In the Masking in Version X you can specify a Mask based off of Diameter/Length. I'm not aware of a way for Mastercam to automatically select geometry by minimum length but by using the Masking you can specify a length equal to, greater than, less than, etc. a specific value. Maybe this will help you get what you are after.

Just make sure to stay away from Windows XP 64-bit edition. Computers seem to be coming with this more often now and you won't be able to run v9 on it, and X may or may not work on it. It is not supported at this time so stick with Windows XP Pro.

I'm not sure what the problem is there. Was the folder with the update in it empty except for the service pack update? It's supposed to be a clean folder with no other files, so make sure of that. If SP1 was loaded it will say it at the top of the window: Mastercam Lathe SP1 I'd go the route of contacting your dealer if nobody from CNC chimes in with a solution.

Through the course of troubleshooting graphics issues in Version 9 & Version X we've come across a procedure that can help, sometimes seeing vast improvements. If you've tried the other graphics recommendations found on the forum and they don't seem to help then try this one out: Download the following zip file: GL.zip Unzip this to your root Mastercam folder (for v9 - c:mcam9 or for X - c:mcamx). It will extract 2 files into that folder, opengl32.dll and glu32.dll. Restart Mastercam to make the changes take effect. If you don't like the changes, go back to the root Mastercam folder and delete out opengl32.dll & glu32.dll and restart Mastercam again. Hope this helps some people. Jeremy

Mitch, I would try a reboot on your PC and then make sure to disable Antivirus/Spyware programs prior to installing. See if that helps at all. Also disable Windows Firewall from the control panel if that's on. Jeremy

Create a config for each product, changing the background color on each. You can do this from Settings > Configuration. Now you can go to your desktop and modify your shortcut to use this new config file. Right-click and go to Properties. Edit the Target line to launch your config file (ie. C:mcamxmastercam.exe mill.config). You will probably want to change the name of the shortcut and you can change the icon to reflect the product you're launching. Copy the shortcut and repeat the above steps to create shortcuts for each product you use. In addition to this you can make each shortcut automatically start up in that Product mode (instead of Design) and load your machine definition if you like. To do this go to Settings > Configuration > Files. Set the default machine definition for each product. Now go back to your shortcuts and add a command line switch to force it to load in that product. For a Mill example the finished shortcut would look something like this: C:mcamxmastercam.exe mill.config /M I'm not sure if it's a bug or not but I haven't been able to successfully get it to launch into Mill or Router correctly by using the switches /M1, /M2, /M3, /R1, /R2, /R3. Instead use /M, /L, /R, etc. EDIT: If you are on Nethasp and need to force it into a specific product (ie. Mill Level 1) then you can use /M1 in conjunction with /M and still force it to launch into the Mill product. Example: C:mcamxmastercam.exe mill.config /M1 /M

I have an Athlon64 3500+ at home and don't have this problem in v9. It shouldn't be a compatability issue with the CPU. If you're running Windows XP 64bit edition then that could be a problem. You said it crashes when it shows it's loading the post processor. I don't know what you mean by this.

Where's this program at? I saw the Monitor installation from the CD menu but nothing else. I believe version 1.4.1.0 that MEV is running is what is installed from the CD if you choose "Nethasp Monitor."

You can also just point to the Cimco Edit 4 in the v9 directory rather than copying the whole editor installation. You can pick any editor you want.

Gavetta, I can't duplicate what you saw here. The only thing I can add is that if you perform an Xform Translate you are going to have Group/Result colors. If you go to Analyze Entity Properties and change the color it won't show up until you do a Clear Colors to remove the Group/Result colors.

What resolutions are you guys using? It's designed for 1280 x 1024 and if you're running anything less you will see this happen. I am running 1024 x 768 (because my lcd monitor won't go any higher) and see the same thing. Ideally it would be nice to have it save the dialog positions wherever they are when you last OK'd out of them. It looks like the dialog locations are in the registry but I'm not sure yet which number the Verify dialog is. Maybe someone from CNC can comment on this.

For Training: I would first check with your local Mastercam reseller to find out what they recommend for your particular situation. There's many books, classes, training CD's, etc. that have been created by various Mastercam resellers so you should have lots of options. One of these options is www.streamingteacher.com This is online video training that you can subscribe to for 90, 180 or 365 days. You can access this from anywhere (as long as you have an internet connection) 24/7. You can subscribe to Mastercam v9 courseware or Mastercam X courseware depending on what you want to learn. Hope this info gets you started in the right direction for learning. Welcome to the forum! Jeremy

Elad, You might try uninstalling and then reinstalling your hasp drivers. Is your hasp a parallel or a USB hasp? I'm guessing it is USB because it would probably be more prone to having a problem like this. Even more importantly though, are you running a regular Hasp or a NetHasp? If it's a Nethasp you could be losing connection to the machine running the nethasp license manager. If it's a regular hasp and you want to try an uninstall/reinstall of the drivers try this procedure: 1) Remove "Hasp Device Drivers" from your Add/Remove Programs in the control panel. 2) After you have those removed, go to the Start Button > All Programs > Mastercam X > Hasp Setup. 3) Run through the installation and when it's complete it should be detecting your hasp again. 4) If this still doesn't help you could try the file "drivers.zip" from www.mastercam.com in the Support/Downloads section. It's under the Mastercam 9 section, but it will work for both v9 & X. Just unzip that and run the file "drivers.bat" to install. These drivers are intended for Windows XP SP2. It doesn't sound like this is the problem but you might double-check your Power Saving options to make sure it isn't going into power saving mode and turning off your ports. Often times when it comes back out of this Power Saving mode it won't wake the ports back up. Jeremy

