Gary, I've attempted a Curve 5-axis toolpath with 4-axis output operation. You can download it from the FTP site as your original part name with _SFA added to the end. I translated one of your arcs to the center of the surface and used it for the drive curve on the surface. The tool used doesn't matter however you will not be able to rough out the material with this toolpath. You may have to simply rough it all out first from the Top plane and then change to another plane to continue the roughing with standard 3D surface toolpaths before attempting to finish with this method. I also don't understand why it starts the curve from the center and works down from there. Do a simple Backplot and Step it through and you'll see what I mean. HTH

Chris, Why use STEP when you can translate the Pro-E data directly using an add-on converter? There is a currently available Pro-E translator for Mcam as a C-hook. The translator for Pro-E to Mcam V8 is an add-on from a third party. The add-on Pro-E converter in Mcam V9 will be directly available from Mcam, through your dealer. Maybe your dealer can translate it for you as a one-time demo of what the converter can do. If you post the part file on the FTP site, whether STEP or Pro-E, and inform me of where it is, I would be happy to translate it for you as a one-time demo of what the converter can do. Granted, you should purchase the converter from your dealer if you receive these files frequently.

Hey Jay, I know I work and live in New England but can I get a lunch from you too? Will the money be there when I get to the restaurant down the street? I feel like a 14 oz. King Cut Prime Rib for lunch (chilli makes funny noises and smells later on, i.e. "Blazing Saddles").

Scott, quote: Peter- Could tou edit them in anyway? Check out the edited list. There may be more depending on input from others who have been converted or have "seen the light". My associate Paul also has something to say, which seems to be his favorite pastime as well. Another Step which I just thought of is ease of editing code with Cimco Edit OEM, instead of Notepad or Smartcam's built in DOS editor. I'm sure there are plenty of other "Steps" those who are familiar with different cam systems could produce. Feel free to add to the list, although it could hardly be called "twelve steps" with many more additions. BerTau, Thanks for the clarification on the quote. I'd seen it before and just couldn't make the connection. I must have been tired this morning for not figuring it out. Must have been the late night staring at chicks on the internet. [ 02-08-2002, 01:55 PM: Message edited by: Peter Scott ]

Bob, I'm up for a taste testing here in the East. I've heard so much about the Krispy Kremes but nothing about Winchell's. We're being overrun by a donut shop called Dunkin' Donuts, which used to be known for donuts but now seems to be known for their coffee. What's a donut lover to do? I can't drink coffee either. quote: ROTFLMAO!!! ??? I can get the first part "Roll on the Floor" but what's the rest mean? Glad you like my "twelve steps" for Smartcam Users Anonymous. I've even thought of a couple better steps since yesterday but I think you get the idea. Hope this string has helped you out with the arc output problem. Marc_Lindsey's indicated thread has a long discussion on the same issue. Gotta love that Associativity!

Bob, Welcome to Mastercam from another EX-Smartcam user. The "Twelve Step" program for weening Smartcam out of your system would probably start off as something like this: "1. Replace lower jaw in proper position. 2. Acknowledge there is a higher form of programming. 3. Place Smartcam and all other programming applications on shelf or in "circular" recycle bin. 4. Use Mastercam liberally and often. 5. Replace the question "Can I do this?" with the affirmative statement "I can Do this". 6. Confidently send programs to machine, not questioning if the clearance plane, profile top, depth level or sequence of entities are correct. No longer concern yourself with extended lists of entities or "Grouping" to change the order and direction of travel. (See Step 12) 7. Make ammends with previous customers lost from poor file conversions, processing time, and part change turnovers. 8. Accept updated file conversions, rapid parameter adjustments and toolpath associativity as the norm rather than the exception. 9. Enjoy the priviledges of an ever-expanding network of individuals, dedicated to the constant improvement of CAM applications. 10. Gain confidence in abiltiy of software to accomplish tasks asked of it without the use of expletives and lengthy "workarounds". 11. Become productive as a vital member of workforce and generally more cheerful. May also have positive feedback towards other employees (they may be wary of what has changed, but they'll be happy). 12. Enjoy lots of time concerned with other matters, not babysitting the machine. (i.e. staring at SI swimsuit calendar on wall)" From one EX-Smartcam user to another, let's Move Forward!! Keep in mind Bob, nothing's perfect. Mastercam's the best there is for now. [ 02-08-2002, 01:39 PM: Message edited by: Peter Scott ]

pip, The only way I know of to "convert" NC files to NCI is by Reverse-posting them. There aren't too many reverse posts available so you may not find the proper reverse post for your machine. Why do you need NCI information from an NC anyway? If you want to view the NC, Cimco Editor V4, full -blown program, has a Backplot feature for all NC code files. At least you could see what the file looks like. Goto this website and download a trial version. Cimco Integration - Europe It will also Backplot Backwards, "adding" material to your part instead of "removing" it.

