Ashan.....how did you know? Thats exactly what happened. Took me three hrs to figure out, I was busy looking at the post ASSuming that the problem must be there when it was in my toolpaths.

I hope I make that kind of progress gcode. I'm on the part of the learning curve right now.

OK forget it, I figured it out. As usual it was my fault. Feel free to delete this thread, sorry.

I used the MPFadal-2 post today and got the following message Divide by zero error: divisor <1.0E-10 postblock label pmisc2 program execution halted due to error running .pst Divid by zero error: divisor < 1.0E-10 postblock label pmisc2_2 program execution halted due to error running .pst any ideas how to fix this? The file is just a simple contour with two drilled holes.

Between you guys and a machinist I know I have a grip on the concept now. Funny how the same thing can be said so many ways, be understood one way and not the other. Harryman, a multi axis mill turn machine is a ways off I think, but it's good to dream.

OK, I finally got it, that last post there Rick finally rang the bell in my thick skull. Using the A axis centerline seems like the way to go if the work will allow. Thanks all for the replies.

Thanks for your help. So to paraphrase just to make sure I understand you. I can use one work offset , say at the upper left corner of my part. I set that as G54 in MC, touch it off and store the X, Y , and A. Set TLOs to the centerline of the A axis. Rotate the part in MC using Tool planes and leave the work offset set to G54?

So this is not really an MC question, it's more of a basic 4th axis indexer setup question. I'm just starting out with 4 axis at this point and seem to have a grip on how to program basic indexer moves in MC, keeping all of the x and y's lined up, post comes out OK and metacut and MC sims and backplots it OK. My problem is how to set up the machine in terms of part offsets and TLOs. My part is just a 6" X 4 X 4 block with the long axis running with the X axis, and through the rotary axis centerline, and my 4th set up as an A axis on a Fadal VMC running format 2. Now the qs: If in my program I use g54, 55, 56 etc, set at various corners of my part, do I edge find all of those spots and store them as g54, 55 etc? If so where is it (how is it) that I tell my machine where the centerline of my rotary table is? Or do I need to? The TLOs. I have had this explained to me once and I think I understand using the longest tool as a reference in G53, doing TLOs for the first side then touching that reference tool off of all sides and referencing all other tools from it. Is that the way or is there some other that I should be using? Sorry for this basic question, I googled 4th axis setup, indexer setup and every permutation of those as well, bought three CNC books over the past few months, and a video on 4th axis programming in MC. None of those sources have any explaination of actually setting a project up on the machine. If anyone knows of a source please let me know.

I heard from SW tech support to expect problems with SW 05 if you are running win XP home edition. It was designed for use with XP Pro. You did not specify in your title which one you have.

A year ago just for fun I downloaded their program and drew up a 20"X16" subplate (no tapped holes...just a grid of holes on a T6-6061 1" plate) to see how much they would charge, I never did get a quote because the program kept telling me it could not be made with the selected method. I tried both mill and waterjet. Came away pretty un-impressed from that interaction.

http://www.tipsformanufacturing.com/html/v9_mastercam.html These are good vids. I have not seen the one on design but I really like the others I have.

Thanks for the reply Mike, don't mean to thread hijack, I'll get your ver 9.1 3d CD today.

Mike are you going to come out with ver X videos? If so when? I have your 4th axis video, and am very happy with it. I was going to get your MC ver 9.1 3d vids but figure might as well wait till your X version is out (depends on the wait though).

Don't mean to be harsh, just trying to help you out...really. I contacted SW tech right when the update to 05 came out after 05 would not install on my system (had XP home at the time) the tech told me that SW05 was designed to work with XP Pro, and I should expect lots of problems if I tried using Home XP. You should call them and see what they tell you.

Thanks for the reply. I'll give it a try.

How can I change the color of the text in the standard MC setup sheet (SET file)? My text is now grey, and my background is grey by preference. I don't see it listed in the screen color config list. Checked help, and did a search here as well.

I've been importing SW 05 files for the past few weeks to MC as .sldprt and have not had a single problem. Have you tried re-installing the updates to MC? Todd is right, XP home edition or anythig older won't run SW05, SW05 won't even install with that OS.

Thanks

Heeler and James, great tip, I tried that this afternoon and had some results that were pleasantly surprising.

They diddn't pass their GED...again...sigh.

Rek'd, I have not typed one thing that would cause loss of face. I think what I have contributed probably strikes home for a few here including yourself.

Quote: I can't claim to be any expert here, I just started using MC a few weeks ago so I have a long way to go. --------------------------------------------- Read my post. I'm eating a big piece of humble pie here openly admitting that I have a lot to learn in MC and you throw it right back in my face. Brilliant.

I can't claim to be any expert here, I just started using MC a few weeks ago so I have a long way to go. I've been using backplot almost exclusively because I've found the verify to be kind of painful to use in terms of time, not being able to rotate real time, and a few things that it's missed. TS seems to take longer, but you can pan and rotate after it's done. You are stuck with one view unless it's turned on. For everything I've done so far (a grand total of three parts) backplot has been most helpful. Wish I could be more insightful here but that's as far as I've gotten. Maybe some long timer can step in and enlighten us both on what we have missed.

Yup, exactly.

Did ya check out the "verify" thread below? Your timing is impeccable.