Greg J, This may apply to you as well Mick. Try the program without any stock defined. To clear stock definition, go to the Stock Setup page of the Machine Group Properties. For lathe there are only two buttons for stock. One is "Properties" and the other is "Delete". Just click on the "Del." button to clear any stock definition. Try it this way and take note of what happens. Sometimes Mcam Lathe just has difficulty keeping track of the stock, especially with sub-spindles and transfers going on. HTH

Greg J, Is there a canned rough cycle in with any of those toolpaths? What I found was if the stock is defined but the canned rough is used, the Lead In/Out must have a line added to essentially force the toolpath to calculate for additional stock, even if there really isn't any. That's because the canned cycle is limited in defining an entry move. If there aren't any canned rough cycles, still look over the Lead In/Out and see if there's something set by default that could be causing the "collision". If you don't find the cause, every time you change something in the program you will have to keep hitting the OK button. That would quickly get annoying. One way to avoid this ever happening is to simply not define any stock. All the toolpath would then utilize geometry and you would never see a "stock update". HTH

JP, Thanks. I received the perm post and it appears to be doing what it should. I'll have to try it out on the program that we intended to send to that machine. It looks good but we'll have to wait until there's a lull before we can try it on the machine. It might be difficult to convince the operator to relinquish control for a few minutes however. You know how that goes. I'm glad you got a chance to see EASTEC from the reseller viewpoint. It's a bit different than just going to the show to look around at stuff. Take it easy John. We'll talk later.

JP, I wasn't aware that you had purchased it from them. I thought they had supplied you with the MPLMaster and you had modified it yourself. That's why I didn't contact them. Who did you speak with? I'll just e-mail them then. I thought that if there was a post directly from Mori-Seiki for Mcam that would be a good place to start. Thanks for the info. How's EASTEC this year? Is it busier or less than last year? Did Steve and Frank have you go for all three days? Did you get a chance to see other booths? I always remember it being tiresome staying in one booth all day long. And to have to be civil with the "Others" in the same booth was always a challenge. Thank God I don't have to do that anymore. The Mcam Corporate people are always great. I miss seeing Steve Bertrand, Dave M., Brian Summers and others there. That's about the only time I would see any of them. Maybe next year I'll get to go down. L8tr.

Thanks guys. That's the one that I have already. I just wanted to find out if there is one that is specific from Mori or Mastercam. "It's all good." Keep the suggestions coming.

Hello All, Anyone have this machine? It has live tooling and Y-axis travel. We've had this machine for a couple of years and want to be able to expand our knowledge and capabilities with it. So far the operator/machinist has done all the programming conversationally on the machine. We are not using the machine to its full potential. We want to be able to program offline w/Mastercam and supply the machine with workable code. The last time I attempted to send a file to that machine using the post we currently have, the operator nearly had a heart attack because the code looked nothing like the conversational program he had written before. Our reseller is S4A in MA and although Steve Biehl is excellent at modifying posts, he is currently busy at EASTEC and I just need some information. All I want to know is if there's a post available that was written by either Mastercam programmers or Mori-Seiki in cooperation w/Mastercam. The post we have is good and should work but I want to see if there is a post more specific to this machine. TIA

EazyE, I agree with Bjorn on this issue. Rick's suggestion of using Contour might help as well but I find the Contour toolpath to produce too many plunge and retract moves. Read up on the Finish Blend toolpath. Finding or making proper boundaries is all you really need for the Blend to work. It usually makes one plunge and retract point. This keeps the tool on the surfaces you want to machine no matter what direction they take. HTH BTW, where in Mass. are you? Our reseller is an excellent source for Mcam support and learning. Their name is Services Four Automation and they're located near Leominster.

NeilJ, What others have said above are all correct. Ask for a STEP file from the Pro-E supplier. As long as you are current w/Mcam Maintenance, you can open a STEP file free of charge and it's 500% better than IGES ("I guess it's OK"). You won't get redundant wireframe entities (lines, arcs, splines) when converting or generating curves from a solid. You can actually use solid edges and faces to "Chain" for use in milling toolpaths. Even if you don't use the Solid Drill toolpath (the only toolpath which requires Solids and automatically selects hole geometry directly from the solid), there are many benefits to using solid parts that were just brought into Mcam and not designed with Solids. If you have Solids add-on however you can modify a Solid very easily and then regenerate any toolpath that is using said solid. It's another tool in your "toolbox" but can be a powerful one. Ask your reseller to give you a demo. HTH

Thanks for the info JParis. Hmmm. When I asked this in an e-mail to Steve the other day he never mentioned this little tidbit. What happened the other day when you visited the shop? Didn't want to say "hi"? Or you were just interested in talkin' with your buddies Jeff and Randy. Would've been nice to get some Mcam support from a representative of our reseller. Or was it an "unofficial" visit? J/K

speedox, My guess is you downloaded an IGES file, or as I like to call them "I Guess". They're about the lowest form of 3D CAD file you can get. Do yourself a favor next time and ask for a Parasolid (.x_t) or SolidWorks part (.sldprt) file. Even an .SAT is much better than IGES. If you already downloaded one of these othr formats, then you need to make sure to select the Options button at the bottom of the file Open page and check on Solids, not "trimmed surfaces". Do a search on this forum for IGES in the topic and you'll be sure to find many discussions on this same issue. BTW, welcome to the forum.

