When I use my back plot now for some reason it shows the toolpath displayed and or shaded before I even hit the play button. I cant turn the display off and watch the toolpath lines be generated as I back plot the path. the lines or shading is run all the way to the end already before I even start at the beginning of my tool path to back plot it. It does not do this on all of my files. Is this a bug or is there something I need to check or un check to have a blank screen that gradually shows my tool path as its ping back plotted. TIA...

I get the same errors along with the following. I get a L648, L750, L3240, L3345, and the L3380 all menu specific. didn't get them when I first updated to MU2 on X7 but few weeks later started getting them and no changes have been made what so ever.

Is there any way you can remove or set to default somewhere in MC to not show the tool and holder assembly columns in the tool path tool manager as well as the tool libraries ?? thanks in advance.

well its up and running every time he starts his paths so I'm going to leave it since it works. only way to shut if off now is to physically turn it off on the control so now if it does happen again he will be getting an xxxx ripping from the supervisor.. I'm with you to Ron definitely write up over what happened and many other things that this kid has done before but I'm not the boss so I have to be creative when I want him doing something that I shouldn't have to repeatedly tell him to do. I never shut them off during the day when I'm running the machine but I also am not afraid of work when it comes to emptying the chip barrel when Its full. just my opinion but I'm working with a lot of younger generation now a days where I work and not all of them but a large portion of them don't want to work or don't know what really working means. I have a kid of my own and I constantly am on him to do things right the first time and not to half xxxx do it so he doesn't have to do it all over again. I don't know what it is with some of these kids. rant over..lol. thanks guys for the info..

I am wondering if there is a general rule of thumb where m-codes should and shouldn't be placed in a post. My example is as follows. Our night shift guy doesn't ever want to run the chip conveyor on the machine for fear he will have to work harder and have to empty the chip barrel and thus the chips pile up and pack in the augers. Well the other night at 2am in the morning he's calling the maintenance guy that works days saying the machine keeps kicking the breaker and wont run. well he finally decided the 8 inches of chips piled up in the floor of the machine needed to be emptied out and turned on the chip conveyor. well since the augers were packed with large chips it was binding one of them up and kicking the breaker. So now to the point. I added two m-codes to turn the augers and the floor wash on at the start of every program to my post. The placement of said m-codes is before the safe start header that is posted in the beginning of every standard post. I was wondering is this a no no or is this alright to do ? It has been working so far with no problems but just wanted to know out of curiosity if there is a rule of thumb on where to place forced m-codes in the tool path. here is an example of the beginning of my paths now. % O0000 M50 <------ code in question M63 <------ code in question G20 G0 G17 G40 G49 G80 G90 T2 M6 G0 G90 G54 X-.5 Y.5 S2500 M3 G43 H2 Z.25 Z.2 p.s. this path doesn't display it but there is a look ahead enable code ( G5.1 Q1 ) a few lines down. not sure exactly of its placement for I just typed this up off the top of my head to show said m-codes.. thanks in advance..

well maybe a feature request for X8 is in order..lol. thanks Ron..

when I go to my coolant selection page fllod or thru spindle etc. I have the option of on, off, ignore. then to the right of the enabling box is a before, with and after. Is there a way to force this to always be set to after on all my optional settings to choose from instead of it defaulting to before. I have it saved in my defaults file for most paths but still run across situations where I have to go back and manually change from thru the spindle to flood and then I have to re enable the after selection. say a drill program by default I have it set to thru spindle and after. but when I create another drill program using a spot drill that needs the flood on I have to turn the through spindle off and flood on no big deal but then I have to change it to after. I would like them to be forced to all say after if possible. it speeds up my toolpathing needs is all.. thanks in advance.

how about the option to change from metric to standard without having to go into the system configuration file settings. We have newbees where I work that are only shown how to do this one function when needed in the system configuration file but yet they seem to get nosey and look and click on other pages then get things out of wack and save it .. I always back up my config file so I can just go back and overwrite it to get things back to normal but its just a thought..

John what is this PRMDEF you speak of and where can I find it >?? thanks in advance.

are these folders going to contain files from X5 and up for I help another shop with pathing from time to time and they are still on version X5 with the latest MU's and SP's not sure what versions exactly. But I think they could benefit greatly from some of these sample/example files as long as they can open them in their version. Just curious. thanks for the continued great work and contributions to this forum on everyone's part.

Without seeing an example it's hard to say but if its on flat surface I use contour ramp and depending on size of groove may have to use multipass feature. HTH.

thanks for the reply @guyinthedesert.. . we have a few 25th edition handbooks floating around the shop so I can always borrow one. I kind of figured I was making a bigger deal in my head than what it was to machine O.D. threads but like you mentioned we will have a mating cap to use as a gauge to size the threads out with so I'm going to do a practice run on some stock aluminum first and get it fine tuned then take off on the real pieces then..

I have a custom machining job coming up that requires threads on the O.D. of the part. the threads in question are NPTF threads for a fuel filter housing and the O.D. is just a little over 6 inch diameter. but require 18 pitch NPTF threads on it for a cap to screw on to. I am of course going to run a test piece on some stock aluminum to make sure I have it right before machining the threads on the actual pieces but I am new to the O.D. threads. I was wondering if there are any charts out there for machining O.D. threads like there is for I.D. threads. ie, tap drill sizes for regular screw and pipe plug threads. Also these are NPTF threads are there any things I need to be aware of when machining these like taper that is used for NPT thread milling or are these going to be straight threads. After I figure out the art of machining O.D. threads in a vertical machine I imagine the company I work for will start quoting more custom machine jobs that have O.D. threads so any charts or informational sites available for tips on O.D. threads is greatly appreciated. I'm sure I'm just thinking its going to be harder than it actually is since O.D. thread machining is new to me but just want any and all information that I can get so I can be prepared for present and future O.D. threads.. Thanks in advance..

