We have done a bit of testing on Surface Finish. The quick and easy answer to getting a good surface finish is "Cut Tolerance", the tighter the tolerance the better you're going to be. Smoothing is good if you need liner output or if you want to shift your points. If you are using the arc filter there is one setting that you should set - "tighten arc filter tolerance". What can happen is that Mastercam will try to fit an arc and if it can't it will linearize the output uses the combine tolerance and may get facets. With the "tighten arc filter tolerance" setting Mastercam may not fit an arc, then it will break up the output using the tighter tolerance. Keep in mind that Waterline toolpath preserves the arc output so you should get arc output without using the arc filter. Also run an indicator and see how much your endmill runs out. An endmill that runs out .0015 will greatly reduce your surface finish.

https://youtu.be/6TZ6KT5YEeo

I do have a work around so you don't have to have your geometry in the "Top" plane. The only down side is that backplot won't be in the correct position. I'll try to add the video clip, right now its to big to post Mark Baker

This was a bug. Its been fixed in X7.

You can also use Surface/Rough/Pocket and turn off the roughing, this will give you the option of using an "Entry Point" .

John, it depends on the control. Some controls doen't support probing in a G68 rotation. If the control does't support this (our VF1 doesn't) then any probing would need to be done before the G68 rotation is active.

quote]When we slow down a bit, I'll compile all the bugs I've encountered including screenshots and send them in For the record: Looking in the bug log I noticed that you have 5 bugs logged and that 4 of them are fixed I know that when doing a hot job and things arent going well that taking time to document your problem may not be possible. Without feedback about current problems, how do you expect them to get fixed if CNC doesn't know about them? Thats like my girlfriend expecting me to know whats wrong just because she isn't happy I dont know of any bugs in X6 opti-rough, I've cut many parts and have had nothing but good results. This doesn't mean that your not having problems with your part geometry but you have to send it to QC. There are so many combinations of geometry, tools, and tolerances that problems will come up. If you'd like, I can take a look at your file and see whats going on. I could even check it in X7 if your nice to Slix.

Well since Peon didn't mention what toolpath was going dirty when changing the feedrate, I'm willing to bet its one of the newer toolpath (Opti-rest maybe?). Seems that most of the attention to new toolpaths is to get them in as soon as there stable so folks can start to use them. Changing settings and not marking the operation dirty tends to "slip through the cracks" with new features. Keep in mind that if the toolpath is from an older version that the toolpath could be marked dirty just by going into the parameters and getting out. Changes to that toolpath code will cause this to happen the first time you go into that toolpath. With the addition of the Dynamic and Opiti toolpaths the calculation time does take longer, which makes it hurt more when you have to make a regen for one line of nc code. The motion however is worth the wait. When you do happen to find an instance where the operation getting marked dirty for feeds, toolnumbers, Misc ops setting send it to Qc so it will get looked at.

This was a bug (cnc00027487) This has been fixed for X5. Orginally the warning was only suppose to come up if a depth had been edited in the "Change at point". So if you had edited a depth you had the option to bring in the points with the edited value. Now the points will come in with the original depth values.

If you open up the sprocket C-Hook and hit the help button, it will bring up a chart with the standard chain sizes.

quote: I often post to my usb stick and then carry that to the machine to load the program. If I don't insert the usb back into the computer before I post another program, Mastercam will not let me reselect the NC program's destination This is fixed in X5.

quote: Yea, it's great to change a toolpath type until you need to reset all the parameters since doing this resets them all Well, the parameters shouldn't be reset and its been logged as a bug (cnc00071061). Its painful when everything gets reset, especially if a parameter is missed.

You need to have your holder cleance set to 5mm to maintain your 2mm clearance with your stock to leave setting of 3mm.

quote: Geo is closed, no error, but a pocket cycle is created You need to go into the "roughing" tab and un-check the "rough". I meant to show you a screen shot but I'm having trouble with photobucket.

quote: I just tried a pocket on a contour, it did not work Is the geometry closed? If it is, then it should work. What was the error message?

Keep in mind that if the geometry is "closed", then we can use "pocket" and turn off the roughing. That should give you the spring passes and feedrate controls.

quote: Most of our mill turns use M100-M199 for wait codes "modes" as you call them. whats the best way to search for them, I tried M1 but that grabs all M1's as well as M13's etc. If you use the search function (not the find) the editor will search both nc files and list the results at the bottom.

I'll give a quick rundown on how to set it up. In the C:mcamx4commoneditorsmastercammultitask folder there are 7 format files, I'll use the Integrex as an example. We need to make two edits in the post to use the format file. we need to add this line to the bottom of pheader_upr and pheader_lwr. "(MMTIDENT-Integrex.txt)",e$ [/img]

This has been out a while and haven't heard if anyone was using it or if they like it (good or bad). The editor will bring multiple code screams at once and you're able to search for sync codes. If the code streams are in one file (like the Integrex) it will split up the file into the upper and lower sections.

The toolpath filters I don't think are going to help out to much with the scallop toolpath. Depending on what your geometry looks like, I'd give Surface/Finish/Blend a try and use the smoothing option.

If there was a change to the toolpath (like surface/finish/contour) and you open it up and exit (without making changes) the operation will be marked dirty. You'll most likely see this between versions. Once its regened once you should be good. Changing the feedrates or Tool #'s should't mark the operation dirty. Just gave it a quick test in MU1.

The HST Core Rough toolpath only has "climb" or "conventional" setting. If you need to get a "zig zag" motion you can use Surface/Rough/Pocket and set the tool motion on the Pocket Parameters page.

Having the "break arc" set to 180 degrees can cause you problems with the toolpath filter. Change the break arc to break on quadrants. With the setting on 180 degrees the filter can "float" and cause trouble.

Hey, I spend 50% of my time in the shop cutting parts. i'm not watching the forum on a regular basis. So if you put up a post here and expect a speedy response you could be waiting a very long time. Peon, if you want to send me the part, I'll take a look at it.

Peon, I have two questions with your filter problem. what is your arc output? IJK's or R's? What is your "break arc" setting in your post set to?