Well we got our 12 X 12 X 18 inch $*** cardboard box in today, and still haven't built the stamped metal box to run it on.

 

My choices on what I can get tonight are limited so has anyone used a Quadro 2000 VCQ2000-PB 1024MB yet for MC?

 

Else I will have to newegg an appropriate one and wait a couple more days.

 

Anyone running one?

We just installed that exact card. We were temporarily running an i5 system using the built in CPU video. We tested a program in verify using 14 toolpaths and it took 2 minutes and 30 seconds to verify with the quality maxed out and .002" tool tolerance. We then tested an FX 1500 and the verify time was cut to 13 seconds. Then we installed the Quadro 2000 and verify times dropped to 3.5 seconds, and looked much better! It has made a huge difference in verifying toolpaths. And overall visual quality and model rotation seems to be smoother. I am now programming a part with 75 tool paths (so far), and lots of surfacing and it's doing pretty good. I have no complaints other than I wanted a quadro 4000 =)

I was going to say the same thing Crazy^Millman did. I grew up in wood shops and did everything from cabinet making to running CNC routers. The radial arm saw is a tough one for this application. The climbing action is going to grab the material and pull the saw. Is it possible to pull the saw out first, slide the material into position, then feed the saw back toward the fence? As opposed to pulling it toward you, you would be pushing it away from you. Reverting back to a conventional cut. A fine tooth blade would probably work best.

We just got our Quadro 2000 cards and noticed there are different drivers available for these cards. Which driver will work best for Mastercam? Here are the drivers we are looking at...

◦Quadro Graphics Driver - Official release driver for Quadro and ISV certification support to all ISVs, OEMs and End Users.

◦Quadro Performance Driver - The driver released ahead of "Quadro Graphics Driver" from each major release to support the need of Press performance evaluation on Quadro.

◦Quadro Partner Certified Driver - All drivers certified by our ISVs partners.

◦AutoCAD Performance Driver – NVIDIA Powerdraft performance driver for Autodesk's AutoCAD software. Developed in close collaboration with Autodesk, POWERdraft is a free, downloadable software driver capable of delivering dramatic performance improvements when coupled with NVIDIA Quadro FX professional graphics solutions.

◦3ds Max Performance Driver – NVIDIA Maxtremeperformance driver for Autodesk's 3ds max software. Developed in close collaboration with Autodesk, MAXtreme is a free, downloadable software driver capable of delivering dramatic performance improvements when coupled with NVIDIA Quadro FX professional graphics solutions.

Or is there another driver available we should use?

Thanks.

Do your end mills have any kind of radius? Chipped corners? To finish a pocket floor you need a very sharp end mill. Otherwise the chips will get drug under the tool and cause all kinds of swirls on the floor of the pocket. You see this a lot with radius tools, more often in steel, but in aluminum too especially if your set-up isn't very rigid. Also, a tight helix is best. 45 deg or so. A straight flute end mill side cutting will chatter very badly.

As for the rpm - with that small of a tool I wouldn't see any problem running 20,000+rpm, but you would need a very rigid spindle, and as little tool stick-out as possible. I typically run a 1/8" 2 flute Dataflute endmill at .025" depth of cut, 15,000rpm, and 25-30ipm. Keep in mind this is with flood coolant.

Just curious... how big is the pocket you are cutting? Can it be roughed in with a larger tool?

When I create a new toolpath, after chaining, the toolpath parameters window opens. Then if I click "Select library tool" the tool library opens with the filter active, showing only aa few tools. I always have to uncheck this because it never has the correct filter turned on. Even if I uncheck it then close the tool library and click "Select library tool" again the filter is turned back on. This is VERY annoying. Is there a way to disable this default? I see nothing in the config file about it. Is there a file that I can modify to turn this off? The default should be to have this unchecked.

That's interesting. Thanks for the link.

I have an old Dell Precision M90 with a Quadro FX1500 GPU. It did fine with Mastercam X3. It also played games well too at the time. I didn't even realize the Quadro's were the professional cards. So if the budget for a new video card is $200, what one would you recommend? Yeah, that's being extremely cheap. My only other option is to buy the card myself.

Really? A Quadro? What makes them a better choice? I never really looked at any of the nVidia cards as strictly gaming cards.

Thanks for the info. I was pretty sure about everything but needed our IT guy to see your responses before he would believe me.

