I missed originally that you were a reseller. Sorry about that. Questions like this should be posted in the reseller forum. For your reference, I was able to find the following informaiton about the machines in question: Frank Phoenix web site The specs for the lathe are here: Lathe Spec page The 'About Frank Phoenix' link mentioned the Mechanical Industry Research Laboratories, which is apparently a research arm of the Tiwaneese government. There isn't a lot of current informaiton on the Engilish side of the web site. I cannot read Chineese, so I don't know if the main site is any more current than the English one. I did find this: CNC Control brief That leads me to beleve that the lathe in question uses a PC-based control and accepts ISO G-Code. As the Extranet dosn't seem to have this control/machien listed, your best bet is gonna be to start with MPLFAN, as that post has support for just about everything that Lathe supports.

Looks like the IT20 control is specific to Frank Phonex machines, and there isn't a lot of information on the web I was able to find. Given what development history I was able to uncover, I'd be surprised if the control did not accept FANUC-style ISO G-Code. If I were you, I'd do one of the following: - Start with MPLFAN.PST and check the code to see if it will dry-run in the lathe. Fix the post so it dosn't generate alarms and/or crashes. - Start with MPLFAN.PST and a copy of a good program and make MPLFAN.PSTs output match the good program. - Contact your mastercam reseller and ask them to help you with one of the above.

I'm gonna have to confirm that the file is corrupt. When MasterCAM cannot read a file, it assumes that the reason is that the file was generated in an incompatable version. You'll need to restore that from a backup if you have one.

I have seen such things happen with bad cards or drivers. Occasionally, a good card using bad settigns will generate such a result as well. Which video card got installed?

I'd suggust taking a look at Techno-ISEL routers, myself. They are all servo-driven and have ball screws on all the axises. The control is a PC, so program size is limited only by the size of the hard drive. Tool changers are an option (both rotary and liniar). A decent amount of Z-axis clearance, too.

quote: Total # of pages = 1850A duplexing laser printer is your buddy. If it's resolution is high enough, you might even want to try setting Acrobat to print four pages on each sheet.

WARNING: The files you are editing this way are generally binary files. Binary files expect to have various bits and bites located at specfic offsets from the start of the file. If you replace http://www.thisisalongandsillyname.com with http://www.msn.com, all the locations for binary values that follow will be off by 20 bytes. The result is a corrupt file that will likely crash whatever program is trying to read it. In the case of a USER.DAT file (part of the registry), it will cause a loss of all user settings related to the login that uses that file. Further, editing a binary file with a word processor like WordPad can change some of the binary values, or add new ones in odd locations. This will *also* corrupt the file and likely crash whatever applicaiton is trying to read it. Note that the 'applicaition' could be Windows itself in the case of a program file. A safer course of action: - Use Ad-Aware from lavasoft.de. It works very well at finding this kind of crapware. - If Ad-Aware ain't getting the job done, try searching Google for the name of the web site in quesiton with words like 'spybot' or 'remove' added. Example: "Freaky Sam's World-O-Smut" remove or "Freaky Sam's World-O-Smut" spybot Chances are excelent that someone, somewhere, has had a similar problem and posted about it to a message board or some other resouce that Google indexes. The replyes to that post should be instructive. To prevent the problem going forward: - DO NOT click on 'OK' when prompted to download software after accessing a web page unless you are aboxxxxely certan that the software is something you want. - You DO NOT want anything from the Gator Corporation. Ever. Even if it offers to plant a money tree in your back yard. - You do not need a Bonzi Buddy, nor do you need any of his freaky friends. Desktop dancers, IE toolbars, absoluley free IE 'enhancements' - installing any of these is an evil beargin you make with some faceless corproation interested only in sucking up all your bandwidth to force-feed you advertising. - Any web site that insists, for page after page, that you need to download one of the above is a site that has no useful content of any description. That they want to install some piece of crapware is the only clue you need.

quote: I actually went into the post and force the absinc variable to 1 in the ppos_cax_lin2 block before outputting rotary axis. I don't think this is the correct way of doing this even though it works.If it works, and it dosn't break anything else, it isn't wrong. quote: Also, when I enabled the WCS output, it will post G54 for 0 degree, G55 for 90 degree, G56 for 180 degree and G57 for 270 degree view even though my work offset is defined as -1. The nci generated actually has the workofs variable change when the table is rotated. How can I make MasterCAM only generate different wcs if I change my workoffset to 1,2,3, and etc?Are you using the WCS to define the index positions? If so, that is your problem. Don't use the WCS to define index positions. To define the index positions, rotate the tool plane about the rotary axis. The WCS is only for defining a new zero for the part program. Rotary index moves are not new zeros, they are references to the existing zero.

