Under "rough contour paramaters", change your maximum stepdown to whatever depth of cut you want.

wow, your desk is way cleaner than mine. Of course, I've got 3 different parts here waiting for me to design fixtures, a couple of products I'm redesigning, some parts laying around for reference, plus half a dozen textbooks I use occasionally. Hopefully I'll have more room to organize when we move into a new building soon.

Are those screens matte, or glossy? The matte screens are really nice, eliminates glare from any lights.

I've got a Dell 30" ultrasharp here at work, used to have an apple cinema display that they don't make anymore. Is it bad that sometimes I wish I had a second one? The 30" I've got is at 2560x1600 and looks amazing.

Yes. Thank you!

haha, obviously. But where is that option? I could swear it's somewhere, but I can't find it!

How do I get my tool numbers set in my tool library to stick when I add them to a program? For example, if I've got a part I want to cut with a 1/4" endmill, which is currently tool number 4 in my machine, and thus I've got it set at number 4 in my library, how do I get it to keep that number when it brings it into MCam? Currently it's assigning the numbers sequentially, so if that 1/4" endmill is the first tool I pick it comes in as number 1. Any help?

With just doing 2D, you should be able to just follow the edge lines that are on the SW part. Make sure you have "edge curves" checked in the import options when you open the SW file.

Hmm, that's an interesting idea that makes so much sense I wish I would have thought of it. I imagine it'd have to be a decent sized plate to make sure it's held down, considering each vacuum zone is 24x48". It's worth trying out though!

I know this has been asked a couple times before, but I've never seen an actual answer, just workarounds. When I try to open an Adobe Illustrator file I get an error saying the resource file is not set up and that it can't import the file. Obviously I can export it as a dxf, but when I do that all I get is one solid spline going around the entire shape, rather than spline/line segments like I'd prefer. I've tried multiple versions of illustrator and eps files, and even on X6--which threw up an error in one case but still opened the file, with everything be one solid spline. Has anyone figured this bug out and been able to consistently open illustrator files?

well that's certainly an option I'll have to look at, thanks!

right click on the machine name (or maybe the previous toolpath group name), not just in the operations manager

Does anyone know of a way to mount a vice on a cnc router bed where the t-slots on the bed are blocked at both ends due to sealing them for vacuum? Maybe a different type of bolt to hold down to a t-slot without sliding them along? Obviously I could pull the blocks out and use the t-slots that way, but I'd rather not since they're glued in.

We do probably 98% aluminum (2024 and 6061) on our single Hurco VM-1. Today is the first day in a long time it's not going to be running the entire day, but that's because our machinist is working on a different project, and I haven't gotten the chance to go over and set something up to run. We've got an AXYZ cnc router as well that I run, and that's used for fabrics, leather, foams, cardboard, and acrylic.

I've got a BSET degree in Manufacturing Engineering Technology from MSU-Mankato, but in reality the major difference between the BSET degree an the BS in any other engineering (including mechanical) is that my degree wouldn't allow me to certify anything dealing with public safety. At my current position I'm essentially the guy that does just about everything. Between designing new products and fixtures, to programming our couple of machines, to running the machines, to doing pretty much anything that's asked of me. I'm sure I could be making more with a BS instead of a BSET, but it's not always about what you make, but how you feel about what you're doing. Heck, I could move to Minneapolis/St. Paul and make $150k in a heartbeat, there's plenty of jobs there that I'm more than qualified for, but I simply don't want to move there, and enjoy my job now. I would have gone for my BS in Mechanical engineering, but differential equations pretty much kicked my xxxx when I got to it. There was something about not having any numbers in math that just didn't make sense to me. Everything else in that program was pretty simple to me, but differential equations just didn't work. In the end it's all about whether you think it's worth getting or not, whether it's a goal you'd feel comfortable trying to acheive, and no one else should be making up your mind for you.

well, in metric it's kg*m2, so it's certainly not pounds per square inch or anything per anything. I believe the units should be pounds*in2, since the formula is 1/2 m*v2. Of course, my physics is a bit rough these days, but I don't think pounds is the correct unit for mass in this system, because pounds takes into account the effect of gravity. Convert everything to metric and your life will be much easier

why do you think they're looking for a programmer? They've got all these nice machines but no one to run them!

well there's something I'm going to have to remember. No more deleting those annoying white lines! I try not to use dxf files, but it's the best way to bring in Adobe Illustrator files, which I have to do way too often.

Can you have your friend run it through illustrator and export as a .dxf? I don't know how detailed the picture is, or what all you need from it, but whenever I do anything from AI to MCam, I always export to .dxf in Illustrator, and that's worked relatively well for me

That depends, what's your screen resolution? I'm at 2500x1600 and it stops at 70.2268

I just tried that and noticed that mine stops at 70.2268" per inch of screen, anything farther out snaps back in to 70.2268 as soon as you move the controller. Certainly an odd bug

And that's what I don't understand. A 64-bit OS should be able to install a 32-bit piece of software without any problem. The opposite isn't true, but running a 32-bit program is very rarely a problem as far as I know. I don't know why they wrote it so they can't both be used on the 64-bit systems, especially with the limitation of backwards compatibility between X6 64-bit and X5.

so it's essentially the same as the Space Explorer, just with larger buttons?

On that same note, can I have both versions of X6 on my computer, program in the 64-bit, open in the 32-bit on the same computer, and save out to X5 for use on a different computer? I know, seems like a waste of time, but I'm curious lol edit: I see now that it says the 32-bit can only be installed on a 32-bit OS, so it won't install at all on a 64-bit computer? I don't want to go through the process of upgrading our other machines to X6 yet...although I think they're both 64-bit anyway (maybe). I'm confused, it's been a long weekend

What's canada?