Thanks. That will get me by until Esprit fixes my post.

Hey guys, This isn't Mastercam related but there are a lot of intelligent people on this forum that might be able to help me. I need some help with converting some X values in half. I'm working on a part on my millturn machine that requires a lot of angle features and the post isn't processing the code correctly. Esprit is working on it but I have a hot part due on Monday and it seems they haven't corrected the problem yet. Anyways, to make a long story short - does anyone know how to take all my X values and divide them in half? I use to have a Excel program that someone wrote for me a long time ago but I can't seem to find it Any help would be great. I just recently switched to 2008 and it seems there are a few kinks that need to be worked out.

Millman, I'm from San Jose, Ca., just like Iowajim62. Iowajim62, I just noticed that we are from the same city, what a small world.

Sorry it took so long to get back to this but I must have overlooked it. I couldn't even begin to tell you how my post looks because I don't know how to access it. How would I access the internal information of the post processor? Also, what would be the best way to learn how to edit the post...trial and error?

Thanks John for all the great advice and tips. I haven't tried anything yet but will probably get on this weekend. If I have any question I'll be sure to post back. Thanks again.

I'm trying to create helix on a cyclinder but I can't figure out how to use Transform/roll and unroll.

I'm trying to create a wrap feature in Mastercam Solid. I would think that I could unwrap a cylinder draw my features and wrap it back up. If anyone could help me on this that would be great. Thanks in advance.

Iowa, I have the exact same manual as you. I also have something called Easy Plus. It's something my trainer loaded, it simplifies the basic probing moves. I really don't use it though because I'm needing something more than the standard probing moves. I tries something on Friday that worked quite well. I was attempting to hold a 15" long feature parallel to my Datum surface (.0005 max). One part would be decent and the next a little bit out. What I did was indexed the A axis (trunnion) @ 90 and cut the my Datum surface. Then I indexed back to A0 at C180 and used Macro 9843 to get that surface parallel to my X axis. I then wrote that angular difference to the appropriate offset and indexed back to A-90 without moving my compensated axis and cut the side opposite to the Datum surface. The next few parts turned out dead nuts, then I went home on a good note. Is this overkill? The whole probe procedure added about 10 - 15 minutes to the cycle time but for a $3,000 dollar part I think it's worth it. Hopefully my discription is good enough to understand. I'm just excited with my new found tool and would like to utilize as much as possible to reduce our scrap ratio on the tighter tolerance parts.

Thanks Iowajim. I referred to the manual on 9804 and it's listed for Calibrating on a Sphere. If I did have the option to use 12 points over 4 I would definitely use it. Thanks for the info. I'll be doing some testing tomorrow. One more question if I could, when I use T in the macro does it actually update the tool offset or the wear in the Z axis?

Thanks Millman. Like you mentioned, I have many ideas but getting them to work will take time and patience. We use a Renishaw MP700 probe which is supposed to be a high end one and my end goal is to fully utilize it. My machine has 6 pallets and tons of tight tolerance work that will be utilizing the probe. For example, before the probe we had a job that always takes some time to dial in (.0012 true position) and at times it would cost us a part. On this last run I utilized the probe and nailed my first part...very rewarding. As for the offsets, since we run many pallets we always offset in the program due to total control over every tool being used in multiple parts. This is why I would like to take the probe deviation reading and add it my program instead of my machine offset. Lets say I would like to write to a R value in my program and wrote my probe deviation to macro variable #800 = (.0005 deviation). My R value would look like this - G10L13P25R0 and I would like that R value to read macro variable #800, would be as simple as R#800 and to throw more confusion into the matter I would need to divide that by 2. If all this sounds lame please excuse the ignorance but I just would like to know how far I could go with this probing thing.

