I am looking at a new laptop as well....I feel I can get by with 32 gb 99% of the time. I am buying a system with 64 in it. I want to use the thing for several years to come, and don't want to be out of ram in a couple of years. As with everything, as time progresses, computers evolve and you will need it eventually. That is my approach. I will get the best that I can afford now, and know in a couple years it may be antiquated. That's fine.... I will address it then to the best of my ability. I wish I had the computer that John and Ron have, but in all actuality, I probably don't need it. I hope, one day, that my skill level and work require it though!

You can change the plane for the stock model orientation under the stock plane if needed. Uncheck top and click on the square at the left of my circle. You can pick any plane you need. Otherwise as you translate your stl file the stock model will follow. Also, if the model is not water tight, you can increase the initial stock shape tolerance as needed to help. This also cuts down on generation time. Default is .001 I believe. Sometimes just going to .002 is enough to make it a happy stock model.

Make a stock model from the .STL and use the stock model to drive your tool paths.

No, Mastecam for Solidworks doesn't have the same tools as the standalone Mastercam. I have used both and I find the standalone Mastercam to be more stable and easier to use. I was of course trained on Mastercam and not Solidworks, so I am sure that is a big part of it for me. Perhaps you could try the stand alone version? I believe they are dropping Mastercam for Solidworks after this year anyway, so it might be a good time to transition into the standalone version.

Yes, I have the exact same issue. I reported it to my reseller and they passed it up the chain as well. My only real work around is start a file in 2022 and then drag and drop it into 2023. It seems to me that once it sees the file in 2023 it can find it in the vault. I posted a topic on the official Mastercam forum here. You can follow along there as well, although it seems to be forgotten already. https://forum.mastercam.com/Topic46532.aspx

+1 for colors and quick masks. I take the time initially to color solid faces when setting the part up. I can then window select areas of the solid and set avoidances and machining (checks and drives) using the color quick masks. I can select and program an area of the part to machine in under 30 seconds. The work up front is definitely worth the time savings on the back end. Plus I find it easier to identify and process what I am doing using the colors. It makes me have to have a plan before I start tool pathing. I also use view sheets and quick masks for quick selections of fixtures that are on a separate level. One click and I have selected my steady rest without getting anything additional. Ron is spot on, I only select pertinent solid faces in the area that I will be machining. I do not select the whole model. Tool paths are usually generated faster and are cleaner. Most often less is more.

Have you tried reaching out to your reseller for help?

I agree with Leon, Sounds like it's trying to do a compound angle move. Can you share a file or something similar? When I do my 4 axis I keep my WCS as top and my c and t planes change to get the post to spit the proper angle out. Since you don't have multi axis and it's 3+1 you could program both sides top/top/top and just do a manual entry in Mastercam to force A axis angle out, or just hand edit the code to the proper angles if you know what they are. Just a few thoughts.

This probably doesn't help you since you want to do it in Mastercam, but I just used the canned cycles on the machine to thread my parts. G76 threading cycle (fanuc) and called it a day. Acme, Metric, Pipe, Butress, Standard....all G76. This was back in the X5/X6 days, when things didn't play nicely. I haven't tried to thread in Mastercam for some time. I'm sure it's better now.

I have the USB Hasp also. I will try leaving Mastercam open tonight and try that. Thanks!

12 hours ago, Zoffen said: Excuse my ignorance here, I didn't think you could run Mastercam remotely?

What I do on our forgings is just make an offset stock model. I am provided a model of what it is supposed to be, but of course the real world isn't perfect. I just make a stock model from the model provided and use the additional offset box to add stock to it everywhere. Yes, it may cut a little air but it's better than smashing a tool into the stock and having a real bad day. It's a pick your poison kind of thing. Of course, all the other options mentioned were great, just listing another option that I have had to use at times.

I was wondering the same thing. My date is 2018 and I got a 1 year badge as well. I assume that they are working out the bugs still.

