I don't know exactly what gaps you are getting. However, it may be a problem with your video card. I was getting gaps on my surfaces when I would view them on the computer and I replaced my videocard which allows for higher quality and the gaps are gone.

Thank you to everyone who has helped me eith my situation. I have tried the changes recommended and some suggestions were benefical. I have decided for now to cut with the create arcs and filter options turned off, which seems to eliminate the problem with the arcs. Again thank you for all your help and time in resolving this issue.

Roger, quote: Min. Arc radius is .005" (I ASSUME we are talking INCH units) This could be a problem, those are some very small arc moves. Try .05" or .1" and see if the problem goes away. My question -> What is your setting for which planes to 'Create Arcs in (XY,XZ,YZ)'? was to deremine if the gouges were the due to problems of doing arcs in the YZ or XZ planes. Does you NC program have arc moves in a plane OTHER than the XY (G17) plane? I changed the radius and the same problem occured. Yes there are arc moves in a plane other than the XY, and the XY cuts fine. The problems occur in the XZ and YZ planes. quote: As for setting the post to output 'R'adius format, instead of I,J,K, look for this in the PST -> arcoutput : 0 # 0 = IJK, 1 = R no sign, 2 = R signed neg. over 180 What is the difference between the two R no sign and R signed neg. over 180? What exactly does that mean? My book says I need start point and radius. What does that mean? Thank You

Marc, I appreciate your retraction of your original post. Your tone and attitude was the same as every other person who I had tried to seek assistance from (until the other helpful posts in this forum). I have been dealing with this problem for 6 months now with no help in resolving it. I have contacted my dealer and mastercam tech support. Mastercam told me to email them the problem and all they would do is send it on to my dealer. After many conversations/emails with the individual at my dealer, he told me to "figure it out myself". So I looked into the problem more myself. I am not familar with modifying posts and don't want to start creating more problems for myself by changing things that shouldn't be. So I came on this web site to see if there was more information available. Then I get your response and figure no one wants to help out a legit small shop guy. I am grateful for all the other posts and I appreciate the help and willingness to lend what advice individuals know. I am not looking for the cheap way out. I was wondering if there is a better centroid post or an improved post I'm not aware of it and was wondering if anyone else knew of it. With the willingness to pay for it. I understand we all have bad days, I've been having six months worth, but maybe next time you are in a bad mood you may want to stay away from the forum. So you don't create any enemies. But with that behind us... quote: What version on Mc was it originally written for? You mentioned it was a modified post, which post did the post writer start with? I am using the original centroid post that came with my mastercam 8.1.1 (only modification is that I added a "z" that solved the arc problem with swept programs)

Again, thank you to all the replies. After the lack of assitance form my dealer, I am grateful for the help I'm getting on the forum. quote: How different? Are we talking slight differences in machines or completely different? What machine / control combination are you using in both places? I am using a centroid post with centroid controls at my shop. The other shop is a modified post (that doesn't work at my shop, already tried) on fanuc controls. quote: What is your filter setting for 'Minimum Arc Radius'? What is your setting for which planes to 'Create Arcs in (XY,XZ,YZ)'? Min. Arc radius is .005, and the settings for XY,XZ,YZ are 17, 19, 18 on the post. In the centroid manual the setting are 17, 18, 19. Could this be the problem? I am going to get some of the NC code and will post it when I get it. The gouges seem to occur in both the XZ and YZ planes. Also, on my machine, Helical and circular motion can be programmed in two different ways. specifying the final point and the parameters I,J,K (center point of the as incremental values from the start position) or specifying the final point and the radius of the arc. I am currently using the I,J,K method. How do I change to the other method, what would I need to do to the post? Thank you.

Thank you to everyone (except the first jerk ) who responded. Not that I should need to defend myself to some guy who has a chip on his shoulder, but I will. I payed the high dollar for a legit copy of mastercam, I am a real shop who doesn't care to put his email, name, or address out on the web for anyone to xxxx up and start spamming me. And finally, I would gladly give advice or help to any topic I could, I posted this the first day I signed up to get help because the tech support guys at my dealer are usless and gave me no help. With that said, I have worked on the problem some more and have narrowed it, but have not solved it. I needed to add the "z" to the circular interpulation line in the post, solving the arc problem when I run a swept program. When performing surfaces is when I seem to be getting the problem. When I turn the filtering option off it cuts fine. But I'd like to use that option. When using the filtering to arcs option turned on, I take the file from my shop and cut it using a different post and different controls it cuts fine. But when I run the same program at my shop on my machines (Centroid control) it gouges in the same place each time. On two different machines I have in my shop. It seems like the problem only occurs on surfaces with arc moves. Any more help to lead me in the right direction is greatly appreciated. Thank You!

I am setting up a small shop out of my home garage. I am having alot of trouble getting my machines working properly. All three machines worked properly at my former shop. I am tring to troubleshoot the problem. I first thought it was a power problem, I am using a phase convertor and voltage regulator. But the errors reoccur at the same place each time I run the job. If I run the same file at another shop it runs fine. I think I have pinpointed the problem to a possible post processor problem. I am able to use the post that is designed to be used with the centroid control on my mill, however, I am not able to cut using the filter option. It is leaving big gouges in the die that shouldn't be there. It seems like it is reading the right numbers, but isn't communicating them to the machine properly. I am using mastercam 8.1.1, I am wondering if there is a modified Centroid post that I could try to use or any other suggestions. If anyone has had a similar problem, I would appreciate feedback on the possible causes and remidies. Thank You