It can work from HPGL files. It can also work as a printer. When using it as a printer, the output is pretty well optimized.

There aren't any. That's why it's called 'abondonware'.

I am a reseller for ULS and a certified field technican for the CO2 lasers. I am not all that famaliar with the YAG lasers, but what I have seen of them tells me that they work much the same as the CO2 lasers do. ULS engravers do not use G-code. They are either driven by a Windows print driver or in 'DOS' mode by an HPGL file. In HPGL mode you have to adjust the speed and power settings on the front panel. In Windows Print driver mode, you set the speed and power settings in the print driver proerties. Driving the laser from MasterCAM is most easily done by plotting the geometry you want to engrave. If MasterCAM is installed on the same machine the laser is connected to, you can use the Windows driver. Otherwise, prepare an HPGL file and bring that over to the engraver. If you want to drive the engraver using a post processor, you'll need a post that outputs HPGL. I seem to recall hearing about such a post, but don't know the particulars. Your dealer may be able to get one from CNC. OTOH, with the greater control the print driver offers, I'm not sure I'd bother with an HPGL post or an HPGL file unless there was a very compelling reason.

Your MasterCAM reseller can get you a copy of the post processor manual on CD-ROM. It's a very complete reference, and it's fairly inexpensive.

We need to know more about the machine in quesiton to answer that. What control you are using and how the axises are arranged would be good places to start.

quote: We need a function for breaking complex splines up into arcs and lines using a certain tolerance.Select Modify|Break|Spl to arcs and your wish shall be granted. If it's a circular spline you want converted to a single arc, Modify|Cnv to arcs will meet your needs. Both commands have a tolerance setting, and they do different things.

quote: Why wouldn't you have reported them to the Business Software Alliance and let them do a full investigation on their use of "illegal" software,and have them: A: Pay a hefty fine or B: Thrown in jail Isn't this what we as members are being asked to do if we suspect someone of using hacked software? I guess the simplest reason is that it isn't exactly fair to the employiees for the BSA to close down thier employer. Wouldn't take long for such a reseller to become unwelcome in the area they work in, either. i.e. would you invite the Saftey-Kleen sales guy into your shop if you knew that he reported another shop for OSHA or EPA violations after a visit? Or would you tell him to go away while he was still in the parking lot?

The Quadro2 should be just fine, actually. Trails left behind by the cursor (usually called 'pixel garbage') is always caused by a problem with the video driver. Try updating it to the latest version on NVIDIA's web site. You might alos try setting the color mode to 16-bit, rather than 32-bit. MasterCAM seems to like 16-bit color better than 32-bit color.

quote: 1) Should I use .NCI or .NC file to start with?There are pros and cons to either approach. If the translator works with .NCI files, then you'll need to update it every time the .NCI format changes or new stuff gets added. OTOH, you won't have to debug the post *and* the translator when it starts spitting out bad code. If the translator works with standard G code, then you won't need to update it when MasterCAM's .NCI format changes, and you'll be able to write/edit programs in G-code format. OTOH, you'll have *two* translators to deal with (the post and whatever you generate) rather than just one. FWIW, Techno, when faced with the same sort of issue for thier routers, chose to drop the .NCI-based controller software and focus all thier attention on the G-code version. quote: 2) Where could I find a spec for the .NCI format if that's the way to go?.NCI files are plain text files, so the format is simple enough. Your MasterCAM reseller can get you a copy of the post manual on CD-ROM. It documents the .NCI structure as well as the MP language used in posts. It's quite handly to have around for projects like this one. quote: 3) If I use an .NC file as my input source, what is the most "standard" post-processor for Mastercam that is likely to generate G-code very close to the ISO 6983 definitions?Either MPFAN.PST (the default MasterCAM post) or MPMASTER.PST (a nicely done post with some nice extra features avalible from this website).

quote: When you say "circular spline" I take it you mean basically a circle (Full or Partial) that was drawn as a spline. Is this correct?Exactly. It comes in real handy when working with IGES files, as most of 'em either don't have edge curves (so you have to extract 'em yourself) or have all the edge curves represented as splines. It can be helpful when dealing with imported solids that have circular features in or on faces that are not perpendicular to the feature.

quote: thanks for the info but a demo version will not work for my application. i was hoping someone had something like auto desks volo view but for master cam. Demo will give you everything for MasterCAM that Volo View will give you for AutoCAD, with the exception of markup. Draft will let you markup, but won't let you inspect toolpaths. What fuctionality are you looking for that isn't covered by either of those?