Pat, There is a patch to update to latest DWG converter on this website. Goto Patches and look for it under the V8.1.1 stuff. Also DWG doesn't support "solids" from Autodesk products in V8. V9 will but in V8 the DWG will only bring in wireframe and dimensions if there are any "solids" in the DWG. Sometimes it brings in geometry that is loaded onto other levels and automatically hidden. Check to see if all your levels in Mcam are visible. Hope this helps.

Jamman, Unfortunately the is no prerequisite for breeding stock in this world. As one of my favorite songs lyrics says "I've been all over this crazy world and found that only stupid people are breeding". I don't know if that's an accurate quote but it sure gets the point across. Besides, who wouldn't want the chance at 30% of 18 "Meellion" dollars?

Mike, You might try to set your Depth to an incremental distance value, in this case negative, from the chain geometry. Then you would put in the radius value as the depth you want for the corner round, adding the tip clearance below the radius on the tool. Hope this gives you some ideas.

Joel, Usually that message appears when you have not selected any surfaces to machine or there is something else happening with the geometry. If you download the file to the FTP site I can take a look at it. Or you could e-mail me at the address in my Forum profile if the file isn't larger than 2 meg. If it is larger, you may be able to Zip it and send it that way. The stepover shouldn't have that much effect on the machining zone unless you don't have enough toolpath allocations for the calculation but that usually gives you an "allocations" error. I could speculate all day but unless I could get a chance to see the file, I would most likely be wrong on almost everything. I also don't tend to adjust the Collapse settings. Mastercam's default settings are pretty good. Online help in Mcam could give you more information about that. [ 02-01-2002, 08:52 AM: Message edited by: Peter Scott ]

For All, Filtering is designed to reduce the amount of g-code in any given program by fitting single entities (lines or arcs) in areas where they can replace many tiny line moves. It does this by using the tolerances the user sets in the Filter tab. For instance, Mastercam breaks a Helix entry, or Z-arc, into many tiny line moves using the Linearization tolerance and Max Depth Variance values in the operation. If the Filter is not set in the operation, you may have over 1000 tiny line moves for the Helix entry. The Filter is desgined to reduce that number by replacing as many of those tiny lines with an arc, if you have turned "Create Arcs" on. This produces a G17, G18, or G19 in the code, depending on where the arc ends up being in 3-D. The control at the machine is what may have problems interpreting the G17, 18 and 19 moves, especially if it is an older machine. Because the Filter allows you to "Create Arcs" it not only reduces the size of the file, but in many cases, smooths out the result of the toolpath, gaining a better finish on the surface. The only time you may not want to use the filter on large surface files is if the machine control cannot interpret the g-code correctly, crashing the tool into the part. I used a Hurco SLV-40 in my last employers company and it definitely could not handle those types of moves. We could not use the Filter at that time. Now they have new Haas machines and they should be using the Filter all the time because of the type of mold work they produce. Sorry for the lengthy post but it seemed there was some confusion about what the Filter actually does. There may be more information about this in another location on the Forum. If anyone knows more about this, it might be an excellent topic for a Tech Tip or something.

metalcut, There is a four or five page brochure on the new features for V9. Contact your local reseller and they should have a copy of it. It is called "V9 Enhancements". If you ask really nicely, maybe someone from this Forum will e-mail you a copy.

kwolf, Try another file format or save the file immediately after conversion, before applying toolpath to it. Mastercam had a quirk with imported CAD geometry in the intitial release of V8. It has been taken care of since then but there may be some remnants of it, depending on the system. We found the best solution was to just save the file as a Mastercam model file after converting it and doing a File-Get to bring it right back in again. Any toolpath after this procedure was fine. You may also want to move the surfaces that are on the "special" level, to the same level as the rest of the geometry. Do this through Screen-Chg levels. [ 01-31-2002, 08:25 AM: Message edited by: Peter Scott ]

Joel, Have you tried Surface-Finish-Scallop? The stepover is determined by the size of the scallop you wish to create on the surface and follows surfaces like a spiral. The cut tolerance is how closely the tool follows the surface geometry. If your surface is generated with a tolerance of .001", your cut tolerance should be about .0003". Using Filter for surface toolpaths will smooth the toolpath, producing better finishes. The Filter tolerance is usually set to about double the cut tolerance. These two tolerance settings are generally considered to add up to .001". This is called "total tolerance" and has been changed in Mcam V9 to reflect that in surface toolpaths. Tightening up your cut tolerance will make Mastercam take more time to process the toolpath because you're telling it to closely examine the surface and stay within that distance of the surface as it generates the toolpath. If your original part is solid, you can generate the same toolpath using the solid and it will take less time because there is less information in a single solid than in multiple surfaces. Less information Mastercam has to calculate for the toolpath. Hope this helps.

