Was recently at a dealer organized Mastercam event that was attended by Mike Rosa,great guy who can relate to our problems as he uses the software to machine stuff just like us. Anyway he showed us a new option on the 2D contour toolpath - ZigZag, that basically keeps the tool down as it does its multiple side passes - very handy. But i can't find it anywhere, was sure that it was on the Cut Parameters Page in the Contour Type drop down. Wondering if he was showing us some of the new X7 stuff ?

Make sure your post is outputing IJK, not R's . R can cause some problems with some controlers.

Come on Rick we all know that MU1 won't fix all the issues that have been in every release since X, why suddenly decide to fix isssues that have been around for last five releases now !!

Try changing it in your machine definition, general machine parameters, tool library tab.

prototyp calculator is very good, you can download from there website.

This is a Mastercam verify/backplot issue. You can set your control def so that the verify should verify with a dog leg to show these crashes but it has a bug so does not work. I have sent this to QC many versions ago but still hasn't been fixed !! My link

Works fine for me in X6

DUH - of course - didn't notice I had opened the wirecutting file. thanks John

Is it normal to only have 9 operations listed in the Toolpaths Drop down menu in X6 ? If so can I add more ? Thanks

Wow 200+ or even 600+ operations - thats insane - you either work on some very large, or complex parts and/or you programming is very inefficient Ive never done anything over 100 on some realtively complex molds and that makes my brain hurt. big ups to you.

Rickster check here [/img] have had it change "stock shape" to file and your latest file, a number of times. It even sticks next time you start a new part. very frustrating. if you reload your config it seems to cure the problem for a while !!

Im using X5 and get exactly the same issues. Tested as you have with no luck, so for us this has been added to the redundant toolpath box at this stage !

We have the MCX interface and i do use it to output the cutters/holders - BUT you have to be carefull to check and adjust them if doing tricky low clearance work as vericut does not define them properly as far as the shank and cutter is concerned. CGTech have told me this is due to the mastercam tool manager not outputing enough info. I still feel it is quicker to use the interface to get your basic tool list and geometry then modify from there. It just seems so frustrating having to build a tool list for vericut when you have only just done it for mastercam. Fingers crossed that with the improving tool manager in mastercam that vericut will be able to start defiing cutters/holders more accurately in the near future.

we have this same problem with our Rineck holders except the cutters tend to spin and then snap rather than pull out. ron's idea sounds like the best test solution.

this is another one of the known glitches that they never bother to fix !!

Good question, pretty sure I asked Ruth Delise about this and couldn't be done but on looking at it now i can't see why not. Will look into this some more.

Thanks Gcode, looks like i will be loading up X6 then even just to use this feature.

Yes this is correct but not customizable and the basic one is too basic and the detailed one too detailed for our needs.

Can anyone tell me if this has been fixed in X6. My link I haven't installed X6 yet and am wondering if it is worth it before MU1 , but I use this function an increasing amount and am finding having to revert to X4 is frustrating as X5 is just so much faster and is what i am used to now as i do all our other programming in it. I have loaded up a X4 test file to the ftp site for testing if someone could help me out. It is in the X4_Files folder and called "Thread Test X4". If it works correctly in X6 you should see it creating the holes at the centres of the numbered holes on the angled faces. Thanks in advance.

We have a Limited Vericut licence that just covers our 5 axis machine and 99% of what i put in there goes through vericut first as it is just too costly and time consuming to manually check every retract and index move , but these definitly need checking outside of mastercam. Very seldom do I get a completely gouge/clearance issue free toolpath out of mastercam first time when doing complex 5 axis work. As for 3 axis, run it through verify, check for gouges, if none i set it up and walk away. This is the huge difference between 3 axis and 5 axis work. Table/Table 5 axis machines aren't as taxing as head/table machines tho.

I here your frustration and this is why I am currently still using X+ in X5 for tool lists. I did actually request for there to be a link to the toolmanager page that we could use in the active reports program so that we could use active reports to generate just a tool list from here without reading all the ops. Don't have X6 installed yet so don't know if it has been implimented ?

What is your line of work. i.e mold , aerospace ?

This is how we do it, could be changed by an operater though so maybe a parameter lock is better.

As far as I know there is no way to do this .

Hi Ron, do you think if you were to start charging a small fee for these tools we might see a 64 bit version quicker as you could justify some staff time to it. I myself find the hole axis and pierce point tools a huge help with the 5 axis work I do and would be happy to make an investment in the product.