I agree with everyone.... 3D is not something you are going to be able to learn from a couple of posts on a forum. You need a class. Even if you understood 3D but never used it in MCAM you would still need a class to cover all of the 3D elements in MCAM. Good luck

Nice setup Travis. I had to make my own pods on a grid style table because the operators couldn't stay off of the aluminum ones. Our tooling guys loved us for awhile there. Ended up making them out of white nylon. I duplicated the bottom of pod to fit in the grid and modified the top to accept a piece of 1/4" rubber cord. Cut cost by 85%. Bean counters love that stuff.

This is somewhat off topic... I know this is probably an age old battle of good against evil but I need some solid pros and cons. I've used INV in the past but never used SWK so right now I'm swaying to the side of INV. I recently saw the new version INV 10 and it looks great lots of new features, bells and whistles I know. Where do you sit and why? Which is better at importing into MCAM?

Ok, I think I've got enough info to take a stab at this. Thanks everyone for your input

Welcome

Actually my question was... quote: Is this possible (parametric geometry in MCAM) or would it need to be done on the machine controller?So, being that I can't do this in MCAM do I have any other options? Other than the Macro B add on. My goal is to avoid writing 50-100 programs when I can write 2-3. I'm a fan of the K.I.S.S. method so when I can, I do. Thanks for everybody's help thus far....

thanks

What I do in Xialog is reference the header line (dx,dy). I was just trying to find something as user friendly as this. quote: You could purchase the user macro b option for your fanuc control and program parametrically.Thanks, I'll look into that. Are macros difficult to write though the fanuc controller?

I've been using MasterCam for little over a year and a half now so I'm still a noob. Keep this in mind... Is there a way to make geometry parametric? I also program in Xialog Plus if you are familiar with SCM routers and I use parametric geometry in almost every program as to limit the number of programs I need. I would like to do something similar to this in MCAM. Is this possible or would it need to be done on the machine controller? FYI...this is going to be for a Heian router with a Fanuc controller.

That seems like a lot of work to do in MC. How long did it take to do these? I could probably turn out a basic house in ACAD in bout 1 1/2 - 2 hours in 3D. Just curious....and wanted to through in my 2 cents.

Thanks everbody for the help.....

O/T.... AeroTech are you familiar with CoD?

Well the main tool I'm using a 12mm 2 flute endmill solid carbide, the part is detailed and needs to be fairly precise. Other than that the machine is capable of high rpm's and gives me a clean cut. Also the low feed rate has to do with the vacuum table. The parts tend to break the seal if my feed rate is too high. I've been looking into delrin, nylon and uhmw polyethylene. I've been told that the uhmw is going to have relatively slick surface.

I machined the nylon the other day and it wasn't as bas as I thought. I was running 18,000 RPM with a slow FR. Came out great, no problems what so ever. I also received some billet UHMW and will machine it later today.

I was given another alternative material recently....(UHMW) Ultra-High Molecular Polyethylene. Good/Bad. It seems to have a higher melting point and possibly higher tensil strength.