Yeah, I do this sort of thing all the time. Here are some ways I have solved the problem in the past: - Change the permissions on the MCAM9 directory to Modify for the group the student accounts are in. Best and cheapest solution. If these are Win2K or newer stations attached to a Win2K or newer server, this can be done very easily using Active Directory Policies. If your IT department and/or your local reseller are unfamilar with the process, have your MasterCAM Educaitonal Reseller contact me and I'll walk 'em through it. Or I could generate a batch file that will make the change for you over the network if AD Policies are not an option. - Put all the library and whatnot files in a shared folder on the network that is mapped to a drive letter. Give the students Modify rights to that shared folder. Slows things down a bit, but gives you one place to post modified tool and operation library files. Make sure to have a backup copy of those files to restore from, as if a student breaks it, it will be broken on all stations. I can put together a sample .CFG file that will do the job for you, along with a script that will propigate the .CFG file to all the stations in your classroom. - Get Deep Freeze and install it on the student stations. Have the students save thier work to thier server-based home directory, and give 'em full rights to everyting on the local machine. Deep Freeze keeps any changes made to the local machine from being perminant. The downside is that it costs ~$20.00 per station.

CNC Routers are usually lightweight gantry-style machines equipped with high-speed, low-power spindles. Some of the higher-end units have tool changers, but this is not universal. Programming CNC routers is much like programming a vertical machining center, but there are some caviats. The most importnat thing to keep in mind is that not all routers follow the right hand rule for the layout of the machine axises. Inverted Z axises are what I most commonly find (positive Z direction is down), but inverted X or Y axises are not uncommon. You'll want to check the manuals that come with the machene, or try some air cutting before you try making chips. Workholding for routers is often a vacuume table, though some units use clamps on the table or screws through the part and into a MDF baseplate. Generally there isn't enough clearance to use a standard vice, nor is a vice useful in securing the kinds of materials commonly worked in routers (primarally wood and various plastics).

For V8 you have two places to set comp. If you want comp in the control with no comp from MasterCAM, set Computer to Off and Control to Left or Right. If you want wear compinsation, set computer and control both to Left or Right. Wear compinsation is what I would reccomend.

The FireGL line of ATI cards are either CAD-specific versions of ATI's gamer boards (on the less-expensive ones) or FireGL-specific chipsets. In either case, they should not exhibit the kinds of problems found in ATI's lower-end video cards.

quote: Is there a setting in MasterCam to change the way rotary axis rotate?That's gonna be somethign you have to sort out in your post. If you tell me what post you are using, I'll take a look and see what can be done.

To plunge straight down at the plunge rate, set the retract plane equal to the feed plane. Or, if you can use lead-in and are using V9.1, set a ramp height and lead-in line length that will generate the lead-in ramp you want. You can also/alternatly set a helix height for a lead-in arc if you prefer to spiral into the part.

quote: Rick what do you mean about Mastercam interpolating rapids? Going from x,y,z to x,y,z in a strait line? Exactly. MasterCAM always shows rapids as moving along the shortest path. Most CNCs don't rapid that way. If the rapid is above everything, the difference dosn't matter. If the rapid needs to avoid something, OTOH, it maybe won't do it. quote: Like I had my post set up where on every move it would position in the x,y first then position in the z.XY and then Z? I'd think that would gaurentee a crash just about every time. What I do is: - Retract far enough that any XY move will be safe. - If I cannot retract that far, use point toolpaths to control and constrain the rapid move.

quote: But as for Norton Antiviruse I swear by them. Use it on all my computers and the corp edition on the server. Norton AV works very well. I use it too. System Works is the steaming pile of poo. quote: CCAPP CCRegVfy KernelFaultCheck NvCplDaemon Nwiz None of them is NAV related. The last two are support files for your video card. I'd remove the first three and see what happens, or at least search the hard drive and see what they are for.

