A big THANK YOU to everyone who responded.

Your help and insight is much appreciated.

Steven

Running a secondary toolpath as you mention might work well.

Again, will have to test it and see if it solves more issues than it causes.

Thank you for the feed back.

Steven

Thank you for the reply. I will try your solution for test purposes, but I really don't think that

step up cutting will work in my application.  Thanks again,

Steven

Hello all.

I have installed the 2023 release of Mastercam and I am having a bit of difficulty getting my  depths to work out the way I would like them to.

Using the OptiRough toolpath, is it possible to recognize all flat surfaces in a cavity the way that the old "surface rough pocket" toolpath did?

The results that I am getting "seems" to recognize the deepest surface but not the flat surfaces above that level.  This results in additional

stock left on different flat surfaces.  Please advise if I am missing something, or just don't have the settings right.  I read that 2023 gives you

more control than did previous versions.

Steven

Hello again,

I currently use Visual Basic with Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 to create my nethooks in MASTERCAM 2020.

Can someone pass along some code samples of using the TOOLNETAPI ?

I am interested in creating holders for tools without holders, Identifying holders on tools that have them, and so on.

Any samples would be most appreciated, even samples in "C",  

Of particular interest is being able to replace existing holder with a holder from a standard library.

Can anyone help?

Regards,

Steven

Thank you for the additional information.

Steven

Roger,

Thanks for responding.

Would you post a link for the ToolNetAPI for mastercam 2018 or any information regarding it?

I have been looking for it without any luck.

Regards,

Steven

Hello all,

I am currently using VB studio 2015 and I am in need of a little guidance.  This is more a programming issue than anything related to the Mastercam API.

If I sort through machining  operations and get the slot number of each tool, what is the best way to gain access to that tool for the purpose of changing feeds, speeds, an so on?

If I create a collection of all tools, can I pull out the tool that I want by knowing the slot number or tool number?

Do I need to work through a FOR / EACH loop?

Any ideas and help is most appreciated.  I am still learning.

Steven

As for what I am trying to do,  I was just reading through the  API help file, trying to get a better understanding.  No specific applications in mind.  Yet!

Steven

Roger,

As listed in the API document I have:

Public Overrides Function Retrieve As Boolean

Thank you for the information.

Does the public "Retrieve" function work in much the same way?

Steven

Hello all

Can someone give me a brief explanation of the following?

"LoadDefaults()"

What is the actual function of the method as it applies to Operations, and Tools?

Where does the default data come from?

Thank you for your help.

Steven

Thank you,

I was aware of the selection box in the machine definition.  That is one of the reasons we have multiple machine definitions and posts.  Some for old style, and some for "X" style.

thank you for your response.

Steven

Nickbe10,

We use several machine definitions / posts daily.  It is too easy to start programming a part and then find you have the wrong machine loaded.

I am trying to find a way around it.  So far, I can change "X" style to V9, but not the other way around.  Still working at it though.

You mention SWITCH in the CD.  To what are you referring?  Maybe I missed the obvious.

Steven

Colin,

Actually, I thought I had posted in the right forum.  If not, I do apologize.  

I have contacted support for their input.

The basis of my problem is that I am currently using both formats of coolant.  The problem occurs when I load a machine definition with the "other" style of coolant.  The settings are fouled up.  I must then go through manually and reset the tool settings, and then reset each of the operations settings.  Thought it would be nice to have a single mouse click to do the job.

Thanks for responding

Steven

Hello all,

I have been working pretty hard over the last month to get an understanding of how the API works.  I feel like I have made enough progress to begin to understand some of the answers I might get.  Given that, I would like to re-visit the above question.

We are  under maintenance and should be running 2019.  However, we are currently running Mastercam X9.  Please consider the version level we are using in your response.

In the EXTERNAL tool manager, the tool's coolant options can be set for both OLD STYLE and X-Style coolant.  In the MCX-9 version API, can both sets of coolant setting be read?  Can the X-STYLE settings be applied to the tool using the API?.  If so, can someone please help me along by a short explanation?

If it cannot be read by MCX-9, at what version does it become accessible through the API?

Thank you very much for any information you can provide.

Regards,

Steven

Hello all,

After experimenting I found that when using the external Tool Manager, I can set both the "old style" and the "X-style" coolant in each tool.

For example, I can set  "Mist" in old style for one machine, but have  "Through Spindle , After" set for another machine using "X-style".

These settings seem to be stored in the tool library.  I created a simple contour cut while having an old style machine definition loaded, and the TOOL's coolant settings

came through correctly. I then deleted the toolpath, loaded a X-style machine definition and created the same path and pulling the same tool from the same library.

The TOOL's coolant settings came through correctly again.  So it does seem that both styles of coolant are stored with the tool in the library.

Does anyone have a code snippet to share that will allow me to set the tool's coolant options?

I can set the old style mode, but I am having some issues with the X-style tool settings.  

As always, any and all help is very much appreciated.

Steven

CARTMAN007,

I left out the most straight forward method of using VBSCRIPT to modify the program number.

First, Open an temp file that will become your updated nc file.

Open the original file for reading, read  a line, check for program number, and write the data to the temp file.

As you get to the block with the program number in it, change the number to the desired number and write to temp file.

Read remaining data and write to temp file, and then close both files.  Since program numbers are typically near the top, it should not take long.

Delete the original file, and rename the temp file as the original.

Steven

Cartman007,

I am assuming that you do mean the program number that is inside the file, and not the file name itself.

There are some "work around" ways to do what you want, but be aware!

1.  You could use VBSCRIPT to change the .nci name and have the .pst file reference the nci name as the program number. Then use VBSCRIPT to change the name of the nc file to what it should be, if not the same as the program number.

2.  Find a MISC INT that I not used in any way by any of your machine definition files. Set you .PST file to use that MISC INT as the program number.  VBSCRIPT can then set the MISC INT.

3. There are also some ways to use comments, and group names as your input, but it gets a little more complicated.

Because these are "work around" and not directly supported functions, please be careful.

Please let us know how you make out.

Regards,

Steven

Thanks for all your efforts.  Perhaps some others will offer some more solutions.

I am still looking, digging, and learning.

Steven

Jeff,

I have been doing some digging as well.  I am getting some ideas from something called "modelessdialog" .

You might take a look and see if you get any ideas as well.

"dialogresultok"

Steven

Jeff,

That is exactly what I am doing.  The result is that the surfaces are created, but 

awaits a prompt to move on.  Any ideas?

Steven

Can you give me your reasons?  Is C# better at what I am tying to do?

Thanks

Hello all,

Thanks to everyone who has provided any assistance to me.  I have been making progress (believe it, or not) and I am starting to grasp some of the more simple concepts of Visual Basics and  the Masteram API.

I am trying to create surfaces from a single solid that has been selected.  The surfaces are created, but a prompt appears on the screen "Set options, press <ENTER>, Apply, or OK".  I wish for my project to enter the appropriate response and keep moving.  

Can someone point me in the direction I need to go?

Again, all help and advice is much appreciated.

Steven

Jeff,

I made a few additions to allow me to test the operation.

I compiled it and tested it.  WORKS GREAT!  I can now expand

on this and hopefully get a few of my scripts translated.  

Many, Many, thanks for your efforts.

Steven