Netware? It just so happens that one of the hats I wear is Ceritified Novell Engineer. Microsoft dosn't work and play well with Netware. The problem is related to the MUP.SYS file, and the way it resolves network requests. In this case, what is happening is that MUP.SYS is trying to resolve the netware server name over each installed protocol using each client. The call won't return until all of those protocols have either timed out to resolved the name. NetBT (i.e. the Microsoft client) can take as long as a minute to time out, even though the Netware client returns immideatly. The simplest fix, if you do not have any Windows servers and don't do peer-to-peer with other Windows boxes, is to remove the Microsoft Network Client, leaving only Novell's client (note: don't use the Microsoft Client for Netware, as it is a steaming pile). If you have a mix of servers, or use the peer-to-peer features, there are some registry hacks you can use to change the default behavour of MUP.SYS. Try searching support.microsoft.com or support.novell.com for MUP.SYS and Netware and you should find something. If not, post a reply to this and I'll see what I can dig up. If you do need more help, please take a look at your network conneciton properties and tell me what protocols you have installed. The netware server version and the netware client version would be helpful too, if you have them.

Carlos: quote: and like someone said it allready. "when you buy a car, you wont expect to break down on the middle of the road when you are driving it home from the dealer. is that bashing?....hummm.. Go find a non-trivial software program, from any vendor you like, that is free of problems. Unless and until software can be generated that is entirely free of bugs, statements like the above are gonna be looked at as bashing. As for the car: I don't expect every single manufactured good, no matter what the cost or number of items manufactured, to be perfectly uniform in quality. What I do expect is that the manufactuer of that good will fix whatever problems I experence.

quote: On the modify page there is also a convert to arcs option but I haven't been able to get that to work to convert splines so I use the one under break. Anyone know what convert to arcs on the modify page does? It takes circular splines and turns them into a single arc. If the spline cannot be represented by a single arc (i.e. an elipse) the conversion won't work.

Mozilla is actually pretty good. I have it set up with a minimum of plug-ins and most web sites work just fine with it. On the (fairly rare) occasion I find a site that dosn't work right, I just drag the link to IE and open the site there. I've heard good things about Opera, but was unimpressed by the ads in the 'free' version, and can't see paying for a product when one of better quality (Mozilla) is avalible for free.

Try to make it clear to them that what you need is the single model, stored as a part. Maybe I'm overly careful on this, but after seeing some *very* strange IGES files expored from 'single model, stored as an assebmly' drawings, I always externalize any parts I'm gonna use in MasterCAM.

If some conversions are sucussful and some are not, I'm guessing that the problem is one of data set orginazation. Mechanical Desktop DWG files can contain: - A single solid model, stored as a part. - A single solid model, stored as an instance of itself in an assembly (bad preactice, as it makes BOMs difficult to maintain). - Many solid models, stored as an assembly. - No solid models at all, just pointers to other files that contain single solids or collections of solids. - No models of any description, just projections of them orginized into drawings. - Exploded views of assemblies made up of pointers to solid models stored in other files. - Just about any combination of the above. As you might imagine, it can sometimes be difficult for even the author of a largish data set to keep things straight, especially if the orginazational standards for part/assembly/drawing/scene information are ad-hoc. Compicating matters somewhat is the Export to DWG option for drawings. It takes all the drawing informaiton (views and annotations) and strips it of anything useful, generating a 'dumb' 2D drawing that contains only lines, arcs, and dimentions. Try making it clear to the engineers taht you need the part data, not pointers to the part data or drawings. A copy of Volo View for your workstation might not be a bad inventment, either ($49.00 through the end of the month). You could use it to take a look at the DWG file in it's native form, which should help you to figure out why the import failed. quote: Autocad solids are "Inventor" .IPT extension go to file, converters, autodesk, and change tje extension to .IPT Two things here, actually. 1) After selecting 'read file' you can change the file type by selecting the file type drop-down in the 'Open' dialog box. 2) Changing the file type to .IPT ain't gonna help in converting Mechanical Desktop R6 solids, as they are stored in .DWG files. Inventor solids are stored in .IPT files.

