I neglected to mention in my previous post that any users with encrypted or "binned" post that cannot find the above parameter table will not be able to modify their post sufficiently to resolve this issue. In these cases the post will have to be changed at the source and you will have to contact your local reseller. Chris

John, Please check this link Chris

There have been some parameter changes made in X2 MR2 that will disable mpmaster based posts from correctly outputting the coolant values. This applies to X style coolant ONLY. If you are using the version 9 style coolant (“Support coolant using coolant value in post-processor” selected in the general machine parameter’s coolant commands tab), you will not need to make these changes! Currently the only solution available is a manual edit made to the post to change the values. The marked lines need to be deleted and the parameter table definition needs to be edited. code: # -------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Parameter lookup tables - You must adjust the size value if you add any parameters to these tables! # -------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Machine Definition Parameters fprmtbl 1 45 <--- (Change to 25 (deleted 20 entities from the table)) #Table Number, Size # Param Variable to load value into 17004 allinax #Apply feedrates limits to all linear axes 17005 alrotax #Apply feedrates limits to all rotary axes 17006 alinvax #Apply inverse feedrate limits to all axes 17008 spostname #Post Processor Filename 17038 minfeedpm #Limit for feed in inch/min 17039 maxfeedpm #Limit for feed in inch/min 17042 maxfrinv #Maximum feedrate - inverse time - inch – 17043 minfrinv #Minimum feedrate - inverse time - inch – 17044 minfrdeg #Maximum feedrate deg/min 17045 maxfrdeg #Maximum feedrate deg/min 17046 minfeedpm_m #Limit for feed in mm/min 17047 maxfeedpm_m #Limit for feed in mm/min 17050 maxfrinv_m #Maximum feedrate - inverse time - metric – 17051 minfrinv_m #Minimum feedrate - inverse time - metric – 17080 scool50 #Coolant 1 On **DELETE** 17090 scool51 #Coolant 1 Off **DELETE** 17081 scool52 #Coolant 2 On **DELETE** 17091 scool53 #Coolant 2 Off **DELETE** 17082 scool54 #Coolant 3 On **DELETE** 17092 scool55 #Coolant 3 Off **DELETE** 17083 scool56 #Coolant 4 On **DELETE** 17093 scool57 #Coolant 4 Off **DELETE** 17084 scool58 #Coolant 5 On **DELETE** 17094 scool59 #Coolant 5 Off **DELETE** 17085 scool60 #Coolant 6 On **DELETE** 17095 scool61 #Coolant 6 Off **DELETE** 17086 scool62 #Coolant 7 On **DELETE** 17096 scool63 #Coolant 7 Off **DELETE** 17087 scool64 #Coolant 8 On **DELETE** 17097 scool65 #Coolant 8 Off **DELETE** 17088 scool66 #Coolant 9 On **DELETE** 17098 scool67 #Coolant 9 Off **DELETE** 17089 scool68 #Coolant 10 On **DELETE** 17099 scool69 #Coolant 10 Off **DELETE** 17101 all_cool_off #First coolant off command shuts off ALL coolant options 17102 v9_coolant #Use V9 coolant option 17406 lim_lo #Lower rotary axis limit 17407 lim_hi #Upper rotary axis limit 17391 axis_label #Axis label - 1=X,2=Y,3=Z 17397 srot_label #Rotary Axis label (Generally A, B or C) - Not yet available. 17401 rot_zero #Rotary zero degree position 17402 rot_dir #Rotary direction 17408 rot_index #Index or continuous 17409 rot_angle #Index step 17410 rot_type #Rotary type The final change that will need to be made is importing all the values from your general machine parameters into your post. So the look up table will now need to be filled in. The values assigned should be the same as those found in the machine definition. An example of how the look up table should look is shown below. If you had the following table in your machine def: code: Coolant Style On Off Flood M08 M09 Mist M07 M09 Thru-tool M50 M51 Custom Option 1 On Off Custom Option 2 On Off Etc, etc Your look up table would look like this: code: # -------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Coolant output code selection for X style coolant # Note: To enable X style coolant, click on the General Machine Parameters icon # in the Machine Definition Manager, Coolant tab, disable first check box # Output of X style coolant commands in this post is controlled by pcan, pcan1, & pcan2 # This string select is setup using the "Coolant Commands" tab in the "General Machine Parameters" scool50 M08 #Coolant 1 on value scool51 M09 #Coolant 1 off value scool52 M07 #Coolant 2 on value scool53 M09 #Coolant 2 off value scool54 M50 #Coolant 3 on value scool55 M51 #Coolant 3 off value scool56 M08 #Coolant 4 on value scool57 M09 #Coolant 4 off value scool58 M08 #Coolant 5 on value scool59 M09 #Coolant 5 off value scool60 M08 #Coolant 6 on value scool61 M09 #Coolant 6 off value scool62 M08 #Coolant 7 on value scool63 M09 #Coolant 7 off value scool64 M08 #Coolant 8 on value scool65 M09 #Coolant 8 off value scool66 M08 #Coolant 9 on value scool67 M09 #Coolant 9 off value scool68 M08 #Coolant 10 on value scool69 M09 #Coolant 10 off value scoolantx #Target for string fstrsel scool50 coolantx scoolantx 20 -1 If you continue to have issues, please contact your reseller and they should be able to help you out with this process. [ 09-25-2007, 02:23 PM: Message edited by: Chris McIntosh ]

Hi Randy, I'm posting with the post I sent you and having no trouble with tool staging. Please send your .mcx file over. Brett

