Thanks for the info BB Best bet is to stick with the big three: Agie, Charmilles, Mitsubishi. Fanuc and Sodick also produce nice machines. We use all Agie here. Good Luck

Been using Mikron VCP600 w/ 42k rpm spindle and Heidenhein TNC430 control for 2 years. Cutting hardened tool steel and graphite mostly. Best machine in the shop! Hope to add a Mikron HSM400 w/ pallet changer soon.

I am not familiar with Eroda. Where is it manufactured? Is the control proprietary or a standard such as Fanuc, Mits, Heidenhain, Siemens, etc.?

seriously, I believe I have seen third party software on the Mastercam website that will create surfaces from point cloud data. Zeiss has a very powerful software for this called Dimension. It creates surfaces from data collected on their 3D scanning CMMs. Once you have surfaces you can easily generate toolpaths with Mastercam.

"routing a person's head" sounds dangerous!

So glad to see that my profitability is your top priority. Best Regards, The Boss

I am running flawlessly on a Dell Inspiron w/ GeForce card and WinXP.

AccuMolder: If your CNC EDM is capable of some type of spherical orbit cycle you should not have to modify the solid model at all. This saves lots of time and prevents errors. A circular orbit requires remodelling the part. Is this what you are using? What kind of CNC Sinker do you have?

Thanks Glen

Glen - thanks for listing the parameters you are using (speed, feed ,loop length, etc). I will use this info as a starting point for our applications. Parameters for trochoidal milling are very hard to find from machine manufacturers and tool suppliers. We wish to use this technique for milling harder materials (50-58 Rc). Do you or anyone else have recomendations? We have a Mikron HSM with 42,000 RPM spindle. We are cutting S7, H13, M2, and 420SS mostly. Thanks

Cutting electrode with negative stock: 1. For simplicity it is easier to surface everything and specify negative "stock to leave" with surface toolpaths. 2. If you use 2D paths (pocketing and contouring) specify negative stock in both XY and Z. Your 2D and 3D paths will be relative this way. 3. If you must hold a depth relative to an existing surface (such as a ground top surface), shift the Z-Axis datum at the machine upward by the undersize amount. If you are cutting ALL surfaces, this is not necessary - ALL depths will be relative. 4. To produce a cavity with correct form at the EDM machine, you must use a spherical orbit. Agie calls this EQUIMODE, Charmilles calls it 3D-ORB, etc. Producing an electrode for other orbits such as circular, 2D vector, 3D vector usually requires complete remodelling of the part.

I'm not a router guy but I think the MPFAN.PST should be very close if not perfect.

The problem most people have when using negative stock is when it is necessary to hold a depth relative to an existing surface. In this case it is necessary to shift the Z work datum at the mill up by the undersize amount. This will make everything work out. I avoid this situation by cutting ALL surfaces on the mill in one setup - even if it means doing extra cutting. The accuracy is always better (relative depths held to 0.0001)

I agree with MOLD100. I've been a user since version 3 and am very familiar with the old cutter size manipulation technique. The newer and better way is negative stock with 3D surface machining paths. If you have version 8 or 9 you can use negative stock on 2D paths with independent control of XY vs. Z undersize. Let the computer do the thinking whenever possible.

I am running on a dual 1.7Ghz Xeon machine with Win2K. I often run two instances of Mastercam with one processor assigned to each. No problems. Each instance of Mastercam will need RAM so have plenty. maybe 512mb to 1gig.

