Don't forget to try screen, next menu, comb views. This will orient all the visible arcs to the same plane (top). If an arc is created in cplane 4 you can't always use it in a toolpath in "top". You may also have a problem if you rotate a top view by 90 deg and create an arc or fillet ( say view 35 ) and also run into problems.

With hardware going out of date every two years or so, we don't bother with enclosures, just remove the cover every 6 months and (gently) blow it out. We looked at commercial enclosures and found the price to be close to a new system. If you go on a 2 year lease, it won't be your problem anyway. You could simply add a frame to the front of the system that supports a disposable filter but make sure your power supply fan is good quality.

Autodesk has a freebie dwg dxf viewer called VoloView on their site. It will also print or plot.

There is a freebie from UG at http://www.solid-edge.com, called Origin. It will read UG part and allow output of a Parasolid ( *.x_t ) that is flawless in Mastercam. It's also a solids design package but you need to register $250 US if you want to seriously use it.

shade it then change color of the surfs you want. Hide ( Alt E ) and keep the colors you need.

Try setting your screen to 32 bit or true color.

have the data on the screen that you wish to keep and do a File Savesome. Window the features and save under a new name ( in case you need to go back) and open it. Only the related "blanked" data will follow to the new file and the garbage is gone.

There is a freebee called PrintKey 2000 on the Windows shareware sites. It will do a direct print of the full screen or a selected rectangle directly with Alt-PrintScrn. No graphics software or fooling around. If you use a black background, set the defaults to invert colors and select black/white instead of color. Remember that any screen capture or printing will only be as sharp as your screen resolution, then the quality of the printer. You can't get a sharp print at 480 x 640 screen settings.

On the solidedge web site you will find a link to their freebee called Origin. It has the ability to read UG part and Solid Edge files. You can also save the files as parasolid to different versions. I have found this software to be excellent and fully compatible with MCs converter. They offer a few more features on their registered software, for $250 US. Iges in-out, stl, etc. Not bad at all.

We have Matrox Millenium cards on the 4 systems we got in October, running NT sp4, and you cannot Xform with dimensions or notes on screen without freezing the system. The dealer and Mastercam were contacted, no reply yet. I have Win98-2 on my system and it has proven more reliable than NT. I don't know about Win2000.

If you want to reduce the icon size, you can increase your screen resolution, set fonts to large so text doesn't get too small. Start MC and adjust your screen fonts to suit. I use a combo of speed keys and menu picks as well as the icons. I arranged the toolbar for page 1 to be related to geometry creation, page 2 for dimensioning, page 3 ..etc. Don't forget that you can repeat any icon as you wish, so I have gviews and cplanes on each toolbar page.

I copied my existing printer ( HP Portrait ) and renamed it HP Landscape. I then set the properties as needed for MC, landscape, paper, etc.. I use this as my default printer since I'm using MC 90% of the time.

Could you not create a new mat'l for carbide that has a 3x surface speed? ex.. P20h for HSS and P20c for carbide? I've not been on the CNC since Ver 6, but I had such a library of materials.

Related side bar: You can get free viewers/translators from most CAD systems. I found one for UG called Origin that allows output to iges or parasolid of a UG .prt file. AutoCad also has a free viewer for .dxf or .dwg that also allows printing, Volo View Express. I haven't checked into Catia yet. We have found that the latest Catia Iges translator is better than in the past, but it still requires the settings to be massaged before output.

You can change color by using window, mask, surfaces, offset and simply window the whole thing. By changing color first, you can sort out the few discrepencies in a hurry.

Under c rograms you should find the DirectX directory. The DxDiag will tell you the version number.

Whenever there are mouse, display or printer problems in Win98, make sure you have the DirectX fix for DirectX 7. Its available free from the Microsoft site, it's Ver 7.0a. I had a lot of grief as you stated with my ATI Rage until I loaded the bug fix. If you installed Win98 from the box, it may even have DirectX 6.0.

I also found that having the monitor raised about 6" and then tilting it down slightly decreases the glare a lot. We do not use anti-glare screens. My monitor has much less glare than our other designers because of this platform. They just squint more. I found taht a monitor with very good black and high contrast is much better. Price is no indication of ease on the eyes, mine is a DataTrain ( obsolete ) 19" and it is easier on the eyes than the two other 20" NECs.

I have seen cases where the resolution on a monitor is set to the maximum resolution and the screen image actually vibrates, creating excessive eye strain. Set your monitor to one setting below the max and also check your frequency refresh rate of the video card to match the monitor specs. We also removed 2 out of 4 flourescent tubes in each of our office fixtures to reduce the overall reflections and light levels for easier viewing.

Try an older version if you can select it in MD. I have found MC translators to be good and we have no problem with Cadkey .sat files. Check output settings in MD first.

We have had Cadkey and Mastercam for over 10 years in house. Your problem is not the Iges write in MC, it's in Cadkey. Without the FastSurf module you are stuck. Even with it, the file has to be translated twice, once through Cadkey Iges to get lines and arcs, save the file. Open the file, then import FastSurf Iges. Do not use the Iges OnePass in Cadkey. In most situations, I need to import the customer Iges and write it out for the Cadkey guy or he gets a partial file, whereas MC shows the complete file.

We have all Mill 7.2c and one design. This has been a problem on all the NT stations for some time ( a year ) but I just found out today. These other NT stations have other video cards than the Matrox. Just had a call from another Mastercam user running NT with an Oxygen card, and he can't seem to get his surfaces to change color ( screen, chg color, all surfs). Also Ver 7.2c. On my Win 98 system, I had mouse, printer and render problems until I updated DirectX to Ver7.0a. Apparently Ver 7.0 had a bug. My system runs fine now, but sometimes its a pain being the 'guru' when I have 12 systems in the place.

WinNT SP6 on a P111 800, Matrox Millenium 300 When doing an xform on a small file with a few dimensions added, the system locks up and the computer has to be shut down by the on/off switch. Task manager will also hang and can't be used. Any ideas out there for a fix? If the dim'ns are deleted first, there is no problem.

Update your DirectX to Ver 7.0a, there was a bug in Ver 7.0. Then update your video drivers. It sounds odd but I had a lot of trouble with my ATI Rage until I did this, and it cleared up my mouse, video image and printing problems.

Since each of our mills has a PC /MC about 6 feet from the control, our systems are on the shop floor. The only MC seat in an office is my design system. Apart from doing some design, I review all designs ( from AutoCad, Cadkey, Pro E ) in MC before the file is released to the mills. We are networked and I have a single directory that everyone has access to, to get their math data from. I may have a full 3D design sitting there weeks in advance of milling. This allows that ALL revisions are in one place and everyone has access to it. We found that when we had 3 CNCs, it was best to have one experienced person troubleshoot provided designs so the operator/ programmer didn't have to separate layers, delete duplicates, etc. They get clean files ready to use. My job involves all the prep work I used to have to do when I was the only CNC guy here. One office guy for 5 CNC mills at present is much better than one operator, 3 programmers for 3 machines ( Bob K). Right now, if any of our guys are ill or on holidays, we have a pool of 4 others to keep jobs on track. An excellent reason by itself. If you have big part(long calculating times), do it off hours or get a faster system. A P!!! 800 is under $1800 Cdn and can pay for itself in time saved in one job.