just a guess, but I would say that the arc going the wrong direction....clockwise vs. counter clockwise Try reversing it (just the arc) and see if that fixes the problem. I occasionally have the same result come out of Mastercam. A simple reversal of arc direction fixes it.

Do like gcode said. You should also go to the Files section within the Settings/Config. In there set all the proper Data Paths and File Usage Paths. You will find it easier to maintain if you keep "common" files in folders of the same name as you have on your C drive, just put them all inside a folder called Shared Resources (or whatever you like). You can even customize various files for individual preferences, just give them different names. Keep your indivdual user config files there too. Then you can use either station with YOUR preferences (menus, colors, etc.) Files that should be maintained by one person only are tool libraries, material libraries, machine defs, and posts. You may have a few hiccups when you first try to set it up, but once you get there, you will never look back.

I agree with Peter and SanDiego, use dowels for indexing the shift point if you can. I would also use an Arc-In to continue the cut to hide any subtle misalignment.

Yet another reason why it makes more sense to save your files on your network server (which in most cases is backed up daily). That way you call IT and say...."please restore file: xxxxxx.mcx"

What size tool are you using?

Autosave works just fine. Are you sure you have a file name and path set for it? Just turning it on is not enough.

Under the Create pulldown click >Surfaces >Remove Boundary - This will give you a contiguous surface and won't interrupt your Flowline Surface operation. Your slots will still be there underneath the surface.

Is RAID faster than a single drive? The short answer is YES. I run two RAID's (4 physical drives) one is RAID 0 and the other is RAID 1. The RAID 0 is the primary drive and the RAID 1 is a cloned backup drive. I clone it using Acronis. The RAID 0 is slightly faster than RAID 1 because it uses the striping technology, but it is also less reliable in the long run, because if one drive has a read failure the data (unreadable) becomes useless. In RAID 1 if one drive is unreadble it will be completed by reading the data from the other drive. As Ron stated above RPM speed of a drive will also make a difference when it comes to access speed. The amount of onboard cache makes a difference too.

Ok, I have a dilemma that I can't figure out. In recent time I've had several occasions to use the Flatten C-Hook and the Map C-Hook as well. Here's the situation. I flattened a surface. I verified the flattened size and it comes out right. However, there is a cutout on the curved surface. When I do a "Map" of the cutout to the flattened surface, it comes out about 2 1/2" short in the height of the cutout. Now here's the caveat. I have 5 similar files all with the same basic properties as described above. Only one of them gives me this erroneous result. It also does it repeatedly, as I have gone to the extent of recreating the surfaces. Can anyone possibly explain this? Is there something I am missing? Is there a rememdy for this result?

Do you have a value set in the "Stock to leave on drive" ?

Use the File/Merge as mentioned above. Then before you "check out" of the command look to the left end of the ribbon bar. There you will see a white arrow. Clicking the arrow will allow you to select a new origin position for the import geometry. Then you can move it to new position and/or levels without too much confusion.

I can't say for certain that it will work....but....Win7 has a feature that allows you to run it in a true (not emulated) XP mode for some programs that need it. It seems to me that someone here in the forum has already done that. I just can't remember who

I use all the options in your poll. When I write manual programs it is usually because I want a parametric program. That way I can handle a lot of similar parts by simply inserting a couple of variables and have the program done in less than 5 minutes. As opposed to opening a drawing for one of the similar parts and applying toolpaths for 30 minutes or more. For a lot of things that we do, 2D is just fine to apply toolpaths. Just the same, there are a lot of things though where 3D is an absolute must have.

No answers for you....but I get the same thng happening from time to time. And for what it's worth, we've had files with as many as 50-60 added WCS and not had a problem, yet some with only a few will go dirty for no good reason that I can see.

If you go into Settings: Configuration: Toolpath Manager you can set it so that your Toolpath Group will be the NC file name that all operations will adopt as you create them.

Did you have the solid shaded when you tried moving it? If yes.....try turning off the shading.

McKenzie, In step 3 repeat step 1, if needed. But DO NOT repeat step 2....just go on to step 4. I have also found that by creating End Points or Node Points (instead of just placing Points), that regardless of which method of placing points, not all of them will map to the flat surface. That is why a little duplication of effort is required. By doing the steps as outlined above I have produced a very acceptable flat surface.

Yes you can import into Excel. As stated above you first export as a .txt file and then open that with Excel choosing an appropriate delimeter for the columns. Results may vary depending on how complete each tool definition is, in your library.

Eureeka!! I now have a working solution to this problem. Starting out with Colin's original solution (linky above) I used part of it. Step 1. Create edge curves on the formed (and trimmed) suface. Step 2. Use the create Surface Curve command (without chaining as a spline, as Colin suggested) selecting each element one at a time repeating the command each time. (yes this is a royal PITA!!) Step 3. After creating Surface Curves, (if your results are like mine) most of your elements will have either disappeared or been shortened. REPEAT Step 1 Step 4. Now, where your elements disappeared in Step 2, go around and place Points. Step 5. Flatten your surface, using the C-Hook. Step 6. Map (C-Hook) the Surface Curves and when you do turn on the Points option. This will give you the most complete mapping. Step 7. Using any variety of elements place lines, arcs, splines on top of the newly mapped elements. Step 8. Trim surface to the elements you just placed. Done!!

Ok...so after struggling thru some trial and error and re-reading Colin's post in the link above, I am getting some limited results. The biggest problem I have now is that when I create the surface curve to Map to the falttened surface. The create surface curve command deletes most of my curve leaving me a very tiny little segment. Sooo....guys....any other thoughts/ideas on this topic?

Am I doing something wrong? Or is there something else I need to do first? I am using the C-Hook "FlattenSurf" and it is effectively flattening the surfaces I am selecting. However, it is giving me a flattened version of the untrimmed surface. I need to have the trimmed surface flattened. HELP!!

There is a C-hook that will blank the duplicates. Makes for a different way to utilize Mike S' solution. Do the math and you will have the same result.

I don't know if it will help, but you could try running the EXE file in "compatibility mode" to an older version back to say....Win95. See if that helps any.

If I understand the problem correctly, instead of using digits 1 thru 9, use 01 thru 09. Then there should be no issues filtering for 10's and not finding 1's.

We use Inventor. Using the solids that come out of it are great!! You can use the solids, or if necessary for some operations, you can apply surfaces as needed. 2D work is still good for many things and is faster and easier to deal with depending on what you are making. For the complex items though, you can't beat solids.