Sorry guys, forgot the battery part of that statement.

We are considering Moldplus, but work is tight and purchasing is still moaning about the cost of the full Mastercam seat(9.1SP2 Mill 3, Lathe, Wire, Solids, and Nethasp

I started a string on this subject the other day. I got a response back from CNC Software stating this is a normal situation for the past 8 years and does not effect Mastercam performance. It will knock the stuffing out of a notebook

Hello again, I was wondering if anyone can reccomend a source for strategies for generating surfaces from surfaces for electrode generation. I currently use a combination of techniques of offset surfaces and creating surfaces from solids. I do not always get the geometry I need. I am new at electrode design and still at times

Thanks Ken. My IT manager heard back from Ruth D from CNC Software today stating that the 100% CPU load is normal and does not affect performance. She further states it has been normal for the 8 years she has been using Mastercam. The IT manager and I are still at differences regarding system config. He showed me specs from mastercam.com showing a Pentium with 32meg was fine. We are using 9.1 SP2 Mill Level 3, Lathe, wire, and Solids. I feel we need 512meg ram and non integrated graphics as we work with parasolids and UG models. I am glad to hear that it will be taken care of for ver X. Thanks all

Hi Friends, I was trying to do some work building an EDM electrode with surfaces when I noticed a lack of response while creating fillet radii. I checked in Task Manager and was showing 100% CPU load. I closed down Mastercam and checked task man again and load dropped to 2 %. I opened Mastercam with no open file and found 100% cpu load again. I did the same checks with cadkey 19 and Surfcam 2002 and found no load. My IT manager found the same results on the other 2 computers we are Net Hasped to. Our machines are all Dell Optiplex or Dimension P4 2.5 ghz, 256mg ram, 64mg Intel integrated graphics adapter running Mastercam 9.1 SP2 with Nov 2003 maintenance upgrade. Anyone else having such problems, or is it a "Dell" thing? Thanks

You can retrofit a manual mill with ballscrews and build a PC based controll with steppers. AHHA last time I checked outlined a cost of around $4000 for electronics, steppers, and software. You would have to build motor mounts, config the PC, and hook it all up. Much sweat equity involved, and AHHA is supportive. www.ahha.com

While I was growing up, my father had an old Bridgeport M Head in the basement. He did some sub contract work on it in the 60's. As a kid, I was thrilled to be allowed to crank the handles while it was cutting. I took all the Metal/Machine shop courses my high school offered and got a job in a tool and die shop the summer before my senior year. I went into the Army right after graduation, got an ear infection during basic, and ended discharged at the end of basic. Not knowing what else to do, I got a job in a production shop doing production work on Bridgeports. The shop had a new at the time P&W StarTurn(1979)and an old at the time Hillyer machining center. I got bored there so I got a position as a toolmaker. The company bought it's first CNC in 1989, and I missed out on programming training as I had the least amount of seniority. I got into programming on a Bridgeport EZ Trak SN 5(first prod. release)in 1992. At the same time I started learning Ez Cam software. In 1994 I purchased my own NC and had to learn paper tape. The only good thing about that was learning how to edit longhand programming. I decide to close my part time business in 1998, and went to college partime in 1999. I have been majoring in Manufacturing Engineering and expect to earn my associate's in the spring. I focused on 3d drafting and programming. I started in Mastercam last year getting training from a local Mastercam vendor. I finally got an excellent position as programmer/ experimental machinist. My boss is the best I have ever had, we respect and feed off each other. I sold the company on Mastercam, they were using Surfcam. I enjoy the work, being part of a new operation is a thrill of sorts, even with the inherent stress.

I purchased the InHouse manual on Solids from this website. I feel it is an excellent reference for teaching Solids construction, but I do not recall any mention about toolpathing Solids

Some additional info for those responding about the solid converting to wireframe. The Parasolid file I started with has a file size of 1572KB. The MC9 file after adding a wireframe around the model and 3 tool contaiment boundaries brought the file size over 3200KB. The file was saved under another name after the shading went out. I had closed Mastercam, reopened it, and opened the file again. I ran Analyze on some entities, only showed lines, no solids or surfaces present. The file size is only 603KB. I will be getting a better workstation in the future, some suggestions for RAM and graphics adapters would be appreciated. I have built my own computers and have always shied away from integrated components of any kind. Thank you, Jim

Hi All, I had a strange experience with a solid model in Mastercam this week. We had just installed Mastercam 9.1 SP2 with Solids licensing. I was working with a somewhat complicated Parasolid file shaded when the shading shut itself off and was unable to shade the model again. I started again with the original Parasolid and it happened again. What I found out blew my mind!! When the shading shut down I was left with wireframe geometry only. My workstation is a Dell P4 2.4 ghz with 256meg RAM and 64meg Intel graphics adapter. Has anyone had this happen before?

Hi all, I am relatively new to Mastercam after 10 years of 2d and 2 years of 3d programming. I am about to start a position programming with Mastercam 9.1 involving imported solids from Solidworks and Unigraphics. My question is about the level of control you have in Mastercam Solids for toolpathing. Is there a way to break up the solid to limit toolpathing or would I have to extract surfaces in order to do this? Thank you