quote: still remember version 3.21 Old Skool so you prolly remember Pencil Cam and Flexowriters My first go at a PC with a Cam System was an Apple IIE with dual 5 1/4 Floppy Drives back in '83.

Steven, quote: I would guess that the only question is that if I have several tools with the same tool number in my operations window, will that cause any problems? I wouldn't think so. Have you posted a program and checked to make sure the speeds and feeds are correct ? Do you get any error messages when posting ? If not then your good to go. BTW 8.1.1 WOW I started Mastercam in 1999 with V7.2 and V8.0 came out later on that year. You should try and get the boss to update if you could.

Yeah Andy said it best in that thread. 7 yrs ago he started saving. I think he was right with his approach. So I guess the best long term approach is to build Tool Libraries for Materials and build Operation Libraries for Materials that use the Tool Libraries for the same material. Then when you start a job you have both of these to choose from. Alot of upfront work to setup but a real timesaver down the road.

quote: Each tool could be referenced by each toolpath that uses that particular set of parameters. It would be best to save the different toolpath types to a custom operations library. Then when you want to say cut a slot it would have the tool feed,speeds,doc etc. already in there. Good Luck HTH

quote: I figured out how to turn it back on but how do I dock it to the right side of the screen like it was before? Left Click and hold the button down inside the MRU Bar and drag the bar back over. [ 03-11-2009, 11:01 PM: Message edited by: iowajim62 ]

quote: Forget IPM He IS on a Haas

Not knowing what machine you are using makes recommending feeds and speeds very difficult. If it were a Haas VF-2 VMC and straight thread tap I would go 260 RPM amd Feed 20 IPM, if it were a Big Mazak 50 HP HMC with a High Spiral Pulley Length Tap I would go at 2600 RPM and the feed would be the pitch or 200 IPM. Really depends on power of the machine, rigidity of your setup and type of tap. Preferably you want a High Spiral 3 Flute Tap that produces 3 long strings of chips. You can use regular straight flute taps since the holes are thru but if coolant doesn't force chips down and out it could pack the chips and break the tap. Good Luck and HTH

Try the ascii variable 35 like this. "H,35,5199"

quote: Did they mention any enhancements for Router or Art? From the first post above, Router • Automatic nesting now with the ability to edit nested sheets using drag and drop • Vertical and/or horizontal cut-off operations now automatically generated in toolpath nesting

I would drill them .390, circle mill them to .427 and bore them with diamond tipped bar to .4369-.4371.

Robert, For sure the guys you lead being top flight makes all the difference. quote: as meh stepdad used to say, "Arrogance is confidence without competence." My stepdad says "Arrogance hides a persons Ignorance". James, Nail on the head brother. You can learn something new everyday. Sometimes the lowest guy on the totem pole will have the best idea to help out. Sometimes the Top Guy helps the lowest guy by making his life easier. Attitude makes all the difference. We have 2 ears and 1 mouth, we are supposed to listen twice as much as we speak.

quote: I am putting some job requirements below I just want to know how you have time to program a project. Managing the other programmers, creating supporting documentation, liason with customers on engineering and design review, supporting the shop floor, tooling and fixture design support cannot leave alot of time to program a part. Are you leaving your CAPE when you leave ?

go here and read Matt's specs, $1500.00 can't be beat for the fastest Test times http://www.emastercam.com/ubb/ultimatebb.p...247;p=17#000660

Go to Settings/Configuration/Shading and check to make sure that the "All entities" check box is checked. Hit the Green Check mark and try shading again.

Get everything set the way you want, then right click and save the custom toolbar state with a name. After that if you mess up you can reload and be right back where you were. You can save your config with the custom toolbar state and it will start Mcam with your settings.

I was using an example of a machine with a 180 tool magazine. Like I said before if you have tools that you never take out of the machine those would be in your Haas Tool Library. For example if T30 was a 3.00 Facemill it would show up as T30 in your Haas Tool Library. Likewise any other tools you leave in the machine would have the correct corresponding number. Start by saving tools to your new tool library that you create for your Haas MD/CD. Give it a name like Haas30 or whatever you like and go from there. Saves a ton of time after it is setup like that. If you are pulling all of the tools out of the machine after every job and setting up from scratch you are going to have difficulty establishing any sort of system. It can be done but the guys on the floor have to work with you to understand what your trying to do. Good Luck and HTH

However they are setup in the magazine of the machine is how they are numbered. T1 3.00 Facemill shows up as T1, T56 1/2" Spotdrill shows up as T56, T176 Renishaw MP700 Probe shows up as T176.

