i've been working on this off and on for a few days . . haven't had time to give it my full attention, and have fallen back to X2. i've read in the X3 installation documentation about some exclusions / special treatment for 5 axis posts. does the actual post require modification or does the update post utility take care of things? . . . or is there something else? thanks k

same as kens1 with the exception of 'only jumps to another open Mastercam window.' any open program running 'behind' mastercam is fair game. have to keep things minimized for smooth sailing.

what the heck, i'll put my flame suit on and go ahead and say it. what you are suggesting would be a good and useful feature. while the suggested other procedures are useful in getting to what you are after, they are not the one click point A to point B solution that you are looking for, and it strikes me as a little odd that only one person has added a small amendment to their statement that says, yeah, 'that would be nice.' i've wished for this feature in mastercam as well for the same reason as yourself: to quickly locate depths for reference to other toolpaths. most certainly not trying to step on any toes or say that one is better than the other, but . . . eh, hemmmm . . . the version of surfcam i use allows for this. k

cool. thank you

okay, i have about 200 holes to drill into a 3 inch block of material. the depth of each hole is for the most part random. if i have a point at the bottom depth of each hole is there a method out there that allows me to select all the bottom points and simple specify those as the ending points for the drill cycle? please tell me i don't have to create 200 operations . . . . please. thanks k

WOW! a whole world i didn't even know existed

thank you. i will accept that i will have to create more geometry in such cases. it isn't that much of a problem as the boundary curves are already there. i will also have to look into HSM toolpaths - not familiar with them. k

okay, similar situation but with a different model and the toolpath is now a surface rough pocket. same error - Boundaries may not intersect, overlap, collapse, or be nested for Z machining(try analyze/chain) if you can't nest containment boundaries, is there a way to pick one boundary and have it cut everything outside that boundary? i could use the check surface trick, but this means i have to spend time generating surfaces. this strikes me as a big gap in MC's capabilities . . . is it just me? k

that worked well; although for whatever reason, took a long time to crunch. radial toolpath also worked. thanks k

i read some older threads about this error, but while the answer may be the same, my application seemed slightly different. using the latest greatest X2-MR2. the model: imagine a simple flying saucer shape - ie. a gently sloping dome with a hole in the center. the toolpath: surface finish contour with containment set at the outside perimeter of the saucer and a boundary offset close to the inner hole - ie. nested containment circles. i want to avoid the central hole area. the error: Boundaries may not intersect, overlap, collapse, or be nested for Z machining(try analyze/chain) can you really not have a nested containment? using the same containments i am able to do this with surface parallel, but i would prefer to use finish contour. thanks k

a bit late to chime in but i don't come to this part of the site often. in short you were generally on target with your gullet theory. a good general rule when ripping is to raise the blade so that approximately 2/3 of the gullet clears the top surface of the wood being ripped. this allows the saw dust to clear the cut and keep down heat build up. considerations for varying this rule would be density and thickness of the wood. scoring and burn marks have nothing to do with blade height but are a factor of how well your saw is tuned up (ie runout on your arbor and your fence adjustment) and the condition (sharpness) and quality of the saw blade itself. if you are serious about this, you should ditch the combination blade and get one high quality blade for ripping and one for crosscutting. a combo blade will perform both, but do neither exceptionally well. a last comment on fence adjustment since john mentioned it. if you do some reading you will find two definitive camps on fence adjustment. one group claiming the fence should fall away slightly from the back side of the saw blade (general claim is 1/32") the other saying it should be parallel. i fairly strongly believe that the fall away camp developed from safety concerns and the general populations inability to truly dial in a fence dead square to the blade. as an experienced machinist you should not have this problem. one thing is for certain: you do not want the fence to toe into the back end of the blade. this will at best give you scored, poor quality cuts and sets up a dangerous situation for a kickback. if you do decide to tailoff the backside of your fence 0.01 is plenty. also, a common and dangerous misuse of a fence is using it as a crosscut reference. again, a good general rule for this is if the length of reference surface touching the fence is shorter than the length of the material projecting out perpendicular from it, then you should use a miter gauge; or much better, build yourself a crosscut sled that rides in the miter gauge slots of the saw bed. k

thanks for the tip. i will crack the books and see if i can get familiar with blend.

i think i got the answer to this from search, but many of the posts were a bit old so i thought i would ask again - perhaps things have changed. i am working on a 5 axis multisurface toolpath with a total of 3 surfaces. i can get the toolpath to run with the two major surfaces, but when i add the third i get the error - Flowline Surface Conflict Found. Toolpath Not Possible. I know you can switch normals. is it not possible to switch the surface flow as well? thanks k

BRILLIANT !!! i was missing the depression of the 'distance' button. the small things matter.

is there a way to extend an arc along its radius? for example, if i had an arc with a length of 5 inches and i wanted to extend one end point another half inch along the curve's radius, is there a command for that? thanks k

i would be happy to share the file, but it isn't necessary. you are clearly in the right box. i'm the one in the wrong box . . the moron box. i may be new but that was a stupid post. 12 hours at the computer is too long. time to go home. thanks k

i have a surface finish contour and everything is grand except i want to rotate the direction of the toolpath 90 degrees. i can't find an input for this. i'm still pretty new with mastercam . . obviously . . . there must be a way . . thanks k

X2 MR2 SP1 by the way.

i know this is not an important point, but i was curious. can anyone explain the organization of the Mastercam color palette? i know you can customize colors and whip it into some semblance of order, but the default color organization looks like something jackson pollock and walt disney came up with. any reason it looks like it looks? k

gotomeeting.com is another option

already tried paint . . . and lots of others. i know it was originally created in alias and is supposed to be a 3D model. also tried simply removing the .ICON extension, but no one wants to play. i have a phone call in for the fellow who created the file. just thought i would try here as well and try to get moving on this job. very curious as to what this is about. thanks for the suggestion.

i have received two files in both the native alias .wire extension and in an .iges format. the trick is that there is an additional .ICON extension following the normal extension. example.iges.ICON or example.wire.ICON i have never come across this, and can't open either file in any program i have. anyone know what this is? thanks k

we are in the paperwork / ordering stage with Vericut to get it running with our Onsrud 5 axis router. don't know the exact procedure as yet, but essentially it looks like we will have to model our machine and all moving parts (tables, spindle, etc) and then you followingly plug these components into various parts of the software. Todd, the fellow at Vericut whom i have been talking with, has been very helpful; and while the process looks involved, i don't have any doubt that it will work out. Todd suggested i get in touch with Onsrud to see if i could get my hands on any CAD models of the machine and cut out some of the work on our end. you might try that as well. i will also add that in looking for verification software i have read many posts on the forum. the impression i was left with was that the two main choices were Vericut and Predator, with Vericut being the best but it also being far more expensive. in getting prices, Vericut was more to be true; but not to huge degree that was implied. FYI for those looking. k

ahhhhhh, so simple. should have figured that out for myself. thanks guys k

running X2 MR2 SP1. just noticed this. is there not a command to create a curve offset a specified distance from another curve? similar to the 'create line parallel' command. the line command seems to only recognize straight lines. thanks k