I had similar problem when we were developing our Rotary axis. Its either we change the sign of the rotary axis in the program (via post processor), e.g. +A to -A or vice versa; or we change the direction of the rotary axis by changing the parameter of the machine. We change the parameter in the machine.

Thanks you very much... this certainly satisfied my curiousity .

Im just curious, has anyone tried making a bolt thread in solid?

9 VMC's 3 of which are 5-axis.... ... those were the days. now as a tech support for Germen CNC router Manufacturer and without MasterCAM on my side.... Boring I want my Mastercam days back.

After using Mastercam for more than 7 years, I finally had the chance to work using PRO/E. The new job requires me to migrate to another country (MIDEAST). After a month of self-training, I concluded that Pro/e could never give me the flexibility the way mastercam can. My Programs with mastercam are 'Personal' meaning i decide how the tools cut the metal unlike Pro/e where the programmer let Pro/e generate the toolpath. The problem was that all the old programmers here hardly generate appropriate programs for specicfice portions of the mould, too bad. Worse is that they are not considering changing their system. Fact is, they hired me because of my experince in CNC programming in 3 to 5-axis Milling (nobody in the company is brave enough to generate 5-axis NC codes from Pro/e to run on their 5-axis machine). They risked hiring me without any skill on Pro/e. Now that I discovered that Pro/e could not show my true potential for the company, I quit. It may not be the best decision, but i beleive that staying will make me more a liability than an asset to the company. By the way, these programming guys here were the tech support of pro/e in the philippines when I was working with the local mastercam dealer back in the philippines. Mastercam Rules! All I need now is to go home and find a new programming job. HAHA

Is there a chance for us foreigners without visa to land a programming job anywhere in the US? ...Just asking.

Is there a command in macro so that it will continue playing until a key (e.g. 'Esc') is press? Sort of a DO-WHILE loop? Thanks!

We make our CMM programs using mastercam. Our CMM uses Win CMES. We just 5-axis drill some pts on a CAD Model. Recently, I edited our Post and Mill TXT file so that we can preselect in the drilling type what type of pts do we check (e.g, hole or profile). I can still Imagine my boss' smile when i prsented to him the new post and the edited 5-axis drilling menu of mastercam.

--------------------------------------------- Philippines to Kansas, killer commute Dude. --------------------------------------------- its a good way to save on labor! isn't it?

AH OK, Customize drill cycle!!! that would be OK... Thanks for all your help!!!

thanks guys for the replies. I am not used to writing macro and i am not sure wether the machines where they run the program supports macro. Im in Philippines and they are running the program in Kansas. Does this mean that its not posible producing the NC file in Mcam without manually altering the NC file?

Thanks Mayday for the reply. hmmm. OK, I forgot to add that the setup requires only vise because we only need to make a few pieces/part. the part requires cutting in the right length and its shorter than the vise jaw. i could have put the whole program for the locating pin but as Manual entry but the part has different lengths? using the vise and the locating pin is seems more feasible than using fixture with locating pin hole.

I've recently had an NC program (generated by mastercam v7) which i cant avoid editing manually. My program uses a locating pin used as a tool so that it will be used as a part stopper (to locate the part). To position the pin i used CONTOUR toolpath followed by a MANUAL ENTRY 'M0 (STOP PART USING PIN)'. The produced NC file is what I had expected, The locating pin went to the designated location but returned to the Clearance height then to machine's Z0 before the manual entry appeared. This resulted, as i have said to a manual edit of the NC file where i had to put the manual entry in its right sequence, that is before the pin goes up to the clearance height. I could have lived with editing the NC file, but i made this kind of program for 21 parts this past few days now and my boss told me to expect more. YAIKS!!! Is there a way to avoid this? just to lessen the risks. what if i use V9, would i avoid this problem?

Hey, does this mean that it wouldn't be doifficult in finding programming jobs in the USA. My wife is applying for an immigration visa, (She's a nurse). So pretty soon we'll be there. I have a 4 years experience as an MC trainer and technical support, three years in CNC programming (3 and 5-axis) in an aerospace parts manufacturing co. We haven't decided on which state to settle but i hope that there's lots of mastercam around that area.

