JParis, That seems to have fixed it!! Thanks alot. I appreciate your time very much. -Greg

MasterCAM keeps crashing on me this morning, and I keep getting this warning error. "machine does not have a programmable combination of rotary linear/rotary axes to perform this operation" It comes up with any type of toolpath selection in multiple WCS, that I have already created toolpaths in. What am I doing wrong? Thanks for your time. -Greg

I am using a rotary A axis on a vertical mill. For most of the toolpaths A is at 0.0 and I can go and create toolpaths and they look right, but later on when I regenerate them the will be coming in at various angles that I did not create them in. My biggest headache is I have a drill toolpath coming in from the bottom side of the part and no matter what I do I can not get the backplot showing the tool coming from the Top (A0.0) plane. I am sure it is a user problem. I found in a book to uncheck two settings in the CAD settings, and they are both unchecked. (1. update C&T plane when changing Gview 2. reset T plane to top in isometric) Any ideas would be much appreciated. -Greg

I am just now learning about work offsets, and how to use them. The new hurco has G54-G59 as Work Coordinate systems. I found that editing a tool path I could go to the parameters and planes menu, then open up the work offset box and enter a number such as 5 and the post changes the work offset to then new G58. This is working fine, but I was wondering if I could edit all of my toolpaths in the view manager and have it update all of the operations for a specific view? Right now I have hundreds of toolpaths and it would be tedious to update all of them. I have been only editing the posted code. I hope this is making some sense. Sorry for the lame beginner questions, but I am making ground. -Greg

well crap!! I see it now, but it is not available. I guess I can shut her down without saving and get back to what I had a the last save point. Thanks for the quick replies, I will try that next time I do the same boneheaded thing. Thanks again. -Greg

You might think I would learn, but I have several times unintentionally deleted a whole bunch of selected operations when I only meant to delete one. Is there a way to undelete them? When I hit the undo button it doesn't seem to bring back the operations I just deleted. Thanks. -Greg

Flowline does the trick for sure. I will try the tapered wall next. Thanks for the quick response. Paul-nc...thanks for the neat pictures. How do you capture those? That is pretty nifty to be able to show exactly what you are looking at. -Greg

The detail looks like a giant countersink. I wanted to do a surface mill radial and have the EM interpolate the taper starting at the top and feeding to the bottom. IS the surface mill radial a good choice for this. Right now it shows the tool path going up and down the slope and rotating around to make the part. Can this be changed. I also have a bunch of simple questions about the tool libraries and other basic functions. Can I just fire away and bug you guys with such simple non-sense? I don't have anybody I work with that I can ask. Thanks -Greg

Sorry for all of the confusion. Yes, I am thinking about buying MasterCam for personal side business at home. I currently have the trial of EdgeCam and am fairly pleased with it. We use X2 at work, so I have some experience with it already. Hope this clarifies the situation. I am sorry for the poor detailing of what is happening. I am looking to make a wise investment in the future, hopefully my business will grow and take shape into something I can do full time and grow into something I can enjoy and take pride in. I would love to have my own product line, probably geared towards auto specialties, or maybe get neck deep into making investment castings for the huge foundry industry in my area. In the end I am sure I will be needing 3d and full capabilities, but I can only cash flow entry level software right now. It is hard to spend so much money on the software, because I have a super nice old Bostomatic Machine that is running like a champ with about 11K hours on the meter. It has a few limitations, but I gave $1000 for it, and then another $1000 to upgrade to a better CPU. But software is a must to make it run well. I have been burned by BobCad and so I turned to looking at the higher end software, such as edge and MC. It seems most of the lower end software, I can't get a working post for my old antique control. Do Mcam resellers ever offer a bargain on their product? I know that it is a little secret what it actually costs, as they want to quote individually and not publicly quote prices. Can I buy from any reseller or am I stuck with the one that I am a little disatisfied with? Thanks for all of the input, even though this forum has put huge question marks on a decision that I thought I had already made my mind up on. Take care. -Greg

The old 8.1 post was updated and running but is limited to 3 axis. It has a few glitches too like posting a rapid as the first move after the first M1. My 4 inch face mill likes to run at 708ipm... no worries... just need a few more RPMs

quote: "POOF", now they got. [Head Scratch] I am confused Hardmill... We purchased X2 a few weeks ago, upgrading from version 8.1. I wasn't allowed to use 8.1 very much so X2 is a big leap for me, not to mention more difficult parts then I have ever attempted before. No magic fairies or "elves" delivered the software. It came in the mail.

Post problems: -Incrimental drill cycles (Hurco's crumby G-code) and their correct format. -Also Clearance plane between drilled holes. -G2 and G3 are reversed. (Only scrapped one 30 hour part to find this out) -Rigid Tap with peck non existant a few other minor things but these 4 and I could at least make a part with out hand editing the code.

We just got X2 here at my job a few weeks ago. I have been stumbling through it and these difficult parts. I needed a 4 axis post for the machine to make these parts and Mcam reseller gave me one, but it opened a whole new can of worms. I sent it to him for some mods, and it took near 2 weeks to get it back, and it still wouldn't run a part. I called someone different and he still has my post, still not able to make good parts with the 4th axis post. The hurco I run is only a year old, you might think that it wouldn't be too difficult to get a working post for it. If it is this much trouble for our new hurco, it doesn't bode well for my 22year old Bostomatic. I want a real licensed software. I can't conscientiously carry home my SIM key and use it at home. Thanks for all of your help it is reassuring to find a resource such as this. I think it may be a deciding factor in the decision. -Greg

quote: The only way to fly! This is true!!! But you really appreciate it when you have done more hand coding then you care to admit. I have read on Edgecam archives here and most of what everyone says is the drawback is service. The Irony of this is that I can't get my reseller to fix my post for our machines at work. The edge guys have been superb. And those C++ type post files, send my head spinning. I really don't know what I am doing when I look at them. Maybe this forum is great, but if there were at least one good reason not to purchase MCam, I would say "questionable service". I think our local guys are just spread too thin to have any time to help me out.

Thnks for the advice fellas. I will try the surface rough pocket on this upcoming part. I did a search for EdgeCAM on this forum, and wow there is a lot of posts regarding it in comparison to MC. EdgeCAM has a try before you buy, offer. I went and visited the reseller in Houston, and they gave me an "overview" of the software and a post, then the opened a "dongle" for 90 days.... WOW!!! I have been using it instead of writing a program in MC and then only taking home the posted code. I spent countless hours pulling out my hair and recoding things that wouldn't work. Edge at home has been a huge improvement over that situation. In a few weeks my trial will be over. It will be decision time, between buying MC or Edge. Both are about $3k for entry 2.5d. I guess I need to read all the posts here on the subject, as $3K is a lot of money in my world. My old bostomatic is a terrible pain to get the post straightened out and working for. It sure is nice to have EdgeCAM, post, send, and hit the green button! I know everyone, including me, and especially salesmen are biased, but I want to make a good long term decision. I sure like my Edge Reseller, he has been more then good to me, and what about Matt Mattera, he seems to have crossed party lines. Any input on the situation is much appreciated. -Greg