There's at least a few different files, I might be missing some but here's a few you mentioned. All can be found in the mcamx/config/ directory (unless of course you saved them elsewhere). .CONFIG = Settings within Settings > Configuration (like version 9's .cfg file) .KMP = Key Mapping File (ie. shortcuts/hotkeys) .MTB = Toolbar States .MMD, .LMD, .RMD = Machine Definitions? This should be your Mill/Lathe/Router machine definitions but I could be wrong. There's also other files in other places like materials libraries (mcamx/materials/) tool libraries (ex. for Mill: mcamx/mill/tools/), Posts (mcamx/mill/posts/), Operation Defaults (mcamx/mill/ops/). Hope that helps a bit. Jeremy

WM Kelly, Can you be more specific about the toolpath disappearing in the operations manager? Is it not listed in the operations manager or are you not seeing the toolpath in the graphics view when you have an operation selected in the operations manager? If you can't see the toolpath in the graphics view try hitting "t" to toggle toolpath display on/off. You need to be in the operations manager when you do this and it will effect any operation currently selected.

MachineSMMC, I'm not quite sure why it wouldn't convert it. I've converted some tool libraries from v9 without any trouble. You might try copying the tool file(s) you want to a new directory before doing the import directory procedure. Also make sure the "Import from files of type" drop-down menu is set appropriately. It will convert it to a .tools file when it's done. On a side note, for those that want to use a custom tool library make sure that you configure your machine definition to use this tool library. If you just set it within Settings > Configuration > Files, the machine definition you use will probably still be set to use the default tool library and will override this setting. Page 42 of the transition guide covers this step by step. Jeremy

I'm not sure it's on this website because I haven't checked but the Mastercam Educational website is http://www.mastercamedu.com. The student version is offered at the local colleges in my area also. I think CNC Software has done a pretty good job of offering low cost or free software to learn on. There's the demo version which is free and does everything except saving and posting (accurately). This is a great tool for learning how to use the software. There's the student version if you're enrolled as a student and then there's also Mastercam Draft. Draft is an inexpensive drawing package. I think they did a pretty good job of covering low cost options to learn the software. There's also many training manuals, videos, and courses you can take from Mastercam dealers and/or local colleges (I realize some areas might not have local colleges that teach it).

Yes it does have an automatic update feature. Jeremy

Matt, You can try switching to Standard Windows File/Get dialogs to see if that fixes your delay. Do this from Start > All Programs > Mastercam 9.1 > CNC Reg. Select your product from the drop down menu and then switch to Standard Windows. Hit Apply, then OK. Jeff, I seem to remember seeing this same issue once. It was on another PC here in the office. I seem to remember it might have had something to do with installing Design Tracker 10, but it's all a little fuzzy to me right now. I will look into it and post any solutions I find.

You can fix some speed issues within File > Get by using a Standard Windows File/Get dialog box instead of Mastercam's File/Get. To change this go through the Start Button > All Programs > Mastercam 9.1 > CNC Reg. Select your product from the drop-down menu, select the Standard Windows radio button, then hit Apply. Hit OK to exit out and test to see if that helps at all. This may be something you've already covered but you may check your memory allocations to make sure you aren't using default values. Screen > Configure > Allocations. Toolpath & Database allocations should be set higher than the defaults which are something like 8,000 & 4,000. Jeremy

Hi All, I was just reading through this post and thought I'd clarify a few things... Draft is an inexpensive Mastercam product for Drafting work. The most current version I know of is v9.0SP1. It can be thought of as a toned down version of Design. Draft does not operate with a Dongle/SIM. The Draft software licensing is like any other software licensing that doesn't run with a hardware key (ie. Can be installed and used on one PC). A few things to know about Draft: 1.) Draft is not updateable. This means that if new translators, updates, etc. come out for Mastercam v9, you will not be able to use them with Draft. 2.) Draft is not upgradeable. This means that you cannot at a later date upgrade Draft to a seat of Design, Mill, Router, Lathe, etc. 3.) Add-Ons do not work with Draft. This includes optional translators, Solids, etc. 4.) C-hooks do not work with Draft. Given its limitations it's still a very powerful tool for the money. To take a look at a comparison chart check out http://www.mcamnw.com/Pages/millcomp.htm You can contact your local reseller for pricing. Hope this helps clarify things a bit!

Here's a procedure to switch to standard windows file > get dialog boxes. This may help but if it was running fine before then it's most likely something else causing the problem. Here's how to switch to standard windows file open & file save dialog boxes. 1) Go to Start > All Programs > Mastercam 9.1 > CNC Reg. 2) From the first tab (Registry Settings) select your Mastercam product from the drop-down list. 3) Click the Standard Windows radio button below. 4) Click Apply, then OK. This procedure fixes some computers from crashing during file save and file get and may improve your network performance. You might also try a knowledge base search at support.microsoft.com. You'll probably find quite a few different causes for slow network performance.

Try this out for your ATI cards in version 9. www.mcamnw.com/filetransf/dloads/gl.zip Download the file and unzip to your mcam9 folder. After you do this start up Mastercam and try toggling the "enable openGL® drawing" setting within Screen > Configure > Screen tab. It may work better on or off depending on your hardware, but these openGL files should help regardless.

You can also go to http://www.streamingteacher.com and access the free Mastercam Art training provided by CNC Software. There are sample files available there for download that I believe are the same files you are looking for. Your reseller should have provided you with an Art Access code and an Engraving access code. If you don't have them contact your reseller. Enjoy your weekend! Jeremy

JOUNY, I have some OpenGL files I'd recommend you try out with your ATI card. I don't know the best place to post them so just send me an e-mail at [email protected] and I'll send them over. While ATI cards definitely seem to have many more problems with Mastercam, we've found these OpenGL files can fix about 90% of them. Regards, Jeremy