Millman, Thanks for the detailed response. I'm still very new to both the 5 axis and Mastercam, I've only been doing this for a few months. Also, before my training last week I've never used a probe. This is why I'm having a hard time explaining exactly what I'm trying to achieve. I do appreciate you taking the time to decipher what I'm trying to explain quote: Bass Where do you now currently get all of this information from?? Specifically do you get this out of the machine or out of Mastercam? This is all from Mastercam with a few edits. This is a post that was modified by previous programmer and it work very well. quote: Are you measuring a machine parts and then adjusting for variance in where it should be to where you need the program to run?? Yes, I'm machining the part and leaving material on areas to be checked with the probe. After checking I write the deviation to appropriate offset and re-run the tools tied to that operation. Most parts we do on this machine are very expensive tight tolerance parts that require a lot of care. Here's a probe program I wrote that checks the distances from a datum feature. In this program I'm attempting to check the distance and have the deviation added or subtracted from the appropriate offset. In this case it's my Z value in both P3 and P5 extended offsets in my G10 (at least that's what I call it) program. This program worked very well for what I was trying to do, it may not be the best but it's one of my first ones. One thing I was trying to do, which was the main reason of my post, is measure a web feature that has been roughed out and write that deviation to my R value on my G10L13P25R0 listed in the program. Once again I'm sorry if I can't get my question across but this is a definite learning experience I'm going through right now. Thanks again for time and patience. M6T71 M19 M1 M46 M43 G0G54.1P20G90M9 ( PROBE WITH 3MM STYLIST) C0.A0. X2.1142Y1.5307 G43H0Z9. G65P9810Z7.3F25. G65P9814D.238H.0003 (.238 BORE) #550=#133 #551=#143 G65P9834 G65P9810Z9.F25. G65P9810X3.Y-5.2087F50. G65P9810Z7.3F25. G65P9811X2.5079 (CHECK DATUM -B-) G65P9834X.3937H.0005 (.3937 +/-.0005 DISTANCE AND TOLERANCE) #552=#138 #553=#141 G65P9810Z9.F50. #143=[#-143] #7083=#7083+#138 G65P9810X-3.2874Y7.5F50. G65P9810Z7.7F25. G65P9811Y7.0079F50. (CHECK DATUM -A-) G65P9834Y5.4471H.0005 (5.4471 +/-.0005 DISTANCE AND TOLERANCE) #554=#138 #555=#143 G65P9810Z9.F25. #143=[#-143] #7043=#7043+#138 G0G28G91Z0 (CHECK 140MM = 5.5118) G90G0G54.1P21 C0.A-90. X3.937Y-6.949 Z8. G65P9810Z7.F50. G65P9810Z4.9 G65P9814D.236 (.236 BORE) #556=#133 #557=#143 G65P9834 G65P9810Z9.F50. G65P9810X9.4488F50. G65P9810Z4.9 G65P9814D.236 (.236 BORE) G65P9834X5.5118H.0005 (5.5118 +/-.0005 DISTANCE AND TOLERANCE) #558=#138 #559=#141 G65P9810Z9.F50. G0G28G91Z0 G0G28G91X0Y0 G28A0.C0 M99

