Is there a way to make an unwind retract move parallel to the tool direction rather than just up in Z? If the tool is tipped under the part, it crashes through the part in the retract move.

Looking for help with the ATP script. I found a copy in my V9 and copied it into X. Ran it once and the dialog box came up OK. Try to run it again and it gives errors looking for other vb scripts that it says "may not be in the directory". They are there. Is there a new ver for X?? Would like to explore using ATP, but this makes it difficult.

Thanks much! Best and quickest info available.

I'm upgrading our CAD/CAM seat to a new PC running XP professional and get "Failed to start Aladdin Device driver. Failed to start a service in the service control manager database" when setting up the HASP. Previously we have been running under Win 2000. Anybody have any ideas?

Sorry I havn't been able to log on sooner. Been working production to get a big shipment ready for tomorrow morning. I appreciate your looking at it. I'm going to have to wait to get back into it. I'll keep you posted. Thanks, David

I posted half the geometry (its simetrical) to the MC8 folder under WACOHALF.MC8

I think I am beginning to see what you are trying to explain! The problem is my limited use of Mastercam for routing. I was trying to flip the geometry over rather than flipping the tool plane. I just tryed flipping toolplane over and posted code which gave me an A180 which obviously is not needed and It also put my X axis numbers off the table. I must admit my ignorance - we never have reason to use toolplane on the routers. Is this what you guys are trying to tell me??? I'll post it to the FTP so you can see what I'm doing. Thanks, David

Probably because I don't fully understand metal stamping. I have a model of the instrument panel. It is the positive of the top surface which I will use a -.050" stock allowance (the thickness of the aluminum to be pressed) to get the back of the panel. This will give me the male form. If the surface was good on both sides, I would flip it over and machine that to get the female. If I could make it into a solid, I guess it would be easy using boolean functions.

Hi Thad, That is what I was planning to do for the bottom of the die. What I am having trouble with is flipping the geometry over to make the mating part. I am probably being really stupid about this - just not something I have ever done. The part is a replacement instrument panel for a 1935 WACO biplane which a friend owns. Not exactly going to be high production - so we are trying to make a die from baltic birch plywood. Right now I am projecting lines onto the top of the surface every millimeter and then am going to try lofting them. Seems like the hard way. Thanks for any help you can give me.

I have created a surface model of a stamped sheet metal panel which is comprised of a bunch of swept and flat surfaces. The "top" side of this looks good and machines perfectly. However the backside is not clean - has many overlapping surfaces. What is the best way to create a clean model of the back? We are woodworking shop and I have done a number of surfaced parts, but have never had to make the inverse.

Thanks for info, I am going to try some things, will keep you posted.

Has anyone used Cimco edit to send/receive to an Allen Bradley 8601 or 8600. We've been using the comm software that came with our Italian woodworking CNC and it works, but is cumbersome. Allen Bradley does not seem to publish the codes anywhere I can find. Any help would be appreciated.

Has anyone developed a good 5 axis post for Fadal. Am using 2050 w/ 4&5 axis rotator on the table. Have not talked to our reseller yet, but am wondering if anyone on the forum has any recommendations.

I have gotten my post for the Allen Bradley 8601 pretty well set up, but have a problem turning on the tool comp. 8601 needs an XY move to guarantee that the comp goes on. With my old Smartcam code generator, I added a move that rapided the tool to a point that was off by the radius of the tool to the start point. Then moved to the actual starting point while turning on the tool comp. Example: G0 X-190 Y-367 G1 G42 X-200 Y-377 Z19 F6000 Z-1 X ... Y ... I figured out how to do math in prapidoout and plinout, but toolcomp is not activated at this point (always get G40). Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks, D. Brigham

To: gstephens Using t=10 + t +(tloffno/10) may not be pretty, but it works well. I was too busy looking for another variable to use - a little math solves the problem nicely. Thanks much To: JAMMAN Haven't tryed to cut anything yet, but we are cutting wood and need to split arcs to change feed speed due to grain of matl. Thanks for heads up, I will be careful. To: Surface Thanks for the offer, I may take you up on the offer for help as I go further. Am making progress, currently working on how toolcomp is turned on and off. Also, am trying to figure out how to put labels in code. A-B 8601 needs branching labels with parentheses around them "START", etc. Any ideas? Thanks to all D.Brigham

I am new to Mastercam and have only a day and half into exploring posts. I need a tool call in the following format. T14.4 M6 where leading 1 is always 1 and .4 is offset number. *t gives only T4 This is used with Allen Bradley 8600 series. After 15 yrs with Smartcam, I can see that learning new post is going to be interesting! Thanks, David