I'm cutting wood type stuff all the time so use G42 right cutter comp. wear almost all the time. My coworker wanted to left cutter comp something today and noticed the part is the wrong size, we start looking and notice the post won't put g41's into the code. Funny thing on a pocket with finish pass it puts out a G41. I started checking and seems like the last version that worked OK was V9.1 MR0304(April 2004). Having a Homer Simpson "dooh' moment with this but never use left cutter comp except with pockets so never noticed. Any one have any ideas where to check MC or the post? Thanks

Thanks to all responders.

Thanks, but what happens if I increase my arc limit or is there a max that MC supports? Or is it dependent on the physical machine?

Thanks for the quick answers. My arc limit has to be way greater than 99 inches, we do woodwork and use fairly large arcs all the time. Just never noticed them posting to lines before. Can't find arcoutput:0 type command in the post, what section of the post would that be in? Looked in the control definition and found my limit set at 999.9999. Where is the "Arc Filter/Tolerance topic in your toolpath" located? Is there any problem setting it to a higher number or is that the limit? [ 06-09-2009, 03:36 PM: Message edited by: Snaglpuss ]

Hi All, Got a job that has some giant radiuses or radi? Like 250 feet +/- anyway when posting the parts the code comes up as linear G1 moves not arc moves. Parts seem to be ok, but is their some certain size limit to arcs that gets them to "linearize" and not post as arc moves?

A guy here is playing with art in x3. Wants to make toolpaths and error comes up "unsupported storage". Same file seems O.K. in x2. Any one see this error before?

I second the motion for Onsrud carbide "O" flute bits. We dry cut lots of acrylic on a router. Peck it down if you are cutting stuff thicker than .25" and in all cases take a .015" clean up pass. Check the Onsrud web site, they used to have a lot of info on cutting plastic. By the way if you have a choice cast acrylic cuts nicer than extruded.

I've done it by saving the PDF as an EPS, running it through a program called Interflux and saving as a DXF, then open in Mastercam. You also would probably have to scale the result.

Can't you place the post locally in each box? Or is it network drive so people can't mess with it? Mine doesn't ask for a name, it just puts it in automatically. Couldn't you keep a network post with each guys name and they just pick the one with their name to run?

Karl, In the pheader$ section of my post I have this- "(Program Name - ", sprogname$," )",e$ "(Program Date = ", date$,"= Day:Month:Year = Program Made By = Snaglpuss using Xmr2 )",e$ It puts the program name, date and my name in the header. Could you put this in the post on each box and just change in the guys name? Snaglpuss

For 1/2" thick material we cut 100-150 feed, 15000rpm, two pecks down and one .015 clean up pass, (this is dry cutting on a router). This will give a very nice edge finish. If your not so worried about the edge quality you may be able to pump it up, esp. if you are going to use coolant. We use Onsrud low helix "O" Flute type bits (52-600 series). These work very well on cast Plexiglas and solid surface materials like Corian.

Thanks. I got it fixed already with trying to reset folder options in control panel. I never realized the X stuff was in there too. Duh.

Oh Brother, Don't give up so easy. When we got X we were super busy so I stuck with 9 to pump out the work. The guy sitting next to me slogged along trying to learn X. Slowly he did. In the summer we got slow and I forced myself to start using it (with a little help from him). It takes a good couple of weeks of screaming at your screen to make the transition. But no regrets now. Can you take a training class? Can you buy x2 design for a couple of hundred and work on learning to draw at home with no pressure? If you can get past the drawing part the toolpath stuff is easy enough. Stick with it, I feel your pain. After years of thinking you know what your doing you feel like a total idiot for a while.

Using X2. In the last couple of days my File-Open Dialog box has the folders scrambled up in random order. If I go Arrange Icons By name it sorts them back into alphabetical order but it doesn't "stick". I tried XMR2 it's O.K. there. In the other windows enviornments it's O.K. too. Anyone got any ideas short of me calling the IT guy to unlock me and let me do a reinstall repair? Thanks

Is anyone using a Thermwood router with either an OEM or retrofitted HSD spindle? What are your experiences with them? Are they reliable? Any fretting issues with the toolholder / taper? What sort of service life are you getting out of them? Are they easy to swap out? For anyone that has had Thermwood retrofit to HSD from an older style, how did the swap out go? Thanks

Perry, I had the same problem to get 4 decimals for our router. You can't change the output from inside X like you could in MC9. I had to chane the fs 1 and fs 2 format statements in the post to 4 instead of 5 to get 4 places right. Make shure you back up your current post like others have said. Also maybe rename the new post so that you can easily see that it is the 4 place post if you have to switch posts back and forth for different machines or whatever.

Marc, Thanks, thats it for X.

Make an elipe, then modify-break-spline to arc, click on the elipse-done-do it. You can toggle in the dialog box to keep the original elipse and the new elipse made of arcs or delete the original elipse. You can set the chordal deviation of the elipse in the dialog box too. This will control the size of the new arc pcs. This works great in 9 BUT HOW IN X!!!!! Anybody?

In 9 try modify-break-splines to arcs. You can keep or delete the original elipse/spline. I have done this a lot on elipses for our router. For the life of me I can't figure it out in X. I don't know if they got rid of the function. Anybody else know?

Thanks to all that answered. We did update our post from 9 to X. We tried one of the generic posts and it seemed OK on the file we posted, so I'm sure the post is the problem. I turned on the debug switches and am guessing the problem has something to do with the ptlchg0 section. James- we are usually cutting wood type sheet goods so we don't need a clean up pass unless we are cutting plastics. We do however need cutter comp to go on and off since we need our diameter and length offsets. The biggest problem with this is the fact that the problem is not consistant. One time you can post a part with all kinds of different cuts going on and its fine and another time a kindergarden part will be jazzed up. If I call my dealer I'd like to be able to give him some good idea were to look instead of sending him on a wild goose chase. Thanks again to all.

Things are slowing down here now and we are trying to port over to X. Most of the problems and glithes we have figured out by trial and error and reading this board. The real trouble is our post. Our post worked perfectly in 9 but now it will miss G42/41's and G40's. We have to be very carefull in checking the code. I am reluctant to call the dealer because there is no real pattern to what causes the missing code. It can be pecking through a part or cutting through in one shot, it can be with lead in lead out on or off. Rectangular geometry or arcs, no real pattern. Some parts post perfectly other will miss a whole load of G41/42's and G40's. We have tried all of the usuall stuff like turning lead in on or off or breaking arcs and whatever other stuff would cause missing code. Anyone else have this problem or any ideas to try? We are using X sp1 and posting for a Thermwood Model 53 router. As I said before the post worked perfectly in 9. Thanks

Found it. Duh. Thanks Rob.

We just are starting to play with X,(using it to program a Thermwood router). Posted some simple 2d contours and the post forgets to put in G40's between parts. In MC9 we had the same problem when we changed versions, but when we checked the "Rapid Retract" box in the Contour Parameters Page in the Operations Mgr. / Parameters Page it posts fine. So.... where is the Rapid Retract check box in X? Thanks Snaglpuss

We do wood and plastic, we use 5 x 10 sheets of ultralite "Trupan" brand MDF for our spoilboards. We get it from Thermwood. Trupan is available from plywood dealers but the 5x10 is not stocked by most. Years ago before we used the ultralite I used the cheapest junkiest grade of particle board and surfaced the "glaze" off the top and bottom It worked well it just wasn't as smooth and got snarley quicker.

Update: I got it to work using the HP755CM/PS driver that is in XP. When I get time I'll try the HP-GL/2 and see what else I can find. Thanks to all who relied