The 'command center' or (whatever Symantec is calling the bugpack that consumes all avalible RAM and CPU cycles in an orgy of self-measurement) is quite possibly the worst piece of software ever written, with the possible exception of Windows 3.x. Dump that, as well as anything else that's running in the background that you don't really need access to 100% of the time and your system will be a lot more stable.

MasterCAM has the ablility to to paragraph text, much like MTEXT. Select Create|Drafting|Note. Note is somewhat more limited than MTEXT, in that it dosn't preserve formatting, won't allow different fonts or faces in the same note, and won't allow you to re-flow the text. It is handy for setting up certan kinds of engraving though. After setting up the note, go to Modify|Break|Draft/Line to turn it into lines and arcs for toolpathing.

STL compare is useful when you want to see how much material needs to be removed for a leftover or remachine toolpath. As for crashes and gouges - MasterCAM interpolates rapid moves (most CNCs don't take the shortest path), and verify won't show the rapids that connect different passes in the same op or the rapids that connect different ops using the same tool. Result: Off-line verification is your best buddy on this one. quote: when I hit both the stl is gone anyone have this problemWhen you hit both MasterCAM will color-code the solid that results from verificaiton depending on the difference between the result and the STL. If it's a 2D or 2.5D part, there may not be any difference. Look at the color map and try futzing with the values some. Or try running the compare at an earlier point in the verificaiton and see what it shows you.

quote: Can somebody give me an example of a practical use for the drag function?- Positioning decorative items to be engraved when the absolute position is not as important as the overall look. - A cumbursome, yet visually interesting, way to do Xform|Translate|Between Points - A rather useful way to rotate and translate all at once, rather than doing one, then the other. - A way to distribute a shape/contour over a number of points that are not in a convenently regualr pattern. quote: How can I can easily and rapidly create accurate entitties? It seems like a long way or cumbersome way to make geometry.Use the sub-functions in the prompt line at the top of the screen. (S)nap lets you use an auto-cursor snap point as the destination point. (P)oint lets you change the drag point. The others have other interesting fuctions. Note that you can rotate while translating by hitting + or -, or you can translate while rotating by hitting + or -.

The download version is about the same as the Cd version. That is, the code is just as 'fresh'. The reason I am suggusitng you get the CD version is that the SP1 install (required before you install SP2) may have gotten all farged up. If SP1 is all farged up, the downloaded SP2 won't fix it. A fresh install from the SP2 CD will.

Looking at the specs for the V505 series, it looks like you have an ATI graphics chipset that dosn't use shared memory. ATI chipsets have varying degrees of usefulness with MasterCAM. Some things that might help: - Change the color depth to 16-bit vs. 32-bit. - Make sure that the font size is set to 'Small Fonts' instead of 'Large Fonts' - Try reducing the graphics performance a few notches.

Have you tried deleting the .CFG files yet? If so, try doing a repair with the SP2 CD-ROM. Put the CD in the CD-ROM drive and let it auto-start (or run setup.exe from the root directory if it dosn't auto-start) and select Install. When the MasterCAM install starts, it will offer you Modify, Repair, and Remove as options. Select Repair and let it do it's stuff.

quote: yes, but it did work when I was using Win98..Although Win98 and WinXP come from the same company, run on the same computers (well, same kinds of computers anyway), and run the same programs (mostly) they really don't have much in common. All the versions of Windoes based on NT are vastly different beasts than the crapware based on Windows 3.x and running on DOS. That some combination of hardware operates with Win98 is about as relavant to it's operation under XP as knowing that a given combinaiton of hardware operates under Linux or on a Macintosh. quote: It just boggles my mind though. Like I said eariler - I just wished it would have worked when I needed it to. Things like this take way too much time and cost too much money to resolve so many times. In the computer field, as with so many others, there are a lot of shysters who know less about this stuff than you might imagine. Dosn't seem to affect the price they put on thier services though.

Hmmm. Good points, all. I'll have to think on this some more. I don't like the calculator because it dosn't leave a trail I can follow later to try and figure out what I was doing. Yet fabricated tool sizes produce other problems, as you point out.