Hi John, Thanks for the G2M offer. I certainly believe you. If you're already working with Colin, he's your best bet. I'm not in the Tech Support area here at CNC. I'll keep an eye on this thread in case there's something I can add to or edit in our documentation regarding this issue. Have a great weekend! Karen

Hi All, Maybe you've already tried this and it didn't work for you, but as stated in the AutoCursor help topic: "Note: If you undock AutoCursor when you are not using a function that requires it, AutoCursor will disappear. It will reappear each time you initiate a function that requires interaction. For example, creating geometry using Sketcher functions." I just made sure it worked this way in X6, and it did. I undocked AutoCursor, it disappeared, I clicked the "Create Rectangle" button (or you can choose pretty much any function from the Create menu like Create>Point), and AutoCursor reappeared. Hope this helps, Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

G10X0Y0Z0 is absolutely correct! 1. Get into the Help any way you want. (Help menu or ? button on a dialog) 2. Click the "Search" tab in the left pane. 3. Type "Defining geometry for a custom lathe tool". 4. Hit "Enter". HTH! Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

Hi Guys, We had some pretty bad storms around here this weekend. We lost power for about 24 hours, but everything should be up and running normally now. Thanks for your patience! Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

Hello, Go to the Settings menu and choose "Configuration." Then click "Screen" in the list of pages on the left. Check or uncheck the "Large Buttons" check box on the right of that page. Hope this helps, Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

_________________________________________________ "There is not a situation on earth with lathe work were a ID tool would retract from deep buried in part straight out in X Only in MC World! You have to use ref points, but this is never pointed out in any of the help files. You only learn this buy experience. Wrecked tools and lots of reset time. It will kill someone one day!!!!!" ________________________________________________ Hi George, Thanks for reporting this … we appreciate all feedback. Although we strive to make our documentation complete and accurate, we cannot cover every situation. Backplot and Verify simulate machining and provide ways to prevent loss of time and materials. Lathe improvements are planned and we will document them as they’re implemented. Thank you for choosing Mastercam. Mastercam Tech Docs

Hello Phil and Everyone, I'm sorry that the information that you needed is not easily found in the Mastercam Help. I will make sure that this is fixed for our next release. Thank you! Karen L. Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

Hi Brian & Chris, Brian, from your answers, I'm going to have to assume that your problem is due to a "weak" computer. Your system paths are set up correctly and Mastercam is accessing the Help successfully, just slowly. I'm sorry that I don't have any quick answers for you other than updating your PC. As far as the educational NetHasp setup that Chris is talking about, it doesn't surprise me that the Help takes a while to open, especially the first time. HTMLHelp systems (.CHMs) rely on temporary files to "remember" where you were in the Help the last time.....kind of like cookies or bookmarks. If a bunch of people are logging on and off for fairly short periods of time and using the Help more often than someone who is more familiar with the product, those temporary files need to be overwritten more often, and that takes a bit more time. I wish that I had more helpful answers for you, but at least you’re both experiencing behavior that sounds “normal.” If you have any other troubles accessing the Help, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks, Karen

Hi Brian, Sorry you're having problems. You're right, this may be due to the fact that your PC needs to be updated, but I'd like to try to help you just in case it's not. Please provide me with answers to the following: 1. Do you have multiple installs of different versions of Mastercam? 2. If you're working with multiple versions of Mastercam, does the Help on the other versions work OK? 3. What is your install path for the version Mastercam that isn't working correctly (i.e., C:MCAMX)? 4. For the version that's not working properly, do you have a "Help" folder directly under your Mastercam install folder (i.e., C:MCAMXHELP)? 5. If so, do you have a bunch of CHM files there (probably about 38 CHM files)? 6. When the Help finally shows up, is it the right topic? 7. Are you having problems getting the Help just from the Help menu at the top of Mastercam, just from the Help buttons, or both? Let's start there. OK? Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

Hi Ken, Welcome! In the Help menu at the top of your Mastercam screen, there's a link to a document called "Reference Guide." There's a bunch of info in there under the "Setting Planes/Views/WCS" chapter that might be helpful. There are also many topics in the Help that cover planes and views....like the "Views, planes, and coordinate systems" topic. Just open the Help (Help>Contents) and use the Search tab to search for words like "views", "planes", or "WCS" and you'll get a list of topics to choose from. Hope these tips help! Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

Hi k, By default, fields in which Mastercam's built-in calculator is active have a yellow background. You can change this color on the Colors page of the System Configuration dialog box. Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC SOftware, Inc.

Hi Mike, Not that this will help you out now, but I will make sure that we document the chevron-on-the-ribbon-bars thing better in the Help and the Reference Guide. Thanks for bringing this to our attention! Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software

Well......when it comes to Vista, I guess that's better than saying "Be afraid, be very afraid!" or maybe "Run away. Run far, far, away!"

