Hey Smrk, The error was "reporting communication error". I deleted the faulty operation and re-selected every thing and the error kept coming up and the op would not re-generate. Switched to surface finish contour and it worked just as well as the surface finish high speed waterline and no error. Thanks for the reply. Brad

Hello, I am getting an error when I regenerate a surface finish high speed waterline tool path. This was not happening yesterday. All parameters are the same except WCS was moved to a different XY point. Error- "Reporting Communication Error" and the tool path stops regenerating. Using Mastercam X-7 SP-2 What are we doing wrong? Any help would be nice. Thanks

Thanks MattW I will give it a try. Brad

There are times when I would like to bring in sketch entities when importing a Solidworks file. The only way that I have been able to do this is to convert the Solidworks file to an IGES file and check the box in options to include sketch entities when coverting the file. Does any one know of another way? I do not perfer IGES files to work with. What I do if I have time is to make a DXF of the sketches and merge it with the Solid after it is brought in to Mastercam but this can be coumbersome. ( any ideas Gcode )

Neurosis, Do you get the same problem using the tool plane transform method. I use this one alot with a subprograms in incremental and change the G98's to G97's and the subprogram callouts from O to N. this keeps all the subs in the main program on the control. As far as tranforming drill operations I have had problems with the way the program posts, so I have to correct the drill depths in the Gcode after posting. I think it is a problem with the post I am using. Brad Craig

Don' know what's going around but I just up dated Windows security last night and have a 3+ year old Pentium 4 Hyperthread (basicly dual core) that takes about 25 second for Mastercam X3 MU3 to boot. With Solidworks already running.Solidworks on the other hand....

Thanks, I have made geometry in the past so that I could see what was going on in verify, plus it looks cool for the dog and pony shows when the boss brings a tour through.I am going to use just a tool with righ dia. from now on.

Randle, Do you make your threadmill geometry or import it from a tool manufacturer or other resource.the reason I am asking is that I usually draw theprofile on a level and then define the tool shape with the geometry from that level. Is there some place that I can get thread mills already defined for Mastercam? Thanks, Brad

mat web is large, cruz all the materials and see what you can find?

2nd try I go to www.matweb.com www.matweb.comhttp://www.matweb.com/search/DataSheet.aspx?MatGUID=37de2ca8d34c415fbdee5add2f86f06f

I first check McMaster Carr, they have a little blurb on all kinds of steel. Where was the material purchased from?

sorry drop a "c" www.hemcogages.com

the only place I could find with ANPT and NPTF is at www.hemccogages.com they seem to be the same taper and thread? http://hemcogages.com/pdf/page14.pdf

Thank you Gcode, you seem to always have a better way to do stuff!

oppiz, How come you want solids? I surficed ( pun intendid)for a long time without solids, now that I have it I almost never use it. (don't tell the boss)Why do you feel that you need it?

Prosin molds, You also are correct. Where I work now, we make a lot of parts in strip form (we buy extrusion, and leave the identical parts connected until the last operation, done in some form of fixture).I like to copy the geometry numerous times in a strip to mimic the parts as they appeir in the strip. Although all of this can be done using surfaces having solids can save a step. Also as Josh T pointed out: "If you do any work with castings or odd shaped materials/composites being able to draw/select a solid to use for your stock is a necessity. This enables you to see the actual solid being machined in verify." Using a solid extrusion in verify is also a graphical help in observing what is going on. Solids is not nessesary it is just another tool that is nice to have sometimes. Just like this fourm.

Without solids you can import solids but they cannot be translated or rotated you would have to create/surfaces/ from solids then translate or rotate the surfaces.

Oppiz, The reason I pushed my boss to get solids is: 1. When creating parts in Mastercam, for me, it is quicker to extrude,cut,sweep and loft using solids instead of building geometry and creating surfaces. 2. I own a seat of Solidworks and do most of the designing in Solidworks. Mastercam with solids works real well with Solidworks. You can, if needed, bring into Mastercam the creation geometries that were used in Solidworks which can save time if changes are needed. I know there are other advavtages but I cannot think of them right now.

Mic, I forgot about the % step over. In a tight pocket I will put the max at just below 50% to get just enough mtl out of the way for the cutter and set the xy clearance to at or just over the finish pass if ther is one. We are busy in Watsonville with a bunch of new products for this year. www.crgmoto.com Thanks for asking. What is LMSSC?

Mic6, I am doing the same thing on a part right now (finishing the bottom of a pocket that has been previosly hogged out, is this correct?). What i did was made a seperate pocket operation with the top of stock .010" above the bottom of my pocket and and the feed plane incremential and clearance plane equal to the feed plane of the previous operation. I do this when I finish a pocket with a different tool. This way you don't start the helix from the origial feed plane. I don't know if I answered your question. Brad Craig

gcode, I have been posting quite a bit and Mastercam has not crashed all day so far. Thanks again

gcode, I don't know why but that seemd to work, just unchecking the edit button posting then restarting Mastercam. I had been using CimcoEdit all along so I left the config the same. Thank you sooo much gcode. Brad Craig

gcode, How do I find the psb file? I tried using a different machine def. and post that came with X4 ( the generic Haas 4X mill mmd ) and the same thing keeps happening. Is there any thing else that you can think of that would cause this Unhandled Exception right after posting?

Gcode, Thanks, The computer is at work and I am at home. I belive that the pst file is in a different folder. I will check it when I get to work. This has given me the good habit of saving before posting. I will let you know if it solves the crashing.

Hello, Since installing X4mu3 Version 0.20.0.118,about 40% of the time Mastercam encounters an Unhandled Exception and crashes. I have a Nvidia Quadro Fx1000 and have the most updated driver. I am using a computer with Windows XP prof. that was upgraded from Windows 2000 Prof. When I hit the post operation button Mastercam hangs immediatly and then the error message comes up Unhandled exception and halts. Is there a dll missing or somthing. Any help would be appreciated, Brad