Ahh that makes sense now Mine seems to still work as it should even with a different machine set in my start/exit.

The backup utility renames the files and maybe it is having some problems when there are numbers in your filename? If you can live with it I would do as gcode suggested and save them off to another location using a filename without any numbers. Also I always recommend if you use Autosave not to check the box "save using active file name". In my opinion it's better to use Autosave to create a backup file rather than to rely on it to save over your current file. I have to admit I haven't spent much time working with Autosave & Backup files so it may be redundant to use both if you are using AutoSave to save off to a different filename. If you used both Autosave (saving to a different filename) and Backup Files the backup would occur both when you do a manual File > Save with your current part and also on your autosave file when it triggers a save. You'd end up with x amount of backups of your original and x amount of backups of your autosave file.

John, Are you saying that it will not load up the machine definition you have specified in start/exit when you launch Mastercam X? The start/exit setting only sets an active machine definition when you launch Mastercam X. After that if you do a file > new it pulls it from the setting mentioned above. Also if you launch Mastercam X by double-clicking an MCX file it should disregard the start/exit setting and just open whatever machine def is used in that file. If it isn't launching the machine specified in start/exit then maybe your shortcut target line was modified to include a machine definition? The target line overrides the start/exit setting.

I had a customer tell me they couldn't get their machine def to load upon a File > New but I have not had any issues with this yet. Regardless of what machine definition or file is currently loaded, if I do a File > New it will pull the machine def I have set under Settings > Configuration > Files, under the File Usage section, Mill Machine Definition.

I've also seen some similar issues in Windows XP when file extensions are not shown. You might try going into Control Panel, then open Folder Options. Go to the View tab and find "Hide extensions for known file types". Un-check this option so that it will show the file extensions. If it still doesn't fix the issue you might try opening the Mastercam X utility, also found in Control Panel. There's a setting up at the top to switch to Standard Windows file open dialogs. This may also help, but you will lose the bitmap preview on files when switching to this.

The setting that you find in Settings > Configuration > Files should effect New machine definitions that you create. A brand new machine def will pull the setting from there to be used. It won't effect any machine defs already created.

stickgc, I would contact your reseller with these questions. They should be able to give you a demo of the differences and/or set you up with an eval.

Here's a new link for the OpenGL files if you want to try them out. If you use these you should be able to run with full hardware acceleration. www.mcamnw.com/downloads/gl.zip I wouldn't recommend using the OpenGL files if you are running Mastercam X MR1 or later because it will mess with the printing and cause it to crash.

Jaz, You are on the right track but looks like you are changing it in the wrong location. Try opening your machine def, going into edit the control def and then into the "Files" topic. In the File Usage box select the default operation library and then select your file on the right. You can set both your .defaults file and .operations file from this screen if you want. Anytime you go to the "Operation Defaults" topic in the control def it will edit the .defaults file. This will effect tool settings and default settings in new toolpaths that you create. Your .operations file will store any toolpaths that you export from the ops manager.

Try going into the Windows Control Panel, then run Mastercam X. It will bring up the X utility. Try checking the 3 options under the "Reset" heading, then click Apply. Also make sure Mastercam is closed when you do this. Maybe this will reset it back to normal...

A new demo version based on MR2 is in the works. Not sure when that will be available but I'd guess we'll see it in another month or so.

The only solution I see for this situation is to make sure in the post processing dialog that you choose "Ask" instead of "Overwrite". This way it will prompt you every time you post out and you can select a different folder before you save the NC file.

quote: my87csx481 I am running an ATI X300 without any problems. If you have acces to the FTP site, then go to unspecified downloads and download GL.ZIP, unzip to your mcam directory and run Mcam as normal. Honest, you will have no more probs with ATI. This procedure usually works well for ATI cards, however as of Mastercam X MR1, if you use these openGL files you will find you crash when trying to print. If you aren't doing any printing though I would recommend trying this out. Download the gl.zip file and then extract to your Mastercam installation folder (ie. c:mcamx).

QMP, Same here, I sent a crash report in.

You can use C# to create NetHooks.

Not sure if the utility is the same for the Spaceball as it is for the SpacePilot but you could also try going into the utilities advanced motion settings and rezero the device.

Just FYI, the installation I downloaded for X+ MR1 defaulted to an incorrect installation path. It was I believe "c:macmx" instead of "c:mcamx".

Jorgen, You might also try switching to the standard windows file open dialog style. For version X this is controlled in the Mastercam X control panel utility. You'll see it when you get into your Control Panel. Once you are in the utility you will see a drop-down box at the top. Try switching to Microsoft Windows Standard.

I've had a customer with similar problems. They may have 10 configurations in a solidworks file and a few will be missing when they bring it into Mastercam. After some research by CNC it appears that the problem is that the configurations that don't show up are because there's no parasolid data saved in those configurations. This particular problem appears to be on the SolidWorks side. Not sure if there's any resolution yet on Solidworks' end but I know CNC has contacted them about it. Maybe someone from CNC can provide more information on this.

You might want to look at the new videos on Machine, Control and Posts on the Mastercam Website. They are pretty informative on editing and changing paths for your Machine/Control & Post files. This should show you how to change them if your path at school is different than where you first created them. http://www.mastercam.com/Support/Multimedia/Default.aspx Check out the MD/CD Overview videos and the MD/CD FAQ's videos.

One other thing you can do is to loosen up the chaining tolerance. Sometimes there's just small gaps but they're larger than your chaining tolerance. Hit the config button (!) within the chaining dialog box and loosen the chaining tolerance a bit.

This is in X, just under a different name now. In the ops manager right-click and choose "Export." Select the .operations file that you want to save to or type in a new .operations name. Select your group name or type in a new group name. Select the operations you want to export and hit the export button. To import just right-click and choose "Import." Select the .operations file that includes your operations and then select the operations to import. Hit the import button and voila! HTH

Sounds like it may run just fine according to these user posts. I had a customer with XP 64-bit edition about 3 months back that had no troubles with version X but v9 would not run. There have been updated hasp drivers since then though and the problem was that v9 could not recognize the hasp. If you are right on the line on what to purchase you might check to see what your software supports. For Mastercam X, it does not officially support Windows XP 64-bit edition and certainly no earlier versions of Mastercam did either. This doesn't mean that it will have problems or won't run, but if there was a problem specific to running on this OS you might not get much help resolving it. Software companies are (with good reason) less likely to spend time/resources to resolve an issue that doesn't fall under supported hardware/software conditions.

Rao_ime, The latest update 3 for SP1 patch should correct the "Port is busy" error. People who were receiving the error could still send the file after clicking through the error message(s). If you are still getting the error and you are sure that you are running update 3 for SP1 (you can check by running the VersionChecker.dll c-hook)then it may be that the port really is busy. It would most likely be another application running that is accessing the port. Jeremy

scoomes, We will begin to create surface training for the Mastercam X courseware on Streamingteacher.com beginning with the new surfacing toolpaths that will be included in Mastercam X MR1. We just created a new block in the table of contents that will focus on all of the changed or new functionality brought into play by service packs and maintenance releases. We'll have a segment to focus on the changes in SP1 and we will have the new surface toolpath training up there when MR1 releases. We've also started to expand into Surface/solid geometry creation so you will see more additions on those topics in the future. Jeremy