Logitech MX1000 mouse. 10 buttons, with application specific button programming available. I got rid of my trackball, I found it to not work so well in Mastercam and Solidworks, especially if you are running two monitors. Add a Space Pilot and a second monitor and you will be in control.

Scaled Composites (Burt Rutan's operation) might have the tool needed. http://www.scaled.com/services/cms_mill.html MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals

I know the topic of computer mouses (mice?) has come up before, but I thought I would add a bit. We just got the Logitech 5000 cordless keyboard combo here at work which includes the MX1000 mouse. While the mouse is a huge improvement over the standard ambidexterous 3 button mouse, I was a bit dissapointed to find that it did not support application specific button programming, especially when I was sure I had read that other Logitech products did support this. A bit of poking around in the Logitech forums revealed this (btw- this only works on Logitech products that use their Setpoint software)- which has a bit of funkiness but generally works as intended. I haven't got into fully mapping Mastercam, but I did map the View manager- which I couldn't get to stick on my Space Pilot for some reason. This is pretty slick, because the forward/back/close application is really useful while browsing, but of no use in Solidworks or Mastercam, for instance. Now you can make them useful. No association with Logitech etc, and there may be better products available for less money for all I know. But I am happy with the functionality and am considering buying one for home. MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Thanks all. I kinda suspected the clumsy-but-effective method (a table of points) was about the only reasonable method. Since my current issue is only for aesthetics, "cut per CAD file" is going to do it- I think. MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals

I suppose my question would be better put- How do you dimension a spline on a drawing? Edges and radii are straightforward, but the mathematics of splines are complicated enough to not be of practical use. So, I was wondering if a simplified method has been developed to accurately convey the shape. What did y'all do before CAD/CAM systems? Argue and point fingers with designers? MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Am I to gather from the chorus of responses that splines do not get documented beyond a table of points that lay on the spline?

Being a newbie to the use of splines, I have never seen one on a drawing. I have a part that I need to send out, and although I know they will just cut to the solid, I would like (need) to document this a bit better than 'cut per solid file'. I can dream up ways to do this, but it would be better to use some sort of standard method. If someone could send me a sample drawing, or throw some quick details on my part (currently in Solidworks), I would greatly appreciate it. MattW

Kelly- The spindle won't even make it to the vise tops as it is, so any small tool needs to be sticking way out to make it to the table. The bulk of the parts I do are fairly small. Nobody hurt my feelings, but I didn't catch everything in heeler's suggestion when I first read it. I then proposed essentially the same thing, as if I came up with the idea all by myself- which I sort of did, but only because my reading comprehension had sagged a bit. I then reread his suggestion, which I had just posted as my own idea. Oops. MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals

quote: Or maybe use legs to set it off the machine bed, and just use the vises to clamp it Hmm, wonder where I got that idea. quote: You could make them so that the bottom of the fixture would clear the vises a little, and then the vices wouldn't matter, you would only be using them to clamp the fixture in place. Nobody needs to point out that I'm a dope, I am already well aware of that. MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals

heeler- I think that will be my backup plan. I was a little concerned with rigidity, but with a bar on the bottom, that may be taken care of. Thinking more about this, I could bump my bar dimension up to whatever the dimension is from the vise bed- vise top, plus a little, and then the fixture would reference off the bottom. Or maybe use legs to set it off the machine bed, and just use the vises to clamp it. Thanks for everyones' suggestions, I think this will end up better than I had planned. A couple of related issues- the vises appear to have been run into a couple of times, although I swear I know nothing about that. Also, one of the vises was somewhat difficult to turn. I took it all apart, cleaned and lubed everything and replaced the thrust bearing. After all that, I think the problem was mainly the adjusting set screw in the back of the moveable vise was too loose. Probably most of you know this already, but if your vise is hard to turn, check that first. MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Lets see if I can better describe where I am going. If someone can put the file up on the FTP site for me, I can save a MCX file (it is currently in Solidworks), and that might help. The idea is to have a 1" x 8"(thereabouts) x 24" bar that will go between the jaws and be clamped by both vises. Attached to the top of the bar is a fixture plate, the bottom of which sits on the top of the vises (the vise jaws would be removed for this). When I need the fixture plate, I just drop it on the vises and clamp up. When I need the vises back- pop, pop- fixture plate is out and vises are ready. That is the fantasy, anyway. As I said, I am still really green at all of this, but I tend to do batches of small parts, and I think I can do better than to stand around and load the machine every couple minutes. The plan would be to load the bar in the vises and then skim the vise tops. I am hoping that doing that in the condition and position they will be for this, that position will be fairly repeatable, i.e., the vise tops will be coplanar when clamping up the fixture plate. MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals

I suppose I should specify Haas MiniMill. It was here when I arrived (and couldn't even spell CNC), so I don't know much about how it was configured, but right now, the spindle is about 4" away from the top of the vises at it's bottom travel limit. I was inquiring mainly about the cutting of the vises themselves, not the fixturing method. That is a seperate potentially bad idea. MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals

