Hey Mike/ and Jimmy, Thanks for helping me out on that part yesterday. We have a Mitsubisi control here and we actually dnc to it last week. This is what you need to do: Got to Tape Mode and Hit Cycle Start. This puts it in DNC mode. No setting is required at the machine end. My Cimco is set normal. Enable DTR/RTS is checked and software enable. Make sure you have Single Block on otherwise it will take off immediatley if your not prepared. Hopefully that will get you going. Thanks Bill

I know this has been brought up before with cycle time. Boss sometimes want to get a actual time on a part and has me program the part for cutting time. Then I always usually add a little to be on the safe side. I have gone in the post and modified the rapid rates and tool change time per machine. Recently had a job where we quoted 9 minutes 30 seconds. That giving the operator plent of time for load. Mastercam gave me a time of 7 minutes 30 seconds Now our customer has asked us to make alot more and looking back at our Job shop software and base per parts per hour it is 23 minutes. Now i'm the guy that looks bad because Mastercam(which by boss says can do everything and anything and should give out good info for the $$$$) gave me a cycle time of the 7 minutes 30 seconds. My question would be if Mastercam gave me a time for 7 minutes 30 seconds and your trying to quote to be competive. What would you like to give your boss as a good cycle time?

Has anyone cut Ultem Resin. If so how does it cut. What is is most comparable to. And feedback would be great. Thanks Bill

We have a good check list system(Paper though). From both program side/and setup there is a series of checks that both do(programmers/set-up) get done properly. All our machines have Floppy disk. When a program has been proven and ran through the setup guy backups on the floppy and makes a statement Good Program with his intials. After the job has been completed the setup sheets and floppy gets turned into programmed where it reviewed and put into the system as good. This has work out very well. Even thought it took a while to buy into. Now its like a habit to everyone, and nothing evers get missed.

Here was a great topic in Horizontal programming(Tips and Tricks) which got me going in the right direction and hadn't had a bit of trouble since. Thats why this forum is great to have around. Thanks everyone. http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...=1;t=018399;p=1

Check all those things out...... But for some reason it is actually loading up the mill9m.cfg file only know matter what i do. As Kannon pointed out above I have that screen shown as above but know matter what I do they open up the mill9m.cfg instead. I even deleted the file and it open up and wrote a new mill9m.cfg file. The weird thing is like I said it has done it to all 4 seats of mastercam. Our tech guy is looking into wondering is some upgrade to the main big server may of corrupted or done something to the indvidual computer. We do not want to reload MC9 not knowing what has caused this. Thanks

The Mill9.cfg is set as default. For some reason Mastercam loads up the mill9m cfg instead, by default. We had to overwrite the mill9m to mill9 set ways. No matter what we do Mastercam on all seats read the mill9m.cfg on startup. The only custom configs that are different among the seats is the allocations, and tolerances based on the computer. Thanks

Weird Things. We have 4 seats of mastercam all with V9 and X on them. Not all the guys are up on X so some use 9 still. Last week had a problem with Mastrcam opeing up in 9 with it being in metric cfg. For some reason it they were defaulting to mill9m cfg. Kept on saving to to English shut and restart mastercam and same thing. Basically what we done overwrite out mill9 cfg to mill9m cfg to start up in inches. Everytime we open up a file on a network a save file we get the red x on the toolpaths and need to regen them to backplot or post out. Our network guy says no Viruses. Each seat is installed locally on each computer so don't believe it a network thing. Any suggestions on why this happened.

We do alot of Parts with Mirror Images. Always a pain in the rear to mirror image a part. I been playing around with mirror images parts and developed a much easier and cleaner way to do one. 1st)Take model and mirror image it to another level. 2nd)Create another level and call Mirror image Toolpaths. 3rd)Turn off all levels except the new one created. 4th)Under Toolpath>Transform>Mirror Image> Select Create New Geometry and Toolpath Also under 2nd Tab select Y Axis. Do It. 5th)Very Important Under Screen>Move all enties to the new level. Any contours with lead in with extensions you'll need to reverse. Very Easy and Yet had no Mistakes. Bill

There is no Serial Port. Technology!!!! Looks like I'll have to go USB to serial converter. Hopefully there will be no crossover issues. Thanks

Hello, We use a Digi 16 port to Send/Receive all our programs to. Today the power supply went out. It has gone out hopefullt to get repaired. Need to send a program to a machine close to the programming room with my RS-232 cable. My new computer does not have that port. What kind of cabling/port to use do we need to send out a program from my computer. Thanks Bill

We have several and I mean several Haas's here. We have had that happen but usually with an alarm with the spindle. The machine should alarm out if its in a cutting cycle. No parameter or diag would cause this if your operater messed with. Couple things to check if there are no alarms. Check to see if the spindle turns freely when machine is off. May have a broken belt if the motor does and spindle does not. The other problem could be the Spindle orientaioton switch. This last consist checking wiring connectin Check the Motif PCB to spindle drive Cable 720. Call you local Haas guy and they are pretty good for over the phone trouble shooting.

