Indeed...that did the trick. Much prettier too! Too bad it can't interpolate motion but jumps from step to step.

> If I'm not getting the right perspective > in Verify, I'll stop it, right click, and > dynamically rotate the part... I can rightclick/dynamicSpin only before starting to step through the verify process. After I've pressed step, it won't let me spin. The status line asks me to click to begin dynamicSpin and to click again when done but nothing happens. Perhaps it's a bug with my installation...but this is good enough...so thanks.

If an imported solid is oriented with Z in the wrong direction, what are reasonable ways to handle this? I've been changing WCS from 'top' to 'bottom'. This seems to work but then the Toolpath/Operations/Verify display is upside down. Are there better ways to reorient the part? Is there a way to flip the verify toolpath window? If milling from both sides is required, I assume I do all the toolpaths on one side, flip the WCS, and then do the other toolpaths. How might one visualize the 'verify' toolpath window for these bilateral operations?

Thank you all for your help

Starting from a block, I tried to mill down the surface leaving an upright cylindrical boss in the middle but couldn't figure out what operation would work for this--I think it might be be "pocketing with island" but MC didn't like any of the ways I tried it (selecting the outer and inner contours seemed to confuse it). I managed to do it by milling around the inner, circular contour with the 'multi-pass' option and selecting a large number of steps. But this wouldn't work for other parts so I'm looking for a more elegant method. Any suggestions?

Importing solids from SolidWorks and finding that selecting geometry chains is more difficult than if I import a DXF. A closed contour can be selected with one mouse click if it's 2D. When it's a solid I have to select each segment. And if I'm viewing it from the top I sometimes select the foreground edge and sometimes the background...then it complains that the geometry doesn't line up (so I have to rotate the model so the edges don't superimpose). It's nice to have a golden source (the solid) so if I update the model, the toolpaths will regenerate. This is not the case if I export DXF's. However, what are the other benefits of working with solids instead of 2D (for simple parts)? [ 08-28-2002, 05:28 AM: Message edited by: rokahn ]