Yes, I'm talking about G10 for position and deviation. As for the tolerances, I would like to take the probing tolerance deviation from nominal and add or subtract that difference to my G10 lines. Here's a sample code with a few added notes. I'll add info to what I'm trying to achieve. O14605341(M6-146053-OP3-G10) (MAZAK VERIAXIS 630-5X) (MACHINE NUMBER---) (PALLET NUMBER ---) (TORQUE VALUE ---) (PART NUMBER ---) (PART NAME ---) ( ---) (PROGRAM BY ---) (DATE - 20-12-07 TIME - 11:44) (PROVEN DATE ---) (CYCLE TIME ---) /7GOTO6666 M00 N6666 G0G90G17G20G40G49G80G94 (TOOL OFFSETS) G10L13P11R0 G10L13P164R0 G10L13P163R0 G10L13P13R0 G10L13P25R0 I would like to add a value to R value. I was thinking of something like this but not sure. R#800 / I would right my probe deviation to this variable. G10L13P32R0 G10L13P40R0 G10L13P109R0 G10L13P64R0 G10L13P52R0 G10L13P65R0 G10L13P179R0 G10L13P166R0 G10L13P54R0 G10L13P178R0 G10L13P161R0 G10L13P68R0 G10L13P73R-.0001(.2382 FACE HOLES R0) G10L13P273R-.0008(.2382 SLOT R-.0007) G10L13P53R-.0004(SIDE HOLES EXCEPT DEEP ONES R-.0003) G10L13P169R.0006 G10L13P86R0 G10L13P69R.003(.236 DEEP SIDE HOLES = R0) G10L13P111R0 G10L13P172R0 G10L13P42R0 G10L13P173R0 G10L13P174R0 G10L13P170R0 G10L13P171R0 G10L13P35R0 G10L13P29R0 G10L13P36R0 G10L13P180R0 G10L13P175R0 G10L13P17R0 G10L11P11R0 G10L11P164R.002 G10L11P163R-.016 G10L11P13R.0019(R.0019) G10L11P25R.0032 G10L11P32R0 G10L11P40R.015 G10L11P109R0 G10L11P64R0 G10L11P52R0 G10L11P65R0 G10L11P179R.005 G10L11P166R0 G10L11P54R0 G10L11P178R0 G10L11P161R0 G10L11P68R0 G10L11P73R0 G10L11P169R0 G10L11P86R0 G10L11P69R0 G10L11P111R0 G10L11P172R0 G10L11P42R0 G10L11P173R0 G10L11P174R0 G10L11P170R0 G10L11P171R0 G10L11P35R0 G10L11P29R.003(DATUM -D- =R.0028) G10L11P36R.008 G10L11P180R.010(3/4 L SPOT) G10L11P175R-.001 G10L11P17R0 (WORK COORD OFFSETS) G10L2P0 X-12.4015 Y-12.4015 Z-27.1666 G10L20P2 X.0011 Y-.0005 Z-.0024 G10L20P3 X.0029 Y-.0011 Z.001 (DATUM-A-) G10L20P4 X-.003 Y-.0020 Z0. G10L20P5 X0 Y-.0008 Z.002 (DATUM-D-) G10L20P6 X.0029 Y-.0011 Z-.0012 G10L20P7 X0 Y-.0008 Z0. G10L20P8 X0. Y0. Z-.0013 (DATUM -F-) G90 M98P14605343 (MAIN PROGRAM) M0 G90 M98P6054 (PROBE CHECK) M0 G90 M98P14605344 (RE-RUN T13 AND T29) (PROBE WILL WRITE DEVIATION TO Z IN P3 AND P5) M0 G10L2P0X0Y0Z0C0A0 G90M30

It's been about a week after my first introduction to probe training on my Mazak 5 axis. I already love this thing, for example, there has been a part that usually takes 2 to 3 parts to get it right due to tight tolerances. Not to mention the time it took to have the inspectors check it. Now with the probe I nailed it on the first part, truly awesome. There is one question I have for the probing guru's out there, is there a way to add the deviation to my G10 program? I always use two programs, 1 is my G10 program and the other being my main. This the way my post outputs the programs and I like it, but I would like to write the deviation automatically. Make sense or am I just talking out of my a$$? Any help would be appreciated.

I'm still new to the machine and Mastercam and I;m having slight issues with the post. The post I'm using is pretty much dialed in except for one minor flaw. I'll do my best to explain...sometimes when I'm working with the trunnion at 90 degrees at the end of my operation my X and Y wants to move first, which is dangerous at times if my A axis needs to index. I would like for the tool to go home after every operation or at least on every A or C move.Is this something that could be dialed in on the post or possible am I doing something wrong? Here a sample of the code I'm getting. N173M6T173 M1 M46 M43 G0G54.1P2G90M8 (.082 DRILL TOOL - 173) (TAP DRILL M2.5 X .45 P2) C0.A0.S10000M3 X-.0565Y-.0394 G43H173Z11. G61.1 M47 M44 G83G98Z9.5317R10.1827Q.0164F13.9097 G80 (TAP DRILL M2.5 X .45 P3) G0G28G91Z0 G90G0G54.1P3 C0.A-90. X-.5473Y-9.4134 Z2. G83G98Z-.8135R.5921Q.0164F13.9097 Y-9.9252 G80 (DRILL .082 HOLES P4) G0G28G91Z0 G90G0G54.1P4 C90.A-90. X-.5118Y-9.4134 G83G98Z.4914R1.1Q.0164F13.9097 Y-9.9252 G80 (TAP DRILL M2.5 X .45 HOLES P6) Z3. X.5118Y-9.4134 G0G28G91Z0 G90G0G54.1P6 C270.A-90. Z3. G83G98Z-.5359R.5567Q.0164F13.9097 Y-9.9252 G80 M9 M5 G64 G0G28G91Z0 G0G28G91X0Y0 G28C0.A0. /9M35 G64 M1 G90 G10L2P0X0Y0Z0 G90 M99 %

I figure out the problem with the greyed out major diameter but I'm still having a problem with getting it to simulate.