Hey C Jaynes, why dont you contact your buddies in Cal. Namely the two that work at the mold shop.This is J.H. Write me back @ my e-mail address. You should be able to use the little icon on this reply.

What if you want the shortest distance from any point to the nearest entity, not an end point,midpoint etc.

I too use a spaceball and I feel like my left arm fell off when it quits working in MC.I do alot of 3d modeling in " other" softwares and it is a great tool. You can find them pretty reasonably on ebay. I ve seen them go for anywhere between $100 - $300 . Get either a 3003 flx or a 4000 flx. The 4000 model allows you to program hot keys on the pad . If you have the bucks, get one.

Nope

Im sorry,miss explained myself. MCs rough toolpaths suck!!everything is treated like a pocket and they shouldnt be. This can be pretty hazardous when roughing a standing island, core,whatever. The current cut patterns do not allow you to mill outside in without creating a stupid "containment boundry" which usually results in air cutting around the outside.

I to feel your pain as I also use a different cam software in which you can model a solid of you stock whatever the shape or size. The software then only applies toolpath to the difference between the stock and part. What a time saver. Another problem I have with MC is roughing from outside in towards the part instead of treating it like a friggin pocket.

I too have experienced this phenomenon. Its seems random and has no pattern. As for the offset thing, even our local MC sales rep. wouldn't have beleived us had he not witnessed it with his own eyes.

I too would like to know the answer to that question . If there is not a way to disable the prompt then let this be a formal request. Its pretty damn annoying.

For you post gurus out there , what should the line look like in the " End of File for non zero tool " block , to omit a tool change command if there is only one tool in the program? I know it should be a formula statement but I'm a beginner here so bear with me. Thanks.

Is there any reason why after I create a new wcs somewhere on a part I cannot create slice curves from the new wcs? It seems that when you specify an axis to create the slice it is always from the absolute 0,0,0 position and not the present wcs location.

Propagate along tangencies works great, it greatly reduces the edge picking. But the question is can you "array" "copy""transform" assosiative features from the solids manager tree.

Is it possible to transform or array solids features? I have a round part with about 10 radial slots in it with an edge radius around both sides of the slots. Can I create one instance with rads and then array it with 9 copies, or do I have to cut the slots then pick all 80 edges to put the rads on.

Thats what I thought judging by all the replies. Thanks. [ 10-03-2002, 10:14 AM: Message edited by: FUSION ]

Hi dOgFartz, Sorry but you lost me. I am trying to AVOID creating, copying, re-picking, regenerating etc.,etc. The only solution we have found is to create perp. lines in x+ y+ at the work origin and use those entities to orient x and y of the saved wcs.As long as the associative toggle is on you can rotate the saved wcs by xform, rotate, the two lines at the origin. BUT Im looking for a better solution.

Is it possible to simply rotate a named,or created wcs. As many repeat parts are not held or clamped with the same x,y orientation every time due to multple or existing set ups, different machines etc. Its a real hassle to create a new wcs and re-select it in every op, then regen.