That's no lady, that's my wife. Uh.... I'm not sure that came out the right way!

I apologize for the oversight, but we recently changed our web address and emails, and forgot to update my profile on this site. For those who tried to contact me regarding a 4/5 axis manual (see other topic with 50+ posts), please try again. My new email is: [email protected]. Thank you

FYI: Your dealer will get a promo copy of the Mastercam Handbook Volume 1 at the dealer conference in June. (ISBN: 0-9711786-0-7) [We joked that we should name this book "Everything you ever wanted to know about Mastercam", which gives you an idea about its scope and content]. The books just went to print, and are being used at a couple of schools as Beta Sites as we speak. Target cost is $98. If you want one of these, or if you want to see one before buying, contact your dealer. It looks like they'll be available for mass distribution in July. Volume 2 is coming a little later this year. Not selling here (seriously) but you're talking about something I've known and wanted to do something about for a long time, and I agree completely that this is a problem; not just with Mastercam but with any CAD/CAM system I've known. Manuals say "what", but not where, when, or why. Tutorials use a monkey see-monkey do approach, which still doesn't supply the whole picture, and results of this kind of instruction are no guaranteed. IMHO, help is on the way.

I've seen a slowdown in several industries in my area, especially the chip businesses. We are pretty diversified now, so some wireless, medical and aerospace has slowed, but not died. 1999 was my best year ever, and having lived through the depression in San Diego in the early 90's (when we were all defense and aerospace, till all that moved out), I knew it couldn't last. I think the slowdown will last in California thru 2001, until we get more electric plants on line. This is a normal business cycle; not pleasant, but a necessary thing to wring inefficiencies out of the economy. I'm taking advantage of the time to get ready for the next up cycle, and quite frankly, take some vacation that I haven't had in years. Look for things to pick up late 2001 or early next year.

No legitimate company would touch such a thing. Besides it being unethical, that such things often are very buggy or worse, this is a felony. What company, with thousands invested in machines, tooling, and people, would risk throwing it all away (or even risk just terribly embarassing themselves to the world)?

Dear Group, This is a great discussion, and I've been following it closely. To Eric14779 and others in this group. I agree that proper documentation (documentation that includes background, orientation, why and when, and that is very results-oriented and practical) would save a lot of time and anguish. I wrote the Mastercam Handbooks which IMHO completely solve this problem for 2D and 3D machining. These are licensed exclusively to CNC Software, Inc. and Volume 1 is available in June. For you dealers attending the conference in Mystic, you'll be able to review this material. I would be interested in cooperating with a few experienced 4-5 axis Mastercam users to write such a manual to address this problem. email me at [email protected] if you are interested in cooperating on such a project. I assure you that you would be very proud and pleased with the resulting document. You'd also be doing a good service to this industry and to Mastercam world-wide.

Actually the old post manual (97) starts out with the basics and walks you through it. In my experience, a good manual helps, but editing post is a lot of OJT. The key is knowing what code you want, and the variable that carries that word. All posts, in every system I've seen, have their nuances. Mastercam is the best I've ever worked with, but there is no royal road.

Check your machine control manual to see if there is a G-code to disable Accel/Decel temporarily. The Fadal uses G8/G9. Haas uses a G187 E value (I think). On other machines, this can be adjusted by a parameter on the control. Be sure to re-enable when through machining the spline/surface.

You can turn toolpath on/off from the Op manager under Options, Toolpath Display, on/off

I have not encountered this problem, and we teach lots of students, who are beginners, and they don't seem to have the problem either. My question is how are you going about getting an error in the stock definition in the first place?

IMHO, the idea of a separate config file that has a switch to set the machine configuration, and variables for the different rotation limits and distances between axis, is the way to go. Given that info, MCAM should output the right values, and all you should have to do if format. The info from the config file could also go to drive a "generic" 5-axis simulation. [This message has been edited by Webmaster (edited 05-04-2001).]

Anyone out there successfully running a Calcomp 1043 plotter from Mastercam. This uses the old PCI standard, and won't accept HPGL.