I have played with it a little bit myself. I have zero Solidworks experience so to say it was a struggle is an understatement. This, of course, was due to my total lack of training in Solidworks. It made me appreciate all the little tools in the stand alone Mastercam version! I was looking at using it for the parametric side of it. We make very similar parts and I wanted to use it to just import a model, update the equation tables, and regen the tool paths. I was able to get this accomplished somewhat. I ended up putting the project on the shelf due to work load. Just when I was getting around to it again, I read on the official forum they are dropping it (rumor). Boss man said drop the idea then, no sense in going forward with it.

Public Beta

In our stockroom, they have a software called Sage. I don't know much about it other than we under utilize it. It can track usage, cost, vendors, run reports and I think it will alert your when quantities are low so that you can reorder. You can assign a number for stocking and have the EDP number tied into it. All this is dependent on the person running it to set it up properly and update tools as they are signed out. Just like anything else, junk in, junk out. I keep spreadsheets on my computer so that I have a record of what tool is used where. I document what the MFG number is, stock number, insert numbers, screws and so forth. This makes it easier when an operator comes in and says we don't have any of these in the stock room (see above). As far as Mastercam integration, I just have tool libraries for each machine with the holders modeled and tools in the designated tool number spot. If I need to know what tool 9 is, I can look at my spreadsheet. Hope this helps.

I like to back them up as individual files on our network. It is part of our periodic maintenance that I try and do. At least once a year back programs and parameters up. That way, when the batteries go dead, or when they move something and they don't hook it back up or someone shorts out a drive, or someone deletes a program,.....or whatever.....I have what I need to get it back up to speed. It's just way easier to dump them out as one program. Thanks James, that's what I was looking for.

Colin, Do you know what parameter it is to output an "O" instead of a : when transferring files out? We have some machines that output a : and some machines that output a O. I would like them to all be the same especially if Roger is going through the trouble to write us an application to sort this stuff. If not, I could always find and replace to take care of it. This is on a Fanuc 18 by the way.

I do it manually as well, but when you are backing up 89 programs (today) it sure would be nice to have an automated solution for this. The other way around it is copy them out one by one and save them individually. Pick your poison I guess....stand at the machine and do them one by one, or walk back to the office and do them one by one on the pc.

I would like to split them up so that they are easier to read and modify and store individually. I usually have them all listed one by one and then have O-9999 as a backup just in case. I should have clarified I guess. It is more for dumping the files and sorting them vs putting them all back in at once.

Good morning all. I was wondering if any one had a better way to do this. I needed to backup a machine today, and punched out O-9999 to dump all the files. Process creates one single file with all of the programs listed in one file. Does anyone know of any apps or programs that can take the O-9999 file and split the individual files out and create separate files? I find it very time consuming and tedious to punch them all out one by one. There has to be a way to dump them all out together and split them out on my pc.

What worked well for me is I set all the linking to use default links. I set gap size to something like 100% to keep the tool down. Also tool control to surface. I shut off collision control. Then, I work on getting a nice looking tool path. I then turn on collision control and change gap size or tool path control as needed. I dumb it down as much as I possibly can and start turning on the options as needed. As I have done this over the years it helps to know what is causing what is seen on the screen. I am far from an expert, just sharing my experience and what works for me. Clean path first then turn all the extras on.

start menu/mastercam 2022/readme after you install the update.

You are correct. Config/Chaining Toggle "Default to last used" in the middle of the window at the top.

I am working in our mill turn and ran into an issue yesterday. I am doing some milling and I have my part oriented in Mastercam (2022) just like I do when I program our Vertical Mill. Top Plane is looking down from the spindle onto the part. When I posted the code (Post from In House Solutions) the part is off 90°.It was like it needed oriented so that you are looking at the part through the door. I figured this out pretty quickly and switched my WCS for my ops to Front. This fixed my issue. My question is why? Why is it off 90°? Is there something that is different when Milling in a lathe? This is in a Mori 2500MT. This isn't in the Mastercam MT software for the record, they do not support this machine, so it is just Milling and Lathe combined in the standard Mastercam suite. Second question, when I go to do 5 axis tool paths will I run into issues since my planes are not Top/Top/Top and are now Front/Front/Front? I thought I read on here somewhere that Mastercam made it so you can use whatever planes you need to for 5 axis now. I was taught that it had to be Top/Top/Top and the post would handle it.