yes, that works. But my solution is still faster.

Yeah, I have used it, but I haven't messed with it a lot. I have minimal toolbars on my screen as well. And each bar is customized. I don't use the Xform bar... I use the file menu for that one because I generally don't move things around too much after I get my setup figured out. Old dog, new tricks kinda thing ya know. I have been that way for years with Photoshop, Autocad, Dreamweaver, etc. And I rotate my parts the same as you. ESC clears your selection as well. I am good with all the selection techniques. I love Mastercam's intersect, in+, out+ etc. I use the polygonal selection tool a lot as well. I learned years ago in Photoshop that being able to select things well is the key. So I have no trouble there. I use levels, groups, and all the other things to seperate my entities for faster re-selection. And the "Hide Entity" button is worn out on my toolbar But there are times when it still takes time to select entities in a model. And there are times when clicking each entity is the only way you are going to select them. Especially some of the models we get. I just think that until you perform the command on something it should remain selected. Nothing should ever de-select without me de-selecting it or doing something to it to make it a "Result". I know if I pick my command first, then select my geometry I could solve this dilemma. But I never do it that way. The order I do things is the way you have to do them in other programs. You can't pick a command in Photoshop and have it ask you what to perform the command on. It just doesn't work that way. Photoshop won't even let you select most commands until you select something. A lot of other software is that way as well. So to learn to do it in reverse after 20+ years of using other types of software just isn't going to happen.

Yeah I figured that much out after I had already edited the 40 points. I then had to edit them again. Was just wondering if there is a setting to correct this?

I have been machining for over 15 years now. I have ran over 30 types of machines from Cincinatti, Haas, Mori-Seiki, Okuma, Karaki, Mazak, Century Turn, and a lot more. To this day I still tell people Okuma is one of the best machines in the business. I never had one slow down on the heaviest of cuts. They are very solid machines. I used to run parts with .0002" tolerances and never worried leaving .002" for a gage cut. Amazing machines. But pricey. The Century Turn VTL's I ran had Fanuc controls and were very nice as well. I used to rough .450" per side at .030"/rev in 718 Inconel. And the machines did fine.

Well at least I learned something. =) I don't use translate 3d. I always click it by mistake when trying to click xform>>>translate is what I was saying.

First of all, I suggest you start a forum for suggestions Here are a few things I would like to see added/changed in future versions of Mastercam... 1. Ability to adjust the feedrate and RPM of the first pass through a pocket in the toolpath parameters. The first cut is always a slot, cutting the full width of the endmill. 2. Spring passes on a contour. Leading in and leading out takes up time if all you want to do is make another lap. It is a feature on a pocket. Why is it not on a contour? 3. When I spend 10 minutes selecting entities then click XFORM>>>TRANSLATE 3D and close the dialog because I meant to click XFORM>>>TRANSLATE all of those entities I had selected de-select. It really sucks that I have to re-select all those entities again. Keep the entities selected until you actually do something to them. I know I have more to add to this but right now this is all I can think of.

I have a parallel pocket toolpath cutting 4 pockets. The first -X- move after helixing down into the pocket is basically a slot move cutting the full width of the endmill. I used the "Toolpath Editor" to edit the toolpath to slow the feed down on each of these pockets just for the first -X- move through the pocket since it is a rather aggresive feed and depth of cut. Since there are 5 depth cuts per pocket that was 20 points that I slowed the feedrate down, then 20 more that I sped it back up after this initial slot. After posting I found that the coolant was turned off at each of these edited points and never turned back on. Is there something I am doing wrong?

It's only funny because, like me, you have unwound your spring a time or two

Here's what I think makes for a good machinist/programmer (being one myself)... The absolute biggest credit to my skills has been the people I have worked with. I learned a lot from them. So ask about their machining background and maybe what they learned from who. Ask them to give examples. If they have the skills you are looking for and they say anything remotely close to "This one old guy showed me..." hire them. It means they LISTENED! These old guys and their skills are disappearing fast! Finding someone who can bring some of that experience into a shop is going to benefit your current and future employees. I like the idea of giving them a print and asking how they would machine it. Have a couple examples. Have one print of a simple to machine part, and maybe one you have machined and had a little trouble with. See what kind of ideas they come up with when put on the spot. Keep in mind though, most fixture ideas don't come to mind right away. Someone who recognizes machining a part is going to be a pain may be a better choice than someone who is cocky and spits out an idea right away.

Here is what I came up with... I have also attached the MCX file. I am sure there are different ways to do this, but my solution was to create each letter at the same X/Y location. Switch to the left view and rotate each letter 12 degrees from the previous letter. I then created a view at each of these rotations and projected the letter onto the surface. LETTERS.MCX-5

gcode solved this in the middle of my reply lol.

Well, I offset the contour -.010" and rechained it and got all G03's I thought now I am onto something! This wouldn't work of course because your part ID would be .020" small. But this was just a test. I then went into the toolpath parameters and on the contour paramaters page I changed the stock to leave on walls to -.010" so the tool would cut to the proper dimensions. I then got the G01's again I even chainged the arc filter total tolerance to .0002" thinking maybe that would fix it, but it didn't. So I went back to your original program and the only thing I did differently was I changed the stock to leave on walls to .0020". The area that it posted with the G01's became a lot smaller. So I tried .0025". The G01's went away. So you could offset your tool -.005" on diameter and get a good part essentially. That still doesn't explain why this is happening though

This is really weird. I have recreated the file from scratch. Used tools from my own library. And I get the G01's still. I have a couple more things I am going to try.