AWW Shucks!!! You guys are just too much. Thanks KMaynard and Ron for the W.O.M. advert. You are the GREATEST!!

Rob, The Scholar's International Solids book is great for Mcam V7. Unfortunately, they haven't published a Solids book for V8. There will be some discrepancies because of the changes to V8 Solids. Some features are not available in V7 but are in V8 and others are just easier to use in V8. Getting the book is one step to understanding Solids in Mastercam. Getting training is much better. Getting your employer to pay for the training, that's best. It will benefit them as well as you.

wildcat99, Even with the Solids module licensed on the sim, you would be better off exchanging the old customer's part for the new, similar to what mold100 described. There is no need to import .NCI if the only thing changing is the geometry. You can temporarily place the new geometry in the same file as the old, by putting it on a level that is not being used by anything else. If you use any of the File-Converters, it will ask if you want to "delete the current file". Your answer would be "No". This will keep the file on the screen and you can compare the two parts for the changes. Just delete the old one once you've reselected everything that has changed and regenerated the toolpath.

mold100, Welcome to the Forum. Moldplus is designed to work in Mastercam specifically for surfaces. If you have the solids module in Mastercam, it is sometimes easier to create electrodes as solids but there are limitations. Moldplus offers the automatic generation of a base electrode shape and center point to accomodate the surfaces you select to produce the electrode from. It also saves all the electrodes selected to their own separate levels, making it easier to keep track of your individual electrodes. To do this without Moldplus would mean you'd have to remember to place each electrode on a separate level yourself. It does save an immense amount of time by doing this automatically. The "core - cavity" separation of surfaces is also very time-saving.

Rob, I tend to agree with Matt on this one. Jay's toolpath is OK but the scallop is conventional milling the area and to reverse it in MC72 is to Redo the whole thing. The Flowline works well except if you select the middle, largest surface, it follows the angle of the wireframe lines. Also the normals for all the flat surfaces need to be directed upwards for a consistent offset. In V8 these issues were addressed plus you have the added benefit of Regenerating surface toolpaths. If there's something you don't like, change a parameter and regen the toolpath. With all the OT you've been putting in, it may be time to consider updating to V8. There are other improvements to surface toolpaths which are specifically set up as patches for V8.1.1. These patches allow for added control on surface toolpaths. Additionally, V8 surface contours have a switch called "Shallow", which allows the user to add or remove cuts in shallow areas of the surfaces to provide a better surface finish.

This is like the age old question "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?". That also reminds me of a quick sick joke. A chicken and an egg rent a room in a hotel. Two minutes later the egg lights a cigarette and says "Well that answers that". That was courtesy of Maxim magazine from sometime recently. I like the "part already in" theory though. I'll have to ask that of my students. "It wasn't me! The part just didn't want to come out".

Sounds like Allan has something there. I tend to think that the wrong drivers are typically the cause of a majority of computer problems. quote: quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Any way I would drop the MX card in the toilet too if money permits -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would have to disagree with that. I have a Winfast GeForce2 MX dual head card which uses the same driver and it works beautifully at full 1280 x 1024, full acceleration and True Color (32 bit). Of course, I'm not running XP. A colleague of mine is fond of saying that when Microsoft makes a product that doesn't suck, it'll be a vacuum cleaner. Windows 2000 Pro seems to work the best out of all the OS's from them though. Haven't tried XP yet. We're always a little leary of first generation OS's from Microsoft. Just look at ME.

Paul, Download the latest video drivers for that card, do not use the Microsoft supplied driver. Try this link, for current drivers of that card. Nvidia driver download link That should fix the resolution issue. As far as the rest of your problems, contact your Mastercam reseller. They may have already gotten some calls on this and can walk you through fixes.

Paul, Do you have anything on the port beside the HASP? Is your resolution still affected or is it OK? What are some of the specs on the rest of your system? Is it a custom built machine or an "off-the-shelf" variety? If the latter, what make and model is it? The HASP drivers seem to have been installed correctly from your description, just may be an issue with the initialization of the port.

Hardway, I'm impressed. Love the team site. Keep peddlin'. That's got to b healthier than what I do in my free time. Not a lot I can do about it at this time of the year. We just keep gettin' snow here. I think the land is going to be white until about May. Just in time for your race.