Mastercam 2023 seams to work on my windows 11 home version with RTX card. that being said it is probably not ideal?

try at your own risk??

solid works and mastercam for solid works?

just throwin it out there.

I have extensive experience with Predator. no complaints. very simple and not much extra.

we just switched to Factory Wiz, so far so good. lots of extra bells and wistles so a little more complex than I think it needs to be for DNC

in a past life used Cimco that seamed to work very smooth. am sure they have evolved since I used it.

could boil down to your needs.

On 4/16/2023 at 4:21 AM, jpatry said:

I was taught by cranky old machinists to always make my Z zero the face of the part, thus all negative numbers are cuts and all positive numbers are clearance.

I was also taught this way and did so for many years. I now set zero to solid jaw, stop and bottom of stock.

Reason is my vise with stop setup is dedicated so when I run part xyz then load part xxx or part yyy zero is already set. with verification ability these days I dont generally look at the code cept to verify tap cycle, feed speed tool number etc. no xyz for me machine fly's through that too fast. me programmer is 99% on and 100% after the first cut. always deck top first and sneak that in then let er rip

program in master cam to nominal .74975 with wear comp on.

run with zero comp in your table on machine

measure and insert the amount of comp to achieve feature nominal.

I say zero comp assuming you are using a carbide end mill that usually will run small, this tool will also need to be running true. this will allow you to run it as is and cut oversize and have room to comp to your feature size. (sneak it in).

sorry am not familiar with pivot distance-gage length being calculated in the post (thats old school). 

 a stab at it from your description of 90 deg and cutter seems to be driving on wrong side of line. does the control definition determine what side the cutter is at?

in other words it is suspect mastercam is looking at it 180 degrees off?

some one more knowledgeable is sure the chime in.

I would seriously look into incorporating TCP at the machine. may have to do a little test to make sure it is not an option on your 8055 that you may not have. all of ours have it.

I think Leon got this but just in case.

some info you probably already know.

TCP on code is G48S1. G48S0 for off

D# designates tool length table. our machines are setup to default to D#=tool number by default

we have a very similar machine

if i am understanding the op. you need to build a basic understanding of friction and forces taking place in machining. running a CNC does not always lend to understanding this.

If you have access to a bridge port and hand full of sacrafitial cutters-material I would start there and dont be afraid. 

and or if doing lathe work do the same on a manual lathe.

JM2C

when choosing a tool from your library.

Tool list filter is your friend in this situation.

I have mounted a hand grinder on the post of a lathe for this in the past. not an eligant solution but run what you brung and get err done.

Verisurf min bounding box is my go to for odd featured shapes, just add prefurred excess and good to go. 

I would consider drawing custom tools with pilot bellow zero. dont know off hand if that will give you the result you are looking for but worth a try.

THANK YOU MUCHO

Thank you for the reply.

i am so post illiterate am afraid am going to need this spelled out. am getting  errors. syntax i am sure

PST LINE (2922) - The post block output type processing has failed!, , Label has not been defined[12]
21 Jan 2022 06:42:21 AM - PST LINE (2922) - The formula/boolean failed (general message), The formula/boolean does not terminate properly
21 Jan 2022 06:42:21 AM - RUN TIME -PST(2922)- The math calculation/formula has an error

make plane associative to geometry and do not lock plane.

when you mirror geometry your plane will follow.

dang was going to post that we are using a 1990's fadal 8030 to make tooling and thought it was pretty tight.

till today, 3d ing a mold and think i found a spot in the travel that it has been crashed hard in the past. made some unwanted mismatches on the surface.

oops, 20 hours down the drain.

we are going to reposition it on the table and rerun, hopefully i pick a spot they have not crashed this machine in, in the past. it shows it has had a very hard life.

typical throwing $20 away trying to save $1

offsite programming with no accountability.

the owner of that machine is going to learn the cost of that the hard way.

Root cause needs to be fixed first.

we have standards at the machine. usually no setup sheet, tool list in the header. 

flat pattern, zero lower left corner of stock. follow on ops zero off bore or feature machined previous noted in header

vise, zero left edge, solid jaw, bottom of part or stock

hog out, zero center bottom of stock

production using a fixture, zero is at a marked bore in fixture z at that surface. some times its a shift but it is stamped on fixture. these are all pinned and g10 sets zero in program

of course there are exceptions but these are our hard fast rules.

this is just how it fits at my facility. I have programmed from all sorts of locations. programming from datums required operator-setup person to be able to read the print . not many of them left anymore

 I found this has morphed into a disaster waiting to happen because there is little skill on the floor?? keep it simple and standard has been my latest adaptation. back in the day i setup and proved out other peoples programs i prefured off the datums so I could easily calculate code to the print.

1 hour ago, Thee Kid™ said:

You might get better value using a specialized tool, they aren't expensive per part you can cut a lot with one tool.

yep typical company tripping over $20 to save $1

forgot to mention. am using Robbjack .0625 carbide slitting saw on these for most of the profile. 24" profile distance each part. cutter has run several hundred parts and still running. cuts nice and very little burr.  1" dia s12000 f50. ipm

5 axis helps this approach so did not mention for a home router. my bad assumption?

i am having descent luck with onsrud straight flute 2 flute carbide cutters. s18000 f50. ipm

6-8 parts life cutting aprox. 6 inches total travel each part.

this may not be considered great life but the cutters are cheap, cant get the company to spring for coated.

dont breath the dust.

been a very long time but the last .PRT file format i played with was from CADKEY, KEYCREATOR

if that is the source I think maybe SOLIDWORKS will open it. not sure about embedded dimension entities tho?

thank you

2021 ran 3:15

2022 ran 3:23

Dell Precision 7740

Intel zeon [email protected]

32 gb ram

Hdd pc sn730 nvme wdc 512gb

Is there another way to get the benchmark 3.0 file. cant seem to access the ftp. dang admins?

we ballbar our routers. not wood working tho, we are a composite shop. most routers are production trim mine is used mostly for tooling.

it would not have been a route i would have initiated (10k investment) and it just tells you info on servo tuning and squareness, some other data as well.

some one else pulled the trigger on ballbar purchase before i had chance to give input. now we have it so i use it.

I could simply do a circle triangle square test and or manual tram sweeps etc. to accomplish similar info. we are not splitting hairs with our router just not designed for such.