I'd like you show adding questions and data into various comment sections with a generic file (I'm assuming it was my post you were responding to and accidentally quoted the wrong one). Mine is close enough to the mpmaster that I don't think it will be worth it to do a zip2go. A question related to the office hours on Saturday: At what point should we consider starting fresh from a generic post instead of modifying an older existing one? The main post I'm currently working with was originally modified from the Mpmaster from 2012 for x6. Since then I think it's only been migrated.

Using misc integers, I have successfully implemented functionality to choose to pause the program at the start with a custom combination of block delete and/or M00/01. For example: % O1000 (O1000) / (O1000) or /M01 (O1000) or M00 (O1000) or (O1000) ... My question: Is there a better place or way to implement this without using misc integers? I would prefer it to be file specific and not dependent on the first operation, but yet easy to customize for each file.

****** BE CAUTIOUS WITH THIS: IF YOU USE IT TO CHANGE AN ENTITY IN A TOOLPATH IT WILL NOT MAKE THE TOOLPATH DIRTY ****** If you don't catch it and post your program without regenerating it, you'll end up cutting the previous value of the radius before you changed it.

Thanks for the links!

Two handy additions to X9 are the "Preview Toolpath..." button and the "Hide Dialog" button, located at the top of a toolpath dialogue box (surface and high speed operations do not have Preview toolpath). Using the preview the toolpath, when modifying a a 2D toolpath, regenerates the toolpath and if you use it before applying or selecting ok, it won't become a dirty operation.

-At any time when defining a bounding box, you can change the origin point. This will change where the size of the bounding box is defined from (I use it mostly with defining stock boundaries). For example, I will select a solid to define the bounding box and add .050" to the Z Size dimension (default origin point: bottom center). Then I will change the origin point to the top center and change the Z Size dimension to the actual size of the stock. This way I don't have to manipulate either the bounding box or the model to position it correctly .050" below the top of the bounding box. This can also be done by clicking on one of the sides of the "preview box" surrounding the selected geometry, and entering the desired value (depending on whether Absolute or Incremental in the Push Pull section is selected and if Both directions is checked). -You can also define a plane at the same time you define a bounding box by using the Advanced tab. The selected origin point will be the origin of the new plane. -When defining a rectangular shape on the Stock Setup page (in Machine Group Properties), You can change the Stock Origin point by clicking on one of the corners, or the center, of the box that is pictured. I find it useful when manually defining, or adjusting, the stock on the fly, but typically resort to using the bounding box method above when defining stock.

Figured this out today: When using dynamic xForm you can switch between "manipulate geometry" and "manipulate axes" using the Ctrl key. (I had previously mentioned the box near the Gnome you can click to toggle between the two) It would switch between the two when I used hotkeys, to change views, and it was driving me nuts!! ****Not sure if this happens on only my computer, but when I switch modes with the Ctrl key from manipulate geometry to manipulate axes, it won't "regenerate" a solid, which makes its it so I cannot select parts of the solid to align the axes.**** I used to be in charge of writing work instructions and process control documentation at a previous company and sometimes find it hard to explain things without resorting to old techniques. I actually found it quite enjoyable and wouldn't mind doing it again, given the opportunity.

I accidentally found this using dynamic xform a while back: There is a small box that appears to the lower left (or near) of the gnomon when you hover your mouse over the gnomon. When clicked, it allows you to reposition the origin point for the dynamic xform. Once clicked again, you can continue to xform the geometry again. I don't like using bounding boxes and creating center points (that I am just going to delete) to move geometry. The following demonstrate getting around extra geometry, using xforms, utilizing various methods of choosing origin and translation points depending on the geometry selected. These methodologies can be applied throughout xforms in many other ways. (Note: "Set 1" can contain geometry in "Set 2" and vice versa, if desired) To move/copy "Set 1" geometry from its center point to "Set 2" geometry's center point, I will use xform translate with the following method (I do this with text or checking geometry (see below)):SELECT "Set 2" geometry to translate Use point to point translation, point 1 being arbitrarily chosen and point 2 the center of "Set 2" geometry Choose the arrow to reselect geometry, DESELECT "Set 2" and SELECT "Set 1" (When deselecting "Set 2" it is sometimes easier to first select everything on screen then deselect everything on screen) Choose +1 to reselect point 1 and choose the center of "Set 1" To rotate or mirror "Set 1" geometry around the center point of "Set 2" SELECT "Set 2" geometry to xform SELECT origin point as the center of "Set 2" geometry Choose the arrow to reselect geometry, DESELECT "Set 2" and SELECT "Set 1" (When deselecting "Set 2" it is sometimes easier to first select everything on screen then deselect everything on screen) If I am given a file that has multiple solids that may be the same, you can use any xform to compare them. While using an xform solids are shown in wireframe, I will position the "active" wireframe over the wireframe of the solid(s) I of which I wish to compare. Without applying or leaving the xform you can rotate, zoom and pan to compare them. The wireframes will, by default, have two different colors and the arcs of the wireframe you are xforming will be broken into inscribed polygons making easy comparisons. If two solids are not centered about the origin, and I have to use rotate or mirror, I will combine this with the previous method, using both solids as "Set 2" and the single object to xform as "Set 1".