Hi Jim, Here's a URL to some information on our Mastercam Web site that will answer your questions regarding Vista support. http://www.mastercam.com/Support/TechTips/...sta-support.htm Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

Hello, There are many Help topics covering Mastercam default files and how to edit them. In this case, use the Search tab in the Help and search for "Editing a toolpath defaults file". This is a step-by-step procedure with a link to a video and other related topics. Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

Hi Guys, Bryan and Thad are correct (as usual). There's a very good procedure in the Help. The topic is titled "Editing an operations library." There's a bunch of other stuff in the Help that covers operations libraries. Use the "Search" tab in the help and type in something like "editing toolpath libraries" and hit Enter to get a long list of topics full of info. Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

Hi all, This is in the Help, but I have to admit that it's buried pretty deeply under the pop-up field definition for Config files. I'll make sure that it's also noted right up front in the help topic for the Zip2Go main window. Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

Rick, Working on examples, multimedia, step-by-step procedures, and tutorials as often and as quickly as we can. I promise! Thanks for the input. Karen

Hello Rick and Nils, ------------------------------------------------ "What is and does Ram Saver Do? It is not in the help menu index." ------------------------------------------------ Please accept our apologies regarding this oversight. I have logged a documentation defect about the missing Ram Saver information in the help. This will be corrected in our X2 MR2 release. Thanks for reading the help guys!! Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

Hello Jimo, I may be able to help you. Please provide a bit more detail: 1. Can you put up a screen shot of the message you're getting? 2. Where were you in Mastercam when you clicked the Help button? What dialog/ribbon bar? 3. On the 2 seats that aren't working, can you open the Help through the Help menu by clicking Contents? 4. Do you have a Help folder directly under your Mastercam installed folder.....like C:mcamxhelp? If so, is it empty? Thanks in advance for the additional info. Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software

Hello Casey, I'm sorry that I don't remember a new view button on the View Manager. However, here's some info from the Help topic for the View Manager: -------------------------------------------- To create a new view, first decide whether the new view will be based on geometry from the graphics window, or based on an existing view. - Choose the Geometry button to create a new view aligned with geometry from the graphics window. After selecting the geometry, you will see the New View dialog box where you can name it and set its properties. - Click on a view and choose Copy to create a new view from an existing view. It will appear in the view list with a default name and the same properties as the original view so you can edit it. - Click on a view and choose Relative to create a set of views which are defined relative to the selected views. You will see the Create Relative View dialog box where you can create up to 7 new views in one step. Mastercam maintains a link from these views to the source view, such that if the source view changes the relative views will be automatically updated. --------------------------------------------- Hope this helps! Karen Graf Technical Documentation CNC Software

Hi zentime, Welcome to the forum! Although I don’t know of a way to view part thumbnails in Explorer, you can easily do it in Mastercam. 1. Open Mastercam and choose File, Open. 2. In the Open dialog, navigate to the directory that houses your files. 3. Check the Preview checkbox. 4. Single click a part file to display a thumbnail of that part in the Preview area. I hope this helps. Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer Technical Publications Department CNC Software, Inc.

35k chipper & Greg, You're quite welcome! -------------------------- Greg, I don't know why the Mastercam Box font default is all caps. That may be a question to ask of someone else here at CNC. Maybe someone from the design end of things can explain. In the meantime, I'll forward your question on to someone that may be able to answer. Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

Hi 35k chipper, Sorry about the length of this answer!! Here goes. When you're creating letters in Mastercam, these 2 zip files are used to set the MCX (Box) Font to display either all uppercase letters or a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters. When you choose the default MCX (Box) Font in the Create Letters dialog box, all the letters will be displayed in the Mastercam graphics window as uppercase letters regardless of how you type them in the dialog box. For example, when you choose Create, Create Letters, and choose MCX (Box) Font, no matter what letters you capitalize, Mastercam will create all the letters in an uppercase Box font. Here's a couple of procedures for you: ------------------------------------------- To set the MCX (Box) Font selection to display a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters (exactly as you type them in the Create Letters dialog box), follow these steps: 1. Open Windows Explorer to display the files and folders on your computer. 2. Choose the commonfontsBox folder in your Mastercam directory. 3. Open the Box Lowercase X2.zip file and extract all its files to the commonfontsBox folder. Note: Allow the letters.dat file to be overwritten. 4. Create your letters to see that they display with both uppercase and lowercase letters. ------- To reset the MCX (Box) Font selection to always display uppercase letters, follow these steps: 1. Open Windows Explorer to display the files and folders on your computer. 2. Choose the commonfontsBox folder in your Mastercam directory. 3. Select and delete all the MCX files that begin with “char” (such as char033.MCX, and char034.MCX). 4. Open the Box Uppercase X2.zip file and extract all its files to the commonfontsBox folder. Note: Allow the letters.dat file to be overwritten. 5. Create your letters in a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters to see that they display only as uppercase letters. ------------------------------------------- I'm 99% sure that you should not combine the content in these zip files....but there's still that 1% that someone else might know about. This will be in the X2 MR1 Help with pictures and links to other topics. Hope this helps. Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.

Hi Thad and Derek, I just thought I’d chime in with a quick note. As of today, the online help for Zip2Go has that procedure included. I have put a Table of Contents entry for the new topic and also put in a bunch of index keywords so that next time it will be easy to find. Thanks for the catch Derek…..sorry for the oversight and inconvenience! Karen Graf Senior Technical Writer CNC Software, Inc.