The spread sheet I put up on the FTP site gives you the cusp height (scallop height). All you need to do is type in the ballmill diameter and the step over.

I just put a scallop height excel spreadsheet file on CAD's FTP under "Apps_files" called scallop height.xls Also if you do a scallop toolpath check out the finish scallop parameters tab and select the max stepover button. Here you will see the scallop height versus step over - for both at a flat bottom cut and at 45 degrees.

Besides Surface finish > radial, there is Surface rough > radial, and its also available in the Surface High Speed Toolapths under Finishing.

Do you mean like - Surface finish > Radial?

You could try Screen combine views.

Also in System configuration Colors there is a Group colors option, select Use Enity Colors instead of Use Group's color. Edit John beat me to it...

mastecam edu link edit There is a reseller link and an email link on that page.

quote: This feature is documented (and has been since Mastercam X) in Mastercam Help. Click the Help icon at the bottom right corner of the Stock Setup tab in the Machine Group Properties dialog box. You will find the information under “Setting the stock origin”. You'll also find it in the Mastercam Reference Guide which is located in the /Documentation folder. Its a big help file lots to read!

Yes 0.00005 (inch) is what I have. Originally it was 0.0001 or 0.0002 and the surface finish was faceted especially when cutting aluminum. On stainless steel it wasn't as noticeable. edit Oh yeah one other thing - the tighter the tolerance, the longer it takes Mastercam to process a toolpath.

I agree, the more endpoints, the more the controller has to process and accdec for each point. With more points, it will slow down. What I do with my Makino S56 with SGI (3 axis)... I use arcs and turn on the filter since it verifies much faster that way (and makes a smaller MCX file.) However in the controlmachine defs, I turn off arc support. So no arcs in the NC file. One side note, if you are seeing facets on the finished piece (especially in circle toolpaths) go in to the MDCD Tolerances and tighten up the tolerances. Specifically note the Chordal deviation tolerance. (see below, taken from the help file) NC percision Motion tolerance. This is used in the post to determine the precision of the machine tool. It should be equal to the smallest linear step distance on the machine tool. Use the Truncate option to control whether values are truncated or rounded. The value of this field sets the mtol post variable. Chordal deviation Mastercam uses the chordal deviation for arc break up and line break up post processor routines. The value of this field sets the chord_tol post variable. Deviation of vector endpoints Deviation of vector endpoints is used when evaluating a normal. The value of this field sets the vert_tol post variable. General math functions This is used by intersection and fsg post processor math functions. The value of this field sets the xtol post variable. One final note, the more you tighten up the tolerances the larger your NC file will be.

If the part is unshaded, can you see all the features? I agree, its most likely the the video card. I would try gcodes suggestion - "disable back buffer" Also in the Shade Settings, try changing the "Chord height" parameters to a looser setting.

I dont think so, but you could have two separate sets of definitions, one without arcs (SGI) and one with arcs.

Goto Machine Defs, Control Defs, Arcs - then uncheck Support Arcs in XY, XZ and YX plane.

Your post may already be setup to do that, but all you need to do is select "force tool change" for each toolpath.

The tool shank must be H6 tolerance for Haimer shrink fit.

No difference in the g-code, its just how accurate the shading is on the screen. FYI - If you have a lot of complex surfaces you would want to change it to .002 or higher if MC starts to run slow when rotating or panning.

Go to "Shading Settings" and change the "chord height settings" to .0002 or less.

Yeah too bad about the toolpaths, but I guess it makes sense since there are some different (newer) toolpaths and options in the newer version of MC. For example not sure how they could bring in the highspeed toolpaths into a version that never had highspeed toolpaths.

When you click save as, save as type will be *.MCX, but there will be an option button right next to the green checkmark button. Select that and then choose 1, 2 or 3.

There is an option button when you click save as. But you can not save the toolpaths to an older version of MC.

I bet its comp to center as well. When I installed X3 it changed the default to center instead of tip on my computer.

I had the same error. Like you said, I just restarted Mastercam. For me it happened when I switched back and forth several times between Turbo and Simulate tool. If I dont switch between them, it seems to be ok.

So has the multiple instance feature been taken away with the latest update?

Gramby, before you click the green check mark, select the option button right next to it.

woot!