drexen16, Once you have the geometry drawn correctly, start a toolpath by selecting the beginning of your geometry (typically at the Face) as a Chain. As long as the entities are all connected and there are no overlaps, it should allow you to select your chain from Face to Back Face. Make sure you read the prompts carefully. Lathe toolpaths start with a "partial chain" selection by default. This means you'll have to click on the beginning of your desired chain and the end. The green arrow represents where the toolpath will start and the red arrow represents where it will end. The Chain dialog box has buttons for reversing the direction or unselecting the chain if you want to redo your selection. In House Solutions, the host of this website, produces some great tutorial style books you may want to look into. Click on the "Books" link at the top of this page, right under the eMastercam.com logo. HTH

Ron, That's OK. Thanks for the info anyway. I was pretty much takin' a shot in the dark. For now I guess I'll just do them one at a time.

Hey All, I'm in need to find a quick way to revamp all our existing tool libraries for specific materials. I know I can select a material from the Tool Settings page of the Machine Group Properties. Mostly the default feeds & speeds are not correct when that is selected. I have to modify each value for every toolpath anyway. If I have a tool library with all the correct speeds and feeds, it will be much more efficient. What I want to do is dump in a whole list of tools from an existing library, save all those tools into a new library and reset the speeds and feeds for all the tools in the new library at one time. I know I can recalculate feeds & speeds for each individual tool. If I use the "Calc. Speed/Feed" button in the tool definition window, it will only change it for that tool, I can't revise the material by clicking on "Calc. Speed/Feed" after the first time for the same tool, and the automatic values it calculates are often wrong. This is a very frustrating and time consuming process. If anyone knows a quick way to correctly calculate all the speed/feed values for all tools in a library in one shot, that would be much appreciated. If there isn't a way to do it right now, this would be a good idea for a .Net Hook or I could list it as an enhancement request for X3. TIA

inlayman, Sorry if you feel "slighted" by the responses so far from this forum. Mastercam is a hardware lock (HASP, sim, dongle, "doo-hickey", whatever you want to call it) protected software. A legitimate user pays for the license to run it. Only the developer actually "owns" the software. You're statement here: quote: No Dongle, but does have all the correct I.D. and sim codes. is not true in the legal, and real world of CAM software. There has to be a hardware lock in order for you to legally use Mastercam software. Unless you are using the Design LT product which is just 2-D drawing and no toolpath capabilities. From your description of your first post here, I take it you're not using that. Whether you are aware of it or not, your company "paid" for a pirated piece of software. The person who "sold" you that piece of software broke the law of the US of A which is the development company's origin. You are also therefore breaking the same law simply by using that illegitimate piece of software. This forum is hosted by a Mastercam software distributor and therefore doesn't support the use of illegal software. I recommend that you refuse to use the software until your company gets a legitimate license. You don't want to work for someone that is willing to break the law just to save some money. In the long run, it'll ruin their business and you will be out of work anyway. Not to mention that it will not look good for your future as a programmer. I used to be employed by a Mastercam distributor that is less than 100 miles from the developers of Mastercam. I know there is no such thing as legally using Mastercam without some kind of sim which has the codes for the licenses on it. Until you prove that the software you're using is properly licensed, you will not get any "help" on this forum. We are all legitimate users here and don't take too kindly to those who are not. The potential of your continued use of illegitimate software is to drive the cost of the license for legitimate users up to compensate. Good luck. See you when you're legal. Then we'll be happy to help. Good day.

JP, Is that in with the additional posts CD? I don't think I have that so if you could send one out to me when you get a chance, that would be great. Workin' on a Sat.? Or just loggin' in to the forum? I've only got about 1/2 hour left today and then I'm goin' home. Thanks for the info. Peter W. was going back and forth for a while until he told me that he was trying to combine the 2-D program he made on the 'Trak to my surface code file. The surfacing worked OK on it's own. I finally just programmed the whole side for him. L8tr.

Hey All, I've been producing a program for a Prototrak 3-axis mill w/SMX control. The control has Winblows XP embedded on it. Anyway, I was able to get it to run a surface program using the MX3 post from V9 that I updated for use with X2. It works but there's no spindle speed output. I have to manually include that in the program for each tool. Anybody know what I'd have to do to modify the post to produce a speed for all the tools. The "Feeds and Speeds" format section of the post doesn't even have a variable for speed. Not like it's going to be a regular thing but I'd like not to have to manually input the speed for any programs I make for the 'Trak. TIA Happy New Year!!

