I was wondering the same thing about teh. Now that this has been answered, what about HTH?

bump

Inconclusive? Maybe. More has been made from less... Decide for yourselves Here [ 01-15-2004, 01:09 AM: Message edited by: Moto GP ]

I have been asked by my boss to get some outside sources lined up to farm molds to. We are an injection molding/toolshop that does mostly sporting goods with a great deal being overmolded product. For example, Ski and motorcross goggles, snowshoes, motorcycle and atv grips, ski pole grips, etc. I really do not want to even think about looking offshore. And since you guys have been so helpful, maybe I can give a little back. Also, having shops that are Mastercam fluent would make my job much easier. Ideally, shops should have inhouse mold design capability. We would like to send the part file, get the quotes, approve the mold design, and hopefully all will come together nicely. If anyone is interested please give me a call, or send me an email. Thanks Lonnie Tustison Tooling Manager Tooling Express, Inc. TEI [email protected] (208)788-3242 Here is another linky about us. Article [ 01-14-2004, 07:00 PM: Message edited by: Moto GP ]

$1029.00?!? Smit, You should really think about building your own. It's a lot of fun. I just had this one built. XP3000+ with 1 gig of PC3200 ram, 80 gig Maxtor HD, Asus A7N8X-E deluxe board with 400mhz FSB, Asus 256meg Nvidia graphics card, 52x cd, 52x32x52 cd-rw, Thermaltake slim volcano (copper)CPU cooler, 400w power supply, Scorpio case with 4 cooling fans, Soundblaster 128, XP pro. Got it all configured and ready to plug in and go. for $1037.00 delivered. I called Dell, and Gateway, etc to have them quote me a system and this same one was almost $4000.00. They wanted to charge me $500.00 to upgrade one of their stock systems to 1gig of Ram from 512. These chipsets (Micron crucial PC3200 are only $85.00 each. They make a pretty good system but you can get sooooooo much more bang for your buck. The best places I have found to buy stuff is either newegg or infotech Give them a look see. I would be more than happy to help you configure one if you like. I really have an issue with what computer systems cost when they can be done so much cheaper with better components. Oh, and I would recommend staying as far away from XP home as possible. There are many applications that it doesn't play nicely with. Mastercam being one of them. (Your reseller should be able to attest to this)It is only another $25.00 to buy XP Professional($139.00 total from infotech) I do a lot of number cruching on my machines for distributed computing projects (cancer research, drug design optimization, etc. FreeDC running 24/7)and for flat out number crunching performance AMD rules plus it is less expensive than intel and runs more stable when overclocked. I have 6 machines at home and 10 here at work that I have built All AMD and all for a fraction of what dell would sell them for. If you want a good hardware review check out anandtech [ 01-14-2004, 06:03 PM: Message edited by: Moto GP ]

It looks to me like it is the dimension in Y between the holes. Was it just put on the drawing incorrectly?

quote: ScottyB lost without my Sunday ritual. Now what do I do? MotoGP and Superbike are just around the corner! Two wheels at 200MPH.

I agree. Copper is better if you are trying to achieve a super fine finish. However, if you use a good grade of graphite (poco 3, AF5) you can get really close to what copper will do. Graphite machines faster and wears less.

Anyone out there snowed in yet? We have been hit pretty hard here today and is not supposed to stop until Saturday night. The city snowplows are not running since they just voted down a bond to pay the drivers any overtime. So, we won't get plowed until midnight. Makes it pretty hairy to get around. Hope all of you are safe and warm. Best wishes for the new year.

In the IGES Dialog box there is a selection " Send errors to : "Check "file " and uncheck " Screen " Thanks! I will try this. I agree with .iges translation. However, I have so many different customers sending me things from different softwares and from all over the world. I have gone back and forth in the past with some to have them export things in a way that make my life easier. But, I don't feel comfortable telling them that the problems are on their end (like they are many times but the customer is always right. Right?). I just try to deal with it. The design houses that I get most of my files from are very good now and I get things either .sldprt or .step and both of these work really well. I appreciate the help.

Whenever I import an .iges file, mastercam gives me "Warning! Zero length line." alarms that I have to acknowledge by pressing enter or clicking OK. It is really annoying especially on a large file. There have been times that literally more than 100 times I have had to acknowledge them. I have asked my dealer how to bypass this, and was told it is just something that just happens and there is no avoiding it. Is this true? It seems that if it is a zero length line or arc it should just ignore it and blow right past it. Anyone have any ideas?

