Nope that is it. Thanks

I hope there is a way of doing this. How do I have each tool give me a different color on the cut stock?

I would be interested as well.

So in Manual entry it says you are limited to 750 characters max. I will need more than that. Is that for what is held in the field for typing, or does that mean for the text file also?

Mr. Guru, I did not think of that. Your suggestion might be the easiest way to deal with my issue. I do not mind cutting and pasting on the initial programming. It is the redoing every time there is a program change. Thanks for your help.

Thanks Colin, I am sure you were working from memory but, strtool seems to return the name, I need the description.

I am looking for the variable that returns the value from Tool Description in the tool database. MC 2019.

Thanks for the advice but, yea, the new guy is not going to be able to make that change.

I just started working for an outfit that is heavy into automotive, large quantity long running jobs where we need to trim as much cycle time as possible. They run most of their stuff on VMC's with an indexer. They have a macro that works well for streamlining the machine setup and prove out process. Unfortunately the work flow from the programming side is not very productive due to the large amount of cutting and pasting involved to load up the macro for the machine. One of my tasks is to work on streamlining the programming process. I feel I have 2 choices. The first would be to write a post that will load the macro. The maximum amount of variables that will need to be passed to the macro is about 50. So first question is there a way or work-around to load misc. variables at the start of the program. My second choice would be to write a VB app that will parse the NC file for the info and values and then spit out a loaded macro. With the 2nd approach I can use the manual entry operation to load the data needed as the first operation of the MC program.

Just to close this out, upgrading was the ticket.

Thanks for the help, but no joy. I am going to try and update M/C and see if that helps. Like I said earlier everything works fine at another work station. This is a freshly installed seat that I am using as I just started here this week. I will keep at it. Thanks again you guys here are great.

Sure I can. We are trying to create the tool inside of Tool Manager. test_tool.dxf test_tool.mcam

No we are importing it from a DXF File.

I am having a problem creating a tool with custom geometry on one particular seat of mastercam 2019. On one station using the same process and dxf files it works, on the second not. I am constantly getting a "Probem with custom geometry file or data" error. There has to be a setting in Tool Manager that I am not seeing. Any thoughts?

Thanks Colin that was it.

Your example is how I tried it and got nothing. Running X7 if it matters.

Thanks for the input, I tried pulling those from the pparameter section, no joy. Thanks again anyways.

I am a little out of my element on this one I am helping our wire guy hoping to stream line his work flow and post a bit. I need to capture the Wire Over burn setting from the Wire/Power setting page in the Mastercam ops. It would be great if I could output it to the nc file. Not sure where to start.

Hoping for some help here. Many many moons ago I used a type of putty for casting an internal detail on the part so that we could inspect it. My google search returns a rubberish product. I am looking for something a bit more rigid. Any ideas?

What are the details on the 40 hp, and how much do you want for it?

So I work at a small 10 person shop that has 8 various cnc machines. We had our screw compressor throw a belt the other day and our backup piston unit could barely keep up. We got to talking about the bind we would be in if we had a major problem that would put us down for a few days. Has anyone ever used a rented portable gas compressor when in a bind. If it is doable that could be our way of avoiding a disaster.

Thanks for all the info. We usually go with air blast for the HS roughing. I just have not machined too much tool steel, this job has quite a bit of HS time in A-2. It looks like air for roughing, coolant for finishing.

I have an application where I am going to be doing about 2 1/2 hrs of High-speed milling in annealed A-2 . I will be using a 3/8 "Helical" end mill, 10% step over, .500 DOC. The speeds/feeds are worked out with the help from their calculator. So the question is Air Blast or Coolant?

Truly just looking at getting the point tools setup. Drills, spot drills, taps, reamers, I should be able to set up speeds and feeds and be able to count on them working out on the floor fairly well . Speeds and feeds for the mills, to many variables, so much is dependent on the particular application. We run mostly short run jobs, 1 to 5 parts. As finding good help is close to impossible I am training some intelligent but very green apprentices. My hope is to standardize and automate some of the programming process. They can then use an app such as FS Wizard to get them in the ballpark when it comes to milling. Exporting to text might work. The list does not seem to have any organization as far as tool type but I should be able to struggle thru writing a VB app that can read the data in, apply a formula and then write it back to another file.

I am restarting this thread as I have a need to mass edit my tool libraries. Here is the thing, I see how you can edit groups of tools in tool mgr. What I would like to do is edit speeds and feeds using using feed per tooth and SFPM. In Tool Mgr. speeds and feeds are in RPM and IPM. I am thinking that if I could get the data in an external editor, I could apply a formula that would set IPM and RPM using IPT and SFPM. I have a tool library that I have spent years setting up so that all of my fairly standard tools are correctly defined, roughly 1200 tools. I would like to have copies of these with speeds and feeds set for different matls. An outside editor and maybe a bit of help would seem to do the trick for me.