Imagine the printer that will print Dreamliner wing spars.

The ONLY way I see this going as planned is if you thread-milled it in the first place AND have a clocking feature so you know the angle of the start AND you use the same thread-mill. If any of the 3 are not there, it'll probably be a scrapped part when you're done. This right here... ^^^^^^^^

It was the way of the future 15 years ago... it's the here and now. Some of our customers in the the HMC world are REALLY getting back into the Custom MACRO B world to gain what (apparently) CAD/CAM systems functions are lacking in many instances. I would venture to say that I do exponentially more MACRO B training today than I did 20 years ago which many consider to be it's heyday when it was actually necessary for a wide variety of reasons. You may want to explore/exploit the power of the Mastercam/IHS/Postbility Post Processor in addition to adding Custom MACRO B functions to it. I've said this before and I'll say it till the day I die, Mastercam's MP post language can actually make up for some application specific deficiencies in the software. Some people think of that as a negative, I actually think it's a positive because it allows the customer to tailor the output to meet their increasingly complex needs without reliance on the CAD/CAM software for all functionality. JM2CFWIW

Additive will only become cheaper and better as time goes on as well. Personally I don't believe it will completely replace subtractive (I dispute that assertion) for a variety of reasons but there's no question it is here to stay and will only gain in prominence and popularity. Just a few weeks ago I used mine to replace a broken household part. Took less than 45 minutes from art to part. I would have been hard pressed to get into my car drive to Lowes, pick it up (if it was even available) and come back home in that timeframe. Would have cost gas and wear and tear on my vehicle too.

You would be unusual in my territory and the US as a whole, hence why I cited UCC filings. A UCC filing happens whenever a piece of capital equipment is financed in any way shape or form and is a method in which collateral is secured. UCC stands for Uniform Commercial Code. I see those reports about every month or so. Companies that sell only HMC's aren't moving the kinds of number they once enjoyed and that trend isn't reversing. Even if you had 100 HMC's it wouldn't even move the needle in the trend. When I started in this business and at my current company (not considering commodity machines), HMC sales outnumbered VMC sales 2:1 easily and outnumbered 5-Axis sales probably 3:1 or 4:1. Today it's probably 5-Axis sales outnumbered HMC's 4:1 maybe even 5:1. The whole point to my explanation is most companies (software included) look at trends and make development decisions based on things like UCC filings, Feature Requests, and probably even Social Media to a certain degree. Brace yourself for additive technology to unseat development in other areas (like HMC specific features) as the technology continues to unseat subtractive manufacturing methods. Don't shoot the messenger.

One of the first things I do when working on a new project is I go to my tool library and pull all my tools in , then as I program a feature I select the desired tool for the operation. The only time I see "random tools" get created is when I don't select a tool for the operation. I think a minor workflow adjustment could remove that annoyance.

I still use Pfe32 for Post Processor editing. And CIMCO Editor and Notepad.

Make sure everyone in the department uses the same posts. There's multiple ways to handle that and which way works best depends on your IT Infrastructure. Create a method for setup guys to put program change orders in.. amd when practical MAKE THE CHANGES. This way setup guys feel some ownership in the process and heads off the need for han-edits at the machine. Figure out each guy's strengths and weaknesses. If you can, 80% of the time give them projects that will challenge them and 20% of the time give them something they can crush. Work from common tool libraries and use common workholding whenever/wherever possible. Make sure you've got your holders in the tool library too. Reward excellence, not only programmers that put out quality programs, but that try new things AND SHARE with their peers. There's no room for the guys that keep stuff to themselves anymore. Those days are gone. We can't keep hurting ourselves because some guy's fragile ego can't handle competition. Just a few thoughts off the top of my head.

According to the UCC filings, HMC's aren't selling at anywhere near the rate they used to. For the most part they are dedicated to high production only these days. You can tool up a 5-Axis machine with workholding for a fraction of what it costs to put workholding on an HMC. Don't hold your breath for much love in the future either. Maybe a little here or there. That gravitation to HMC ship has sailed and she ain't coming back.

