Thanks for the responses. I am using zig zag but it looks like with this tool path it just continues to go around and around, it zigs but never zags. I'll look some more into the post and trying incremental. I'm using mpmaster. Thanks again, David

Thanks for the reply JParis. I tried the settings you suggest however I'm still getting the large degrees posted: (example) N7280 Y-.1148 Z.6797 A-10340.612 F1815.15 N7290 Y-.12 Z.6784 A-10341.071 F1802.55 N7300 Y-.1847 Z.6292 A-10359.35 F2000. N7310 Y-.1887 Z.6283 A-10359.74 F1975.99 I tried with the newest mpmaster post and have this set in the post: one_rev : 1 #Limit rotary indexing between 0 and 360? (0 = No, 1 = Yes) Any other ideas? Thanks again, David

Using X5 I just tried the multiaxis rotary tool path on a part. The tool path works very well, however when I post and run at the machine I get an error for any of the rotations past 9999 degrees. The alarm leads me to believe that it is a Fanuc problem with more than 4 digits for the A move. Does anyone know if there is a way around this problem within Mastercam? Thanks very much in advance, David.

For me, this problem started after install when I set a new location for the Shared Data Folder onto a network drive. There wasn't a permissions problem in my case. To correct this error I simply went back to the original Shared Folder, which was located at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\shared mcamx5 and copied all the contents, including insert.tbl to the new shared data folder. Try checking under your configuration -> Files -> Data Paths -> Shared Data Folder, and see if the directory pointed to is different than the default install location. If so you might benefit from this solution. Hope that helps.

Thank you very much MasterShake. The method you demonstrate seems to work very well. I haven't had much time yet to test, but so far no problems. Thanks again, David

Does anyone know if it is possible to change or set the workoffset through nethook or vbscript for a given operation? Thanks much, David

Good day everyone. I have a nethook that imports operations for me into a given file. The file already has some work offsets tied to different WCS views. The imported operations also contain work offsets that match the offsets of the different views. The problem I'm having, is that when the operations import I get an error message stating, "#X work offset already used! Work offset number reassigned to #Y". Does anyone know a way to suppress this behavior so that it doesn't kickout the error and change my offset? If I do the the import manually I can check the 'Assign current system tool and construction planes', however I don't have this option through a nethook so I'm hoping there's a configuration change I can make. Thanks for any help, David

Good day everyone. I have a nethook that imports operations for me into a given file. The file already has some work offsets tied to different WCS views. The imported operations also contain work offsets that match the offsets of the different views. The problem I'm having, is that when the operations import I get an error message stating, "#X work offset already used! Work offset number reassigned to #Y". Does anyone know a way to suppress this behavior so that it doesn't kickout the error and change my offset? If I do the the import manually I can check the 'Assign current system tool and construction planes', however I don't have this option through a nethook so I'm hoping there's a configuration change I can make. Thanks for any help, David

It also looks like the nethook.dll provides a class for linking mastercam with Excel. I haven't tried using it, but just noticed it was there in the object browser.

Oops, it looks like I pushed return and it posted before I was ready. Anyway, after creating a new CToolRef object, I can assign it to an COperationRef just fine, however I can't figure out how to get the new tool that I created to showup in the tool manager as an actual created tool for the current part. Any ideas on how to do this. I've tried saving the CToolRef to the database, but still nothing appears in the tool manager. Thanks much, David

Using C# I use the following command: Mastercam.CToolRef toolRef = new Mastercam.CToolRef(tlDia, crRad, tlNum, tlType, lOffset, diaOffset, tlLngth, fltLngth, tlComment, tlName);

On a nethook, I've been trying to get the minimum Z depth value for a given operation using: Mastercam.COperationRef.GetNCIMinZ(). The results of this method are confusing, and don't seem to be the actual min depth for the operation. I can't seem to see where the results are acutally coming from. Has anyone tried this function with success? Thanks, David

Thanks for the reply Mike. Can you take a look at my posting "Import Toolpath - Nethook" and tell me if that functionality would also be covered by X2 Nethook? Thanks, David

I'm using the COperationRef.ImportFromFile method in my nethook and don't see any options to 'Assign current system tool and construction planes' like there is when you manually import in MasterCAM. Basically, I'm looking for a way to do the operation import from file and then make sure the operation is assigned a specific work/Tool Plane instead of just creating one aribtitrarily like it does not when it sees a certain number already exists. To me, the way that would make sense would be to 1) set view/work/tool plane using a given name such as "TOP" or "ORTHO1", and 2) import operationRef from file using the current system planes. The problem is that I don't see that the system currently has this capability. Any suggestions??? Urgent. Thanks, David

Chad, I believe your first question depends on if you want to write C-Hooks or Net hooks. If C-hooks, I believe you need to use either C or C++. For NetHooks you can use C#, Visual Basic, and I imagine the other .Net languages. I prefer C#. My experience so far has been with the NetHooks side, and I'm just trying to get my arms around this. I've had pretty good luck browsing through the Mastercam namespace in the object browser using visual studio, and reading the summary descriptions for the Classes and Methods, however I'm with you on wanting some more documentation and examples. I'm sure it will come with time as I understand the nethook feature is fairly new. I'm also hoping for X2 that there is additional functionality added to nethooks. Good luck to you, David

- How to create tool path groups in a new blank file, with specific names. - Also would like to see the code for hlg2's request from above about creating a new view, and include how to associate a point to the view for the origin. These would be great helps, Thanks, David

Using C# in a nethook, is there a way to set stock parameters? I see 6 methods to get the values for stock size and origin location, but don't see any way to set these values. Thanks very much, David

I finally got back to this project. Thanks Mick, the code worked great. I decided to go the C# route so I had very little changes to make to your code to get it to do what I wanted. Thanks again, David

Yes, I suppose. Basically I'm trying to reproduce in the program much of the functionality of the view manager. For example, using the view manager under the WCS, I can assign work offsets or make an association to a point. I would like to do this using a Nethook. Thanks, David

Does anyone know if it is possible to create custom views or modify existing views using C# in a nethook. For example, if I wanted to change the workoffset for the Top view and have an associative origin or maybe I would want to create a copy of an exisiting view with a new workoffset. All I can currently find is the ability to get and set the current Gview and planes under the mastercam.gui class, but nothing to modify details or create anything new. Thanks much, David

Thanks Jure. It looks like I don't have the SDK. I checked the version X MR2 disks and don't see it on there, so I'll probably need to ask my distributor. Up to now I haven't needed the SDK since I am just doing nethook stuff, but I'd sure like a look at the documentation you mentioned. I'll check with my distributor. Thanks again, David

Jure, Sorry I can't help with your questions as I am just getting started with nethook, but I do have a question for you. You mentioned that you found the new Developer's Guides.pdf and samples. Can you tell me where to find these? Thanks, David

Thanks very much Mick, I'll take a try and let you know how it works. David

Hello all, I have been exploring the use of nethooks using visual basic to automate some of our common functions. Currently it looks fairly simple to automate functions such as creating geometries and setting gui parameters and such. The thing I can't figure out, however, is how I would create the various milling tool paths using selected geometry and tools from our library. For example: I would like to select all features on a given layer and then create a pocketing tool path for all the features (assuming they are all closed chains), using 1/4 endmill from alum6061 library. Is something like this possible using a vb nethook? If so, are there any examples or white papers that could get me started? I'm using visual studio 2005 standard for development. Thanks very much, David

Rdowns, Thanks very much. I'll give that a try today and let you know if I make any progress. Have a good day, David