Perfect. You were right it is parameter 315. On this machine it is set to "1". what has me perplexed is the motion of the machine. When the tool makes it's first move, it is a gradual increase in feed. But, it seems like when it hits the next move, from what I've seen, an arc, it takes off from there on out. Any tips would be great. If that's just a Haas, so be it.

I've been out of the Haas world for years. I'm working with a VF4. 1. Is there a way to tell at the control if the machine has the "High Speed Machining" function? 2a. Is this just a block look ahead? Or does it control accel/decel? 2b. If it is an accel/decl, does it calculate it for arcs? 2c. If it doesn't apply to accel decl, how does the HSM output on MasterCAM work with it? Any tips on settings?

Okay, so this is kind of a hard to explain... I have a Rest Mill toolpath created before upgrading to X2, and the tool ramps on all of it's entry's (that it needs to). When I open the file in X2 and regen the toolpath it blows out all of the ramp moves. I really need to know if this is a parameter setting and how to fix it. Please please please help! Feel free to e-mail as well.

I am trying to remove a lot of material using the rest mill function. I have my boundary set to contain the part. I have the ramping function set/Transitions (and yes, I understand there is an arc entry/exit function). What I am not seeing is a ramp move when the tool enters material, it just wants to refer to the "Linking Parameters" page. Is there a correct way to set the functions to force a ramp move whenever entering material? Or is this a crap shoot that is left up to MasterCAM?

Thanks for the tip gcode, I think that may have been my issue. I was crashing when I tried to backplot a 5 axis drill cycle. John, thanks for the reply. That's kind of what I was shooting for. Unfortunately, I have uninstalled X2. I was hoping someone else could help me out.

I tried out X2, ran in to some "glitches" and decided not to use it due to our workload right now. Unfortunately, I uninstalled it from my PC. I was wondering if someone might do me the favor of converting this file back to a X1 SP2 file for me? I have placed it on the ftp site, MCX2_Files. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail with the file if yer up for it. Thanks! And, long time no talk to everyone out there! It's been a while, we're so burried with programming I don't get to get out much!

Duh, looks like I didn't read section "ID10T" of my manual Thanks John!

Congrats as well Jim! And ditto Josh, nice to see some locals in the crowd! Sometimes I feel like Washington programmers are the redheaded stepchild of this forum! Jim, I have one piece of advise for you, if you plan on using version 10, don't bother with 9. It's going to be a pain in the you know to learn, and it will take time, but you're going to learn a lot quicker if you have to. There are a couple of guys at our shop that keep putting it off, and all that is happenning is they're getting left behind. And one more thing, feel free to e-mail with questions, I don't know a ton, but I'd be glad to try and help.

Feel free to hook me up with a link if I missed this thread Is anyone else run in to the problem of being in the wrong screen, hitting the delete button and WHAMMY! all of your toolpaths disappear instead of the geometry you've selected? If this is common, what do ya think about having an undo button for the toolpath management? Have a great weekend!

Thad, check out Roger's comment, he led me in the right direction!

Perfect Roger! Thank you very much. If I have that disabled all is well.

Thad, did you ever come up with a solution for the thick backplot lines? I recently installed MR2 and now I'm back to the "thick line" problem you were having. I tried to run the Backplot C-hook again, but it looks like MR2 dumped it. I brought it in from another computer and tried it with the buffer on and off and no luck. Any ideas?

We're running V10 now, but I checked out what you suggested b_daddy. Close, but no cigar. That's the function I'm looking for (well not even me, it's a co-worker, but I thought it was a cool idea) only in the shaded function. I understand where the trouble would be, like you said John, how can you shade one thing with two colors. I figured if enough people thought it was a good idea, it might get looked at. Sometimes we get models in with a ton of really small patches that you can hardly zoom in enough to see, let alone change their normal. But like I said, just a thought. Thanks for the replies!

Does anyone know of a way you could set up MasterCAM so that when you shaded your surfaces you could view them the same as when they are not shaded. i.e. When shading is on, one side of the surface is it's color, and the other is gray. If you can, please let me know. If you can't, what does anyone sle think about making it to where you can?

Excuse me if this does not relate, but, is this showing the air in posted NC code only? The reason I ask, if you are doing all the tram checks successfully (manually) and then coming up with an error in your programmed files, it could be that you don't have the correct pivot distance. Maybe?