If the post is an old post, from pre-version X, you would need to flip the direction of rotation in the post, rot_ccw_pos is the variable. For newer posts, (as I suspect yours is), the direction of rotation is kept in the machine def, in the rotary axis ( should be labeled as HMC B Axis or similarly). If you edit this axis, change the direction of rotation from CW to CCW or vise versa. Chris

The only way that this could be done is through the post. It is possible to make the post launch a program using the file as an argument. This would need to be done after posting has been completed obviously to ensure the .err file has been completed. Chris

If you truly have set your machine and control def up as you mentioned above, you should not be getting any error files such as you posted originally. They aren't errors, it's just simply stating that some values are being re-initialized by the post. The fact that you are getting slow posting leads me to believe that somehow your message options in your files tab of the control def is set to "All error messages to screen", not to file. When you are posting, do you get a number of messages under the status bar, or just one saying initiate opening the post processor file(s)? If you are only getting the one message then you shouldn't be getting any lag. Let me know if you are still having posting issue and I'll take a look at your files. Chris

Hey Randy, There could be a couple of issues here. From the sounds of things you've renamed mpmaster to something else. As a result your control def may not be properly tied to the post. If you rename the control def, the machine def will not initially be able to find it, as it will still be looking for mpmaster.control, as a result the default.control file will be used. Check in the operations manager, under properties, files to see if you are in fact using the correct machine and control def with the post. If you are, you may need to edit the control by going through "settings", "Machine def manager", then selecting the control def icon at the top of the window. Make sure in the control def that the correct post is selected or add it if it is unavailable. To eliminate the .err file from outputting simply go to the "files" tab and set the Keep error file to "On fatal errors" and sent the message options to "All error messages to file". Chris

If you're outputting your code with spaces, as you must be to get the output you are, you have a couple of options. There are a couple of ways to deal with this, the preferred method is just add no_spc$ after the first bracket and before the last bracket. Chris

Candy text wait codes? Nice!

James, The left side of the part is the "top" according to the post and the right side of the part is the "bottom" according to the post. You're right, you must work on left side with a standard post. Think of it as a normal lathe flipped up onto it's end (main spindle side down). That's how Mcam is treating it. If you want to program on the right side, you have to do that custom lower turret stuff we were talking about in another thread the other day. Good luck with it. When in doubt, go and stand on the other side of the machine! Brett

Ron and all, Yes, the default posts (generic Fanuc 4-axis and mplmaster) do less than a good job of handling the bottom turret. Our posts built specifically for the machines use those strings that Jimmy Wakeford was showing to do this stuff. Just make sure you set them for all appropriate axis combos and op styles. Only other thing you may want to do is stream the files out to make seperate upper and lower turret files.

If you are manually rotating the part on your machine and do not want to the B-axis rotation to output in your post, you need to not only set your new wcs, but also your tool and construction plane. In order to get no rotation on a horizontal machine, your wcs needs to indicate which plane represents the top of the part as it sits on the machine while your construction and tool plane would need to represent where the front of the part now is. For instance, if you rotated your top tool plane 90 degrees about world Z and set this as your new WCS, mastercam's right hand plane would be the front of the part, and when you post out operations on this plane your B rotation would be zero. You can check this relationship by enabling the "display relative to wcs" button in your planes window.

quote: Example: Mastercam does not support tool comp in 5 axis moves. It most certainly does! We can do G41.2/G42.2 style comp for swarf machining and also 3D compensation for ball cutters doing surface machining on many different controllers.

While there are options to set the positive directions of movement in the machine definition, the post would need to be setup to read the machine definition and alter the output accordingly. At this point in time I'm not aware of anyone who has written a post that will utilize this feature of the machine definition. Chris

Yes Ron, I just have a couple other issues to work out first, I should get to look at it later today...

I guess we can give back all that money given to us for mpmaster, oh wait! Chris

Cadmonster66, Are you using mpmaster_okuma? It's a free post that has everything in it for the Okumas and it's already done.

Hey Mick, I've actually just been working with a customer to write a post for a 5-axis Zimmerman. The control I'm assuming is a Siemens 840D? You're best bet is to give your local reseller a shout and tell them to contact us to get you set up with the post. Chris

You have to edit it. The post streams your output into two seperate files (1 upper turret, 1 lower). Then, we allow you to spit out wait at the beginning and end of each op to synch those two files up. Another good strategy is to put your two files in an excel spreadsheet so it's easy to visualize when you're adding more wait codes manually.

prv_t is storing the previous tool value (t$), since the t$ variable has been predefined by mastercam, the prv_t$ also is, so the dollar sign is required.

Bogus, the xh and yh values are your home positions as you've set them up in mastercam. It looks as though your default home position in mastercam is X10, Y10 and will need to be reset in the last operation you're outputting to X0,Y0. If you always want it to be X0,Y0, then you should hard code it in the post: n, "X0", "Y0", "R" in v9 n$, "X0", "Y0", "R", e$ in X2

You've got mail...

Kyle, For the sync codes in our posts you will need to enter the codes not only in the upper turret path, but also in the lower turret path. So if you are trying to sync an upper and lower rough cut, you will need to enter the sync codes in both tool paths. At this point there is no other to sync the to turrets together. We have a sample file available as to how this works, I can send it to you if you would like. -Chris

xgioser, Yes, see the rigid_tap switch in mpmaster. It basically blows away the M03 before tapping, then calls M29 for the actuall tapping spindle output. Gcode and everyone else, We done a LOT of 5-axis posts. It's what we do most. It's tough to list them all. Please just ask and we'll be more than happy to let you know what we've done. We do have plans to release a machine/control list but are not quite finished putting it together.