Various positions as I moved around the screen.

It is set in Free mode. View top plane reference to WCS still shows the toolpath 90 degrees to the cutting plane.

I have a guy here with an ATI Radeon 5500?? card. Anyhow, he just wrote a toolpath associated with a certain WCS. The stock model displays correctly the verify and backplot display the correct toolpath, but the toolpath on the screen is floating out in space. Floating! If i dynamically rotate the part the toolpath moves to a completely different area on the screen Anyone else ever experience this?

Ended up using the 2d highspeed restmill. That did the trick.

The hatched area is what I am trying to contour. I have a 7/32 tool that I have chained all contours including the nested ones. The cutter violates the areas dimensioned at .190 Is there a 2d toolpath that can do this without violating other than pocket? I did run a surface restmill to get the results I wanted BUT there are areas which I do not need to cut again. I know of some other cutting software that calculate for this in their 2d contour cuts and leave those areas alone. Any ideas?

Thanks. I will take a look at it.

Aren't you glad I initiated that? That's how I got the Cat seat. More like this

Are you having an issue with the PC's we got? I found that we made our wish list and the higher ups and or IT decided what we did and or didn't need. Monitors... new keyboards... sound cards... Don't even get me started on the space ball.

Larry is going to freak. Doug and I just got those two pcs a year ago. Talk about being spoiled. I have sat through those stupid budget meetings every month... only thing I got for months was a Jimmy Johns sub... and then one day the Cat seat and two pcs. And that took us 6 months. Sheesh.

I had tried to create my threadmills. What I found that worked was draw them in the top view. Center of cutter is centerline (not sure if solid line matters) along the y axis. the other line creating a single profile can be solid. The y origin should be the cutting edge ( Z TIP) if that makes sense. I may have not done it correctly because I need to create one for each diameter change I have otherwise verify doesn't show it very well. Hope this helps.

Just for the sake of seeing how it works I was trying to use the FBM. I have a plate with many slots and channels and a few holes. The holes I was not intending on doing and in my tool library I have a 10-24 tap (used for some hold downs on the table). I get this warning message... "FBM Warnings Pilot hole diameter not defined in tool definition! #13 - 0.1900 X 24.00 TAP RH - 10-24 TAP Z:\12200\12235\********* CNC\*********.MCX-5" Where would you define the pilot hole diameter? I looked under the tap parameter page itself for the tool and didn't seem to find it. I did not choose the holes for the feature search anyhow. Just curious.

Just a question to a question gcode. When the user account is created Windows won't create that folder... or after the user logs in and opens MCAM for the first time? If I remember correctly a user account "packet" with a Windows Server could set up that type of stuff. Wouldn't it?

That would be nice, but considering the software I used during my MCAM hiatus recently... anything showing ANY associated geometry is exceptional.

If the arc is created in top plane... change construction to right or front and rotate about end point of arc. If you are trying to create geometry for tool entry the helix would probably be a better choice.

This is one I just started trying. Glad you asked the question and thanks for the answers.

I can't say I would use the stock option for what I do here. When I used to program large molds I could have used that. Most parts I cut now can fit in your hand or in some cases a thimble. Thanks for the replies. I did beta testing back in 2001 or 02? yes it is a thankless job, but you do get to use the latest and greatest along with any bugs you come across. Maybe when I joined the forum. who knows?

I see. I use multiple machine defs for various wcs offsets. not so much toolpath groups. But I can see that being an issue.

Am I the only one that rarely has to go back and change tool numbers? Matt, James, or Mr. Paris... do you think I should move onto X6? Thinking about downloading it, but some hesitation? What do you guys think? Not a hijack. Email me or send me a message.

I read to page 6... got bored. Like a bad movie you really didn't want to watch but was interested in the ending... Was clock speed an issue?

Logging in as that user or a different user? MC not coming online at all? If not as the previous user... I would try that approach and see what you get. Figuring process of elimination. Previous user may have had it installed in a custom sort of way.

That's what I thought Bryan but wasn't absolutely sure.

It has been a few years (4) but I seem to remember Hurcos being different than most other controllers. I think it is sort of like Surfcam ... drill depth (you'd think would be negative) is a positive number. Is that what your issue is?

We had a job that they way wanted cut before they had an extrusion made to verify whether or not it would work. basically 1x3x6 inch rectangular block that when finished was .08-.110 wall thickness u-shaped part with .1 radius at bottom of channel. Couldn't get the results we had hoped for. Didn't try freezing the vice though. Heat dissipated too quickly from the jaws.

70% Aluminum 10% SS (316,303,304) 10% Plastic 5% Invar (<--- Hate it) 5% Various steels, alloys, and ceramics Note on the Invar... after countless broken tap issues 2-56, 4-40, and 6-32 I convinced them to let me thread mill. 1000 times more productive. Thanks to the forum after reading up on pros and cons. We have nothing but HAAS... some old and some new.

I use the Generic HAAS 4 machine def. To rid myself of the A posting I went to machine def and in the machine configuration window I disabled the VMC A axis under the table group. This eliminated the posting (a axis posting). With the HAAS I still get IJKs. I do not remember having to switch it in another place although it just may be my mind is going.