7 lathe Sub spindle operations- I have multiple parts with slightly different geometry-sounds like a job for import ops, right? Great Ok, so my first part has all ops dialed in. All tools are setup Right/upper on axis combo and in this format for offsets- tool 7 gets offset 27, 5 gets 25, etc. I load up new part. Right click Import 7 operations, dirty. Select my geometry (I've already completed main spindle ops and transferred stock to sub). Good to go. But… I don’t want to have to reselect right/upper for axis combo for every operation. Why does this happen? It’s defaulting to left/upper Okay so I can deal, I reselect axis combo and switch it to right/upper. But... Once I hit right/upper for axis combo and hit okay, it changes my tool offsets to 0707 or 0505. Why? How do I stop this? If you edit the axis combo it kills my offsets.. Keep in mind my tools in the imported library are setup correctly. Each one is set with the correct offset for sub (0727, 0525, etc.) and corresponding right/upper axis combo, right spindle. It sounds too lame to be Mcam. What am I doing? Is there an import setting or tool setting or config I don’t understand? Please help. Thanks in advance. Chris

I switched off the desktop composition and turned the graphics to GDI. Which makes it run fine now. What do I loose by using the GDI instead of the openGL really? It gave a dialog box about disabling art by using it, but everything else should be functional right? thanks for the help guys.

ugg. the more I read, the more I want to return it to best buy. Thank you

No matter what settings I choose in system config -graphics support I get an unwanted effect. It is either choppy or the redraw rate is so slow drawing a line turns into a nice line cluster. What am i missing? Any help would be much appreciated. Hope everyone was safe on the 4th. Here is my new laptop specs Asus Notebook G73jh series Intel i7 quad CPU Q 720 @ 1.6gHz 6gb ram ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 1gb video card running driver version 8.683.0.0 windows 7 64 bit I got it basically because it was geared toward gaming, so i figured mastercam would run well. Plus bestbuy is running an 18 month 0% APR credit card. It was hard to pass up! TY, Chris

Mike, TY. Learn something every time I come here. There must be a chinese proverb here somewhere. Know you are a busy man, wondering if you have any time in the near future to talk. I could use a little help with basics on thread milling on the Puma using mastercam output. Let me know if your schedule permits and I can give you a call. TY, Chris

Dan, I have a Daewoo with Fanuc 18itb controller. The M codes I use are m203 forward sync m204 reverse sync m205 sync stop m206 two spindle control I am guessing these are Daewoo specific but I thought I'd throw it in, just in case. Go into your electrical diagram book for the machine. It should have a list of m code enabled functions. HTH Chris

Having a problem with import/export in X3 When I export in x3 no problems. all tools and operations are present in ops. When I go to import the ops in a new file I don't get any of the tools to import correctly. All the tools in the operations are the same as the first tool of the toolpath group of the export. so everything ends up being a face tool. Any ideas. TY Chris

Colin, I'm still waiting for an email back from my reseller from the 10th as to whether a part is possible with my level of mcam. So I think I'll redraw the one level giving me problems and move on. Thanks for all the help everyone. I did learn how to combine views and use the overlap chook. That's worth redrawing one level! TY, Chris

Colin, Tried your suggestions. Still no answers. Chris

Ron, The only other thing I can think of is I saved and exited X2 before regenerating solids. Would that do it? Chris

Ron, I'm not sure. What do you mean by "combine view." I did construct the wire on top plane and all entities are on the same level. Ty, Chris

All, I have a part that will not create a solid from the geometry I select. the geometry is a closed loop, trimmed correctly, and selects as a revolve path. However, when i hit create body I get a "parasolid interface error-non manifold body or boundry" when I try to create a solid revolve. It worked on this part yesterday, so I am confused. Please help. TY, Chris

span, unfortunately it's vista. But worked all the same. Thank you very much. Chris

All, Syncback works great. Thank you. I do have a problem though. I set up Sync back to backup all files to my external that was plugged in by usb as drive F:. However, when I started up my laptop today and plugged in the external it came up as drive G:. So Syncback backed up all my files on the wrong drive. Is there a way to assign a permanent Drive letter to my external? So that no matter what order or USB port I plug it into it comes up as F:. TY, Chris

Thanks all External came with no software for this. I will check out the above suggestions. Chris

All, I have an external drive attached to my laptop. I save X2 files to the desktop and periodically copy them to the external. My question-Is there a way to set up the external hard drive to automatically backup the files once daily? So when I forget to do it manually I am still covered. Is there an application that does something like this? TY in advance, Chris

Thanks john. I appreciate it. I was thinking I would probably have to create a good deal of geometry to do it, but I thought I would get an expert opinion first. C

bump Anyone able to look at the part I put on the FTP "rotor drawing" and give me an opinion. Can I do the pocket on a lathe w/ y axis? The sidewalls are straight and the bottom is the only section with a radius so I think I should be able to, just not sure how to go about it. I tried using 2d sweep but might not be the best way to go. Any suggestions would be great. TY, Chris

Ron, Thank you. I will check that out as soon as I can. Chris

Ron, I have a question regarding sub spindle post output. I have worked parts on main and sub as you describe and with two copies of part. I've even done it with two separate files. My question is what is governing the output of the sub spindle rotation? Sometimes I get ops that will correctly start up my sub with m104. Other times even though the backplot/verify is correct it tries to start up my main spindle not the sub. Is it a machine def. or post thing? All turret motion is correctly output. What gives? TY in advance, Chris

connormac, Good suggestion. I am going to try that next time. Sometimes I do get unnecessary retractions of the tool when it could really stay down. Chris

Mike, you don't even need to change the letters into drafting. When you select the geometry use the "window" option and select all the text by giving a close starting point. Use face contour toolpath. Make an endmill that's .01 radius and turn comp off. done Works every time for me HTH, Chris

Thad, I checked the planes tab in the parameters section and they are the same. In fact I just copied the first op and changed the geom. to make the second. What am I still missing? Ty, Chris

anyone else have an opinion on whether this can beaccomplished with a 2d sweep? Unfortunetly, if it is 3d sweep I need an upgrade. Jammer I will mess with your idea. TY, Chris

its in the mcx folder