Hi Roger, Thanks, but with that all the geometry, including solids or surfaces come in as the set attribute color. I'm used to getting surfaces as defined by the import file and edge curves set to my color attribute. (At least that's the way it worked in V9...) Tala [email protected]

Hello Colin, Thank you for the response. I should probably start looking at VB anyway if not for this, for obvious reasons of automating repetitive tasks, yes? Tala [email protected]

Hi Eric, and thanks... I can always go through the extra steps to create the edge curves and/or change the colors. What I'm trying to get is the ease of importing the edge curves at the color I want which is different from the color of the surfaces/solids I'm importing. Tala [email protected]

Hi folks, Tala here. So, here's my dilemma... I import parasolids data on a regular basis to X2. In V9 using options/surfaces/edge curves... I'd get edge curves set to the current color attribute. Now in X2, the edge curves are created with the color of the parasolid model. I'd prefer them to be set to the attribute color as that saves me changing the curves color prior to moving them to another level. (Time is money...) Anyone have an elegant solution to this? Thanks, Tala [email protected] X2 Mill, Lathe, MultiAxis, Solids

---------------------------------------------------------------------- DrewG wrote: We are looking at starting to do some complex 5 axis work within the next year, and really need a product that can provide design, CAM, and simulation/verification. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Drew, As a design package Catia is hard to beat, especially if you need the power it supplies. I've been able to manipulate geometry in very quick and dexterous ways that would have taken MUCH longer in other software. Catia learning curve is steep and tech support is legendary in being explicitly non-existant. Much of my design is currently done in SolidWorks and for 95% of the work it's fine. The five percent is a killer though and I'm happy to have other tools available. I find MasterCam to be a great "hammer" for crunching 3D mold work in a hurry. Elegance and tool control could be a little more forthcoming, but the programming approach seems to preclude that capacity. I own one seat of MasterCam. For five axis my first and only choice is an apt variant named NCL from NCCS in Newport Beach, California. The price is steep, but if you're truly cutting five axis nothing comes close to the functionality and tool control in NCL. The product is excellent but their tech support is the best I've ever come across and that includes the terriffic support from CNC software and their network of dealers. One of the things I like about NCL is I know how the meta-programmers are approaching the cut. I know what the tool is doing and the factors that will result in a failure to cut. That's a powerful factor in debugging a tool path... http://www.nccs.com/pages/nccs_home.html NUMERICAL CONTROL COMPUTER SCIENCES 4685 MacArthur Court, Suite 200 Newport Beach, CA 92660 Phone 949-553-1077

So, it being Saturday and all, with no tech support available... Operation: Surface Rough Contour. Under Rough contour parameters. In the upper left area of window just under Maximum Stepdown is : ----- "Corner Rounding Radius" Questions: Does Corner Rounding Radius apply to edges sticking out? Does Corner Rounding Radius apply to internal sharp edges? When the radius is "rolled" does it cut the part edge with a radius? Is the radius at the tool axis, or at the part edge? Will settings of zero roll adversely affect the calc time? (ie larger radius = longer time or shorter time or no effect...) I have these questions after having an operation lock and I'm wondering if "corner rounding radius" might contribute to the op lock... I'd also like to know just what corner rounding radius is doing... Thanks, Tala [email protected] 415 586-9420

Thanks to all...

Control is Fanuc 21i with standard fanuc helical interpolation... mpmaster.pst has no ARCFIT switch that I can find... would this be ARCCHECK perhaps? The following are my settings in mpmaster.pst... arcoutput : 2 #0 = IJK, 1 = R no sign, 2 = R signed neg. over 180 arctype : 2 #Arc center 1=abs, 2=St-Ctr, 3=Ctr-St, 4=unsigned inc. breakarcs : 2 #Break arcs, 0 = no, 1 = quadrants, 2 = 180deg. max arcs do_full_arc : 0 #Allow full circle output? 0=no, 1=yes helix_arc : 1 #Support helix arc output, 0=no, 1=all planes, 2=XY plane only # IHS 05/07/02 - arccheck set to 3, dat arccheck : 3 #Check for small arcs, convert to linear atol : .01 #Angularity tolerance for arccheck = 2 ltol : .002 #Length tolerance for arccheck = 1 vtol : .0001 #System tolerance ltol_m : .05 #Length tolerance for arccheck = 1, metric thanks, Tala

helicsal??? oh, nice... that darn spell checker... make that Helical output... duh

Well, I'm missing something... What I want in output is g02 or g03 X,Y,Z,R output for mpmaster.pst What I'm getting is g01 xyz -- linear. Is this a problem in my tolerance settings, or ??? thanks, Tala [email protected] 415 586-9420