Matthew, This would be very easy to do. You could put most of the pieces together yourself just from the examples that are included with mastercam. Look in the VB directory of whatever version you have installed. If you have any specific questions I'm sure that they will be answered here or you can e-mail me at my profile address. Have fun with the vb side. Karl

I have the same book but I did not find anything on the mod division in the index? I must have just missed it. All I need is the final testing of running all 8 parts on both pallets and it will be done. What a relief it will be to finally take a project OFF my plate. Thanks again Karl

I finally got time on the machine to test the code and I needed only one correction: was: IF [#101 MOD 2] = 0 GOTO15 is: IF [[#101 MOD 2] EQ 0] GOTO15 Thanks for the inspiration gentlemen Karl

Matt, The book I have ( FANUC custom macros ) does not even mention MOD division. I did not want to have a confusing program as it's bad enough already.That is why I did not want to test for every value 1-8 kunfuzed, Yes I do know how the MOD function works and thanks for the format example. Here is what I ended up with: IF [#101 MOD 2] = 0 GOTO15 ( ODD OFFSET NUMBERS ) #[6982+[[#101 + #137]*20]] = #144 ( P1,P3,P5,P7,P9,P11,P13,P15 - Y ) #[6981+[[#101 + #137]*20]] = #129 ( P1,P3,P5,P7,P9,P11,P13,P15 - X ) GOTO16 N15 ( EVEN OFFSET NUMBERS ) #[6982+[[#101 + #137]*20]] = #143 ( P2,P4,P6,P8.P10,P12,P14,P16 - Y ) #[6981+[[#101 + #137]*20]] = #129 ( P2,P4,P6,P8.P10,P12,P14,P16 - X ) N16 I have not had any open time on the machine to test it but it looks good on paper Thanks to both of you for the info. Karl

Does the fanuc macro language have a MOD Division function? If not anybody have any ideas how I can determine if a passed variable is an even or an odd number? The passed value is always going to be between 1 and 8 inclusive. Thanks Karl

Thanks Mick I'll give it a try later this afternoon when work load permits. Karl

Hi All, I need to come up with a script (for X4) that will import multiple IGES files from various directories and merge them into one mastercam file. First file opens fine but when the next file is opened the first is closed. I thought about saving the first as temp1 then using the MergeMC() but I was hoping for a more simple solution. Way back in ver9 the import did not close the previous files. Anybody have any other sugestions? Karl

As always excellent advice from all. Thank you, I will probably run 9 while I try to get the output code exactly as it is now. I want to learn more about the post processors. If it's to time consuming I'll just give it to my dealer to do. Karl

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping it would be a simple update-pst c-hook but I guess not. I will definitly keep 9 to get programs done while I attempt the update process. Can these two co-exist without any problems? Karl

We finally got our company to cut a PO for mastercam update. We are going from ver. 9 to X3. The questions I have are: 1) I have modified our posts (5 axis positioning) pretty extensively so how is the post update from 9 to X3? 2) What is involved in the update? 3) If things do not go well is the post language the same? Karl

I have a vb script (for ver. 9 )that imports the operations from a saved mastercam file. If you know vb this would be a simple thing to create for X. Karl

Are you sure the extension is not swp, swp is the extension for solidworks macros written using VBA inside the solidworks macro editor. Karl

We have our post fill in this info for us using the nci file placement. My config files save the NCI to a Dummy directory named KARL the other guy writes to the dummy file TOM..... then the post can determine who is posting and just fill it in. If the directory in not correct it will prompt for the programmer name. This is in ver. 9 but same logic should work for X. Karl

This may be a dumb question but.... Is there a simple formula for getting the normal for rotated and twisted planes i.e. from the top rotate z17.5 then rotate y12.9 Karl

This is from the mastercam script help: // set the current tool plane view to be perpendicular to a certain vector Integer SetTPlaneNormal( Real,(Input: X-Coordinate of vector perpendicular to new view) Real,(Input: Y-Coordinate of vector perpendicular to new view) Real,(Input: Z-Coordinate of vector perpendicular to new view) ) I have never tried to use it, but it is possible to create a plane using VB! Karl

Another idea is to buy a complete set with no machining except for center - lugs from somewhere. I know that budnik wheels sells then as smoothy style.(I used to program for budnik) You give them back / front space and hub diameter. You get complete wheels ready for you to customize. +1 for the "y" travel answer. You need to add approx 1.2 inches to the diameter to allow for the bead configuration. +100 to the steering wheel answer. Aluminum steering wheel = much easier to fixture and machine plus stays cleaner inside the car. At budnik I made plenty of 100% custom wheels that looked very cool but were a MAJOR pain to keep clean. Karl

Anybody have or use the dynamic fixture offset feature (G54.2)? We just had it installed and are just learning to use it. For fixtures that come off and go back on in a different place it is just a simple offset change. So far it has worked great for our horizontals. Karl

Thanks for the info. Will try this as soon as I get a few minutes. I knew this was the place to ask

Does anybody know how or if it's even possible to use the vb scripting in mastercam Ver. 9 to connect and extract info from a MS SQL Database? I can do it inside solidworks vb using the connection tools but that is a full vb package. I made an attempt using the same style as my sw code but it does not recognize the connection type. Karl

Thanks for the replies. I knew that there had to be a way to do this. Karl

Hi All, Is there a way to have the feed and speed which are calculated from a material re-calculate if I change the material? karl

Thanks Mick, I'll probally end up writing a vb exe to accomplish this. This is the only complaint I get when others here run my script. It does not make the script better (in my opinion) it is just the format that all here expect. Karl

Hi VB Gurus, Is there any way to access the standard WSH functions such as inputbox/msgbox thru a mastercam script? I know that i can use the askstring and showstring, but I would like the window to show in the center of the screen instead of the bottom in the prompt area. Karl S.

#123 for working solids #8 for Customer JPEG's 205 for edge curves Karl

Thanks Mick, If it's no problem could I get an e-mail when this is thing is corrected. The e-mail in my profile is a correct one. Karl Stickel