Thank You Reece, I appreciate your answer. If I (or We) were to attend class, I am insisting on a teacher who is primarily an Instructor and who has prepared materials for some intense training. If the class were customized to our needs and our speed of learning, the length of training could be minimized. Beck

quote: I don't believe there is a "Fast" way. I have said it before and I'll say it again, seat time, seat time, seat time. It is the ONLY cure for what ails many. I don't want a "fast" way, I want to know the "fastest" way. And by sitting in front of it and using it without any help is not going to get us there. While the programmer is putting in his "seat time", should it be online help, or a good manual, or is it at a class? quote: X IS a wholesale change from what was and mangers need to be aware of that and things that will be required to bring it up online if that is their goal. As far as formal classes your local reseller will offer those. There is an option available at streaming teacher .com, where if a company allows internet access they can sign up for an account and training can be done in the office, not my favorite way of doing it, too many distractions. There are book available but ultimately it still ALL comes down to time. This is helpful information and I thank You! Can you recommend some more than others? I do appreciate feedback and am willing to move forward. Behind all this is the ultimate question. What is the payback period? Will the software be more difficult to learn since if it is not running smooth and should we wait for some unknown period of time? Will I be losing a competitive edge because I waited? The Maintenance program is complicating this also. Some day this will all be hind sight. But for now, I see a very clouded issue. Thank You for shedding some light! Beck

quote: 1. i would like hear feedback from you guys about the kind of trainings (upgrade etc.) that you went through or wish you went through for X. (from Yogesh) I would like a class that offered ALL the basic information so I can easily move around without getting stuck. Topics like Tool Bars, Selection Methods, Icons, Menus, are just some of them. Once I am confident with the basics, then I can move around freely to explore the next level. The Mastercam literature starts out with "customization". I can't rearrange menus when I don't know what they are doing. All the fancy features that are there are useless if it takes me 5 times longer to write a simple program. Beck

quote: We have 4 seats and We are curently at V9.1. One programmer had a small window to learn X a few months ago while a job was on hold. He was able to write 8-10 3D programs, but it took 4-5 times longer. Then We got very busy again. So He switched back to 9.1. We are all very fast with 9.1 and We want to know "What is the best and quickest way to learn X". Basically, I want to know if you are currently staying with 9.1 or have you switched? And how long did the transition take to make the switch (if you did)? Also, did you learn on your own or get schooling? Please take the time to answer and I want to Thank You in advance for your advise. Beck This is the post I set up last week! By the answers I received and the other posts I have been reading, it is obvious to me now is that there are individuals that have time to learn by "jumping in with both feet." I do not have time to play around with it. I have successfully learned other programming softwares by going to school. Each time, the classes started at ground zero and covered the basics. then built off of that. All the classes that I have attended for version X cover all the fancy new stuff, yet I have trouble with simple tasks. Between the crashes and graphics problems and the bugs, I couldn't tell if it was the software or the programmer. I am doing research to find out one thing: What is the fastest way to (correctly) learn version X. I see that there is a online video available, also books available and literature from Mastercam available. Are there also formal training classes offered? Who offers them? Thank you for taking the time to respond to our questions! Beck

quote: use the full reply button at the bottom, click quote and copy and paste your desire text in between the quotes Thank You for the lesson! This was a question I had earlier! Beck

To be quite short, Put the lead in the back! Trevor, have you ever ran your car backwards? It may run faster. I have lead in the back and when It was put on the track with the weight in the front, I lose by about 1 1/2 car lengths. (The car has never lost) I am currently building 2 exact duplicate cars for experimenting. Keith, I will try all the suggestions that you have posted and someday give you results. Our races are in March. Beck

I am an aggresive "gimme the new stuff" guy when it comes to software. But was I glad to go back to V9.1. I actually enjoyed going into work again. What a relief to get back to something that was stable. I really gave it my best. When it came to attempting simple things in X, I was failing and costing $$$$$$$$ for my company. I am now insisting on classroom training since my tiome at work (and at home) is too valuable. One Frustrated Programmer! Beck

No I do not know Matt. But I did serve my apprenticeship with one of the Stanek sons @ Capitol Engineering in Milw. WI Does Matt work in a shop here in Tempe? or maybe close? Beck

I've now read some very good input and I have a better feel for what is happening with others. Thanks Thad! I also read some "not so bright" comments that were humorous. One thing for sure is 9.1 will not get deleted for quite some time. Beck

Thank You all for your responces. We are gathering as much information as possible and welcome any other responces also. Thank You

We have 4 seats and We are curently at V9.1. One programmer had a small window to learn X a few months ago while a job was on hold. He was able to write 8-10 3D programs, but it took 4-5 times longer. Then We got very busy again. So He switched back to 9.1. We are all very fast with 9.1 and We want to know "What is the best and quickest way to learn X". Basically, I want to know if you are currently staying with 9.1 or have you switched? And how long did the transition take to make the switch (if you did)? Also, did you learn on your own or get schooling? Please take the time to answer and I want to Thank You in advance for your advise. Beck

As an Ex Milwaukee guy, I want to say I enjoyed my 80 degrees yesterday.

Possibly look into your Tplane within your path. the x,y,z, data may not be where you want it to be!

Mold 100, I wonder why it is working for you and not for me? I have loaded the latest patch. Thank You for your time. It has been helpful. Anyone else who tries the Flowline test, please let me know the results. I will check the BB 2-3 times a day. Beck

Mold 100, I have always used "tip" only. I was told to use center to fix the problem. It is the work-around! But with center, I have to pick up all my tooling differently. Please do this for me. (I have experienced the problem with even a flat horizontal surface.) Create a surface at Z0.0, Set your stock at -.005, and tell me what depth your cutter ends up at. My path is at Z-.010.

To All, Thank You for responding today. Guy, I see that you also experienced the same problem. It is at the bottom of a U-shape that the cutter doubles the negative stock. Thank You Very Much. To clarify to everyone, I am getting the proper results on the sides of a U-shaped cavity. BUT, at the bottom of the cavity, I am getting the ball cutter to exceed the desired shape by 100% of the negative stock. If I want the bottom to be -.005, it is .010" lower. This can be seen by producing a path and viewing it in the front view. Take a snapshot and measure all you want. Also use the same settings using "Parallel" rather than "Flowline". you can see the difference. I have been using this properly in V8 for years and finally switched to V9.0 Now it fails. To repeat my original question concerning V9.1... Does the Beta version fix the problem?

Has anyone experienced problems with the Flowline operation? I use negative stock while cutting electrodes, and the tip of the cutter doubles the stock value. If I say -.005", it cuts my electrode .010 undersize. I was told to use "Center" rather than "Tip" in the "Tip Comp" menu. I really do not want to change to "Center". If they fixed it in 9.1, let me know!