I have always saved my tools for each machine with dedicated tooling to a separate tool library. That way when I pick a MD/CD the tool library is ready to go for that machine. If I have to add tools to the program I am working on I will pull a tool from the default library and edit that to suit my needs at the time. If you keep certain tools like face mills,spotdrills etc in the machine all the time I would setup libraries that show those tools and add what you need for each job you run. HTH

Mark, quote: What do you do with proven and edited files that come back to you, but for which you can't really adjust the mc file to incorporate the changes ? If my program is that bad I will have fixed it and sent it back out to run and get proven. Ideally a perfect posted program goes out and gets run and bought off by QA. Then the program is saved with whatever the setup guys have changed. Typically they want to make some little edit to say they fixed it for you. I let these little changes stand because it gives them a sense of power and ownership. Having a happy team is alot easier than fighting with them over every little thing. Empowering the guys on the floor with this authority leads them to wanting to take on more responsibility and helping things run more efficiently and organized. Don't get me wrong though there are limits, I won't stand for them to take out passes or depths of cut on a tool or to stand there and edit the program so that drilling and tapping run the way they want. I explain to them that changes of that magnitude will require getting engineering involved since you are wanting to change the process. This generally stops most of that nonsense since that means somebody from the "Office" is going to be coming out to "their" world and sticking there nose in. Any worse than that and its time to get management involved. Bottom line, post good programs for the guys on the floor and they will love to run your stuff because they have gained confidence and respect for your abilities.

quote: Another question, how do you structure your folders with all those files? My favorite folder method, code: Customer 1 Part#1 Rev 1 MC (contains MC source files) Unproven (contains unproven NC files) Proven (contains proven NC files from machine) Docs (contains setup sheets,tool drawings,etc) Rev 2 MC (contains MC source files) Unproven (contains unproven NC files) Proven (contains proven NC files from machine) Docs (contains setup sheets,tool drawings,etc) Part#2 Rev 1 MC (contains MC source files) Unproven (contains unproven NC files) Proven (contains proven NC files from machine) Docs (contains setup sheets,tool drawings,etc) Rev 2 MC (contains MC source files) Unproven (contains unproven NC files) Proven (contains proven NC files from machine) Docs (contains setup sheets,tool drawings,etc) Customer 2 Part#1 Rev 1 MC (contains MC source files) Unproven (contains unproven NC files) Proven (contains proven NC files from machine) Docs (contains setup sheets,tool drawings,etc) Rev 2 MC (contains MC source files) Unproven (contains unproven NC files) Proven (contains proven NC files from machine) Docs (contains setup sheets,tool drawings,etc) Part#2 Rev 1 MC (contains MC source files) Unproven (contains unproven NC files) Proven (contains proven NC files from machine) Docs (contains setup sheets,tool drawings,etc) Rev 2 MC (contains MC source files) Unproven (contains unproven NC files) Proven (contains proven NC files from machine) Docs (contains setup sheets,tool drawings,etc) File naming like this, Part#-Rev-Op-Machine by number MC Source Files 12345-REV-A-OP10-VM1.MCX 12345-REV-A-OP20-VM1.MCX 12345-REV-A-OP30-VM1.MCX 12345-REV-A-OP10-HM12.MCX 12345-REV-A-OP20-HM12.MCX 12345-REV-A-OP30-HM12.MCX NC Files 12345-REV-A-OP10-VM1.NC 12345-REV-A-OP20-VM1.NC 12345-REV-A-OP30-VM1.NC 12345-REV-A-OP10-HM12.NC 12345-REV-A-OP20-HM12.NC 12345-REV-A-OP30-HM12.NC Doc Files 12345-REV-A-OP10-VM1.DOC 12345-REV-A-OP20-VM1.DOC 12345-REV-A-OP30-VM1.DOC 12345-REV-A-OP10-HM12.DOC 12345-REV-A-OP20-HM12.DOC 12345-REV-A-OP30-HM12.DOC Just one of many ways to do it.

k turk, Tool Tol is a setting in Verify, you have to click on the Configure folder and in there you will find Tool Tol., another thing to check is whether the machine slowly-machine quickly slider is set all the way to the right. It is the one at the bottom of the Verify Window. HTH

Glad to hear it worked out for you.

Did you try a regen on the solid model and check to see if any red X's showed up in the Solids Manager ? This would at least lead you to the bad geo. and you could go from there to start fixing whatever is wrong. I have seen moving geo from 1 level to another cause this and seen doing boolean ops cause this as well. If you can't regen the model at all, start dragging the Stop Op button up the tree until the model will regen and go from there. HTH

One more pic Ron Lars here on the forum sent me this CD when I was working at a shop that only used Geopath. I have had it installed on 2 PCs. It has Design,Lathe,Mill and Router but you can't post NC or edit MD/CD or NC programs.

Ron, Click on Settings, Click on Configuration as shown below. Then click on Files, Click on Ascii, Click the box to change the path as shown below. This is X Demo at home, can't be any different for X2 or X3 I wouldn't think, but I could be wrong and it isn't the same location. Good Luck