nice toolbar MayDay. Especially the left side! steve

Well, I've narrowed down the issue a little more. In the XZ and YZ planes, the small arcs that result from breakarcs set to 1(quadrants) will not be converted to lines when arccheck is set to 1. Otherwise small arcs between the quadrants are converted to lines. The only deduction I can make is that the post executable applies breakarcs to the toolpath after arccheck in planes other than XY. Steve teh still searching.

Brett and JS, thanks for the responses. I revisited this problem last night and did alot more testing and ran into a wall again. In version 9.1, I found that arccheck would only convert small arcs to lines in the XY plane. My solution was to modify the post so that linarc was set to 1 when any motion occured in the other two planes (XZ and YZ) to break everything up into lines, similar to a 5 axis post. Unfortunately, the file size and slow motion didn't go over well with my customer. After more testing with 9.1 MR0304, I'm now unable to get arccheck to work in any of the three planes. I know the variable definitions changed slightly in 9.1 SP2 and I'm wondering if they have changed again in MR0304. here's what my settings are currently at: arccheck: 1 ltol: .005 I've been fighting with this problem off and on since version 9 was released and the work is really starting to pile up (and my customers patience is going down). I can't seem to make this work and wondering if someone can prove me wrong. Any help appreciated! steve

sorry, forgot to mention you'll find that bit of code by doing a search for (the postblock) psof and scrolling down a little ways. back up your post also. steve

from this: ... "%", e *progno, e "(PROGRAM NAME - ", sprogname, ")", e ... to this: ... "(PROGRAM NAME - ", sprogname, ")", e "%", e *progno, e ... HTH steve

thanks camdude, I'll give that a shot.

*bump*

arcoutput is already set to break arc into quadrants. This only occurs when a portion of an arc, like a .5 degree sweep needs, needs to be programmed and the start/end points are very close together.

Hi, I've modified a post for a customer of mine I'm doing some contract programming for. The machining center he's running is an old 1981 Gemini E control and I'm occasionally running into issues with arc motion under certain conditions. When the start and end point of an arc are < .002" apart and the arc shares nearly the same rotation center point as the preceding arc, the control will perform a complete circle and gouge the part in the process. The short arc motion is generated right out of the NCI so I need to modify the post to either delete one of the small arcs or modify the toolpath entirely. Has anyone run into this before or have any suggestions on the best way to tackle this problem. Any ideas Dave T? Mill 3 MR0304 thanks, steve

mike9457, you didn't choose the easiest way of doing that job but I've gotta commend you on digging deeper in Mastercam. That's how to learn. Here's another option to avoid stretched letters: -set your C-plane perpendicular to the surface you want to engrave on and create some lettering. -set your T-plane to Top but keep the C-plane perpendicular to the surface. -run a 2D centerline contour on the letters and the toolpath will generate as if the tool is oriented perpendicular to the letters but wil cut it from the Top plane. -you might get a warning about the T-plane being different from the C-plane but the toolpath will still work. HTH steve

Anyone have a post I could use for a couple machine tools made from Lego? http://www.ozbricks.com/bobfay/index.html ...this guy has too much time on his hands! steve

METAL4GOD, try this as a experiment. Create whatever 2D toolpaths you like (drilling a hole would do the trick) in the top plane. Go to Toolpaths, Next Menu, Transform. On the left side of the window select Rotate and Tool plane (for the Method). Click the Rotate tab at top of window and fill in appropriate data. Make sure Rotation view is set to one of the Side T-planes. HTH steve

METAL4GOD,

George, I have a side business doing contract programming/industrial design and I made the decision to purchase maintenance. My reasoning was that the cost of maintenance was insignificant in comparison to the investment I made to purchase Mastercam and since the majority of the work I program is moulds and 5 axis stuff I wanted to have the best tools available at my disposal. This probably sounds like a sales pitch but consider the difference in programming power from v8 to v9. I have won work from customers because Mastercam could do it versus their current capability and any edge in your market can make the long term difference between "little guy" and "big guy". That's my take, steve

Are you trying to calculate IPM or IPR? steve

AeroTech, how big are the gap settings in the operation. It's happened to me in the past that when the gap setting is too large, a straight line feed move will occur through the part instead of a retract/rapid over move. I also found in V8.1 that if you're using parallel in surface rought pocket with quick zigzag checked and the part has multiple bosses, the tool may feed through one or more of the bosses. HTH, steve

If the only way is through MC, then the file needs to be converted from raster to vector. Adobe Illustrator or ras2vec would probably do the trick but other than that I can't think of any other way.

Rubber is easily surface ground so...perhaps helical milling the bore with a cylindrical grinding stone mounted in a tool holder would do the trick. steve

hey Brent, thanks for the fix...I mean screenshot. The first thing that came to my mind was SW type interface. Looking forward to it. steve

Bullines wins my nomination for "webmaster of the year" of the year award. Thanks steve

...and select the stl model from the "File" option in the verify parameters window.

Create a solid in the shape of the stock and convert to stl like cadist said. Works just fine, steve

Go for it! I'm of the opinion that the best teacher is experience and with a little trial and error you'll probably become an expert in the field. I've never machined carbon fiber but my intuition would say that "some" of the same concepts as machining graphite would apply, since I can't imagine machining the actual epoxy matrix would create any more problems than cutting something like lexan. Cutting dry with diamond coated carbide would probably be a good starting point but that's about the only idea I can come up with. Slick has some experience machining composites so maybe he'll chime in soon. HTH steve

I'm looking for ideas on how to bond the material, specifically bonding kevlar and carbon fiber to metal parts. What works, what doesn't kind of thing. The only info I've found so far is that carbon fiber touching aluminum will cause galvanic corrosion so an insulating material like fiberglass needs to be used. Other than that, I don't even know if bonding composites to metal is possible. Thanks so far, steve

Anyone in here have experience manufacturing carbon fiber and/or kevlar parts? I have a little project that will involve bonding either aluminum or stainless pieces to kevlar and carbon fiber parts. I'm planning to make a mould to compress the laminate while bonding the metal simultaneously and just hunting for good ideas or tips on what I should keep in mind. steve