quote: Sent me you file ill look at it Dude you're getting as bad as Jay

quote: and my plunge is .1 Is this what you entered for a plunge angle? If so try 8 deg or more with styrofoam, you should be able to plunge staight in.

Kick that max down from 1000.0 to 100 or lower. (you really don't need it to make a arc greater than the biggest arc on the part) In a sense you could have mastercam take a good linear move and create a arc move at a 1000 inches, which maybe forcing your tool to go thru the back door.

It may take a few steps, but it can be done. 1 Create points at the center of the arcs "Create point small arcs" will work. 2 Save the points as a ascii file (txt or doc) Use the save some feature 3 Create drafting note, use "Load file" pick your file. That should work.

Area chaining for pockets and flat boundry surfaces. Everyday!

Our office is in Anaheim, give us a call or send me a email. I'm doing a mulit-axis class in January.

Colin, Great job explaining these steps!! I had a customer last week wanting to do the exact same thing. Here is a little trick that may also help. If you save your file as a VDA, it will convert all of your splines and surfaces to Parametric. Read back in the VDA, and use Colin's steps.

Try using Face Contour instead of C axis contour.

Ron, You have Mail.

Ron, Can you email me this part. I would like to see all of your settings if thats okay. Mayday, until you and I sit down and have a beer together, Please don't make anymore assumtions about me. quote: Wish you code writters and resellers actually had to produce like we do. If you knew my job or me personally, then your wish above has already come true.

quote: Funny how that NEVER works in roughing cycles when MC rapids to .002 away from the rough forging... That's because of the entry and exit setting. Adjusting the tool clearance makes all the difference. It's works a lot like the gouge checking on holders in the mill paths. You can give it a barrier amount off of the holder to check against.

Your problem is in the stock setup (tool setting clearance). Your rapid moves are set to .100. That means if you rapid within .1 of your stock mastercam will alarm a warning. Since you are drilling, the default is set to rapid within .1 so the warning is valid. Either adjust your settings in the toolpath, or change the tool setting clearance to something smaller like .02.

Are projecting normal to the surface or normal to the view? If normal to surface you need to give a max distance from the surface to the geometry.

I believe I read somewhere that dynamic milling does not support the subs. I think it has to do with the fact that; when it was first developed in X3(c-hook) it did not have a depth cuts option.

John, Try setting your colors to 16 bit. It seems to help many other issues with MC in Vista. quote: Friends don't let friends do Vista Words to live by

Hey Randy, I apologize to you dude; my intention was not to start a ruckus either. I think that I may have helped you in the past on some other thread, not sure. The veterans on this forum know that I don’t come in a try and beat people up; all I wanted to do was help and lookout for you and your machines best interest. Unfortunately I came across as a punk, and I’m sorry. Now, Randy if you don’t mind I would like to add to the above solution. Obviously you can model in your chuck and jaws and use it for verification purposes. You may want to take it one step further for your safety. If you have multiaxis capabilities I would go with curve 5ax. That way you can use the faces of the jaws as check surfaces and have more control over your toolpaths. That will help avoid collisions while writing your cut motion (again just more control). You may even be able to use surface project, but that my take a little more experimenting, ether way you have check surfaces. Now you asked if mastercam can switch the type of chuck from turning to milling. This can also be done. 1) Define your stock and chuck like you would normally for your turning work. 2) After all your turning is done, you can right click in the ops manager and use the lathe stock preview and save your cut part as a solid. (You may already know this but others may not) 3) Merge in your solid chuck and Boolean your stock to the chuck. 4) Create a new machine group and use the Boolean solid as your stock. You can now verify turning and mill turn. Also while programming you can use the Boolean solid to check off of. One last suggestion, If at all possible use aluminum jaws. Be safe and sorry for the Rukus.

It appears that I got you a little steamed on this one. I never said that your solution would not work. There is a reason that Mastercam shows the chuck jaws rotated 360 deg, it’s to show a potential collision. That way the programmer can make up his own decisions on what to do. Your way may have worked for you, but you just can’t tell someone to draw up the chuck and stock and use it for verifying, without telling them what to look out for first. What you are showing is not new; I have shown my customers this many times. Although I do tell them you better draw your jaws perfect and at the proper locations. Also the part better be orientated the right way. What about the head you have that milling tool mounted in? You better know were that’s at. (all of the time) Here is the biggest thing; you are still not guarantee 100% that you will not stuff that machine. Why? Because you are verifying the NCI code and mastercam does not know when and where that machine will decide to unwind. That was totally irresponsible on your part, and I was calling you on it. You can’t just tell someone to model their chuck and show a bunch of pretty pictures and say “go for it this will work” without telling them all of the risk behind it. You do seem like you have good knowledge of mastercam (even though you attack my knowledge)…..that’s okay!! People come on here looking for good advice. What if some new kid saw what you did and thought wow cool! I will just model my chuck and try and cut between the jaws without knowing all of the risks. Come on dude we both know that you can’t always guarantee that solution. Even though the big blue circles are annoying I would feel better verify with those, then to have some pretty chuck where I’m not quite sure where the jaws are all of the time. The good news is….With me pointing out that your picture looks like the machine is being stuffed in slow motion……Well it made you argue more about your setup and people reading this thread will now know the risks…………And that my friend was my point all along. Peace

If he is doing a C-axis contour the chuck is goning to spin. It sounds to me that you want mastercam to switch chuck styles between turning and milling (Only if the chuck is locked) I'm just saying be careful what you ask for.

That solid blue ring shows the chuck spining, so you get a colision. Those pics of bwalker are pretty, but take a look at that last one. Mastercam would show that as no colision, What do you think the Machine is going to show? To me that picture looks like a machine being stuffed in slow motion. Take your pick Pretty in Mastercam or Pretty at the machine.

James and I both taught the advance class, Hell we sarted the advance class in Ontario. We made handouts, projects and test. We went from 3d modeling and toolpaths to multiaxis and post editing. We also covered c-axis lathe, tell me what instructor teaches those things!!! Point is, we had a great program set up and it's a shame that all of it is gone. I'm sure all of my files are toast up there, Although my handout should still be around. Check the bottom closet, or with Norwalk. I taught all of the instructors at both facilities how to teach X. Somebody must have a copy of that course handout. I agree most of the instructors there are not worth a damn, and are giving the students a horrible learning experience. It sounds like you want to put in the effort to make this a good class. too you!! Good luck, I would love to see what you come up with. If you need any advice with putting together a good curriculum, send me a email. Peace

All that work we did for them James, And they just lost it!!!

Turn on force toolchange. This should do what you want.

Send me an email so I can help you with your system. Since you are a customer of ours, we want to make sure we support you properly. [email protected] or call 714-847-6890

Check your configuration settings. Under the pan spin there is a reverse mouse wheel setting,

Go with X4 you won't regret it. When X5 comes out V9 will be gone, dead, and buried with no more support. X4 has some great stuff in it. You also have one of the best resellers there in Texas I'm sure they will get you on the right track. You can still keep V9 side by side with X4 as a security blanket, But once you get fluent with X4, you will bury V9 faster than CNC will!! That's for sure. Good luck