We have a Matsuura 450H with a Yasnac contoller. We want to be able to download all programs into the computer and cnt figure out how to do it. I know on the Fanuc you tyoe o-9999 and write and it will send all. What is the seqence to do this on this type of contoller, Thanks

I know this subject has been brought up before. We do alot of work for a aerospace company who always want parts on the fly. We are given prelimary prints to quote from which when the model comes it a whole new story. 1. Print does not have all details . Usually shows holes sizes, few locations, Thickness, Width, and length. These parts have a lot of detail. There note on the print says part to be machined from the model given. We get these one style of parts which have alot of detail. I want to make sure I dont miss anything when I'm programming. Couple of questions. 1- How do I make sure to check model versus the machine model that I did not miss anything. 2- It takes quite of bit of time to progam these parts when not interupted.Just seeing how would another person approach programming these parts . Ideas and what you would use to create a program for this part. Things that take a while for doing these -Getting a outside profile. -Creating geometry to stay within the boundarys. -Not missing any details. -Any input is greatly appreciated. I have put the model up on the site Mastercam_forum/MC9_files/ACCURATE/ accurateplate.zip Thanks

Hello, Looking for the best double sided tape to hold down Aluminum. Machining a big plate that has some .06 floors left lift to give a liitle support. I know 3m makes all kinds. Just looking to see if some has use a particular kind. Thanks Bill

Hello Again, I have this part which is approx 2 x 2 1/4 x 5 There is not much left to this part when it is done. It has .090 walls, 1.975 deep Pockets. It it very brittle. I have tried to climb/and conventional cut and it has snap the walls in two different spots. We have cut this material befor but not a part with much detail. Looking for suggetions/ideas on what could be causing this. Thanks Bill

Hello All, Don't cut Glass filled-Nylon often. In the past have used Harvey Plastic cutter which are great. Problem now is reach. Have a Block 2 x 2 1/4 x 5. The reach I need ont the outside profile is 2.1 and a pocket with a .125 corner radius 1.975 deep. Any sugggestions on what type of cutters to use. We have 30 parts and I know this stuff eats up tooling. Thanks

You Got Mail!! Hello William, This is something I use at are shop. Seems to work out good.

We have 3 day shifts programmers at our facility. We develop a check list to make sure everything going out to the set-up person the same. Check list consists of : Plans machining by looking over work orders, prints, tolerances Verifies material size and cut lengths . Develops Part Program Using MasterCam A)Fixture Design If Applicable B)Uses Tooling Manufacture Recommended/Required Speed and Feeds and DOC ******PROVIDES FOR JOBS******* A-Tool List-Min Tool Length Stick Outs B-Work Offsets-Part Zero Ref Sheets C-Basic Instructions D-Tool Preset Sheet E-Floppy Disk with Program Files F-Tooling Packets 5- Qualify/Verify Part Program A)Verify For Tooling Crashes 6- Qualify Post File Proper Codes Per Machine Requirements A)Pallet Changes B)Tapping Cycles-IPR,IPM C)Work Cordinate Offsets-HAAS,FANUC D)Safe Home Positon when Required 7- Completes Part Documentation A)Backup Program Files B)Updates and Files Documentation(Set Up Sheets) There are many things we do the same. Cutter comps, work offsets.There are many things we do diiferent. But as long as the documentation goes out properly you should never have any issue. A part can be programmed different from one another but always getting the job done complete right.

Emuge Taps Look under Rekord Style. Tap. Last long and work great.

Where can I find solid models of Socket Head Cap Screws. Thanks

Hello, We have added another person to our programming dept. Now there are 3 of us. We provide programming to 19 Vertical Mills. Our work load has gone out of the roof. There has been controversy on what to provide to the set-up guys. Just seeing what some of you do as far what you give the set-up guy. (Documentation, Set-up Sheet, Written Instructions). We provide a Set up sheet with the following detail Tool numbers, Tool description,Tool Min Z height, Work Offsets, Pgm Numbers, etc. basic instructions. Usually we sit them down and show them on the screen what we are trying accomplish.(Does anyone do this?) Some of them we really need to hold there hands seems like. We are trying to avoid that with giving them better documentation, pictures. Well obvoiusly this take more time. But our office is always busy(revolving door). Very hard to concentrate. Just seeing what other shops are doing as far as this. Any feedback would be great. Thanks Bill

It does not post out a A degree at all.

When i do this it make a work offset for each rotation. I would like to keep the same work offset with a A degree rotation.

Haven't Done a whole lot of 4th Rotary program that will make Mastercam spit out the right code. But what I'm trying to do something simple.I have a slot that neeed to be don on the x axis 45 degrees apart 8'xs. How do i make Mastercam post out code that with code rotate 45 degrees increment and write the same slot program. Normally I make a manual entry for the rotation and do this 8'xs. Is there a quicker way. Thanks Bill