Thanks mmonica. I tried your suggestion and it worked just fine. Of course the orientation of the tool in backplot was wrong but the code generated was bang on. And that's the important thing, right.

Hi Cadcam; I'm not familiar with the term jhead, but 90deg. head or right angle head are interchangeable. Hi ChrisD; Just using a regular flat endmill side cutting on the flutes. The shape is a section of arc drawn in the side Cplane. Thanks for the suggestions guys but I was hoping for something that didn't require manually editting the NCI or NC files. We'll probably end up surface milling the feature, just wanted to know if Mastercam could accommodate this kind of tool without too much hazzle.

Anybody out there have any tips on programming a simple contour using a right angle head. The contour is a single arc in the YZ plane. The tool axis is parallel to the X-axis. When I set the T/C Plane to the Side view the toolpath looks OK but on posting I get the following error message, "Only Single-axis rotation is allowed. Angles may be incorrect." I seem to recall this topic being discussed before but I wasn't able to find anything in the search. Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

Sorry, MC version 7.2c. That lovely little feature came along with version 8. Thanks anyway Luther. Upon further investigation, I noticed that the toolpath associativity works fine if the geometry is translated in the X and/or Y axis. Still no luck if it is only translated in the Z-axis.

I have a problem which I hope has a simple solution. I've got a part programmed with 90+ operations, mostly drilling, boring and 2D contours. All use absolute positions for Top of Stock and Depth parameters, set by selecting from the geometry. I need to translate the part Z-.007" to accommodate a change in the fixture. After doing the translation, I notice that none of the operations have the new Top of Stock or Depth values in the parameters, before or after regenerating. Question: Shouldn't these values update when the geometry changes? I thought that's what associativity meant? I sure hope it's something I'm forgetting to do, I'd hate to have to go into each operation to reset the Top of Stock and Depth parameters. Using MC 7.2c, and I have been assured by other programmers that this has worked in the past. Thanks in advance for any help.

toolbreaker; Sorry, my problem is with MC v7.2c. It may have been corrected in v8. I was only suggesting that it may be a 5-axis post problem because the NCI g-code for a Rotary 4-Axis toolpath is G11, which, as my post processor user guide inticates, is a 5-axis move which may require a "special" post processor. Don't ask me why, that's what it says!!! There doesn't appear to be a seperate g-code for a 4-axis toolpath.

You may be encountering the same problem I'm having. Rotary 4th Axis may require a 5-axis capable post processor. I don't think any of the generic post supplied with MC are 5-axis capable. I know mpfan.pst is not.

Dave, Do I need a 5-Axis capable post in order to process Rotary or Axial 4th axis toolpaths? I noticed in the Post Processor guide that Mill gcode G11 relates to a 5-axis move and may require a "special" post processor. On that note, do you know if there is a generic 5-axis post? Thanks.

Thanks for the tip Dave. The Axial4ax C-Hook worked like a charm. Now my problem is when I go to post the generated NCI file through NC Util/Post Proc I get the following error, "Selector variable gcode = 11.0 out of range for string select" Any ideas what maybe causing this in my post file, and how to correct it? The post I'm using is a variant of the Mpfan.pst supplied with MC. Thanks again.

Does anybody know how to get a Rotary 4th Axis toolpath with an axial cut direction and a radial stepover? I can get it to work with a radial cut direction and an axial stepover, but no luck getting it the other way. Can Rotary 4th Axis even produce the type of toolpath I'm looking for? Using MC7.2c, Mill level 3. Thanks in advance.

What's with all the ATI trashin'. I run MC7 & MC8 on Compaq Deskpro PIII 450s, WinNT 4 SP6 with ATI 3D Rage Pro AGP 2X with only 8MB ram and have had no graphics problems with Mastercam. Granted dynamically rotating a complex shaded surface model can be a bit tedious, but it's nothing I can't live with. I don't know, maybe it's a Canadian thing, eh!

Thanks Dave. I've tried all sorts of things but no success. As the line goes from that great holiday classic, I've "puzzled and puzzled till my puzzler was sore...". I guess what you're saying is that I should upgrade to MC8 and wait for the 8.1 release if I hope to see custom tools display properly. I'm not sure if that's going to be a good enough reason in itself to squeeze the dollars out of the bean counters, but I can add it to the list of reasons why we should upgrade to V8. Thanks again, Peter

Thanks for the tip Ken but I tried both custom and auto types in the Display Parameters/Tool Appearance, no go. I even created an MC7 file for the tool shape I want and directed the Tool filename in the Define Tool/Parameters to that file but the scale of the tool displayed was all out of wack with the geometry and the holder. Does anybody know how the tool parameters, tool holder and tool shape files are related? Still searching for a solution....

