Who? Mike

I did search the forum for this and didn't find anything. I also looked in my profile. Some forums allow you to change it in there. So... How do I add an avatar? What are the file size limits or picture size limits? Thanks, Mike Mattera

I guess I still dont get it What is it that you would need to mass modify in a spread sheet that you couldn't mass modify in a .txt file? If you bring it into excel, you cant use formulas for the values without freezing the values before you export it out to a .txt file. It's it certainly important to spend the time getting your tool library right. I'll agree with that. But once the bulk of the major changes are made, you'll only do single tools after that. It's a testimony to the capability of the people of this forum, how quickly someone developed a solution to Neil's problem. Very impressive work guys. Mike Mattera

... Oh.... to answer your question.... No. Not that I've ever seen. Mike Mattera

If it's a solid model, you should be able to find the features and it will give you the diameter there. Or just put curves on the edges of the holes. Then you can check the arc diameter. I never use Analyze Dynamic for holes. But that is a good idea. I mainly use it to find the radius for those tiny fillets that engineers like to put all over the place. When it brings in the model, you can also tell to put curves on all the edges. I use the Entity Attribute Manager to sort out all of my geometry so all my Lines, arcs, curves are on separate levels with separate colors. The I have all of the geo if I need it later. Mike Mattera

It does sound video related. Or possibly the system is running out of memory. How big are your toolpaths (typically)? But certainly when the icons go black. It's time to save your file and do a re-boot. Mike Mattera

No I dont work the the previous dealer. I develop Mastercam video training materials independently. I'll be in the Mastercam booth on the 10th - 13th (Wed-Sat). Booth Number: D-3027 (Lakeside Center). I've been tapped to do Lathe demos on the big screen. Looking forward to it. This will be my 15th IMTS Show. Mike Mattera

Hey Ernie, Could it have to do with file extension associations? Mike Mattera

So many setting for Rotary indexing, I'd have to see the file and the post. Mike Mattera

WOW! So many responses so quickly.... Feel The Love. Actually several people have been telling me I should get back on the EMcam forum. And YES, one of those was Jon. I just haven't had the time. I'm here now because I've always had interesting chat's with this group. It's a great place to share ideas, give and get information. Certainly a lively cast of characters. Besides, I heard you had a Clique of Idiots and thought "that's the place for me". Mike Mattera

"We are officially at war" ... and that means what? Thanks for the greetings everyone. Mike

Hello Everyone, I've been gone from here for a while. Thought I'd start spending a little time on the forum. I spent the last couple of years working with another popular Cam product (whose name I wont mention here). That relationship has come to an end. Now I'm back developing new video training products for Mastercam. If anyone's going to the IMTS show, stop by the booth and say "Hi". Mike Mattera Tips For Manufacturing

So is X2 MR2 SP1 also without the Cad Data Paths? Mike Mattera

well that doesn't look right to me. Mike Mattera

Find this one in the post and see what it's set to. breakarcs$ : 2 #CD_VAR Break arcs, 0 = no, 1 = quadrants, 2 = 180deg. max arcs Mike Mattera

The second CD for lathe will cover C axis. This covers the core concepts that everyone needs to know before that get into Live tooling and such. It covers Rough, Finish, Multiple cuts, Groove, Thread, Cut off & Part Flip for ID and OD machining. Covers changing the NC format/code output. Creating, modifying, copying tools in the library. How to import DXF/DWG files and clean them up for machining. Covers different ways of machining from Solid models. How to position a solid model for lathe machining. Lots of good stuff in it. You wont be disappointed with the content or the quality. There is a good description of what's covered at the web site. Mike Mattera

MR2 has some kind of "sequential backup file" command. Part1.mcx becomes part1-001.mcx part1-002.mcx etc... every time you save it. Sounds like something you might want to start using. Mike Mattera

I think you would still need to set multiple Cplanes/Tplanes to define the XY "face" your working on. But their zero location can be at the center of the rotary. You should be able to create one Cplant/Tplane and rotate it for the other faces, if you know the angle between the faces. I have samples of this in my training CD. Mike Mattera

Hello All, I'm posting this here because a lot of people have asked for Lathe Video training. I was able to produce a new video training CD for Mastercam X2 Lathe, using a demo disk that someone gave me. If anyone is looking for something like this, you can find it at my web site... http://www.tipsformanufacturing.com/html/x_lathe_1.html International buyers can purchase it from my other web site http://www.tipsforcadcam.com (shipping is set up different there) Hope this is OK to post. As I said, a lot of people have requested a CD like this. Now it's available. Happy Holidays to everyone on the forum. Sincerely, Mike Mattera Tips For Manufacturing

I Thought the advantage of having the different data paths was that people pulling Solidworks files from a Network drive, wouldn't have to navigate thru the directories. It would go directly to the T:EngineeringSolidwork_Parts folder. I dont understand how opening the files from the same place (FilesOpen) has anything to do with the location of different file types. Organized companies put different data types in different folders. Rare that CNC would remove something so useful that has been in the system for so long. Mike Mattera

3D Video Tutorials are available at my web site below. You can find training CD's for V8, V9 & Mastercam X. Mike Mattera

It's the surface normals Mike Mattera

Please click the link and read rule number 1. Then read all the other rules. Welcome to the forum. It's a great place. we can help. But we have rules. http://www.emastercam.com/ubb/ultimatebb.p...ic;f=1;t=008993 Mike Mattera

All you can really do is specify that at a specific angle/point the radis should be "X". Much like you'd do with a table. Mike Mattera

I like to use a 2:1 with a .0009" total tolerance. That way you get .0003 on the cut and .0006 on the filter it keeps the whole thing under .001 . Be sure to set it to "One Way" to avoid inaccuracies building up. Mike Mattera