First you said: quote: if they are creating any sofware, they should tested 1000%, thru every option possible, they are the ones creating them aren't they? thaty know better then anybody else how it should work.[/quote Then you said:

Are you trying to convert .DWG files from MDT, or is the file being sent to you in some other format? Are the files you are trying to convert assembly files, or are they part files. MDT assembly files can contain one or more parts plus pointers to external parts. MDT part files can contain only a single part and it's associated toolbodies.

For lines that are perpendicular to each other: - Create|Point|Perp/dist - Pick the horizontal line - Pick it's midpoint - At the 'distance' prompt, type y - Pick the midpoint of the vertical line - Pick the temporary line segment that is going in the correct direction. For lines that are not perpendicular to each other, and/or are not paralell with the X or Y axis: - Create|Line|Perpendicular|Point - Pick one of the lines - Pick it's midpoint - Hit 'enter' to accept whatever the default length is (cause we don't much care) - Pick the most convenent of the temporary lines - Without exiting the command, do the same with the other line - Hit ESC ESC ESC P P I (or Create|Point|Position|Intersecton) - Pick the two lines created above Hope that helps.

Could you share the MC9 file? I'd be interested in seeing how it was done.

When your instructor installed MasterCAM, he or she did not install all of the posts that come with MasterCAM. MPFAN.PST is the 'default' post, and is always installed. RPFAN.PST is the default reverse post. All the other posts are optional, and are only installed if you choose that option. I don't really like having 'fuctional' posts on the student-accessable computers, becasue I want to see anything the students will be trying to run on my machines before they load it into the control. Code from MPFAN.PST, without any editing, will only run on a machine with an A axis without generating an alarm on the first move. I'd have to say that I'd not be all that thrilled with them posting stuff at school for them to run in thier shop, either. Legal issues aside, I'd not like to take the call of an irate shop owner who's had thier machine damaged by one of my students doing his or her homework. I'd suggust you speak with your instructor.

I always thought it was for better chip evacuation, actually. With the insert facing down, the chips will tend to fall away from the part, rather than collecting on the top of the holder and/or wrapping around the stock. Seems like a lot of trouble to avoid turning the turret 90 degrees to index the insert. I'm with Millman here - this might be something that needs a bit more thought.

quote: I used verification before I ran the program and it didnt show any collisions between operations, any ideas as to why?Verify won't show how the tool gets from one operation to the other, or how it gets from one contour/pocket to the other. It seems to think that every op is followed by a tool change (turn on 'Pause at tool change' and try it out). To see if the tool is rapiding through the part, you'll need to: - Check the backplot carefully, especially when you need to clear a boss or a wall. - Use G-code verificaiton software like Predator or Metacut. A better/safer/more uniformly sucussful way to deal with it is to use an ABS value retract height that is known to be safe, as has been mentioned. If you are counting seconds, focus your attention on eliminating unnecessary feed-to-depth-outside-of-the-stock moves. Getting rid of one or two of those will save more seconds than hours and hours spent tweaking retract and clearence heights. Time spent there pays off much more rapidly than time spent futzing with rapids. If you can't help yourself, make use of the 'point' toolpath between operations to better control rapid moves, or use reference points at the start/end of the toolpath.

quote: thinking about it Im right handed...so I would prefer a mirror image keyboard since most of the keyboard strokes are near the num keys. know of any? If I have to deal with scissors, micrometers, calipers, and every other blommin' thing under the sun that makes me feel clumsy on a daily basis, you can deal with the *one* thing that works correctly for me and my left-handed brethren.