Hiya Jack... Sorry 'bout the delay. I had a bit of a mishap over the weekend... Mmmmm, Redhook! Anyhow's, I hear what yer saying on the chaining tolerances, I run mine at 0.0004. That's what has me duped. It chained whe I assigned it. And I have the same toolpath in four other files, and it works fine. Kind of goofy. I tried the re-generate too john, but it regenerates exactly the same. No worries, I'm putting down as a tolerance issue. Thanks for the input, I appreciate it!

We are just now running some files I programmed almost a year ago. As I recal, everything was rock solid, bullet proof, backplotted etc. Now we have the parts on the machine and WHAMMY! a little glitch that the operator could not have caught on the dry run, the part is scrap. I put the file on the FTP site, Mc9 Files, "UHOH.Mc9". If backplot it, notice the dive the cutters take on the right hand side, just one little move about 0.250 deep. I've racked my brain on this one, I have 10+ files just like this one and they are all fine. It would be great if someone out there could point out what the heck I'm missing. I'm sure it's obvious, you know how it is, when you stare at something too long everyhting ends up looking fine. Thanks!

IMHO, Pete, Jim, take you time with MR2. I'd rather have patience and get improvements that are worth the wait, rather than complain to the point where CNC feels rushed to reease something that isn't worth my time. We all knew there were going to be glitches when we switched to X, and we all knew we had the option to stick with 9.1 like Isk, if we wanted to. I remember waiting to switch to V9, until 9.1 was released just to be on the safe side. But with X, I wanted to be the kewl kid on the block, the first to know it, and not get left behind. As a result, I have to be a guinea pig, and I'm fine with that. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty stoked to know MTC is contributing to the development. So trying to be the mediator, Randle, maybe just step back, use Version 9.1 and keep an eye on the forum to see when everyone is praising Version X. And everyone else, sure he was being harsh, but hey, he's still a member, and he's ticked off, let him vent, you've let me (of course, the name calling and finger pointing could use an apology). No need to rush things, I'm sure it's got a long way to go, but hey, what's that old saying about Rome?

I get a crash every now and again (about as much as I did on V9). I'm curious though, what, when and how is it crashing? Have you been posting questions on the items that is making it crash? Do you have the latest service pack? I get pretty ticked off too when the computer isn't working, but to get sympathy I think you need to be a little bit more specific than "it crashes".

Well, I put it in the FTP/McamX directory. It's called "ALTMenu.kmp". But, after reading Roger and Mike's post's, I'm going to have to agree. When you put it that way Mike, it does add "functionality", and I'm with you Roger, my biggest goal with the new version was to stray away from customizing. That way I can walk up to any of the pc's in our facility. Oh well, back to the drawing board!

Thanks a lot Roger! This will be my priority next week. To make sure I'm clear on what yer saying, if I eliminate the hot keys that match the menu bar, I also eliminate the "gap" between alt and the letter?

The one thing that is for sure about Version X is that it's different. To me this isn't a problem, I don't mind, as a matter of fact, I like it more every day. But, (it seems like there is always a but!) there's one thing I don't get. And I was hoping I could get some user input to see if I should try and plead my case. (And for the record, this is a totally friendly question, no gripe at all, even though my tone may seem that way when I type this out) Here's the deal, "ALT _". Why would you go to the trouble of re-formatting an entire software system but hang on to a few hot keys that make using the menu bar such a chore. It's the only software I run where I have to press ALT, then wait, make sure my finger is off of it (only on certain menu functions, like Edit for example) and then press the letter I want. All because MasterCAM had to hang on to the hotkey that runs the C-Hooks, and the Hide etc etc. So my question to you, fellow users is this. Since we all have the option of customizing so much in version 10, don't you think there should at least be a switch (or even just change it to be like every other system) to make the menu functions work like it should?

Don't have time for the search, but there was a post a couple years back about Engineering Knowledge, a machinist's test, or something. One of the questions was how deep a threaded hole needs to be for maximum strength. Sounds like you should give yer customer a lesson. If all else fails, I'm with James, single point or peck. Be sur eto let us know what you ended up doing!

Yes, I don't remember the details, but a shop I worked in years back had the same problem with a Fadal. We had been milleing steel on it, putting a much larger load on the machine than it was used to. After a few days of running parts it made a jump just like you described. I think it was a board issue, but not sure, may have been the motor. Either way, no worries, it's not possessed!

I haven't really commented on what I use it for, so here goes: It's great for analyzing entities, changing levels or colors. If you try it, sometimes it works great for selecting chains, especially if you want to select a number of partial chains. And once you sort your colors on surfaces, it's excellent for finiding multiple surfaces on imported models (CATIA jockeys, go figure!).