Thanks for all of the tips! I know these are really basic questions for you guys, but I find this Fadal frustrating when I don't know how to do basic stuff. I have an expensive mold on the machine and I am doing a lot of double checking since it is a new machine to me.

Thanks for that. I'll play with it and see how it does. Do you know of a way to zero out the displays without using setx, sety which changes the home position? It seems like it would be convenient some times.

I just borrowed a '97 4020 88HS with upgraded software copyright 2002. The machine came with a stack of books, but none of them seems to cover this. Does anyone use the "5 Find Midpoint" utility? I played with it, but can't figure it out. Could you give me some simple instructions? I get to this menu option by going "DT enter/ Space (next page) / 3 Utilities" I am a Fanuc & Mitsubishi guy, so this Fadal is pretty different for me. Thanks in advance!

"tmachine, you can save a SW 2006 file as a parasolid and import it into V9 with no trouble." True, I don't use SW, but half of my customers do. I can ask them to save the file so I can read it until I revision up. I was hoping to upgrade next year some time, but will have to rethink that. Even the upgrade price is a big expense for a 2 man shop. Thanks again for the replies.

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess I will be upgrading to X sooner rather than later now.

I see that version X will convert SW2006, will there be a patch for 9.1 SP2?

I see that version X will convert SW2006, will there be a patch for 9.1 SP2?

Is there an ad-on that allows only some solids to be translucent and others shaded normally? Does X do this? I've seen UG printouts like that and it makes a better presentation when you want to highlight something in an assy, or show specific parts of a mold base for example. Any ideas on how to get that type of output from mc9?

Ok, finished making the mods using mi10. I edited the post to add my reference lines in the pstop section and again at the ptlchg section. That way it produces the desired output before a tool change or between ops with the same tool. Also with this method, MC takes care of turning the spindle on and puts in the tool offset when bringing it back down. After reading through the previous posts (search results) the first time, I was under the impression that it did not work well for some people, or that it output between depths of cut, or at every tool change etc. so I avoided it. I guess I just read the wrong ones and got confused. In the end, it is very simple! Again, thanks for everyone's help.

I went back to read more of what has been written in previous posts on mi10 and it seems to be the easier method of doing what I want. As always, there are many ways of doing things in MC.

That seems to work ok except it outputs twice. I entered the IF cantext statement in the pcant_out section like this: if cantext > four, [ strtextno = no2str(cantext) strcantext = strcantext + strm + strtextno ] if cantext = six, #NEW [ n, "G91 G28 Z0 M05", e n, "G91 G28 Y0", e n, "M00", e ] Im MasterCam I am adding the canned text before a tool change by going into the Operation Manager parameters and clicking the Canned Text Box. Any idea why I am getting it output twice? There is also an extra M06 on its own line between the two outputs.

Thanks for the replies and corrections. It is sinking in now. I'll make the mods and see how it goes.

Thanks mike_f, I am attempting your approach. I don't want this every tool change, just at certain points when I want the machine to stop as you mentioned. I can enter canned text as either part of an exsisting OP or at a point, but I get goofy output. I get M plus the number of the canned text option instead of the text itself. I have tried this with other posts, mpfan, mpmeldas etc., and I get the same results. My understanding is that all I should need to do is modify the post .txt file with the text that I want to input, then select it from the canned text dialog. The text looks correct in the canned text dialog, just not in the posted program. Here is how I edited the .txt file: [canned text] 1. "Stop - M00" 2. "Op Stop - M01" 3. "Bld on" 4. "Bld off" 5. "Dwell - G04 P1" 6. "Z Return - G91 G28 Z0" 7. "Y Return - G91 G28 Y0" 8. "" 9. "" 10. "" The "Z Return and the Y Return show up in the canned text dialog, but the posted output is M06M07M00 if I select 6, 7 & 1.

I just started messing with the canned text function and I am not getting very far. I know that there has been quite a lot written on the canned text subject and I went back and read most of it. But I am not getting the correct output when posting. I am using a stock MPMASTER.PST and .TXT file. M00 and M01 will output ok, but if I select dwell (#5) and MOO (Item#1) the output is M05M00. I have tried the other options like adding a G91 G28 Z0 in #6, but the output is M06M00. What I want is: G91 G28 Z0 G91 G28 Y0 M00 But what I get is: M06M07M00 all on one line. Am I missing something?

Even if I could get a toggle for hidden lines to no hidden lines, that would be great. I could use it in conjuncion with Brians toggle to speed this up.

Thanks Matthew, yes that turns shading on and off, but does not control translucent unless it is already turned on of course. Instead of going back and forth between shaded and unshaded, I was interested in having it go from shaded to translucent to unshaded with hidden lines and then to hidden lines dashed. These can be changed by Screen/Surf Disp/Solids/Hidden/Show Hidden Lines/Show Dimmed, but that is a lot of menu clicks for something that I change alot. I was thinking of making this a VBS learning project, but not even sure if it can be done.

I have recently used Brian's chook to toggle translucent on and off when shading is active. I have it assigned to F12. Love it. Thank you Brian. I would really like to see a toggle that cycles from shaded, translucent, Hidden lines and Hidden lines shown dimmed and dashed. Can a VBS script handle something like this so that each time the key is pressed it cycles to the next display method? I find myself going back and forth between them when designing stuff. Brian' chook has helped alot, but changing the others is cumbersome. Also, what books if any would help me learn VBS for MC use? Thanks for any input!

Found it (by accident)! I removed all of the outer faces and filled holes which gave me a solid sheet. Then created a surface to close the open end of the sheet. Went to Solids/Next Menu/From Surfaces and whamo it closed the solid sheet and surface into a solid body in one step.

Does anyone know of a way to do add material to the inside of a solid. Kind of like the opposite of shelling. The solid in question is imported so I am unable to roll back ops. Your help is appreciated.

Thanks Bucket.

Chris M, I was interested in getting the latest version of mpmaster.pst, but could not find it on the ftp. Could you tell me where to find it? Thanks

For what it is worth, I regen'd in SP2 and it fixed the first error, but after looking closer, it had gone out of bounds in another area of the part. I don't know what all of the illigal arc stuff was, but it came though that way on my system also. I have found that when selecting "follow surface" it overrides the boundary in this type of toolpath, but that doesn't seem to be the problem with this one.

Thanks alot guys. I will bive this a try later today. A seperate variable would have to be used since I only want to change the table at the top of the program not the tool changes. Thanks again.

Thanks Jack, mine are 1997 and 1998 models. When doing a search in the editor, it will go to the next occurance just by pressing search again. But not when I am trying to start somewhere in the middle of the program. What I do now is go into the editor and find the block number and then enter it. Works, but I would prefer to modify the post output. I could also delete the comments before sending to the machine, but I like the output from mpmaster.pst

Thank you for your reponse. I have Mitsubishi Meldas controls and when I do a search it stops at the first find even if I repeat the search. Pressing cursor right or down before input did'nt seem to change anything.