+2 I can usually get my jaws to within a thou time after time but if I can't I will just dust them again. But what I've done in the past if I needed something to repeat I would mill a slot through both jaws and indicate them.

Is the .STP file a solid? If so you just go Create>Surface>From Solid.

Not out of the hole but when the tap enters the hole. This doesn't really apply to newer machines, for the old klunkers it was a good idea to start the tapping operation .250 above the hole to allow the spindle to get to full RPM for entering the drilled hole. I've tapped at 2000 RPM at .050 above the hole but that was with a Brother tapping center and that's what they are made to do.

You're right, I'm a little frustrted. And thanks for the links. Thanks John, things are starting to make a little more sense now. I was going to talk to Steve about training the end of next week so I'm sure we'll be in touch.

I don't mean any disrespect because I'm not that guy, but this is a forum for directly helping people who use MasterCam and if I'm wrong please tell me. You are directly representing MC and if you don't believe me the title of the website is "eMASTERCAM.COM" so when I come here after my employer has spent more than $for the software I would hope that I could get a little help, is that too much to ask? I learned a lot from the GibbsCam forum and I am forever grateful for that, I would think that the direct competitor would do the same but I guess I'm wrong. I am just trying to do my job well so I spend my weekends on my own time trying to better myself for my employer. How dare I! I'll let our local reseller know that their public forum for helping their customers is useless because their moderators direct them to an outside source for training. Thanks for all your help......

Yes I understand I need training on the basics, hence my posts asking for help in which yours doesn't seem to help much except for stating the obvious! I've used other Cad systems before that are much more user friendly, MC IS NOT one of those systems but I have to learn it if I want to continue to eat. I have got a grasp on the levels now so the road to progression has begun. Next time try being more helpful then stating the obvious, that's more annoying then not knowing what I'm doing. Being a moderator I figured you would know this.

Another annoying thing, if I haven't extracted any geometry from a solid .stp model why does MC show a wire frame of geometry I can't use? If that wasn't there it would make life a lot easier. I just want geometry I'm going to use.

Hey DTM, you switched to MasterCam too huh? Yeah I'm finding it a little more difficult myself, Gibbs is a lot more user friendly and the graphics blow MC away! A bit glitchy too. I've tried that a couple of time but it never works for me, I know I'm obviously doing something wrong but I followed your instructions and the tool path still enters upside down. When I'm looking at the bottom view in ISO (Actually looking at the top of the bottom) the Z is pointing into the geometry and no matter what I do it won't reverse. I've had a few beers tonight so I'll try again tomorrow and check back. Thanks again for your replies, I appreciate all the help I can get.

Wow, that was fast, thanks guys! So what I just did was copied the solid to another level then face selected the geometry I needed and then I selected the wire frame from the solid and deleted it, is this normal practice or am I out in left field somewhere? I'm working for a very small shop right now and the owner hasn't had much time to spend with me so I have been working on my own so the process is a little slow right now. Thanks for the help Kevin, and thanks Jeff, I didn't even see that function in the list! That helps a lot.

Hello again, I've gained another week of experience with MC but I've still got a long way to go and I'm in need of some advice on organizing your files. I've got a folder full of .step files that I'm working on and I am machining pockets and holes on all sides, can someone explain a good way of organizing the file to be machined? What I used to do with GibbsCam is drag my solid in, then I would create "work groups" in MC it's called "Levels" and I would extract geometry for the machining of the first op. Face mill would be work group 1 and then I would put the pockets on another work group and so on...... Then I would do a "save as" and call it "operation 2" and put the part in the correct orientation to machine the second side and I would do this for all the sides as required. How do you MasterCam pros do it? How do you cut and paste geometry from level to level? When I first drag the step file in, it's just a wire frame and the solid so I would keep that on the first level and then create another level to extract geometry to? I'm a little confused to say the least. It seems when I extract geometry using the "Create curve on all edges" and select a face I end up with duplicate geometry a lot. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Yeah, I just learned about that partial chaining feature this weekend. I have a Demo copy and some training material so I go through it as much as I can on the weekends.

I did that but now it over cuts all the geometry. How do I keep the toolpath inside the arc and outside the horizontal line? Sorry, I know this is simple to you and not so much for me right now!

I couldn't get the tool to cut over the line, I know I'm doing something wrong but it just didn't work for me. I am teaching myself the software and it's only been two weeks so I have a long way to go.

You're right about thinking different and that's going to take some time. I do like MC so far but I'm just not good at it yet and that drives me nuts! I learned how to use software with GibbsCam 3 years ago so that's the only system I've ever known.

I was just looking for a quick an easy way to tell MC that line could overide the pocket boundry but I guess that's not possible so I will just translate that line past the radius of my tool and be done with it. Man I miss GibbsCam!

Yes that's what I was going to do if I can't just break that line and force the tool over it. Well the seat I'm is up to 4 axis. I'm not sure of the exact gap right now, I'm already home starting my weekend! Yes exactly. Did you do that with the offset contour? Thanks all for the quick replies I appreciate it!

Hello all, I've started a new job a couple weeks ago and I just started using MasterCam X5, I have been a GibbsCam user the last 3 years and they are pretty different. I've got a simple job to do Monday and I need some help. I have a 9.650 Diameter part I have to mill on the face and I'm throwing it in a set of soft jaws in a vise, I want to mill a pocket essentially in the jaws but I don't want to start from center and cut air for 5 minutes obviously. So I snapped a line at the point where the jaws would be and chose to do two pocket mills for the jaws. How can I make my tool path overlap the horizontal line? I've tried the open pocket but that doesn't do the trick, Gibbs has a feature where you can call a line an "Air Wall" and the tool will overlap that piece of geometry. Does MasterCam have that capability or can someone tell me how I can achieve this? I know I could probably do this with a contour and offset but I was just wondering if I could do this with the pocket function? Thanks for any insight.

I agree with Jeff on this one, we use them all the time in 303 and 316 and they work great. If you don't mind spending a little more money you can try a carbide drill from Specialty Tools Inc. I'm using one right now in 6061 Aluminum running 6000RPM 75IPM, I'm drilling 15MM diameter holes, 20 holes per pc so we didn't mind the $172.00 price tag. It cut the cycle time quite a bit so it's paying off for us. Here's a link to their website. http://www.specialtytoolsinc.com/index.html