34 years old. I have been machining since I was 12 (started out customizing my fathers competition rifles. Boy, was he proud of me on the first one. I had to completely rebuild it later) Went to college for Machine tool technology right after high school. Then got a job in a mold shop. Bounced around Seattle for 6 years then picked up and moved to Idaho (where the four seasons are: almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction) and have been with the same company for the past 8 years. Been using Mastercam for 3 years and everything I know I had to teach myself and what I have read here. Thanks again for all the help. [ 12-29-2003, 02:52 PM: Message edited by: Moto GP ]

Thanks everyone for contributing and making this such a great place to hang out. Wishing you all the best this Christmas. Be safe, and be blessed. We have a foot of new snow here so far today so I am going to spend the next four days on the mountain. Cheers

How about this?

Open the .nc file. That is your finished program. When you double click it it should ask what you want to open it with. Choose wordpad or something of the like. It will open right up and you can view/edit your program right there.

Spec I got your file and played with it. I created my own cutter paths (into the goofy method I would use to cut this). I have it down to two operations with the same cutter. .0001 scallop. My backplot time is at 35 minutes as opposed to the 1hr 5 minutes on your file. I opted not to go with a surface rough program because I find that it just causes the machine to do a bunch of airball time. I went full depth with a .01 stepover. Hopevully, this is a graphite electrode. Also I turned filter on which converts spline moves into arc moves therefore making a smaller, more smooth, and faster running program. Filter only works in either 0 or 90 degree cutting directions, however. Not in the 45 degree direction that I like to use. Anyway, it is two passes with the same cutter (.500 ball) in different directions to remove the scallops. Check it out and see what you think. File is the same name with "modified toolpaths" added [ 12-16-2003, 08:04 PM: Message edited by: MotoGP ]

Wow! We get a lot of snow here. But.....not quite enough to justify this. Would be fun to play with, though.

I agree with Lucky. I have been building electrodes for the better part of 15 years and used to do it in the "lie about cutter size" method. Ever since being introduced to the negative stock feature, it is the only way to go. We do really complex organic shapes and shutoffs and have NEVER had a problem with them fitting. Back in the old days I was taught to always leave a little preload on them and let them work their way in. (The old "Tonnage is our friend" approach) Now I will leave a maximum of .0005 on a shutoff if I am worried about it but not very often. Most of our parts are nylon or acetal and I have no flash problems. I have found that depending on your edm operator (some really hate programming for spherical orbit, which they must do for this to work. Although, I don't know why they oppose it) you may run into some resistance from them. If you can get them to start programming that way your problems are over. I am unable to download your file from the .ftp. However, if you want to email it to me I would be more than happy to take a look at it. [ 12-17-2003, 01:40 PM: Message edited by: Moto GP ]

I have to be a Colin fan also. Especially now that he is sponsored by Smith Sport Optics. I make the molds for their goggles. I like seeing that S on his visor. However, I really have a thing for those Ducati's. Gonna have to trade in my 996 for the homologated desmocedici next year. [ 12-12-2003, 09:56 PM: Message edited by: MotoGP ]

I will be happy toconsider it hijacked. Check out the most recent Valencia test results. http://www.crash.net/uk/en/news_view.asp?cid=6&nid=82646 And keep your eye out for this movie http://www.fastermovie.com [ 12-12-2003, 05:43 PM: Message edited by: MotoGP ]

Ok now I feel like a dope. I told you I would ask some dumb questions. Thanks gang!

I can't believe it. No ideas yet?

Yeah, It's the only reason I have television. 200mph on two wheels. I have places to buy the stuff. Moreso looking for info as to Which stuff to buy. Thanks [ 12-12-2003, 02:14 PM: Message edited by: MotoGP ]

Hey gang, this is my first post. Although, I have been reading the boards for a while now. Let me say thanks to all for some really good information as well as a bunch of laughs. You guys are great. Anyway, here is my situation. I am fairly new to Mastercam (3 years) and have had no training on it whatsoever just what I have picked up in a few books. I have been able to do some pretty complicated injection molds with it however, both the design and construction. But, I know that there has to be easier ways to do them(I say this as my disclaimer when I ask what will probably be some pretty basic or stupid questions in the future). So, here is my question. I am looking to build a new computer that will be my Mastercam station here at work. I have looked at just buying a system from Dell, Gateway, etc. but, they are overpriced for what they are. I can build much more machine for the same money. So I was wondering if anyone had any praise/complaints about specific hardware. I am a big AMD fan for flat out number crunching but am not opposed to Intel. Any Motherboards that work really well/conflict. How about Video cards? I would like to put in a 3d labs wildcat but not sure if it is necessary and a less expensive one will work good enough to allow me to put that extra money in processing power. Also, does anyone know if Version X will support multi processors? Any suggestions are appreciated. Cheers [ 12-12-2003, 05:45 PM: Message edited by: MotoGP ]