Hello everyone, My reseller and CNC Software are stumped on an issue and I'm hoping that I may get some help here. Ever since updating to X7 MU1 I get an error that reads: "Error occurred in EndSession: startVector length should equal endVector length (radius)" when I try to start verification. It doesn't happen on every file but once it does, it stays until I roll back to before X7 MU1. Here's what I've done so far: Uninstalled Mastercam and reinstalled Scrubbed the registry and computer of ALL Mastercam files and reinstalled Changed all files to their defaults in both Mastercam and Verification Changed to a generic post, machine & control definition Updated Windows, scrubbed & reinstalled .NET framework, updated all drivers for all components including the BIOS Changed computers entirely And more tricks that are too lengthy to mention but suffice to say I've exhausted my skills as an IT Tech and previous Mcam reseller support tech. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as this problem is affecting my ability to program and verify my parts. I stay with pre-MU1 but that has bugs as well that make it a lose lose situation for me. I also have an issue where if I modify a toolpath and regenerate a stock model Mastercam will crash consistently after about the 2nd or 3rd stock model regeneration unless I quit Mastercam and restart after every regen.

Mastercam is a resource hungry software package. When I did Mastercam support I would go round and round about a customers computer being upgraded and fixing their problems. They would eventually upgrade and then those odd behaviors would cease (overall) and it was all rainbows and butterflies. One thing that I noticed was that the Quadro series of video card plays the best with Mastercam vs. ATI and even the "gamer" NVidia type cards (GeForce). I have 24 gigs of ram on my system and I wish that I had a minimum of 36 gigs, RAM is cheap so that shouldn't be a problem. Another essential is having a solid state hard drive for your main and then have a 1 tb slave drive to store files. Mastercam also doesn't like having config type files anywhere except for the default locations. You have the ability to put any file anywhere you want but a lot of problems from customers have been solved by moving posts, configs, tool libraries, etc... to the default locations. My current system has an octocore i7 processor, 24gb RAM, 4gb Quadro video card, and a 256gb SSD HDD. Mastercam still has issues with certain files. I will admit that I do 5 axis work that consists of hundreds of toolpaths, dozens of solids and stock models, and dozens of views. This would tax any system but once I talked the management into getting me my current system 10 minute regenerations turned into 30 seconds or so. That was with the same processor and video card but a traditional spin drive and 8gb of RAM. I hope this helps a bit. A local computer builder puts together Mastercam specific computers and the tower alone will run $2,400 but more than worth it.

I have worked with SpaceClaim for over a year now and I like it more and more the longer I use it. SpaceClaim doesn't need constraints to build solids and it is very easy to learn. The average user just needs a couple of days of the abundant tutorials to be up and running with the software. I primarily use it to unfold models and to repair corrupted models supplied to us from our customers. In regards to pricing, it is very inexpensive. Depending on if you get the CATIA translator, other translators, or a floating license the price ranges from around $3,000 - $6,000 per seat including the required 1st year maintenance package. After the 1st year you have to option to drop the maintenance. The Floating network license costs about an extra $1,000 but isn't locked to a single computer. Each license includes a home version download so that the user can learn the software at home as well. These prices are as of the time of this posting and my personal experience. I bought the network license without the extra translators since we already have CATIA and we only need stp, igs, and stl models. I paid $3,355 for the floating license with $1,115 for the floating subscription service. The support is fantastic and my questions are not only answered but I get a video demonstrating how they solved the problem. My reseller came to our location and trained the programming staff at no charge as well. Compared to other modeling software it's a pretty simple decision. The hardest part of the software was learning that I don't have to establish constraints and relationships to build my models. It's a dumb solid modeler that is perfect for us Mastercam users that just need something to drive toolpath against. Just slap in a basic shape and start pushing and pulling until you have what you need in record time. When I have a dirty model I just click a button and it shows all of the problem areas, I can click another button to fix them all or just fix individual portions of it. I hope that this helps people with the software. It doesn't replace SolidWorks or CATIA by any means when it comes to creating models that have mass and properties for engineering purposes, but it's a life saver when you need to make a flat pattern, tooling, or models for toolpath.

Thank you for the reply, it's greatly appreciated. I have already built up a tool count and a lookup table, so that information is present. What I would like to do is make "0" more of an object instead of a number. So that I can basically say n$ = (tlcnt * "0") + t$ The number value zero would return some bad logic, but an object (constant?) would, I assume, be output as many times as the tool count. Am I on the right track or completely lost in space here? Thanks again!

Good Day, I am working on an Okuma 7000 lathe post and I am running into a bit of a snag getting the output the operators are looking for. I was able to add a Number line that corresponds to the tool (Thank you Colin) and the output is good: NT1202 (OPERATION NUMBER: 5) But I need to have the output be as follows: NT12 (1st instance of tool 12), NT012 (2nd instance), NT0012 (3rd instance), so on and so forth. The code is pretty straight forward right now: n$ = (tcnt * seqinc$) + (t$*100) I need to see how I can have the seqinc$ = "0" and then do a logic loop and add an additional zero per instance of the same tool until there are no more tool counts and it ouputs the appropriate number of zero's in front of the tool number. This is where my noodle is starting to bake a bit and I would love a nudge in the right direction if possible. Thanks all!