RETIRING!!! At 28, Im still hoping to work in the US of A. hopefully Ill fulfill that by 30, which means starting to look for a shop job. retiring seems to be too far when one hasn't started

The post we are using asks us only for the 'gauge length'. I beleive that in order for the post to compute for the actual Machine coordinates. It needs to have the tool gage length and the pivot length. Our posts outputs the value of both pivot length and the gauge length of each tool in the NC file and from my own understanding, the pivot lenght is constant to a machine. The gage length is different for each tool that you use. The pivot length is the distance between the pivot points of the machine point of contact of the machine tool and the tool holder. Just FYI. cant advise you other than consult your local dealer.

Still no sign of JAMES MEYETTE!!! Hmmmm.

Ive been in this trade for almost 7 years now. the first 4 years Ive spent with a reseller as tecnical support engineer for all software they were handling... Mastercam, Delcam, Renishaw and even japanese 2d CAMS. The bulk of our customers is more inclined on mastercam (it's the truth). one time Ive also teach mastercam in an institute too. Then the past 3 years Ive been using mastercam programming airplane parts. Ive never operated a Machine though. But there are a lot of times when I regreted having been involved in this trade...But having to sit down from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM in front of the pc imagining the cutting process, I guess it was just normal... But every time a first part is finished! It just feels amazing that when I got home, I have to tell my wife.

there's 2 women here (Philippines). One is with the local reseller, she has worked there ever since mastercam was introduce here in the philippines. Another is a user who I trained when I was working for the reseller. and maybe more... I had 24 students in a mastercam course in an institute here, 5 of them are women. and that was 1998, I dont know if they had practice mastercam after that... And they are still teaching mastercam in that institute.

I have to agree elad! but maybe not only women but youngters like us too. ... Ive always enjoyed listening to my dad's bedtime stories... Hurray for the 1975 club!!!

I was born on May 1975 too. That makes three of us born on that year here. No offense meant but this topic seems to be one of the few i found that James Meyette did not post. I wonder what's keeping him from posting here. [ 02-03-2003, 05:56 AM: Message edited by: Jerome ]

The smallest part weve done here were not larger than 1"x.5"x.25". The raw mats are phenolic. itchy eh!!! The Longest part I programmed was 330" long (aluminum extrusion). Making only contours to taper on both ends of part and clouds of dirllings about inch and a half apart. But our longest machines can only handle 140" so I never got to see the raw material and it being machined. They run it in Kansas where our mother company is located. Smart huh! Look at how much money they save by having the programs done in a third world country. [ 02-01-2003, 12:21 AM: Message edited by: Jerome ]

I worked for the local dealer of mastercam here for four years 1996-2000, so I know who is presently selling mastercam here. but the problem is that they visited our company ages ago. From what I've heard they seemed to be getting nowhere in dealing with my boss. Our plant is located about 3 hours drive from the local dealer of Matercam, it seems to them that talking to is a potential waste of time. I'm speaking only for myself! hehehe James, thanks that's really positive of you to say these things, but I've tried these before. I've ask this in this forum personally hoping to get result without my bossing knowing it, just to show him better output in work when i got it.

Wow Im impressed to all your suggestions/ recommendations ! Is this really how it work in your companies? I guess I have to salute you guys! Our practice in our company really isn't pretty. we do it this way .. programmer's namecustomerpart #.. ..programmer's-way-of-naming-the-files It really isn't pretty specially since there are 5 programmers who already left the company since we started (there are 3 of us remaining). Imagine issuing programs to the machine shop you did not make... ... then you'll see files named 'my first part.nci' Man!! its ugly. At least, I know now that somewhere out there there is some that kind of system.. Thanks.

Thanks for all the replies... I guess that my problem is about updating the mastercam. but aside from you guys, I guess im the only one convinced that we should update.. but for the mean time, Im going to have to try uptxting my post and try it on the v7 5-axis toolpath. but its going to take a while to get the result because we're transfering all our machine including the computers to a new and bigger site. i'll just update u regarding the results. thanks again. [ 01-25-2003, 04:27 AM: Message edited by: Jerome ]