But the default tool for drilling is a ball nose endmill?

I'm using a 3/16 end mill with a peck drill toolpath to remove press fit bushings from a blind hole. I have only one tool in the tool library which I have used on 4 previous drill operations yet MC adds a 1/4 ball nose endmill tool to do this job. Why? Why doesn't it default to the only tool in the library and the same tool used in all previous operations? Makes no sense to me.

I havent seen a setting where you can turn it off. But a reminder window pops up telling me that sorting is off, the default I believe. Yet the holes do not get drilled in the order I selected them in.

How do you make default the order that you select? Seem like it always drills in some random pattern after I select an order that I dont have to retract over a clamp or obsticle.

"The post will output all axes assigned to it." By telling MC 4 axis output didn't I assign it to just 4 axis? Trunnion post still outputs A90. B180. If B was enabled it doesnt need to move in B to drill 2 holes.

"with the mpmaster 4X set Mics Value 9 to 1" I set this to 1 in the machine def of mpmaster to 1 and it no longer adds the G55 but it still does the A-270. it won't hurt on this job but it could on others. "What toolpath are you using to drill the holes? 2d drilling or multiax drilling? " Neither, I'm looking at bad code for both but with the misc. value 9 change the mpmaster is now useable. "Why output B rotation if you don't need to?" That was my second question in my first post. Why is MCX6 putting out a B axis move when it was set to output in 4 axis.

I have a Haas VF-4 with a HRT 310 rotary table set on the table with traditional A rotation about the X axis. I'm using both the mpmaster hass 3-4 axis post or the haas trunion 5 axis post. I'm drilling a simple hole through both walls of a 4" O.D X 2" I.D. tube, 180° apart and 90° off 0. Using the 3-4 axis post I get good code one hole at a time. It will rotate to A-90. or A90. and start pecking. When the two are combined into one program the first is G54 A90. move as expected but the move to the second hole is G55 A-270. instead of just A-90. Why does it want to change to G55 and rotate the part upside down & how do I change that? So I tried the trunion post and dispite the setting for 4 axis output the post output A90. B180. This is my first use of MCX6 and just the A axis. Both posts have worked fine in X4 & X5 but now in X6 post processor genius has become insanity. Not only is the B180. unnecessary but it shouldn't be there. How do I fix this?

Yes.

I agree with most of what Merritt (MLS) said. Catia will do just about everything & is very expensive. We train it here and our instructors consistantly win a yearly competition for Catia drivers. I've taken four of the courses we offer and didn't have too much trouble learning it. I took the machining module in R11 and it was very cumbersome but I've heard there have been many changes for the better in the machining module now at R21. Since we train Catia we get it very cheap but we have never cut a chip with it because we get no break on post price. We have a Mazak Integrex in the engineering Dept. and I heard a post for that cost $25,000.

I used to work in prototype of military weapons at Texas Instruments in Dallas. We had a new supervisor come to my shift with a degree in AGGRICULTURE of all things. They cared about the fact that he graduated rather than his subject of study. On the other hand my boss and I have no degree yet he is a department head at a Div.1 University as I should be if/when I take his spot when he retires. Here you can get quite a few engineering degrees & work in our shop using Mastercam & Catia , or in one of 3 other machine shops or many research labs like the wind tunnels or composites or friction stir welding lab, getting on the job experiance and meeting industry professionals who may someday hire you. Often I ask students who come into the shop to work on some project, if they want to be a machinist when they grow up. What do you think they say?

Hello class! Where is this class? Who are the students as in are students high school/college age or older machinist's or programers learning or upgrading thier skills?

I cut RC52 Vascomax 350 threads with Scientific single flute thread mills and they last quite a while. MSC carries them.

Not sure which tab or setting you mean. There is a tab for Op. feedrate limits, axis motion & a Axis feedrate limits tab. None of them let you enter an F jsut the number. I assume you mean the Minimum inverse feedrate box which currently has 1000.0 in it.

Sometimes I get no feed rate output to just one line of code and the machine stops moving. I'm using a Haas VF-2 with a TC-2 collet type 5 axis head and the generic Haas VF-TR series post. When it does this it's on the same line with a G1. When a G1 line has a feed rate it is in inches per min like F10.0 and subsequent lines are inverse time, F999.99 How can I force the post to output a feed rate?

I know there are other/better ways to do this but on our Haas T5C & trunion like dual rotary table Haas 5ax machines I set up the part on the trunion then indicate a known location on the part. Then moove the part in MC to that location. Mastercam X axis is centerline of A rotation, Z axis is center of B axis. Haas G54 is set at Z 6" above table CL of the T5C, Y is CL of collet closer's rotation when A turns, and X is the plane the of the collet center when A rotates. Simply stated, the MC origin is where the A & B axis' intersect, the part is set in MC to the same place it is on the machine. I know thats clear as mud but is that how your doing it? Also I never use WCS on multi ax work. I don't remember how to get to the FTP site.

Have you looked in the Mastercam log file on the system tray/task bar by the clock to see if Mastercam is doing something else too? You could also open Windows task manager then see if something new happens when you rt. click.

IGS is curves and surfaces & if it's more than one part or an assembly it still comes in on one level. STP is curves, surfaces & solids and each part imports on a separate level. We have had better luck with STP importing from Catia than the Catia to MC converter.

We had the same problem here. If I used a multi-cut or multi depth cut the second cut, forth cut, etc. would be on the back side. I put a limit on the movement at +90° to -15° and now it cuts everything in front.

Never mind, I got it.

Ok so I opened a .stp made in Metric with Catia and all my settings changed to metric. Now I have left that file and have opened a.stp Catia file in inches but MC is stuck on stupid, still using the metric config. Why does it change away from the default inch to metric but not change back when I open an inch file? How do I get back to inch config?

Gcode may be right. It is a metric Catia file.

I imported a .stp file to MCX5 MU1 this morning and MC reverted to original configuration. Tool bars were ok but background went blue, I had it as black. It changed from mill to design, icons in machine def. got real big & who knows what all got changed. Is there a automatic backup of my config files that can get me going again?

Here's the fix, I needed it this weekend. http://www.emastercam.com/board/index.php?showtopic=62590&view=findpost&p=703696

We have several PC's that the MC window will go white at times. Not all are dual monitor, one is a laptop but all Dell's & have quadro cards, MCX5 MU1, and Win 7. I can make one repeat. MC on the left screen then open IE9 on the second and MC goes white instantly.

I downloaded it once but it's forewarded to shop boss & big boss. We are most likely going to purchase this and I want them to be better informed on what the $ is getting us. So 1 download = 3 people at least viewing it.