I wouldn't use a woodruff cutter - the shape will be wide in the 'steep' areas and narrow at the top and bottom. Use a 'lollipop' cutter - - - the width will be the same for the entire pattern. jm2c

The tool tolerance only affects verify when you have the quality set to max (all the way to the right)

Some motherboards may be able to upgrade the BIOS to support the faster bus. Check on the motherboard mfg's site for the answer to the question. I would get a different motherboard.

Offset the line/arc at the top and bottom the radius of the cutter. Use the 'wireframe - ruled' option - select the line at the bottom and the same at the top. You can do this with level 1 if you want to. You will get the sharp corner too.

On my Toshiba Tecra M4 Nvidia 6600 - Tablet PC - Vista Business x32 version 98.13 On my Desktop AMD FX-60 Nvidia 8600GT Vista Ultimate X64 version 162.22

I am using the latest from www.nvidia.com On BOTH my 32bit single core laptop and 64bit dual core Desktop - the same setting fixed both systems.

On the startup icon for Mastercam on your desktop - Right-click Properties Select the compatibility tab check the 'Disable Desktop composition' box Apply OK Or you can disable desktop composition using the performance settings.

Anti-aliasing gives the geometry a blurry look - therefore I don't use it. After a while it gives me a headache. Also, I look for blurred or similar effects when I am searching for overlapping entities. Anti-aliasing tends to make everything look like that. Beyond that, anti-aliasing does NOT work well for CADCAM and doesn't make things look sharper unless you are working with screenshots for printing later. (It works pretty well for games at lower resolution - it fools your mind into thinking things are smoother and more detailed than they really are).

You can limit the maximum feedrate in the parameters - Highfeed does NOT take into account, or change, the RPM of your tool, only the volume of material removed per minute. Restrict the maximum feedrate to one that is appropriate to your tools/rpm. Then Highfeed will take care of the rest.

The short reason: Your machine has internal resolution limits. This means your control has to round values to fit your command to its nearest values. draw two points. -1.0,0 and .9999,0 put a arc with radius 1.0000 between the two points. Analyze the arc center. If you use R and are near 180 degree your control calculates where a 'center of rotation' is at. Since the machine resolution may be +/- .00004 x 2 x 1.4 (the 1.4 is for rounding error) you will see the control move the center up to +/-.014" from what you (using what YOU KNOW) expect. I've seen the result of this dozens of times. The error doesn't even happen the same on every part if the numbers match up just right. If you use IJK, you are telling the control what to use for the calculation. This forces the control to conform to your idea of where the center of the arc is at - not fit an arc. Yes, you can get away with it most of the time. But you can't get away with it ALL of the time. Just like I can drive my car 100 mph across the Nevada desert and not get a ticket. (Most of the time).

An easier method is to use a port replicator for your computer. It usually has the serial port/ports on it as well as printer ports, additional usb and anything else you may need. I buy one with each new laptop I've had and it solves the 'how do I get this computer to work?' issue every time.

I am running on a Toshiba Tecra M4 Tablet PC. Dynamic Rotation is kind of awkward - but everything else is good. (Nvidia 6600 video).

Colin, That would be a wallet flatening tool. While it would be cool - I think I would be consigned to a deep, dark, cold place for a substantial time. The Hyperdrive4 would get me there - at ONLY $2400 for 16gb. I'll pass for now. Bogusmill - go to http://www.cpuid.com and get PCWizard2007 - double check your temp. I just emailed my stepson and his OC'd from 2.4 to 3.4ghz runs at 72C (161F) with a high end cooling system with extra fans, etc. My OC'd FX-60 idles at 39C but under load hit 60C (about 140) in short order. My laptop (lap heater) Idles near 70C and with V9 (CPU HOG) hits 85C in about 3 minutes (That is 185F).

On my XP Pro laptop, trying with and without a ramdrive, I have found that no matter what you map to the ramdrive Mastercam STILL writes and reads from the Physical disk. I am looking for a 'work-around'. Very little is getting written to the ramdisk compared to the physical drive. Later,

On the windows desktop - Right-click Properties Appearance tab Set "Font Size" to Normal If it is extra large it will be larger than you can display.

Bogusmill - most of the temp readings are done in degrees C (centigrade). If it is so on your system that is 212F (Boils water). Can you put your finger on the CPU and hold it there? If so, that is a rare beast. Steve - you need to change your tempfile locations to point to the Ramdrive, the regen file should also be placed there. You should not be getting any disk activity to speak of. (You could also change the windows environment variables to point to the ramdisk, but unless you have 3gigs or more of ram I wouldn't). I am still searching for a Ramdisk program for Vista X64 - I was hoping not to have to pay $100 for the only one I have located to date. I will do timing tests on one of my student systems (2ghz, 1gb ram) with XP and then install an evaluation package from www.superspeed.com and do the test again. I will post the result over the weekend.

Steve - Map your regen / temp directories to the ramdrive. It should be faster on the initial run. I can't run ramdisk on Vista X64. But it is a major difference on my XP Box if I change the target locations of my temp files to the ramdrive - about 40-50%. I will do timing tests tonight on the XP machine (it is currently pulling server duty).

Just for grins, those with INTEL and HT turned on, try turning Hyperthreading OFF and re-run the test. The fact that your 3.2 / 3.4ghz machines are the same speed as a 2.2ghz AMD may be due to having divided your Level 1 cache up to support HT. IF it is better, let us know. It looks like a LOT of INTEL based systems could benefit if it helps.

8 minutes 33 seconds ASUS A8N-SLI Premium with AMD FX-60 @ 2.73Ghz (5% OC) 4Gb RAM ddr400 (PC3200) 7-3-3-3 2T Vista Ultimate x64

Yes. It is compatible.

Tell him to turn off 'Hibernation', and also the screen saver. I think the hibernation feature is the most likely culprit. Also check the advanced page for any other 'power saving' feature and disable those, too. I lock my computer everytime I leave and don't get kicked out.

Zoom in around the problem area. Analyze dynamic - select the spline and move the cursor - look for direction reversals or points you cannot move past.

There may be no stupid questions, but there ARE a LOT of inquisitive idiots.

Look at the manual for your machine, then find the torque and horsepower curves. On a machine I have a manual for, full power is available from 3600 to 7900 rpm (7.5hp). From 800 to 3600 rpm the curve is liner from 1.8hp to 7.5hp. From 7900 to 15000 the power moves from 7.5hp to 2.8hp. There is every possiblity that the machine you have may not have the power you think you have at the rpm you have programmed. Power factor I use for aluminum: 4.5 cu/in per minute per horsepower. Work to what your machine has as a peak horsepower/Torque curve. It will never be at Maximum RPM. (Plus, your machine will perform better).

Make sure stock to leave on last pass is set to zero. (if you copied the op from the prior operation)