Thanks Colin. I tried a bunch of stuff to get it to work. My problem is it needs a fairly sharp corner so the ball nose wouldn’t work. I roughed it out with the ball nose now I need to finish it. It is a small part but that area is deep for that size cutter. The pink area is what I need to get finished. Redoing the surface might be the issue. I may have to get out the pencil grinder and files and return to the old school.

just the standard 3 axis vmc.

I have a surface undercut I have been trying to do. I have tried everything I know but still can’t get it. I tried flowline with gouge check off and surface contour with gouge check off. Still can’t get it. I am trying to use a .75 slot cutter. I posted the file on the ftp site in the mcx folder under MAS106m701-undercut. Could any one help me?

we use combination drill all the time and they work great. Especially in aluminum. McMaster sells them. Page 2292 of catalog #111. they have them for drill c-sink and drill c-bore. I usaly run them about 50% of the standard RPM for the drill bit and the same feed rate.

It was a translated solid works file originally. That might have something to do with it. But everything looks good so it should work. I was just trying to use some of the new time saving tools they say they have. Back to the old school for now.

I was just going to fill in the holes to make the toolpath run easier. The net surface is suposed to be really cool and easy. I have drawn the same thing and could window the geometry and create the surface. just not on this part.I can't figure out why.

acording to the help file I should be able to window the geometry and mastercam will sort it all out quote: As shown in the above graphics, a curve may or may not be trimmed in order to create a net surface. For contours that are not trimmed, the net surface will be created by trimming the curves appropriately to form the net of curves. You can chain the contours in any direction and in any order. The Net Surface function will sort the chains out for accurate results. You can create a net surface closed in one direction if the across contours are all closed. A mix of open and closed across contours will not create a new surface. There is no maximum limit to the number of contours you select. Mastercam does not allow sharp cornered surfaces to be created. Instead, it rounds the sharp corners with a small radius. Note: The maximum angle allowed in chaining is 10 degrees. This will prevent partial chaining from succeeding if you chain select curves whose end tangents do not match within 10 degrees. A warning message will display and you will need to create smoother chains (10 degrees or less for a maximum angle).

I don't see any. I can chain the whol outside with 1 chain

I am trying to create a net surface on a part that won’t let me. I uploaded the file to the http site in mcx/ MAS128M713RIGHT ABS 203 [email protected] I have the geometry on level 4. I was going to do a flat boundary surface on the top then a single net surface on the rest. It won’t let me do the net. I can do each one individually but not all at the same time. Can any one see what I might be doing wrong? Thanks.

Oooooooh that is how to do it now. I wasn’t seeing the drop down after I picked the folder. Thanks Josh. The light bulb came back on. (( I think it blinks now and then though))

you can go to toolpaths----manual entry and add any text you want. you can choose to have it written as a message or as code

I have 2 parts that are virtually identical. What is the easiest way to import the tool paths in X.? In 9 all you had to do was go to the mc9 file and import it in from there. In x you can sort of do that but you can’t choose which MCX file to import it from. You can choose a folder of MCX files and it will import all of them and you have to choose the ones you want to keep. The only other way I know is to export it to the operations folder with the other 500 tool paths first then reopen the new MCX and import the tool path you wand if you can find it. Is master cam going to set it back up like in 9? Or am I just doing it the longest way possible.

unless you are in mill 9. then it is xfom/squash

xform project/ project to construction plane. then set the depth you want

Be sure to watch your retract plane and clearance. Mine automatically reads it in incremental mode even though it says absolute. Also the reference plane does that. Keep a close eye on your drilling depth and your clearance when going hole to hole. My drilling will go incrementally from the reference plane the distance of the depth even though the depth says absolute. The back plot shows everything to be ok but the machine reads it differently. I have lost a few parts due to this.

Sorry Thad I misread it. I was thinking they were going to change it in MR2 from MR1.

I think it is a little better in X2. But now it it seems worse sometimes because you don't expect it. Can better really be worse???

I'm not sure where you are going with the z. I get what I need through the dynamic and the 4 arrow keys or the alt + the number keys at the top of the key board. 1 through 7. sorry I can't be more help

You can rotate the part with the alt + arrow up or down also. Or you can define a hot key to do dynamic rotate. I have mine set to alt + x

Is there a way to keep the red arrow at the bottom of you tool paths until you drag it where you want it? It usually stays at the bottom until I write a tool path that needs to be the last operation. Then wham it moves the arrow someplace in the middle and crashes the cutter. I think I have all the updates. MCX MR2

In the trim break function choose the break button then press the length button, type the length and pick the entity at the end you want to go from

Thanks. I picked the solid body then could not unselect some of the faces. check surfaces still wouldn't work if I picked the solid body. it showed that some were picked but ignored them and kept the same number of drive surfaces. do we have to pick each face by its self now?

How do you unselect a solid face once it has been selected? I had 150 surfaces selected. After the tool path I decided that some needed to be check surfaces instead. All I can find is unselect all. I used to be able to just click on the face again and it would unselect it. Or if I clicked on it as a check surface it would change it from a drive to a check surface. do I have to unselect all?

I like using CMR's method with open pocket and it works good. just create a point where you want the cutter to start then chain it. [ 05-20-2003, 01:39 PM: Message edited by: tooling ]

Thanks Perfecseal, I think I got it now. I am getting ready to cut it.