I've done a multiaxis laser post. You use the multiaxis toolpaths to keep the laser perp to the part with surface normals and the like. I believe Mazatrol still only deals with 3 axis + orientation (toolplane) machining (and maybe flat pattern rotary). You'll have to use ISO code for simultaneous rotary motion, so you'll need a multiaxis post no matter what. Be careful to FULLY describe what you're going to need the machine to do so your dealer can give you an accurate quote.

That is correct. If you go into MCedit with t.nc for instance you can go to file open and select any filename you like, it will not launch however with a filename with spaces.

Run RAMsaver on it.

Once again Autovue does the trick. Reads just about EVERYTHING, writes a .dxf. See cgm_test.mc9 in the MC9 folder on the FTP. Came in sweet. Also, if you just want to VIEW the file MS Word has a converter (Insert-picture-from file - not one of the default converters, but it's available in the install)

John's the one who "made" the people responsible for Mastercam in the first place!

Feed Number (Inverse feed) = 1/length of time (in minutes) it takes to make the move. Time is calculated as distance/feedrate where distance is the 3D distance from endpoint 1 to endpoint 2 (no calculation is done regarding the angle(s)). or: Feed Number = feedrate / sqrt((z2-z1)^2 + (y2-y1)^2 + (x2-x1)^2) HTH

There are radius mills in big.tl9

Check out Sage TV. Uses Windows, can have as many simultaneous recordings as TV cards you have. Uses the internet to get schedules (instead of a phone line) with NO MONTHLY FEE. I've got it set up at home with 3 capture cards. Way cool.

Build a series of incremental subprograms with all of the characters you're going to need. Build another subprgram that calls the incremental ones in the order you need them output. If possible make it based on machine variables that can be edited at the beginning of the program, otherwise you'll have to select the correct subs to run in the correct order every part. If you really are doing this alot, pay somebody to write you a bulletproof macro in your control - or just buy a Fadal (They've got a serialization function built in).

I would venture a guess that your Autodesk problem has to do with path settings. The Mastercam install is still not adding to the path variable correctly. It seems to overwrite what was in there. Your MDT probably had a directory in the path statement pointing to the shared directory which is now gone since the Mastercam install.

pfcout is a call to a postblock. You can only force variable output. Is your post set to index? If so, you need to force the index output variable. result = force(index_out_variable_name,index_out_variable_name) will force it next time it's found.

You should do it the way you are now because of the way the toolpath works. The problem is that the individual passes are treated as one continous cut in the .NCI file which can lead to crashes when posted. Usually you'll need to put a safety "point" toolpath inbetween the depth cuts as an intermediate point between the end of one pass and the beginning of the next. If you're chaining a closed contour, depth cuts will probably work OK, but I still prefer the individual op method.

Can you put your .cfg file onto the FTP?

I'm not seeing anything strange except maybe "English" samples as opposed to "Inch".

+1 to Allan If your directory names don't have any "."'s in them, try deleting mill9.cfg (or mill9m.cfg for metric) in the main Mastercam directory. Next time you start Mastercam it'll create a new one with all the right directory settings.

Isn't the W the retract distance to the initial height? Like a G98 call in Fanucese? Why would you not put the W call on the last hole? Switch the last two variables like this: code: #W drill position if cuttype = one, initht_a = initht + (rotdia / two)) else, initht_a = initht initht_i = initht - refht if cuttype = three, initht_a = w #if absinc = zero, initht_a, !initht_i #else, initht_i, !initht_a #'W' is ALWAYS considered to be an INCREMENTAL distance from the #'R' plane regardless of the Absolute/Incremental (G90/G91) setting! # Per CINC docs (pg 8-2, 8-6, 8-11) initht_i, !initht_a # Output the 'W' word The only way you'll be able to not output this for the last hole would be to put a conditional on that last (output) line like: code: if nextop = 100, <output variable>

Autovue 2D - $395 Reads just about everything. Writes a .DXF

Using an arm (or even a probe on a machine) you can get decent data along your own flowlines. Just drag and collect the points, turn them into a spline, reduce if necessary, and loft the splines together. Or take sections in 2 different directions, create splines, massage gently to get true intersections, and coons them. This can also be done with a height gage (or forklift if the part is too big ) and a scribe to recreate the old 1X1 grid mold line data sheets. Also look into verisurf. Laser scanning and geomagic is the way to go though. Pricy, but almost always great results.

I think you'll have to build it as a surface, solidify and boolean in. Don't think the kernal supports that at the moment.

You also may get better results by bringing in the file as surfaces and then solidifying them inside Mastercam.

Geomagic is great except that it really only shines when you have MILLIONS of points. When using a Faro, Microscribe, etc. you are really limited to creating splines and lofting them together.

There is a powerpoint presentation available that tells you how the gen5x post works. I've put in on the FTP in Text_&_post_files_&_misc. It's called 5 Axis Generic Post.pps

You'll need a 5-axis post to get the angles from the c-plane/t-plane (even if it's just indexing).

"Saving" the .NCI files should have no impact on the file size. They are saved off as seperate files when posting. You might be running into the "leave the shaded model on the screen" issue. See this thread

The default posts ao the CD are set up to use work offset 0 as the first offset then increment from there. This is due to the auto-numbering that Mastercam will do for multiple tool planes. Most people do not use the feature however so it's a little counter intuitive when you're dealing with a machine that uses offsets 1, 2, 3, etc. instead of 54, 55, 56, etc.