Config folder from user folder. Cnc machines and mill folder from shared folder should get you what your after.

I am running a fanuc 18i-mb control on a toyoda fv1680 with a reinshaw probe and a reinshaw TS27R contact tool setting probe. I can get them synced with in about .0003 tenths but as the day goes on and the spindle warms up the part probe tends to get out of sync due to the thermal expansion. and sometimes the machine will set for a day without being run. so then when I run it first thing in the morning it should be really close to being right on but im not sure how much thermal expansion growth im working with when it heats up or how long I could run a warm up program to get it to it maximum growth before touching tools off that are critical on depths and blending to other tools..but any how thanks everyone for your input. the last time I calibrated it was when the new guy broke the stylus on the part probe and it took a good 2 hrs to get it back on center to even think about running the calibration program. I will try calibrating it when its warmed up and see if I can find a happy medium with it and the tool length setter. once I get the probe calibrated I always have to go and sync it with the tool length setter and its usually within a .002 but im just striving for 1 to 1 touch offs and tool length offsets and not within .002..

I guess what Im looking for is something that moves in a x or y direction going on and off the work piece surface Im trying to blend to but allowing me to change the length offset until it skims the surface. maybe something that has a optional stop at the end of each x or y move it makes to allow me to change the offset but without me having to restart the program each time a change to the offset is made. maybe runs in a loop until I get the goal im trying to achieve and then once said goal is achieved I can hit the reset button to stop the program from running. Im not sure how im going to get it to pick up the offset change every time it moves off the work piece and read the new offset that I enter before it leads back into the work piece to see if the tool is blending with the new offset change..im sure its a simple procedure but I cant picture the code I need in my head. thanks in advance..

When u deal with thermal expansion of the spindle the probe only is so accurate hence the need of a blending program

we just bought two new kurt vises dlc800 models. in order to hold them to the table I have to clamp them down with hold downs. while this works I find the hold down clamps get in the way of my parallels I use on the outsides of the vise to set my work piece on. I have them clamped in the recommended areas of the vise and I can always move the hold downs accordingly but I was just looking for other suggestions that are possible for these vises don't have the tabs sticking out on them that you clamp them to the table with. there really mean to be mounted permanently to the table but that's not an option in this machine. they get used for a few work pieces them pulled until needed again. just looking for more efficient ways of holding them and quick mounting without the hold downs being in the way on the out side of the vises.. thank in advance..

does anyone use a program or macro to blend tools off to there "Z" zero surface. I know on some of the machines I run when I use the touch off probe it only gets us with in a .001 or .002. then I have to manually hand wheel the tool down till it blends to the surface I want to be touched off on and adjust my tool offset accordingly. looking for a program or macro to run out of memory that will run continuously while I adjust my offset until It just blends to the surface I want to be touched off on.. thanks in advance.

Copy Ur md & CD along with post then rename them. Then go into your renamed CD and import all you settings from your original files after you have changed your renamed post..had to do this couple days ago worked great..

I modified my post to output the end of my subprograms as recommended by Brandon Renwick and has been working great all day. thanks for everyone else's suggestions on the matter as well.

cause I get an error stating a modal code has not been reset before running G5.1 Q1 on my next path due to the tool length offet not being canceled out. its error 5111 in my fanuc manual and also a fanuc rep told me the same but could not tell me which one. After watching it I found the g43 was not returning back to g49 before starting new path. thanks all I will try your suggestions today.. @Mr Zx yes im using positive offsets in my programs. and my lengths offsets page as well.. thanks.

I have a main program that I used on a fanuc model 18i series control few years back for cutting electrodes at different wcs and it worked great but Im trying to use the same main on a newer 18i-mb series fanuc and its not working properly.. I have my paths stripped of all the safe start header and wcs output as well as a M99 at the end of the paths I run. the problem im having is it fails to cancel the tool length offset in the control and errors out when it goes back to running in AI NANO mode. here is an example of the main im running.. % O0003(MULTIPLE WCS 3X) G00G40G49G80 G91G28Z0. (PROGRAM TO CALL SUBPROGRAM) G00G90G55 M198P1000 G00G90G56 M198P1000 G00G90G57 M198P1000 M05 G91G28Z0. G91G28Y0. M30 % the machine isn't going back to the top to run the safe start header before running the next subprogram and there for does not cancel out the tool length offset and causes me the AI NANO error.. any help on modifying this is greatly appreciated. also the machine is a toyoda FV1680 thanks in advance..

I am trying to modify my post to set it up for posting sub programs to be run from memory. My problem is when I go to edit the post in my new CD and save the changes it resets everything back to default mastercam settings and I lose all my needed settings. I copied my existing MD & CD and renamed them to be recognized to use with sub programs only. but when I go in to change the modified post it increases the size of the CD by 300 kb's and resets everything in the CD and changes it from the original settings that were in the original copied CD. Basically I want to keep everything the same as my current MD & CD but use a modified post but its not working like I expected when I change the post. Is there something I am doing in the wrong way or is there a better way to do this ?? any help is much appreciated.

I left mine as the old format instead of using the toolsdb format. I just don't see at my current place of employment getting any use or benefits from the new standard. But that's just my opinion and it probably depends a lot on how your machine dept is setup. Where I work mastercam is only used for 2D work and having the tool library setup that advanced is of no benefit. But now if you used MC as your 3d software as well and not a third party software then probably would use the new format. We use work nc for our 3D surface machining and the tool library is more defined for that purpose to be tailored around the machine and tooling of the machine that the part is being run at in the shop.