Thank for your suggestion, the problem however is: "what default??" If the box is NOT checked is is hard (impossible?) to predict the work offset number that appears in the NCI (could be -1 of 54 or 0 or 58 or......). THIS is my problem!

Looking at the reactions, I have not seen ANY real solution to my little 'problem'. Does this mean that we use the work offset behavior AS IS??? Is the general conclusion that it is up to the Mastercam user to make sure he specifies the REQUIRED work offset for EVERY OPERATION? Thus saying that there is very little (or no) intelligence in either MCAM or the Post?? Eduard

Thank you all for your responses. Yes, Mark is right, the issue I am talking about has to do with multiple work offsets (s.a. G54 for op#1, G57 for op#2, G55 for op#3, G54 for op#4 etc...) where I tend to leave TC plane unchecked if there is NO CHANGE in offset! Since I need to use MULTIPLE OFFSETs it will not help to set "force_wcs:no". I write my own post and need to rely on the inforation in the NCI to be correct. I my post I NEED to check if the work offset changes, since this triggers a number of actions. As long as Mastercam outputs a "non standard" value in the NCI (i.e. someting like -1 or 0) I can issue a warning. I wanted to be able to 'see' if TC plane was checked...!

Are we looking at a BUG here? Or is this a Mastercam filosophy?? Hopefully we will also see a reply from a "Mastercam Official". Eduard

I create a mill-program with changing work/coordinate offsets (i.e. G54, G55, G56, etc..), through Operations Manager, Tool Parameters, Parameters, (check) T/C plane and enter value (G54,G55,etc...) in Work Offset, Tool plane. The offset number is shown in the NCI-file (1016 record, *** # 9). I would expect that a chosen offset remains active UNTIL ANOTHER offset is entered. However, when I do not select T/C plane for a new operation, I get an unpredictable number in my NCI. (OK iw ould expect it to be soemthing like "-1", but not 54 when my last offset was 58!). Is anyone familiar with this behavior, is it possible to prevent this form happening? Any advice is welcome! Eduard

With the option Canned Text a user can enter specific commands and/or statements that must be outputted or processed by the post. Upon entering the canned text options to be used (as specified in mplfan.txt) the user must also specify Before/With/After. What is the meaning of the "With" option? Is this some action that needs to be PART of the first motion/action? Or does it STAY ACTIVE (with repeated output) during an operation? Any example of such NC-code? When After is specified, does this mean output after completing the operation? If so, how does mastercam show the END OF the OPERATION in the NCI? (other than by the beginning of a new operation)? Is there anyone who uses the canned text options (esp. with/after) frequently??? Regards, Eduard ------------------

It is possible to 'assign' a Home Postion for each operation in the Operations Manager. Unfortunately it is not clear how this Home Postition is interpreted by Mastercam. It is only outputted once in the NCI file (record 1001), at the beginning of an operation, and the resulting movement is not shown in the simulation/backplot. Why doesn't the tool 'automatically' return to the specified home positon after the operation or before loading the next tool? Can anyone exlain the Mastercam filosophy of the Home Position? ------------------

Scott, How do you think we can get this kind of documentation? It seems that we both are looking for it and were hoping that this forum would help is in doiing so. Unfortunately there were no seroius responses.. There MUST be userd out there with the same questions AND there must be people with the information we are looking for. Do we have to start a new thread, or shoul there be a thread in the Tech Forum??

What you can also to is use a third party postprocessinng solution, I recommend CAM-POST from ICAM Technologies (www.icam.com). CAM-POST is able to run with MasterCAM (after converting the NCI file to APT format) AND can be used against virtually EVERY APT-based system. Thus you are able to have ONE post that can be used by MULTIPLE CAM systems! Succes, Eduard Winckers

Hello, I would like to know if there is any dedicated documentation available on the subject of configuring Mastercam (v. 7.2). The only documentation I have is in the Design Reference Manual, but seems very limited to me. What I am looking at is how to gain 'absolute' control over filenames/extensions, datapaths and possibilities to start up external apps.

Does anyone know if there is some kind of documentation available of the (format and structure) of Mastercam's NCI files (ver. 7.2)? This would help us very much.

I just joined the Mastercam forum. Hope to find a lot of information here. Eduard Winckers