SP1 went live on the update servers yesterday, There is no change from the Beta SP1 Seperate download will be available Monday on mastercam.com

Greg Under Linking - Clearance Area - Make sure it makes sense to your part - Links Between Slice Small/Large - Retract to Clearance (Adjust accordingly) - Links Between Passes Small/Large Moves - Retract to Clearance (Adjust accordingly)

check out Gcode's sig for a clue

After doing thousands of MCX installs AVG is one of the antivirus programs that does not play well with MCX.. not all the time but more often that not. I have never been able to figure out why some and not others

Microsoft security essentials, free, lightweight, integrates with windows 100%, never had any issues with it. Never any issues with MCX, or Solidworks, or any program for that matter.... I have a USB thumb Drive that I use at customer's to load files, take files etc, every now and again I plug it back into my laptop MSE catches trogans/virus in a split second.

are you righclicking inline with the "toolpath"? If yes you are reloading the NCI for Verify.. very annoying

you can have MCX, and HLE installed on the same PC

You need to define stock (Z+ stock) or Use the "Select points" in the Lathe Face parameters. The toolpath wont cut air, you need to define that there is material for it to cut

For basic stuff the HD4000 is fine, not great but it will get you buy, anything involving surfaces/solids it will fall flat on its face.

http://www.hitachi-tool.co.jp/j/products/endmill/index_e.html I used to think Hanita was the bomb... Pricey but the MMR/life of these tool's is amazing Had a Production job, keyways in hardend Shafts Mirus 3x cost of the hanita but: Hainita EM 100-120 Shafts, Mirus 300+ Shafts and cut 1 minute 20 seconds of the cycletime per shaft Cost per part was about equal for the endmill, but saving that time was huge in this case

Manual Guide I is great on Lathe, has some minor issues on the twin-turret/spindle machine that I ran years ago, but it has probably been improved on the 31i Control. I'm sure for 2 axis its solid. MGi Mill its not so hot, fine if your just doing simple pockets, or bolt patterns. Siemens, powerful but cumbersome to use, everything is on a different screen. Heidenhain, one of the most powerful conversational controls on the market, both mill and lathe. I have seen a lot of people over the years struggle with the control as they are a bit different than everyone else, but on the other hand I know guys(few) who are wizards on the things. I would have no problem putting a Heidenhain control on the shop floor, only thing holding me back is the machines they are attached to Almost every Conversational is a PITA to use in BG editing mode. If it were me, Fanuc.. but I would use a CAM to program and save money not buy MGi option.

I have installed thousands of serial device servers, Moxa is a good brand, have a great warranty, and there are extra features that incorporate with the Cimco software. the W2150 is no longer available, it has been replaced with the W2150A (better internal parts, and firmware) Quatech has been unreliable for us in the past so we have moved away from the brand

X7 comes with Cimco Edit 6, nice bonus

its not in X7.. oversight I think I never had it turned on in X6 as I never use coolant codes in mastercam, I add them on the control.. less coolant showers that way

Stock Model is amazing I use it all the time, I too will do mini models after 1 or 2 toolpaths, but until it supports Transformed paths properly it still falls flat on its face more than it should.. STL is still needed I have a Crazy complex part that required STL's, Stock model would crash repeatedly, i should dig it up and try it in X7

some machines have a parameter or setting to alarm if T and H don't match

After knowing better(never worked in the past correctly), I went ahead and tried the migrate utility yesterday at a customers..... Don't use it, it breaks more than it helps, its not hard to throw tools/post/machines in a folder , update then put the stuff where it needs to be.. I always force people to rebuild there configs, and toolbars, only takes a few minutes. Just my2cents

I would say 1 project every 2 weeks.... I have enough programming on my schedule as it is...

Silhouette boundary for the part, and drew a box for the stock. (I generally put all my containment's on another level) The blue/green surfaces boundary's are done with silhouette boundary as well, Just select by color when creating them instead of the whole model. I put them up in the air to make selection easier.

Grabcad.com for most of it, I did model the helical gear, but in Solidworks (I have done Identical gears in MCX) someone else wasted a bunch of time for the ironman mask, but it is cool

I have lots more if you need, Try not to pick parts that require the same paths each time

Bridgeport are you doing this inside of MCX? or with the new Toolmanager? There is a HOLDERS.TOOLDB (Contains all holders) with the X7 install, There are also CT40.holders, that you can save as .TOOLDB (like Aaron Mentioned) if you only want a specific set of Holders.

X6 HLE expires in October 2013, should have X7 HLE long before then.

Whats stupid, is this part is a dream to program with the added functionality of X7, it was 1/2 the work with the added Check surface to Hybrid and the solid modify functions. Kind of funny that X7 was released today.. just no HLE yet for you guys without Sims at home.

Done, took longer to Verify then to program...but i was lazy and didn't do the holes, figured you guys don't need to be shown how to drill Kevin, maybe you should put some limitations, on each project, machine type, material, Starting Stock??, etc.