Randy@SFI, A sure way to get those bores without having to mess with Lead In/Out and comp errors is to use the Circle Mill toolpath instead of a Contour. The Circle Mill has parameters for things such as "Start at Center" and "Perpendicular Entry". Usually I set the "Start at Center" by default and ignore the "Perpendicular Entry". The other thing you can do with Circle Mill is if you pick the arc itself you don't have to input the size of the circle to mill. Or you can simply pick a point and that gives you the option to type in the hole size you want. HTH

quote: How are things going Peter? JP, Things are goin' great. I just finished 'gramming a couple of large castings and Louie is workin' on them now. Went to the Holiday party last Sat. and had a blast. I didn't win anything but it was still outstanding food and good music. sasanoa joe, Would it be easier to chamfer both top and bottom of the same hole before going on to the next? The tool is already at the location and it seems that would be the best time to do both chamfers. Just a thought. HTH

Chris, quote: did those hacks pick up a new guy? I'm gonna call Steve L. and let him know you said that. J/K ROFLMAO @ "hacks". sasanoa joe, Thanks for bringing this topic up. I've checked out the Heule website and it looks good. Due to the nature of the "snap" insert the custom tooling in Mcam won't look right in Backplot or Verify. It seems to me that just a simple drill cycle would cover the programming in Mcam. The size of the chamfer depends on the size and tool pressure on the insert. Otherwise you'd have to make a custom tool for each of the different chamfer sizes you want. It still won't Backplot or Verify correctly. A custom drill cycle may help but different depths for different holes will certainly complicate it. I'd ask to speak w/Steve @ S4A and see if he can help modify an existing drill cycle. JParis (above) may be able to help as well. Definitely need some pro advice though.

Hey Guys, Yeah I had e-mailed Dave about it before, just forgot to put in my old login info. "I'm Baaack!" Just like Led Zepplin. I might have to change my profile a bit to reflect any changes but it's good to be using my original number.

David Perron, "Report to the Principal's Office NOW!" J/K But seriously, do a "Search" above and you will find many a topic with this same argument. I know I told you about the differences between the compensation switches when you were here for training. If you need a refresher, come in for a Tech Day. Or simply call and ask. I've provided others with some good reasons for their supervisors but to those on the floor here's one very good reason: they won't be responsible for scrap unless they try to put in the full tool size to adjust it. Then all bets are off. The key here is to educate. Knowledge is power. The power to adjust programs without having to go back into Mastercam to change it. The power to lead in/out in tight areas only slightly larger than the tool. The power to apply the compensation to the toolpath before the cutter gets any where near it, (eliminates gouging due to Control not activating comp until the end of the first linear move). There are plenty of other reasons. HTH Mayday, Entertaining post w/8 monkeys. "Oh. So that's why."

Jeff2005, There is a operation lock in the Ops Mgr. Just highlight each operation you want locked and either type the letter "L" on the keyboard or click on the little padlock icon below the "select all operations" button. See pic below. Of course anyone who's familiar with Mastercam could easily unlock those operations as Kannon suggested in his earlier reply. HTH

Randy @ SFI, Is the center set of lines roughing out the area for you to then finish with the two outer sets of lines? What if you chained just one (1) line going directly down the middle of the machinable area and use a Plunge Ramp contour with the comp direction turned Off? This would then rough out the middle nicely and leave plenty of room for you to chain the outer two sets of lines for finishing the beveled faces. As far as using the Solid geometry for the beveled faces, you could select the single edge at the bottom of the face and just provide a depth of cut w/activation of a wall taper on the Depth cuts button. You could also use the "by depths" switch to limit the tool to only cut at one depth for all chains before dropping to the next depth. HTH

Randy @ SFI, I've looked it over and what it appears you would need to do is reverse the chains in the middle. The way you have them all chained however requires you to highlight on each individual chain and reverse it, one at a time. This may take a few minutes. There is a "Select" button in the Chain Manager dialog box which allows you to click on a desired chain from the geometry. This helps to pinpoint exactly which chain you need to reverse, instead of just scrolling through and highlighting each chain from the top. HTH quote: without cutting in the opposite direction, can't seem to fix it. "D'Oh!!" I re-read your post from a little while back and saw this line. Reversing the individual chains would make it cut in the opposite direction. I don't understand why this is a problem however if you want to maintain the location of the geometry. The only other way I can think of is to translate the lines in the middle and then reverse the direction of the chains. However, all the chains would still have the same offset for the toolpath. The toolpath can't switch the tool offset back and forth several times. It's one offset for one toolpath. All Left, all Right, or Off (centerline). [ 06-22-2007, 01:44 PM: Message edited by: Peter Scott ]

JaneGurkley, Make sure you're using teh "unroll" switch on the dialog as opposed to the "roll" switch. The pic below will show the "unroll" switch circled. The red geometry in the diagram above the switch indicates what the current geometry looks like. Also having the "Preview" option turned on will allow you to see the result before you accept it with either the Apply (blue circle, white plus) or OK (green check) button. HTH