You got it except its accounting for the radii of the cutter not the Dia. Mike at Cam instructor whom makes really good training courses and videos had described the differences in his blog/video here https://blog.caminstructor.com/mastercam-cutter-compensation in a really easy to understand manor. they have great vids and training

odd place to ask the question, but yes some mechanical engineers use 3d printers, cnc machine, etc. in their line of work. Emastercam is more of a CNC machining and mastercam software forum rather than a 3d printing forum although many of us may have experience with both.

he was showing the nci, its basically the raw data before the post converts it into whatever type of gcode language is needed

i believe there is time mode in the machine simulator that does this, like faster feeding toolpaths will actually show simulating faster than slower feeding paths, the button is labeled NC mode, but when you just change it to Feed Mode.

it just goes back to the last save location I am pretty sure, looks like this is what controls it in the registry Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\CNC Software, Inc.\Reports --> LastPath

that is correct. you can also create shortcuts and change the target line of the shortcut, more info on both methods can be found in the Administrator guide, typically located in the documentation folder for mastercam here "C:\Program Files\Mcam2019\documentation\en-US\Administrator_Guide.pdf" pg 13 for the launcher or page 18 shows details on the target line shortcut method.

to fix this problem i would do the following steps in the order listed until the problem went away. 1. Check Hardware acceleration as Frank mentioned, Make sure Hardware acceleration is set to enable (that is found in the mastercam advanced configuration utility, search the start menu for advanced configuration if you cant find it) 2. if the PC has an integrated graphics card, like an intel, Make sure your monitor is plugged into the Dedicated graphics card and not just the motherboard or integrated. to check this just right click on the desktop, go to display settings, then advanced display settings and see what the displays say they are connected to the P4000 card. 3. Enable Dedicated Graphics, if you dont know how to do this let us know. 4. update gfx card driver

here is the shortest video i could find on youtube through a quick search on the swarf path , you can use what is shown in that video on your part and it should work. There are longer and more detailed videos too but this one covers the important stuff for swarfing

i would still recommend a professional post developer like the two i mentioned before. it will be done correctly without all the headaches of doing this on your own and you will then also get their support to go along with the post to ensure that everything is perfect. even for some of the more advanced post processors the price of a post would still come in cheaper than a machine collision if you run into any of those by doing it the hard way so if it was me i would have whatever company i was working for foot the bill for the post and i would have it done right but that is just my opinion. You could certainly drop that chunk of info into any program with lots of methods but for me i wouldnt want to be doing that all the time and would rather be able to simulate using poco and get g-code to match what i see in the software. The post is the most important part of a CAM system and is not the best place to try to cut costs.

not the C-axis paths found on the turning tab, but the regular mill paths or anything under the Milling toolpath tab would take a mill license.

Actually mastercam does not default that way. It defaults to Computer comp when you install and also the default leads have lines turned on, so maybe someone changed your defaults but its not a bad habit that some software developer has done and with the mcam defaults you would have never had an error in the first place. I would suggest changing your defaults, you can easily click the single floppy disk at the top of the toolpath page or defaults can be edited under machine group files page. Also as others mentioned a feature of the post could do some checks if you run into this often it might be something to look into.

Turn profile slice works great for generating profiles on mill or wire parts too just need to set a quick plane to your depth and do a turn profile slice with both profiles like i did in the wire edm application shown below. Of course there is other ways to generate that profile easily too but that tool is more powerful than just lathe work. sometimes i like just having a profile for like a swarf or a wire 4axis path using the Sync By Branch sync method and projecting lines or turn profile slice creates that geometry easily.

"C:\Program Files\Mastercam 2020\Mastercam\documentation\en-US\Transition_Guide.pdf" page 6

once you install mastercam 2020 go into your start menu, then click on the mastercam 2020 folder and look in there for the Transition Guide.pdf Page 6 of the transition Guide PDF will show step by step on using the migration wizard to update resource files to 2020 (posts, tool libs, etc.)

if you search 4k in the mastercam knowledge base they have an article there with settings, the KB article labeled "Buttons, text, and images in dialogs appear truncated or shifted on high resolution monitors" has some recommendations on settings that may help with your problem. https://kb.mastercam.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50479.aspx?Keywords=4k

www.mastercam.com has many resources for new users learning mastercam, once you login you can access tutorials, whats new videos, sample parts, etc. I would suggest taking a look at some of the various learning materials available there https://my.mastercam.com/. A mastercam.com account is requried to access these places but its easy to create one if you dont have one already.

i like to draw it out too, it normally takes me less time to do a quick 2d sketch and gather the info than doing math for me, but then again i am not a math wiz like some people but quick with sketches and models so its just easier for me to see it visually and makes me more confident that the info i have is correct.

here is CNC softwares suggestions on PC requirements, in case you have not seen their suggestions https://www.mastercam.com/support/technical-support/system-requirements/. Make note of OpenCL and openGL requirements but most new/modern graphics cards shouldn't have trouble meeting those requirements.

you probably would get a cheaper and more powerful computer today. computer technology ages in dog years so you got to multiply those 3.5 years by 7 lol. just kidding, but its crazy to me how quickly a computer can get outdated in todays world

I did a video on this a long time ago in x9, i tracked down the video on our dropbox here https://www.dropbox.com/s/2apkleeycuyxe3j/PlungeMilling.mp4?dl=0 there is other ways to plunge milling but the methods shown in the video above is my favorite way to use it. its not a very impressive video, was back from my earier days with making videos but should demo how to use it.

i posted how i do it recently here

I have been diving more and more into probing with mastercams producitivity plus lately on our Haas Vf2 with next gen controller and its working great, its really easy to use. Here is how you use mastercam producitivity+ to probe a y-axis web. https://fastechincorporated-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/joshc_fastechinc_net/EYRLO68typpPvXdPL9C3V78BmU7kEFVmHV8ZTbbJKwXzqw?e=t1F6WN there is so much you can do with Prod+ and probes in general, i have been doing a bunch of reporting (DPRNT) lately and that is fun/cool stuff. Another option is if you setup the Y-axis probing cycle on the machine through the controllers built in probing cycles you can output that data to a file or flash drive, then in mastercam you can use that cycle that you pulled from the machine controller by manually pasting the G-code into your mastercam file using the manual entry toolpath. Haas's Tip of the day youtube channel has a video on how to do this and a few other very good probing videos so if you have not watched the haas tip of the day videos on probing i would suggest starting there.

worked fine for me https://fastechincorporated-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/joshc_fastechinc_net/EZHQbaQAXWZAvDBIIUVF4lYB-B6QsATgUq_H-Tzwj2jSHw?e=gefN2q Edit: nvm, that may not be what you were after after all but it was the best i came up with so far.

part was probably already shipped in 2015 lol, this topic has died a long time ago and someone brought it back from the grave so no point to keep making suggestions for him lol

circle mill works nicely for this task, i just window selected without any points.TRIAL-sample.mcam This would be the fastest/easiest way that i can think of doing a finish pass starting on center.