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kugel619kc130

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  1. I'm running 2018, and yes, all the time. I find MC Wire to work great...when it works. Very simple contour tool paths end up all over the place. Many times, I will have to select another machine as a new group and can create identical copies of an operation and get 2 very different results in Backplot and Simulation. I have found no rhyme or reason for any of it. This was supposed to be an open contour along the face of a mold insert tipped on end....2d. Back plot goes wild like this all the time.
  2. Yes to hand editing the comp in. This is pretty much how I have to do it all the time. Of course, what happens is that I cannot use the Power settings to post multiple passes. I can only have 1 operation with a rough pass, then I have to cut and past the wire path for all my skims then hand add in my E-Pack values, H-offsets, and Feeds. I have templates made up for all the different thicknesses, but this gets old quick. I even got a single pass roughing operation with no skims generated. I then copied the operation, turned off the rough and turned on 3 skim passes, set my start pass #, and it would not generate. No lead ins, etc. The chaining and all other settings other than to use a skim pass were left the same. Doesn't make sense why it works with the rough but not the skim. No cuter comp, no lead in/out, etc. I'm using a Mitsubishi MV-20. As for pre-tipping the wire, I have to trig out the distances I need to move the U (upper head) and X or Y to tip my wire, then I just program off the 2d pocket. I like this because there aren't hundreds of tiny U & V moves in my program. MC Wire tries to almost take too much control. Most of how I want my lead in.outs and what not I end up drawing the geometry for the toolpath. The image was just to show the craziness of the backplot showing the heads all over the place. Here is the simple, flat 2d geo.
  3. RANT: So I have been struggling with MC Wire as of late. I work in a mold shop and do pretty basic stuff, mostly simple 2D pockets with large rads on the corners for inserts, and tapered pockets for lifters, sprues, etc. This time around I am trying to cut the actual parting line before we EDM sink the part shape on the ejector insert, and for the life of me MC makes what should be very easy very hard. For the amount of time it takes me to go through all of the operation menus and select or deselect various boxes, I could either create the program in Mill 2d then hand edit it faster, or I could just hand write from scratch the program. My biggest complaints on MC Wire so far are not finding any obvious way to "Pre-Tip" the wire using an Angle, and no way to force it to not use any lead in or lead outs. When doing tapers, they don't need to be 4-ax. Just tip the wire in the angle I specify and cut a 2d square. Am I missing something? I have gone through eMastercam's wire book start to finish. Oh...and trying to back-plot this simple one way cut results in this on my display. Sorry about the rant...but this is literally maybe an hour of programming tops. I am, tired of fighting the software.
  4. Thanks for the help pullo! This is a stripper plate to a mold, made out of treated S7. We just got switched over to 2018 from X5, and the boss man insisted on using this toolpath. The other more experienced guys were trying to get it to work and couldn't get it figured out. Thanks again.
  5. Trying to cut the walls of a semi-steep pocket that has no floor. I want to climb mill, but using tool motion from bottom to top. The tool path wants to go around the perimeter of the pocket in a counter-clockwise motion, and I need it to move clockwise. Is there a way to force the overall direction of travel? We are currently going in the direction of the red arrow, and I want the green. I have played with start locations, containment boundary chain directions, and sweep angles to no effect.
  6. Old thread, but I cannot find the option to changing the buffer flipping mode to block transfer. Newest drivers downloaded from NVIDIA. Mastercam 2018 GeForce GTX 970 Windows 7 driver ver 388.00
  7. You guys rule! You made my day and I'll buy you a beer or 2 if you are in SoCal. I was really starting to believe that I didn't actually understand how all of the CD / MD / PST worked. I hadn't tried moving the "old" posts over to Mcam 2018 yet, especially after reading Colin's 2018 Post Default Settings Guide, the available Mastercam official documentation going back though x4, and scanning through the other threads where folks are having a hard time. I am in agreement with what C^Millman said with just starting with the new versions of the posts and tailoring them to everyone's' liking from scratch, especially since in my limited view my coworkers have been slogging through their code for a heck of a long time now. That being said, brings me to my next question: From what I have read in the documentation, an older post that was written for X6 cannot be upgraded / imported into 2018 without first going through X8. X8 was the last version to "upgrade" older posts. An old post would need to be imported into X8 for it to be possible to import it into 2018. Does the import / upgrade process / wizard actually do anything that I couldn't reasonably do manually myself? It is my understanding that the "upgrade" that takes effect is that the post needs to be updated to interact cleanly with how a modern Mastercam MPFAN.exe? will apply the MD / CD / Nci to the post? Other than taking one of Colin's post classes ( I was really bummed that I just missed your last one!) does any documentation exist detailing what needs to be modified or upgraded to bring an older post up to 2018 workability? As far as the Haas 4x and 5x posts go (these are the most important for my daily work, I happen to be the only one who handles the 4th and 5th axis programming), my line of thinking after what Colin said would be: 1st: Make sure my CD, MD, and Post file are all titled the exact same, and ensure that the CD is "physically" linked to the correct post file as has been described before. 2nd: Make changes in the CD and MD as if everything in them would work as advertised (even though not everything does). 3rd: Make the hand edits of my posts (with included comments of who, when, and why) of all the things that I need. I don't think I would be modifying the CD or MD ever once I get everything where I want it. I will be creating an MD for each specific machine since I use verify and machine simulation a ton and want to get everything as close to reality as possible. Of course, this would be a duplication of effort in changing the CD and MD, especially when things I altered in the MD or CD actually DO affect the post output, but then again, this would make maintaining a list of what the MD will or won't change irrelevant. Again, a huge thanks for the insight and help.
  8. Howdy everyone. Recently just began converting our shop from X5 & X6 to 2018. We are mainly equipped with Haas including a Mori and Roku Verticals + Mitsubishi Wire & Sinker machines. There is 4x and some times 5x work done. When it comes to making changes in a Control Definition for the Generic Haas posts in 2018, do all of the options and settings that can be manipulated actually make changes or set flags and parameters in how the post should be outputting code? I have read through lots of Colin's info on how everything interrelates and best practices, but I seem to notice that certain changes made in either the MD or CD don't have any effect on how the code gets posted while others do. If I hand edit the post, it behaves the way I want it....most of the time. Some of the modifiable items in the MD & CD seem to work, and others don't. I end up manually making the changes in the post directly, but I noticed in the 2018 Haas 4x or 5x post that it specifically warned to not make changes directly in the post and to use the CD & MD. Has this been addressed elsewhere on the forum? If I am not imagining this, does this go back in previous versions? I started in school on X7, and have used professionally x5 through x9. For the MD and CD, if some options do work and others don't, does there exist any kind of list of options to ignore in the MD or CD (I understand that you should have the MD correct for your machine for verify, simulation, etc). Am I making sense?

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