Nope and if they are not willing to do that then how confident are you going to be that it will do what you need? Why do you test drive a car? Why do they have IPAD and other things out for the consumer to try out. Granted a machine to try out, might be much, but I have always thought if a customer could go in an really try a machine out on something what kind of yield would a machine tool company get? Makerbot has set up places where people can see them in action and they are flying off the shelfs. That seems like a good example, but in reality it is not I suspect in 2 year we will see a ton of them on Ebay. Machines are quite different, but if you believe in your product then your product should be able to stand on it own merits. To many sales guys in my opinion want to play the con game. Well you must agree to purchase this and give us a PO then we will allow you the ability to see what you are getting. Nope let me see it in action. Let me see it doing the work I need. If they are still unwilling then have a 6 months clause put in the order that is machine fails to meet certain requirements then Mazak has to pay for all rigging and shipping of unit out of faculty and for replacement of machine even if it is a competitive machine. They want you to play the game without having to ante up to the table, okay we will play the game, but by my rules.

They had one in the show room at Mazak here in So Cal, but I never got to play with it and do anything with it.

There are many discerning customers that have their cynicism with surface finish, repeat ability, and through put. If I were purchasing a quarter million dollar machine and had no past experiences with them, I'd be hard pressed to go strictly by merit and have only the words of a tool salesman to console me during the purchase process. Depending on how serious the customer is in purchasing a machine and have genuine concerns that would need the real use of a machine, we could make the arrangements to get a "test drive" with customer material and print.

I do this function pretty much the same as you except a few changes in your translate tab

 

method= rectangular

instances= X=2 y=1

and toss any dimension you need under the Rectangular tab X so it shows OK in your graphics .

That did it!

Looks like this is the only thing that resembles what you posted.

pwcs #G54+ coordinate setting at toolchange

if mi1$ > one,

[

sav_frc_wcs = force_wcs

if sub_level$ > 0, force_wcs = zero

if workofs$ <> prv_workofs$ | (force_wcs & toolchng),

[

if workofs$ < 6,

[

g_wcs = workofs$ + 54

]

else,

[

g_wcs = workofs$ + 104

]

if workofs$ >= 0 & workofs$ <= 25, *g_wcs

else,

[

if mprint(swcserror, 2) = 2, exitpost$

]

]

force_wcs = sav_frc_wcs

!workofs$

]

Will i need to add that line? It doesn't seem to exist in 5 axis post

I don't see the attached copy of the post?

sorry about that, added a link for dl

Hello all.

I've been working on a post for the shop on their haas vf6 with Trunnion 5 axis. Everything seems to be posting fine but I would like a tool list to appear in the same manner as the Generic Haas 4x Mill post. I tried to take some of the lines that refer to ptooltable to the new 5x post but so far I only get the very first tool and only the first tool to post in the list.

here's an example:

%

O1002

( OP2-24127-19 REV M )

( 30-10-12 | 14:00 )

( ==TOOL List== )

( T1 1/4 CTR DRILL | D: .25 ) <= Should populate rest of the tools but stops at the 1st one

N1 G20

N2 G0 G17 G40 G49 G80 G90

N3 G0 G28 G91 Z0.

N4 ( T1 | 1/4 CTR DRILL ) <= Tool comment

link to post dl:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yxurnmgvxpkq2o9/Generic%20Haas%20VF-TR_Series%205X%20Mill.pst

thanks in advance!

I apologize and thank you guys in advance. I've looking at all previous posts of this problem and haven't found the solution for me yet.

Using X5 Transform TP I'm trying to generate multiple setups with consecutive offsets G54 and G56

-After creating the TP i go to Transform tool path

-Type-Translate

-Method- Toolpath, Check Include origin and save views

- Source- NCI

-GRP NCI Output by- Op Type

-Copy source Ops

-Disable Posting in selected source ops

-Work Offset number- Assign New- Start 0, Increment 2

Translate Tab

-Between Pts

-Instances - 1

-from and to pt 0

The post spits out the toolpaths with only a single G54 on both paths. No new g54 called out.

As of right now, I'm doing it the long way by copying each operation in the toolpath mgr and creating a copy of the top plate setting it to offset 2

and setting the original top plane to 0 . Even though This does give me the desired result, and more control IE being able to control the operation's

cutting order within the offsets, I'd like to use the former way in translate in time when I'm in a rush and need to spit gcode out quickly.

Thanks again!

