gcode: That is amazing. PBPaul

Rhino and Autocad for drawings, MC only for machining. If we have to give a nice, printed professional-looking drawing to a customer, MC is out. Rhino is better but not much. Autocad actually prints and plots correctly/consistently/accurately. Paul

Thanks, Jimmy. I usually have to make a paper template of some big window or door transom on the job and then bring that back to the shop and figure how to make an arched casing to fit the template, within reason that is. Your ellipse is like a lot of ellipses, that is to say, it is elliptical, or "Like an Ellipse" and so it may be good for us. Paul

Tommy: We've had similar issues with ellipses that were originally drawn in Autocad and in Rhino. I think there is another thread that covers some of the things we found. For instance, be careful of anytime you do an offset. An offset of an arc might no longer be an arc but rather a spline. I believe 99% of our trouble comes from thinking an arc is an arc or an ellipse is an ellipse only to find that we did something back down the line that converted it into long line segments. HTH- PBPaul

....but duh....how come UpdateOne to Service Pack One is still available for D/L? Just to make me feel dumb, I guess?!?!!? PBPaul

Thanks- PBPaul

OK, say I install McamX from scratch and do the Service Pack One. Do I need to do the Number One update to Service Pack One before I do the Number Three update to Service Pack One and what happened to the Number Two update to Service Pack One? Or, does Three automatically do everything? Thanks -PBPaul

Gcode: About 50% of the time, when I hit Backplot, for instance, my cursor changes to a crosshair and the button looks pressed but I get no backplot. I can click in the graphics area, as you suggested, and get my arrow back so I can try again. Is this the same issue?

Bullines: OK, now that I can access the FTP site (thanks again), I got the script and ran it and it comes back with 10.0.14.21. So, I'm updated, right? Thanks- PBPaul

Thanks again. I did read those instructions earlier today! PBPaul

A Number One. That did it. Thanks- PBPaul

Thanks, Bullines, but I'm having trouble accessing the FTP site. I started another thread on that, BTW. Anyway, when I look at the files in regular old Windows Explorer, the .21's do not show up on any of the files that were listed in an earlier thread. PBPaul

When I click on the link to cadcam's FTP site, my browser (IE 6) eventually give me "An error occured opening that folder on the FTP server. Make sure you have permission to access that folder.", along with a timed-out message. I did a search here on the forum but didn't find any help. Any ideas? Thanks- PBPaul

I got SP1 to install but still can't say for sure if the first update to the SP1 worked. I don't think that installer is up to snuff.

Psychomill (and Bob from CNC)- Thanks. Will try that and see what happens. PBPaul

I put MCamX on a different PC and did the SP1 update and the first update to the update and when all the dust settled, this one worked fine. I can start a new drawing or open a Rhino drawing and my machine does not automatically change. On my original computer, it becomes "Generic MIll" and therefore uses the wrong post for me. As a work around, does anyone know where it might be picking up "Generic Mill"? Maybe I could rename what I want to "Generic Mill" and outsmart it that way. This is sorta like getting in your car and putting it in drive and having it back up until you either hit something or remember to put it a different forward. There has to be something somewhere that will fix this issue. Maybe I can get it back to where I have to manually select my machine each time. It would be better to not default to anything than to default to something wrong all the time. Thanks- PBPaul

Chris f: I'm using mcamX, mill, and this is the first time us mill people have had the benefit of Tabs. I did a couple of simple 2d contours to check it out because I think it will save me a ton of time on some projects involving sheets (We have a router but we run mill) and it worked great. So, I did a couple of 3d contours and it worked great there, too. In mill, there is a box you check just like the one for leadIn/LeadOut. There are parameters for how big each tab is and how much tab you want to leave at the bottom of a contour. I think it has an option to go back and finish them off if you want. I was just using a .75 endmill and so the tabs were .75 by default but I could pick how many on a side and stuff like that. I won't comment on the site's search engine other than to say that you can fuss but would be wise to fuss nicely! PBPaul

Thad, I thought that it was "error checking" too but I'm inclined to agree with DavidB that it is invalid only because MC can't figure out how to backplot it. I took a drill that was 3" long and shortened it to 1 inch and I changed the shoulder length and flute length so they made sense but actually, only the overall length would affect what I was doing, which was running a simple contour to a depth of .06. I posted it and cut the sample for my customer. All that worked but backplot would not. Right after we got X, I had the same thing happen with a tool where I had punched in 75 for a shoulder length instead of .75. This was on an endmill 2" long. I changed it to .75 and got the same error so that wasn't it. I kept changing feed rates and plunge rates and for some reason, it started backplotting correctly. If it is a legitimate error, I wish MC would say what the error is and let you go ahead anyway or else fix it. PBPaul

Can anyone tell me what's up with this message? I selected a drill out of the inch library and used it to cut a simple "Stick Man" 2d contour. It posts and cuts fine, just like I figured, but when I try to backplot, it says it is an invalid tool and backplots with no tool. I say, if it is the tool I picked and the tool I want and it does what I want........ Exactly what makes it invalid and/or what can I do to make it valid? Thanks- PBPaul

Yep, and I read that thread and it is related for sure but I still can't understand why it is doing this.

Nope, I already have it showing correctly in both places when I start Mcam X. I have what I want checked as the default on the Start/exit page and it shows up the same under Files in the Ops Mgr but as soon as I open a drawing or select "New", it changes to "Generic Mill". I can go right then and fix it but it's a pain to have to do that, plus it won't "Stick". There must be something else going on. PBPaul

Thanks, Psychomill. I had this thing working at one time and then in the course of installing the update1 to SP1, I got all hung up in error messages and finally just removed X and started all over again. When I got to this, I just couldn't remember seeing it before. Anyway, thanks again. PBPaul

I run MCamX and by default, under Machine Group 1, Properties, it correctly shows "Machine Definition Created by Updatepost.dll". I now open a Rhino Drawing and Properties changes to "Generic Mill". Where is this coming from and how might I stop it from happening? BTW, I've done the SP1 update and the update to the update. Thanks- PBPaul

John: Sometimes when we pick contours, we get a tool up/ tool down at the beginning and end of each contour. The way we got around that was to hold CTRL while picking the contours. You might try that to see if it keeps your countours in the correct order. PBPaul

The Minolta Vivid line of scanners are probably the best I've seen. Not cheap, however. PBPaul