I personally always have G90 on my G10 line. I don't like surprises.

MFSNAFU?

I did find some issues that required me to figure out a workaround. https://www.dropbox.com/s/l8nxh4qkz5xprb7/Mastercam 2024 to CAMplete TruePath Plug-In.zip?dl=0 Close Mastercan. Download and Open this ZipFile linked above and extract the contents to your C:\Program Files\Mastercam 2024\chooks\ folder. Then it will work. In the spirit of "Teach a man to fish", when you download the CAMplete 2024 Installer, if you've accepted the default paths, you can go to "C:\Autodesk\CAMplete_TruePath_2024_2024_1_0_2882_Win_64Bit_dlm\x64\Plugins\Mastercam\Mastercam 2024" and there's a "CAMplete Mastercam 2024 Plugin (2024.94).msi" file in there. I opened that in WinRar and extracted them to the correct location. Thanks for reminding me, I need to send that into CAMplete QC for analysis. Hope this helps. Sounds like one particular "support" tech. My condolences on that experience. DM me if you have any other issues like that and I'll see if I can get you squared away.

Yes. I program in several CAM systems but Mastercam is what is primarily used as it is what the largest percentage of our machine user base uses, then I use a software called CAMplete TruePath for Post Processing. It does Post Processing, Simulation and Collision Checking of G-Code as well as a host of other features.

Uninstalled 2023 and Installed 2024 on Friday. I haven't run any substantive tests yet. Monday I've got a few 5-Axis fit-checks to run so we shall see.

In my experience I/O Channel 4 has always been for CF Cards. 0&1 = RS-232 4 = CF Card 5 = DataServer (if equipped) 9 = FTP (if equipped) 17 = USB (if equipped)

Just uninstalled 2023 and installed 2024.... and we're off. You say that like it's a bad thing.

That would most likely require some pretty heavy Post Processor mods with buffers but sounds possible. @Colin Gilchrist may be able to provide some specifics as to how to achieve it.

I will say about MC's CAD... I've modeled some parts (cylinder head ports, blinks, and a few other things) that "I" would not have been able to model in anything else. That only speaks to my lack of CAD skills in CATIA or Inventor, not CATIA or Inventor's capabilities.

I actually didn't have too manuly issues with 2023. That said, I don't use Mastercam/IHS/Postability posts nor do I do design work in it either. Only what I need for tooplath. I do ALL my post processing with CAMplete. Even 3-Ax. It's just SO easy to edit posts, even 5-Ax.

That is what I do. Except.. 05-... 15-... 23-... 35-... That way I can add 4 before and 5 after and I don't have to renumber a bunch in case I miss something.

That should work. Are you wanting the post to add in the #601, #602, etc... automatically?

My personal opinion FWIW, is ALWAYS update unless there is a mission critical reason not to. "Bugs"... definitely NOT a reason to not update. All software has them. And if HyperShill or GibbSCAM boy tells you it theirs doesn't... they lie like rugs. Programmers should be able to work around obstacles, it's the nature of the job IMHO.

Yes and no. Twice (since the 30i Series generation came out) I have had to do a full ALL-FLDR.TXT backup, then delete ALL the programs and folders. Cycle Power. You have to delete the files first. Reload the ALL-FLDR.txt file after you cycle power. Presumably the same sector would get written again. Never had that fail and so far the machines haven't had problems with that again. There was a file or two that would just go haywire. We reloaded all the same programs and no issues. So, Is it possible? Yes. The fix may take a little time but memory is one of those weird things.

See if this helps. https://selwaymachine.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/eZ-5ServiceandApps/ESiN32UqewNKhhQwEr8kX_oBcmsB-HKvB67FITKKXppl4A

It's ALWAYS "good". The REAL question is can you handle some new undocumented features?