Go into Control Definitions Manager > NC Output > Mill> Set Maximum Sequence number to anything less than 25,000 (I have it set at 9999)

This thread was a lot of help in posting code for a 4 axis setup I have although I'm getting some trouble with posting different offsets whenever the toolplane is changed. For instance it starts out with g54 on the first top plate and then g55 on the next rotation, g56 for the next rotation and so on...

any way to keep the offset on g54?

Another thing, when I code the toolpaths individually, it will post g54 regardless of the rotation.

U usually just save my file then ctrl+alt+del and end process Mastercam.exe

Its annoying buy atleast I don't lose my progress.

That makes sense.

My assumption was that FBM might save some time with repetitive parts with small variations but at the expense of control. I guess I'll have to find other ways to save some time.

We just took in a job with some honeycomb. We tried a few runs with wax but im going to suggest ice. We also have some liquid nitrogen that we can use on our fixtures. Anyone know psycomills suggestion of using the kids toy "slime "?

We're getting pretty loaded at our shop and I'm looking for ways to become more efficient in my programming.

We do aerospace parts with somewhat tight tolerances in some of the parts. Is fbm milling worth tuning up? How much time can I really save with the feature. Granted, our jobs do vary quite a bit, we do have a good number of 2D parts with two setups top and bottom.

Cool beans. Looks like ill be sticking with my create curve on edge technique.

thanks for all the replies.

One work around that I found without using any wire frames is selecting the the end of the chain first and then the beginning. Once selected, reverse the chain from the operations manager.

From everyone's responses, it confirms my assumption that this is just a problem that mastercam has and that I'm not doing something fundamentally wrong with selecting my geometry.

Like i previously posted, using lines and arcs as my driving entities for toolpaths is how I do it now, I just thought it would be a good challenge to drive full operations using one solid model. It is definitely possible to accomplish this but this intermittent problem with selecting partial chains was just getting aggravating.

I'll probably continue creating curves on single edges that I need for specific contours to keep the most control of my TP's. Thanks for all your input!

Good Morning everyone!

I've had this problem for quite a while and just wanted to know If i was the only one.

When I chain a series of edges for a partial chain on a solid model, once in a while, the last edge selection will select an edge from a completely different face than what was original specified initially.

I've tried to select the edge using "From Back" and it still gives an inconsistent result. Of course I there are work-arounds with creating curves but it'd be nice to be able to fully drive tool paths on a a single solid model.

I'm trying to have tool's H and D offsets match the Tool number automatically. Right now, when I select a tool for a toolpath, The tool number is called out sequentially but the H and D offset fields are 0. Another computer at work seems to be populating those fields fine but mine seems to be having trouble with that. Any ideas?

Did you update the machine, control def and post you were using in the previous version of Mcam?

Is the computer you copied the file from, running the same OS as you are?

Yeah,all the files were updated from x4. All comps here are on XP Pro.

Everytime I open up a previous file, I get a box saying:

"Referenced File Warning

The above file name is referenced in the file being opened.

A current fersion of this file can not be found so the previous

verision file will continue to be referenced..."

I checked the directory and the .control-5 file that is having problems pulling up is there. I've tried to copy and paste over from another computer at work but windows then gives me a message saying the file is read only and is in use. I shut X5 down and restarted the computer but I still can't replace the .control-5 file.

Any ideas on what a solution might be?

It seems like everyone is using hst for roughing and finishing except for me. I'm using everything but that. Am I really missing out on a alot? Should I make a conscious effort in utilizing this toolpath?

Thanks for your guys' input! I'm currently tinkering with some of the settings to get the remote send setup. I noticed our baud rate was set at 9600. Our machines can handle up to 115200baud while my rocket port card supports well beyond that. I set it to 115200 and it's transferring files 4 times as fast. Are there any risks associated with changing this setting?

I'd like to know what kind of setups some of you guys are using in your shop and if you would recommend anything for my configuration. I started working here a few years ago and I think we're in desperate need for a change.

We're running MULTI DNC with one Box connected to 6 vmcs and networked to the company nas where it feeds the code from. As of now, our operators receive individual programs via yelling across the shop for someone to send it. This seems really inefficient and wanted to know how I can set up something where it doesn't require two people working together and one guy running back and forth from the machine to the server.

Also, when streaming nc code from the server, the connection drops out whenever our welder is working. Could this be something with the ground?

During this streaming nc code, when we run the machines at high feeds, the code gets bogged and the machine starts to shudder and slow down.

Any replies are greatly appreciated. THanks!