A good scheme is to set up a separate directory for each assembly, then stuff all files related to that into that directory. You could also create additional sub directories under the each assy for each part number. Mastercam has a utility (called a C-hook) named setdirs.dll that sets the system to temporarily point to a specified directory for all file read/write tasks. Mastercam filename follow standard Windows conventions for long filenames. You may also check the CNC Software web site to see if there are any 3rd party utilities to help manange files.

I've never had much luck trying to correctly represent a thread in any solid modeler. It's just one of those things that kills solids packages. What I do is simply create the thread profile then revolve it. Sounds cheasy, and it is, but from a side or section view it is accurate, and in an iso view you have to look closely to notice it's not a true helix. Besides, it is so efficient, it doesn't bog down the solid.

Sounds like something in the post. Both backplot and verify look at the .nci file (or at least they used to, they may be looking at the toolpath part of the .mc8 file now). In either case, they don't verify the G-code file.

The only problem I've had is with really complex surface files. STL files are quite inefficient, and large files tend to bog the system down. If you can, try using an IGES file instead of STL.

Just a few ideas here, hope they help. Make sure you have filter on. The angles are the slope angle of surfaces you want machined. You might also try Multisurf Contour, and try the Rest Mill option if you're just wanting to clean out an area not previously machined. This seems to work very well. If you're getting more code due to some "extra" toolpaths, use the toolpath editor to delete those.

This is not a problem with the software. I recommend you select Screen, Endpoints, which will put a mark at the end of every entity, which generally shows small breaks clearly. Second, go into an isometric view, and make sure the geometry is connected in the Z-axis, not just x-y. (of course, under Chain, Option, you can select Ignore Depths, and the profile will ignore the Z's and chain anyway. Trust me, when you really, really look at this problem, the geometry is the problem.

Sorry, I haven't drawn this up. Just a suggestion, if you are doing a lot of stuff like this, Solids is THE ONLY way to go. You can do it in wire/surface, but solids will be 10X more efficient and easy.

Some of the entities in the truetype fonts will be converted to splines. Try tightening up the Linearization Tolerance under the Contour Parameters menu (try .0005 or less) and also turn Filter on. Personally, I like the Box fonts the best for part numbers, etc.

Dear Billy, Sorry I don't remember my French at all. Try posting this in English (even if broken english, it's better than most people's French) and you're more likely to get a reply.

Great questions. Set up the Tplane and Cplane the same before generating toolpaths. Reset the Origin of the new Tplane if you want the code to reflect some new reference point (G54, G55, etc) on the part. All code will come out in reference to that new toolplane origin. Rotation will be in reference to the WCS (World Coordinate System). The origin does not have to be set the same on each each part, so you can set up the tombstone so each side is a different face on the part, which I think is what you want to do. All this is really pretty easy to set up. I just copy my parts around the tombstone (or other rotary device) exactly as they would appear on the machine. I then setup a Cplane and Tplane to the appropriate "zero" point on each part. Do this by first setting the Cplane and Tplane, then shifting the origin (if it's not the same as the WCS origin). Then program as if you were in the top view. It also helps to name the views as you create them (like G54, G55). You can select these graphically when you want to call them up. Good luck. If you use any modern post that supports 4th axis, it codes properly. Note: if you've programmed a part, and just want to copy all the toolpaths around a tombstone, try using the Toolpaths, Next Menu, Transform function instead. That will save you a lot of work, and it automatically increments the Fixture Offsets if you want.

definitely not a software problem. interesting that coolant on each hole doesn't solve the problem. contact the machine manufacturer. perhaps they have a software update that will fix the problem. i'm sure everyone else with this machine is having the same problem; it's software, not hardware related.

Just a guess, but it sounds like the arc center is not properly defined. Try changing the variable arctype= variable. Check the manual to set it properly, or just try each setting. If you're using I's and J's, that's about all it could be.

The Emco post, as I recall, are a little strange, and use a tab delimited format. I know there are posts for the older machines, but have not personally seen anything on the newer ones. Your best bet really is to contact your local dealer (I find email works best for such requests). They can beat the bushes to find the post for you, or let you know what is will take to create one for that machine.