General non-Mastercam question- I have a MiniMill with 2 Kurt D675 vises on it. I am planning a fixture that will span both vises and rest on the top surfaces of the fixed and moveable jaws. the fixed jaw tops are within .001 of each other, but the moveable jaws are out .005 - .010. I am planning on skimming all the tops to make them the same, unless someone convinces me this is a bad idea. Comments? MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals

OK, everything was coming in grey, although I am not sure how to edit that. It turns out, the RMB and LMB work differently when trying to edit entity properties. I should have known better. Hopefully, this has been etched into my brain now. MattW

Ok, I have a part imported from Solidworks via Mastercam Direct. When it came in, all entities (solid and edge curves) were grey, although that wasn't either a group color (red) or the default color (blue in this case). Settings->configuration->colors->use entity colors was already checked. Toggling back and forth to use group colors (no groups listed in the group manager, btw, so I have no group to delete) doesn't do anything predictably. Somewhere in moving things to different levels, changing the entity colors/group colors button, fumbling around, the solid and edge curves started showing up in their assigned color. I have created some surfaces, but they are staying grey no matter what I do. What am I doing wrong? MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals X sp2 with solids

-thread hijack alert- Don S Heh... small world. I actually corresponded with that guy (Richard) a couple of years ago about lost foam techniques for composite fuel tanks (check out his "carbon fibre" links). He kind of strikes me as one of those guys who cruises through junkyards, scrounging pieces off televisions, microwaves, and refrigerators so he can build an atom smasher in his garage- when he can motivate himself to turn the TV off. - back to your regularly scheduled programming- MattW

On a somewhat related note, you do not need an M3 command when rigid tapping on a Haas (and maybe other tools), the G84 turns the spindle on and off. If you watch your machine, you will see the spindle turn on, rapid to z.1, then stop prior to tapping the hole. The control needs to do this to synch up the spindle and feed. Someday, I am going to fix my post so it doesn't output the M3 when tapping. I haven't even checked if it is possible. There is also a parameter to increase the tap retract speed, that you might want to play with. Matt Wallace Vertex Pharmaceuticals

I am starting to customize my space pilot, so I am trying to map a button for the WCS manager. I can do that successfully, but every time I switch to a different application, whatever button the WCS manager was mapped to switches to the Operations Manager toggle. Actively saving the configuration doesn't help, and it does not do this in Solidworks, only MC. Other buttons seem to be sticking, but this might be the only button I had to go through the macro recording or whatever it took to get WCS manager as an option. Anybody else have something like this happen? Matt Wallace Vertex Pharmaceuticals

I think maybe our pals are funnin' ya. Don't maximize Mastercam. Drag the borders so that the graphics window is on your right screen and the ops manager is taking up 30-50% of your left screen, or however you want it set up. This works pretty slick in Solidworks as well, putting your part tree on the right monitor. Consiering what monitors now cost, everyone should have two monitors. Matt Wallace Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Roger In Solidworks, you attach a coordinate system that aligns with how you want the part oriented in Mastercam, the save as a parasolid with that output coordinate system. When you open the part in mastercam, The origin and axes align with the default Top WCS. If you never move the part in MC to align with this position and just attach your own WCS, I don't see any particular advantage to this method over Mastercam Direct. If you like using all the default WCS in MC, attaching the coordinate system in Solidworks can save some work in MC Matt Wallace Vertex Pharmaceuticals

John No, it hasn't, but I haven't done a lot of parts in X (not a lot of parts, period, actually). Try this one on for size. Since it is a pretty simple part, I just brought it in again (originally a Solidworks part, but this time with gcode's coordinate system trick), reprogrammed with the same tools in the same sequence, and it doesn't skip a number. The original file has some toolpath transforms translates and rotates the second doesn't have yet, but, still.... Any suggestions appreciated.

I maybe should have stated I have searched. "skipping tool numbers" yields no results. "Tool numbering" and "tool renumbering" get largely the same X applicable results, and if the answer is in there, I can't find it. If this is a known bug that I have to work around, I can live with that and move on. If it is something I am doing, I want to know what it is and fix it. MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals

I have a job that uses five tools, and there are only five tools in the tool manager or machine group or whatever it is properly called. When I try to renumber tools, it is skipping the third tool. IOW, I get all 5 tools, numbered 1, 2, 4, 5, 6. It does this regardless of starting number (starting with 7, I get 7, 8, 10, 11, 12). What am I doing wrong? It hasn't done this on other files. I can work around this, but I would like to understand the issue. MattW Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Thanks gcode, that is what I was looking for. Well, I was looking for was to that within Mastercam Direct, that would have been slick, but your method still works much better than what I have been doing. MattWallace Vertex Pharmaceuticals

I believe I read here at one time that you could attach a coordinate system to a Solidworks part so that it would land in Mastercam in the orientation and location you wanted. Could someone in the know explain how this is done? I can't seem to stumble my way to the answer. TIA Matt Wallace Vertex Pharmaceuticals