Firstly You could try reducing the hardware acceleration by: Control panel - Display - Advanced - Performance, Shift the hardware acceleration to the left, to slow it. Failing that, the Video card. Regards Peter ------------------

Try to disable the "save thumbnail image" Regards Peter

I would like to thank all who have contributed in helping to get the right system. most of the advice made perfect sense, but due to the fact that there is such a variety of makes and models of components, together with operating systems that the combinations are endless. At first I had some problems with ghost immages, and crashes, however, after reading all the possible problems on the forum, I Decided to ordered the Computer from the local Mastercam dealer "Cadwire", they know what is reqired, took the machine back, changed the motherboard, played with the video card, and changed win2k back to win 98, in order to optimize the equipment. I am conviced I will get a perfect computer when they are done, My advice to anybody buying hardware, USE SOMEBODY THAT KNOWS MASTERCAM, AND IS WILLING TO GET IT RIGHT IF THERE IS A PROBLEM. My final configuration: 256 kb ram 1 gig AMD processor

Doing mostly , clamping fixtures, tool and die, and prototype designs, I mostly draw, and machine 2d geometry, looking at the pretty pictures I see of solids, i could imagine that there could be certain benefits in designing the whole tool in solids. Is that a worth while application for solids ? Is it a lot more work to design in solids ? any negative implications on machining, (75% is 2d cont. pocket and drilling) ? is it easy to learn and apply ? Any chance that solids will become part of the basic Mastercam package ??? I have level 3 version 8.1

Thanks Dean, You may not have realized, but the price on top of My list is actually Canadian $, which is only about 2/3 of the US$. So You are absolutely right, and once converted, the prices You suggest are in fact, what I was quoted, 1US$ = 1.5 Can$ thanks again

Thank You Guy's Your Help is greatly appreciated, I have spoken with the suppliers again, upgraded to 256 meg ram, and gone with the asus 32 meg video card, the next step will be the 1 gig processor. and I will show the guy all Your comments, I am really looking foreward to the upgrade. tired of working with a steam engine Peter

I have passed the "Hardware discussion" on to My supplier to quote a new system, below I have listed what He quoted to supply, any suggestions or comments would be appreceated: Custom Summit Computer System $1500 (Can) INTEL PENTIUM III 750 MHZ PROCESSOR COOLERMASTER BALL BEARING HEATSINK AND FAN ASUS P3B-F MAINBOARD 24GA ATX SUPER MID TOWER CASE WITH POWER SUPPLY 128 MB PC133 SDRAM MATROX MILLENNIUM G450 DUALHEAD 32 MB AGP VIDEO CARD QUANTUM FIREBALL 30 GB 7200 RPM HARD DISK DRIVE PANASONIC 1.44 MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE AOPEN 50X CD-ROM DRIVE SOUND BLASTER PCI 128 SOUND CARD AOPEN 56K V90 FAX MODEM KEYTRONIC [LARGE] 104 KEY PS/2 KEYBOARD MICROSOFT INTELLIMOUSE EXPLORER WITH PAD ALTEC LANSING ACS21 STEREO SPEAKERS WINDOWS 2000 PRO OEM, INSTALLED WITH CD & MANUAL Upgrade from AOPEN 50X CD-ROM to SAMSUNG 8X4X32 CD-RW drive $110

Me too, Me too, I would appreceate a copy of that File, please E-mail to [email protected] thanks

Good Question, I have tried it and found the same thing, perhaps it is a Bug ? Peter

Thank You for the tip, What You described is exactly what is happening, in addition to the lettering problem, I have frequent crashes, loosing the pointing device, system unstable etc. I will try doing what You suggest and within the next 6-12 month I will upgrade My computer. thanks

After checking for the faul, I Rebooted Mastercam, got the drawing and all the writing was fine. On My previous attempt the same fault appeared on all my drawings. I would still like to know what could have caused this. Win 98, version 8 mill

I opened a drawing, which was fine before and notice that all my text notes and dimensions have changed, they look like some hebrew writing now. if I edit the text, it shows the correct stuff, any ideas ???

I am using V8,the Generic post I down loaded only supports G54 to G59, I would like to also have G110 - G129

Hi, Anybodey out there with a Haas Post, for Sub programs, willing to share ???? i.e. I want to repeat individual operations at different work offsets, the Haas uses G54 - G59 and G110 - G129 Regards Peter

Kenny, I usually get the base surface speeds and speeds from either the material supplier, For tool steel I use Uddeholm, If You get the catalogue they list their reccommendations. In addition the values from the tool suppliers are good, if anything a little over optimistic, they seem to reflect Ideal conditions i.e. totaly rigid machine, limitless power and Ideal clamping. I usually go with their surface speed, but decrease the chip load. By the way, I have changed the Base surface speed to a value, relevant to carbide, and when I use HSS, I use a factor of about 0.33 (33%) in the tool parameters, This works perfect for me.

You are right I have created materials with Surface speeds for carbide, but switching materials was more work than inserting the data manually, and it was not possible to automatically recalculate for a whole group. The next thing I will try is to use 3 times higher surface speeds in the material, and insert a 30% factor for HSS tools, in the parameter page. If that works, I should be able to automatically recalculate a whole group of operations.

thank You Greg, I have been multiplying the values and inserting them manually, however I always thought that there must be a better way, knowing that this is a bug i can stop searching and continue until the problem is solved, I will visit the web site You have mentioned Thanks for Your help Peter

Allan, I have tried that, but the calculation always gives the same result, the percentage only works if I input a value less then 100 percent, Is there a setting I am not aware of that limits me to 100 percent ?? Peter

When calculating speeds and feeds, the base surface speed is used within the selected material. However the material allows only the input of one value, i.e. hss. On most of my jobs I use both Cabide and HSS tools even though the material stays the same. For that reason i cannot create a new material with base surface speeds roughly 3 times that of HSS. Is there a way I can apply a factor when doing the calculations so that it outputs different values, depending on the tool material used ???? Ideally I would like to be able to input more than one value in the material, allowing for different cutting tools. Regards Peter

Dave, The advances in custom tools, You mention in version 8.1 is just what I am after, when can we expect that release ?? Regards Peter

Thank You very much, I found the function and will try it out.

Hi Everybody, Would anybody know if it is possible to store Form tools in Mill V8 with shapes other than what is there already ???? Regards, and a nice weekend to Everyone. Peter

I could E-mail some simple examples, one where I machine 4 sides of a rectangular plate, using different tool planes, and one where i use axes subst. to machine an angled lens cover, i.e. rotate a cylinder on the 4th axes and mill an angle on the front face. this was done drawing an arc, rotate it on an angle and contour mill, using axes substitution. send me an e-mail abd i will return two files to You. My E-mail address [email protected]

In my Operation manager, the geometry, made up of lines and arcs, sometimes shows up as a Solid. It starts out as a Chain but then it changes, So far I have not figured out which command causes this change, and it does not appear to influence the operation. any ideas why that is, P.S I do not even have Solids. Version 8 level 3

My escape Key is worn more than any other, in order to get back to the main menu i keep hitting it, backing up one step at the time. I have tried creating a short cut key to take me there but could not find the function in " screen - configure - toolbar / keys. What I would like is a single keystroke that takes me to the root menu, (such as hitting the escape key many times) Is there a way to do that now ? can I create a short cut key i.e. F12 ? Would it be perhaps a good feature, to incorporate such a short cut in future releases ?