You need Mastercam V8.1. It's really quite easy, and it works great. You need a surface file of your stock definition (lets say, it represents a casting). Save the file as an IGES file (or stl, but IGES is much more efficient). When you go to Verify, go to the Parameters page, and there is a new button called File (underneath the Rectangle and Cylinder buttons). Click on this, then browse to select the .igs file that represents your stock. Bingo. Enjoy. If you have True Solid turned on, you can click on the stl button at any time, and save the verification to that point as an stl file, then use this as your stock definition on subsequent operations. The new Verify really does rock.

I'll be there Tue thru Thur. My wife, Julie, will be there Monday. For you folks in San Diego, consider catching the Amtrak train up. You don't have to fight the traffic, and it's just a $7 or so cab ride from the LA train station to the convention center. Besides, the train runs along the coast much of the way, so it's a good ride.

1. Try the Gap Settings, and add a Tangential Arc Radius and Tangential Arc Angle. This adds a nice "ski slope" effect off and back onto the surface. 2. Try extending the surface (Modify, Extend, Surface)if it's a single surface, and it is not a trimmed boundary you are trying to extend.

I agree, the dealer is definitely the place to start. This is a world where it really pays to have that type of expertise helping you.

I have several computers with S3 cards in them, including a Dell with an 8mb ATI card (I think that uses the S3 chipset). No problems.

Already there in 8.1. They are called high speed loops in Mastercam, and spriral the tool whenever it would be buried in the cut (both sides of cutter in contact with material). This is in the 3D machining roughing cycles.

As long as it's a Intel processor, and not a Celeron, it's hard to go wrong.

Kathy, Don't despair. There are some outside service company's in the LA area that can do this for you. Check out the Machine Tools West/CNC West magazines. I think one of them is called Reverse Engineering Services. I do not know how much they charge, or what the turn around time is, but I bet they can do it quickly. Since you have the data points, email them to me and I'll see if it's possible to do this without special software. [email protected]

Sorry if this message was sent twice.... If the surface is complex at all, consider getting software that can process a "point cloud". One that works with Mastercam is called REVQUICK, which the Mastercam dealer in LA (CAD/CAM Consulting) carries. REVQUICK will also be at the WESTEC show in booth #2973.

Matt, How do you mean setting as wallpaper in Mastercam? What keystrokes are you using?

That is definitely not a problem with the library mpfadal.pst that ships with the software. Can you email this to your dealer to look at? In any case, it should be a very simple fix.

NVIDIA rocks. I have a 32mb card, and the performance is superb. They're also a great value. Make sure you download the latest drivers. The last I checked, there was only one driver to download, and it supported all NVIDIA cards (sooooo easy).

How did I come up with that one? Necessity is the Mother of Invention!

You can define irregularly shaped stock in Verify with version 8.1. You need to start with a Solid Model or a Surface file. File, Converters to output as a .stl or a .igs file (igs works better, faster). When you go to Verify, go to Configure (far left button) and under Shape, select File, and pick your .igs/.stl file name. Whammo.... it works great. Something else, if you have the Truesolids option on, after Verifying a toolpath, click on the STL button to save an .stl file of the part As Machined. This creates an stl file of the part, that can be used for subsequent operations. Very slick, and very useful. The new verify rocks.

For more artistic work, I've done the following: 1. Create a large surface (100 x 100) 2. Go to screen, surface display, studio 3. Under Settings, special effects, textures, load your .bmp file as a texture, and select your 100 x 100 surface 4. your bmp will be displayed on the screen. 5. Here's the tricky part, you have to access drawing tools without exiting the Studio shading. Do that by clicking on the Spline icon (usually) and just trace over your bitmap! Remember when you used tracing paper as a kid? Same concept. It sounds kludgy, but this is very efficient for artistic work (in fact, it yields better results for this type of work than any other thing I've tried). It requires no cleanup (which you'll have to do if you import at .bmp file), and it's free! [This message has been edited by Charles Davis (edited 03-09-2001).]

Not that I know of. You could save an operation to a library with geometry, then import that (Toolpaths, Operations, Right mouse click, Save to Library). You can then go to the new file, and Get From Library to merge the geometry and toolpath into your file. NCI files are "downstream" in the posting process. They contain toolpath information only, but no original geometry information.

Definitely consider the CIMCO DNC stuff. It seems very functional and is not expensive. www.cimco-software.com or, contact your local dealer.

Again, you DO NOT have to click on the menu item Values for the Values menu to come up. Just start typing the values, and the box pops up automatically. This seems like the best of both worlds: a menu that pops up that you don't have to close if you don't want it, and you don't have to open if you want to use it. The only down-side is you don't know it works this way unless someone clues you in on it, you read the manual, or you learn about it in training.

Kathy, Exactly what were you doing? Is this a random thing, or repeatable and predictable? I had a similar problem when merging solid files where there were conflict with the level names. I organized my levels so the the names were consistent, and the problem disappeared. I thrash the Solids pretty badly (I mean, really badly) and that's the only real problem I've had. Normally, it's tame as a kitten.

I agree with Dave. Definitely NOT a general software problem. Make sure you have the latest graphics drivers for your card, which you can get from visiting the card manufacturers's web site.

What version of Mastercam are you running? It's my understanding that v8 is not guaranteed to work on Win95

I think I know what you want to do. Just start typing in coordinates, for example .025,3.125 or X.025Y3.125 The Values box automatically pops up, you do not have to select the menu item Values first.

I've heard of some problems with the Diamond cards. First thing, log on to diamondmm.com and download the latest graphics drivers. Usually that will solve any problems.

Did you install the release version in a new directory, or over the old 8.0 software?

Yes, there are many advantages of designing in solids, even for simple 2D stuff. A lot of this is hard to articulate, or appreciate unless you've actually worked with it. Advantages is that shapes can be defined with a minimum of geometry. Solids also finds complex intersections automatically (that is, things you'd spend a lot of time defining in 3D wireframe, are done automatcally with the solid Add Boss and Cut Body functions). Finally, changes are generally much easier. All I can say is once you get used to it, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.