This has probably been covered before in the forum but my search didn't find anything. In MC7.2, does anybody know if setting the holder dia. and shank dia. values in the tool definition dialog work in the backplot? And if they do, what did you do to get them to work? They don't seem to do anything for me. I can put any values in for the tool holder and tool shank diameters but the backplot display never seems to change. I've tried different tool types and setting the tool appearance to plain, fluted or shaded with no success. Anybody have any suggestions. Thanks in advance. Peter

Dave; Thanks for the response. I haven't had much time to work on this problem since I wrote my initial query, but a simple test of your solution, (with typo in pcoutrev2 postblock corrected), did provide the desired results. I just have to make sure it doesn't effect how 4-axis surface milling toolpaths are posted which require constant direction changes in the A-axis or how to set up the post to limit A-axis moves to a set range, ie: -90 to +90 deg. Thanks again for your help. Peter

Hi Smitty; Nice to hear from another Easterner!!! An option you may be interested in is to use the 2nd reference return point on your Fanuc controller, the G30. Depending on the model of controller there are parameters that can be used to offset the return position of each axis from the hardwired G28 location. If you want your table to go to the left at a toolchange for example, you need to put a value in the x-axis parameter for the 2nd reference return point. Just remember to make it negative, in mm * 1000 and that it doesn't exceed the travel limits of your machine. You can then modify your post file to have it spit out G30's instead of G28's where required. If your interested I can supply you with the parameters involved. Just drop me a line at [email protected]

Hi Paul, Our CAD/CAM operators like to live in the dark. They leave the fluorescent ceiling fixtures turned off and only have low wattage desk lamps turned on. They seem to like it that way. In my office where I have two, four tube fluorescent fixtures in the ceiling, I've removed two of the tubes from each fixture. That's made staring at a computer screen all day a little easier on the old eyeballs.

Hi everyone out there in Mastercamland. I hope someone can help me with a problem I'm having with the way MC mill v.7.2c and the generic MPFAN post processor output rotary axis moves. I need to have the angles post out in one direction only, and not flip between positive and negative angles depending on the size of the angular move. The post is set for rotation about the x-axis with positive angles in the CCW direction. I created a small test program to generate toolpaths at A=0, 90, 180, 270, 45 & 315 deg.s, in that order. When posted the code generates A=0, 90, 180, 270, 45 & -45 deg. moves. It's the last -45 deg. move I can't live with. I would like the post to generate A315 for the last move or A405, (360+45), and A675, (360+315), for the last two moves, the windup effect. I've tried playing with the post processor's switches and variables but to no success. Anyone out there have any suggestions.

Your right Ken. Most Fanuc controllers I've used require a linear move in order to engage cutter comp., so Robin you do need to add a linear distance to your entry move. Just remember to make it equal to or greater than the radius of the tool you are using or you might get an alarm on your controller. Hope this helps. ------------------

You may want to check out the Mastercam Post Processor User Guide. There's a whole section on the NCI file.

I'm in the process of upgrading our Lathe from V7 to V8 and am having problems with the post processor. When I attempt to post a file from the Operations Manager I get a "File not found: LATHE.pst" error message, even though I have specifically selected the Lathe.pst file using the Change Post button in the Post Processor dialog. If I post using NC Utils/Post proc/Run from the main menu the file posts just fine. What am I missing? Is this a configuration problem?

As you both suggested, it was the version of the MFC42.ddl file that was at fault. When I replaced the Mastercam supplied version, 4.21.7022, with the Windows NT 4.0 SP6 version, 6.00.8447, or the 4D System Engineering version, 6.00.8168, my C-Hook worked. Thanks guys for your quick replies. You saved me a lot of time and effort, not to mention head banging, trying to program with the old Dialog Box Manager.

I'm wondering if anyone has had any success producing a C-Hook for Ver. 7.2 using Visual C++ Ver. 6.0. I setup the Project as described in the C-Hook Development Guide and successfully build a dll file, but when I attempt to execute it in Mastercam I get a "C-Hook cannot be found" error message. I am using the "shapes" example in the Development Guide as a template for my program. Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Is it possible to get the source code for the C-hooks provided with Mastercam, in particular the Setupsht.dll. I would like to be able to make some minor changes in it to fit our particular needs and to fix some small glitches we are encountering, ie: a reamer is displayed as a tap, the tool material is not reported correctly. Peter IMP Group Ltd. Aerospace Machining Division