Where? I am looking for the same solution

These are already pretty small, 6-32. Considered flat head screws, but that would need an extra step to countersink before machining.

The radial text around the bolt head requires chaining each line in the text manually, and with hundreds of variations of this part that isn't practical. Window selecting just the upper or lower text doesn't work, as it wants to jump back across the bolt head to finish up missing lines. Seems to me that since the model of the bolt is there, Mastercam should somehow be able to see it and route around it?

I'm really surprised there isn't a very simple function to do this. Seems like a common requirement.... As the part is used in nests, programming it manually isn't practical. I'll keep hunting for a solution.

I suspect this is a fundamental function of Mastercam, but it's something I've not had to do before, so I'm hoping it's possible. I have a fixture that holds several small parts in place with a button head screw. Very close to the head of the screw is some lettering engraved with a small ball nose endmill. I'd like to keep the retract as small as possible to speed up cycle time, around .015" or so. The solid file I'm working from (a Parasolid saved from SolidWorks) has the bolts in place. My question is whether it's possible to keep the retract down, but have Mastercam identify the bolt head when it's in the way and only then retract enough to jump over it?

This works great! It's also the most Mastercamy method possible....

I can sort of, kinda make it work, but it has to be done in a very specific way. Curious about "creating routers". Not sure I follow?

Is it possible to re-post a single operation in a nested part file? We have 7 operations in two different parts nested. We need to re-run only one of those operations (after a tool size adjustment). It seems that only the entire program can be run, which means running the entire thing again to re-cut one portion. Any suggestions?

Wow, this is very useful! I'll give it a try. Thanks for the detailed response!

Hi, Is it possible to program with mastercam a 10 second pause after a tool change to ensure that the coolant is sufficiently flowing before starting to cut a toolpath?

The text box modifications in Mastercam 19 are a step in the right direction, still leaves a lot to be desired. Does anyone know how to set the kerning (space between words) in text? There is a "spacing" setting, but it doesn't effect the spacing between words in a string of text. I find I have to create the text and manually translate it tighter to where it used to be.

Thanks. We just select the centerline by it's color and delete it, that step is easy. It's removing all the intersecting lines that is very time consuming. Can't help but think there should be a quicker way to achieve what we want. Either in the offset creating step, or trimming.

Here is the same file in DWG format. Example.dwg

Hi, I've created a sample of a typical file we are working with. In the sample the top drawing in green is the original centerlines we start with. This is what we have 1500 variations of as in the past we slot machined straight down the centerline to create what we needed. We now wish to create an outline of the finished slot and contour mill the shape. (long story why...) In the sample drawing the center drawing in yellow has had an offset added to the centerlines and the centerline removed. We need to remove everything in the middle of the slot to create the contour. The bottom drawing in orange has had this done manually using Divide. The original drawings were created in 2D using SolidEdge. SolidEdge actually has an offset tool that will create just the outline contour like we need, however it's quite buggy and unpredictable making it useless. We've experimented using SolidEdge, SolidWorks and Mastercam to create the process, none of which have an efficient method of doing what we need. Suggestions? Example.mcam

Hi, Looks like ramping does the magic! Thanks for the feedback. -T

When cutting a slot using the contour operation with compensation turned off (right down the centerline with a cutter that is the finish size of the slot) is there a way to force Mastercam to cut in both directions with using depth cuts? Currently it runs down to one end, jumps up then returns to the beginning of the chain to do the second cut. That is a lot of unnecessary rapid moves. I can't help but think there must be a way to force it to cut from where it ended the first pass and cut in the other direction. Is this possible?

We have about 1500 variations of similar files that we need to edit. What we need to do is create a single pocket from the image attached. This was created by offsetting chains using the Slot method. The original centerline chain has been removed in the drawing, just leaving the offset lines. It's very time consuming to trim out all the lines on the inside of the slots where they overlap. I can't help but wonder if there is a quicker way to turn this shape into a single pocket. Essentially we want to remove all the lines on the inside to create one pocket to machine. A bit of background, initially we would cut a slot with a cutter down the centerline, what we want to do now is use a smaller cutter and create the same shape by offsetting the centerlines. The more I type the more I realize that it's almost as much of a challenge to explain what we are trying to do as it is to do it! The second image shows what we are trying to achieve. This was done using the divide tool manually. Can anyone thing of a more efficient way to remove all the inside lines?

Ah! I should have known that... Thanks for the help. This will work fine. -T

Hi, Thanks for the feedback. I suspected it was removed as no one used it. Well, except me... I don't see any way to even select points? (window select) Am I missing something obvious? -T

Hi, We have several hundred drawings each with many small rectangular pockets. We want to add a drilling operation at the corner of each of those pockets. I believe in previous versions of Mastercam we were able to simply select the rectangular entities masked on color, but in Mastercam 19 the focus seems to have changed on selecting arcs only. Is there a quick way to window select hundreds of rectangles and add a drilling operation on each corner? Cheers!

Hi, Thanks for the batch file, I'll give it a try. I tried Aladdin, but it also had all the functions to stop the service greyed out. -T.

Tried this, but there doesn't seem to be a way to kill the other machines using it.

The NetHasp is plugged into my machine. In the past, if I launched Mastercam from my machine, the other would get a pop up saying it has to close and there would be one chance to save open work. Worked that way for a year...

Thanks for the responses. Sinking another $$$$$$$K into an additional seat of Mastercam is not realistic. Wasn't worth the $**K for the single seat we have... Odd, as for the last year, it has worked exactly as I have described. The install was done by a Mastercam rep, so no one has made any mods to how it works. The machine operator only uses Mastercam to post files and get some detail from the 1500+ designs we work with. Their use is pretty limited so kicking them off remotely isn't an issue. Will have to set up a remote so I can do it from my office when I need the seat.

Logging in remotely is what we will likely have to do, but that's a pain as well. Odd that this was never an issue until this release. I hate these kind of "improvements"....