I recently upgraded to TNCRemo NT v2.0 I am communicating to the TNC 426 via ethernet at much higher speeds than previously. It is shareware available from Heidenhain. Format checking and conversion is done by the PC instead of the TNC 426 when using this new software. The new software also allows complete file management of the TNC from the remote PC including directory creation, file uploading/downloading/deletion etc. There is a screen capture function allowing the current TNC screen to be transmitted to the remote PC as a .BMP file. Useful for working out problems with service technicians, etc.... [ 05-28-2002, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: Lucky ]

The advantage of dual processors is the ability to run two instances of Mastercam each having exclusive use of a processor. Each instance of Mastercam is just as fast, and stable as normal. I run this way every day using dual P4 1.7Ghz w/ Win 2K Pro. Typically I will use one processor for time consuming toolpath calculations while doing design work on the other processor. VERY PRODUCTIVE. Most of the time it's like having two computers with a seat of Mastercam on each. A dual processor system is much a more cost effective way to achieve this level of productivity. Do the math: Added cost for dual proc workstation + $1000 Saved cost of a second computer - $4000 Saved cost of a seat of Mastercam -$15000 Total savings -$18,000

Thanks...I thought that might be the case. Can this file be edited directly? and should you? It appears that a great many options / features are turned off. Thanks again.

Sorry I was not clear. I would like to know what this file does. How is the configuration of Mastercam affected by these settings? Can certain functionality be enabled / disabled by editing this file? Thanks for the reply.

Hello....Is anybody out there? It is rare on this forum for a question to go un-answered. So what's the deal? Nobody knows? Nobody cares?

What does the file tp.cfg locateed in the APPS directory do? Mine looks like this: [appmch] Note: these configuration settings are described below. Key: (future use) this question is reserved for a future release (under development) new control is available but the processing code is not available. (y/n) new control and processing is available, 'y' to enable and 'n' to disable. 1. Enable new features added after v9.0 is released (future use)? n 2. Enable new v9.0 parallel controls (future use)? n 3. Enable new v9.0 radial controls (future use)? n 4. Enable new v9.0 project controls (y/n)? n 5. Enable new v9.0 flowline controls (future use)? n 6. Enable new v9.0 contour controls (y/n)? n 7. Enable new v9.0 pocket controls (y/n)? n 8. Enable new v9.0 plunge controls (future use)? n 9. Enable new v9.0 steep controls (future use)? n 10. Enable new v9.0 shallow controls (y/n) ? n 11. Enable new v9.0 pencil controls (future use)? n 12. Enable new v9.0 leftover controls (under development)? n 13. Enable new v9.0 scallop controls (y/n)? n 14. Enable new v9.0 pocket dialog (future use) ? n 15. Enable new v9.0 contour dialog (future use) ? n 16. Enable new v9.0 parallel dialog (future use) ? n 17. Enable new v9.0 gap controls (y/n)? n 18. Enable new v9.0 cut depths controls (y/n)? n 19. Enable new v9.0 collapse controls (y/n)? y 20. Enable new v9.0 edge controls (y/n)? n 21. Disable single surface sharp corner test (y/n)? n 22. Disable appmchX.dll (y/n)? n 23. Use old version 8 flow5ax (y/n)? n 24. Use old version 8 rotary4ax (y/n)? y 25. Selection mode for rotary4ax (0/1/2)? 0 26. Selection mode for flow5ax (0/1/2)? 0 (end of file)

I am running V9 SP1 I installed V9SP1.EXE and everything seems to be O.K. My APPS directory contains appmch9.dll dated 3/6/2002 and ctour9.dll dated 2/22/2002 from an earlier patch - is this O.K.? Can anyone explain the file tp.cfg dated 3/25/2002 in my APPS directory? Is this file created/edited using appcfg.dll C-Hook?

I installed V9SP1.EXE and everything seems to be O.K. My APPS directory contains appmch9.dll dated 3/6/2002 and ctour9.dll dated 2/22/2002 from an earlier patch - is this O.K.? Can anyone explain the file tp.cfg dated 3/25/2002 in my APPS directory? Is this file created/edited using appcfg.dll C-Hook?

Anyone have parameters for this? feedrate, rpm, depth as a percentage of cutter dia, loop size, forward feed per loop, etc.

I am running Dell Win 2k Dual processor P4's with Fire GL2 card. No problems with v8 or v9