Maybe he will get me a dual core GTX590 =)

I understand that we should have a dedicated GPU. Would it speed up the verify process?

If we added a dedicated graphics card would that take some of the load off of the CPU when verifying a program?

I was verifying a program when I got a message stating Mastercam X5 was using 99% of at least one CPU. When we opened the task manager we noticed Mastercam was using 100% of CPU2. The others were barely registering. Process affinity is set to use ALL Processors. Is there a way to force Mastercam to actually use the other processors?

I guess I should mention the PC I am using has the following specs...

Mastercam X5 MU1

Dell Optiplex 790

Intel Core i5 CPU running at 3.10 GHz

4GB memory

Windows 7 Professional

As of right now we are using the integrated graphics processor.

We got it. I didn't realize there was a newer version on the site here. I just assumed that since I just did the MU1 update that it came with the latest version.

Thanks.

Hasp HL Driver Ver 5.20

Running Mastercam X5 MU1

I also just tried running the install in XP SP3 compatability mode with the same results.

I am trying to move our NetHasp to our new Windows 7 PC. When I try to run the Hasp Setup utility it says it is for Windows 98/ME, XP, 2000, etc. But not Windows 7. If I continue it says "Driver Installation Failed". Is there a Windows 7 version of this driver? Or is there something else I need to do? If I am doing something wrong forgive me as I am new to Windows 7. And I have only done this Hasp setup one time a year or so ago.

Thanks.

Sorry. I guess I should have searched the topic. But I was trying to work and just wanted to get this question asked while I was thinking about it =)

I did notice if I open the library using Notepad the tools are actually there. So I can't wait to see this library when they do get it fixed. I bet I've tried adding 100+ tools to it.

I am using Mastercam X5 with MU1 installed.

When I try to add a new tool to my custom tool library it will not show up. The filter is turned off. I have tried duplicating a similar tool, and creating a new tool altogether, and nothing works. I tried this before and after installing MU1. I have tried creating the tool in my part program and copying it to my custom library and get the same results. Anybody else have this problem?

I am not sure if it started after MU1 or MU2, but the step forward and backward buttons when backplotting don't do anything on any of our machines. I assume it is since the MU2 update, because I just noticed it shortly after the update.

I guess I should add. we are using Mastercam X2 SP2 ver 0.18.0.141

I am having problems with a file that has me stumped. I am not sure what action I am doing is generating these errors, but I know the last time I ran this part (over a year ago) I had the same problems.

The tools will change type, number, diameter, etc in the tool manger but verifying the part after this happens still shows the correct tools running, or at least the part still looks correct.

Also, tools are showing up in the tool manager on their own. I have 2 extra 1/8th inch endmills in the tool manager that have a check next to them as if they are being used, but they do not show up in any toolpaths.

If I fix one tool's settings, it seems another screws up, or another tool is added. Eventually, after numerous tries I can get it all straightened out, but the next time I open the file it starts all over again.

Oh, and my proxy settings won't let me access the ftp to upload the z2go file.

Ok, that works but...

This would be better if you could define the tool as a standard tool, and use a seperate custom file for the holder itself. Or if you could at least change the tool type name to something other than "Undefined". Then this way would be ok. Maybe I'm being too picky, but I sometimes have a need to sort the tools by "Tool Type" in the tool manager window. If every tool is undefined that won't work anymore.

Is there anywhere to make suggestions for future versions of Mastercam?

Ok, that helps. Sorry for being a newb =)

I guess I never wondered what the undefined tool and the custom file settings were for. I have been learning Mastercam on my own and stuff like this, that I know should be easy, is hard to figure out if you don't know what you're looking for.

Thanks!

I went to the tool holder directory if that is what you mean by HTH. Otherwise, I don't see anything in the unspecified uploads directory that says HTH.

If I went to the right directory though, those are just drawings of tool holders. I already have my tool holders drawn up. I need to know how to tell Mastercam to use a different file other than "HOLDER.MCX" to define the tool holder when I backplot or verify a toolpath.

Is there a way in Mastercam X (Mill level 3) to define different tool holder files for each tool? I figured out how to modify the default tool holder file, but I don't see any way to use different files for each tool. I have a horizontal job I am setting up and I would like to be able to see any clearance issues with the tool holders on each tool.

Thanks,

Kevin

[ 11-05-2007, 10:00 AM: Message edited by: 2FastLX ]