We are trying to get clarification on how many starts the customer wants, if any. I wasn't sure if creating multiple starts on a thread was as easy as changing the start angle. Thanks again guys.

How would I tool path this using a thread mill? I believe this has multiple starts for the thread and I've never done anything like this before. Also, where would be a good place to purchase a threadmill for this? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I would reinstall X8. Probably got corrupted somehow. Or you could contact CNC Software and ask them to give you all of the workspace files for X8. I did that once with the default tool library for X8 and they sent it to me no questions asked. Either way, backup your files once you get it fixed, this will save you the hassle of having to reload Mastercam all over again. HTH

I was working on some large models the other day and ended up breaking up my setups into different files. I used stock models to "rough" setup one to a certain point and then did another stock model to complete the roughing. I then used 2 other stock models for the finishing paths. The file size gets pretty big but with only having one setup worth of tool path it wasn't the worst. I had tool paths that were 12 hours long so breaking up the roughing and finishing into multiple stock models worked great. This way I could verify "chunks" of tool paths at a time and then use that stock model as a starting point for the next chunk of tool paths. I do wish my boss wasn't so damn cheap because I know a faster video card would help. Seeing as he didn't even pay $1700 for the computer I'm using there's no way in hell he'd spend $1700 on just a graphics card.

Figured it out. I had "copy source operations" checked. Once I unchecked this then it only calculated the "mirrored" tool path.

What would be some reasons why my "Mirrored" tool path would have both the original tool path and the mirrored tool path all in one? Am I missing a setting or something? Hopefully it's something simple and I'm just being dense. MIRRORED_DOOR_GRAB_HANDLE_DRIVER.zipThanks in advance.

Thank You, This is at 50-50 arc filtering with a tolerance of .0002". I'd say it's much better

What could be some reasons I'm getting these abnormalities in my Waterline tool path? My tolerance is at .0005" and I have smoothing set at 65 percent with the "shift point randomly.." box checked. I've tried going down to .0003" and it didn't change anything. These show up on the stock model so I'm assuming they will show up on the part. Any thoughts?

Just an FYI - The part turned out great. Like I stated in an earlier post, I was surprised by how long it took to process the tool path, but it looks very nice!

I am using Contour for my path and I'm using a .500 diameter slot tool with a .015" corner radius. I posted the file without any tool path because I wasn't sure if there was a tool path capable of doing the undercut in question.

I've got a pretty good looking tool path right now but it takes a long time to process it. I can see how saving the tool path as geometry would help with lead in and out moves. Thanks for the information guys.

I have to step a .020" radius on the top and bottom of the groove that is around the attached part. I only have 3d tool paths, no 5 axis. Can I use a slot cutter to step the radius onto this part? If so, what tool path would I use? Thanks in advance. HANDLE.mcx-9

Is there a reason why this box should be checked. I've been noticing extremely long open times and save times with my files lately and am looking for reasons why this has suddenly happened. Any other suggestions to reduce lag time would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks in advance.

Did you try using "adaptive quality" to enhance your view? I've found that to be particularly helpful when verifying larger parts. I will turn my quality down so it runs faster and then let adaptive quality sharpen up my model to get a more accurate picture of my part. This will also change the stock colors as it enhances your model. Not sure if this is what you are experiencing but hopefully it helps.

We have an older Quintax router that will not except 3d arcs "k" values are a no go with this machine. In the process of turning off 3d arcs and what not I came across "present arcs as line segments" and filtered as much as possible to try and create point to point moves. This machine loves that stuff. It hasn't ran better since I switched to line segments.

Where would one do that?

Not sure if any else has been having this issue but the last few files I've been working on have been taking a long to load when opening. At the bottom of the screen where it shows what Mastercam is doing it says restoring nci file and sometimes it takes up to 5 or 6 minutes to load my file. It also does it when I open up the plane manager for some reason too. That doesn't usually take as long as the initial file load but it still lags quite a bit. Any advice at what I could do to fix this? File sizes are medium to large but nothing out of the ordinary.

I do like the option of being able to analyze exactly where your tool is. I rely (maybe too much) on verify to check my part for size and gouges but I do use analyze tool path to make sure my tools are going to the correct location. I just used it yesterday to confirm my tool path was correct when some parts were .020 under size. Turns out the holder was cracked and the program was correct. Sweet Justice!!

Would you be allowed to write separate programs? This way once a certain program is finished you could have them manually move to locations and check the part. We did this all the time at my old job. Of course this means that the operator has to physically move to location by either hand wheeling the indicator into position or using the MDI function on the machine (assuming it has MDI)

I turned of Auto save because it did it again on me. Twice in one day is twice too many! I will only use backup now and fully close out of the file I'm working on before opening another file.

Is your geometry closed and do you need to name your layer a specific name? I've never built a holder but have done lots of custom tools using the DXF system of creating them. I'm sure you know but for tools the geometry has to be closed and there needs to be a CUT and NOCUT layer. I'm not sure about the rules of creating a holder though.

Thanks for the feed back. I will change the way I open files.

I just noticed this. I'm thinking this might be screwing me over.

I have no proof that this is a bug but I'm not sure what I'd be doing for this to happen. Twice since I've been using X9 I have overwritten one file with a different one. I will finish programming a file, save it and then file open a different job. Twice I've noticed that after I've been working on this "new" file that it has the previous job's name up on the top of the screen. It's not a glitch I have accidentally overwritten the previous job I was working on. I have auto save enabled so is there something there that might be messed up? I can't think of what I'd be doing to overwrite these files. I don't do file save as when saving, I just hit the save button. Has anyone else noticed this? I'm stumped and worried that I'm really going to screw my self one of these times.

We had an old Milltronics VMC that we retrofitted with an EDM head. It used brass electrodes that had a hole thru the trode for flushing and it spun as it burned thru the part. The main reason we decided to retrofit this machine was to add wire start holes in our cavities but we quickly found out that it was great for removing taps as well.