I finished a 160 operation program yesterday. When I came in this morning to make some 'Sleep on it' changes and all of my operation groups were M.I.A. The toolpaths were still there and intact but the first group which now contained all operations had the dedault name "Toolpath Group 1". Scary stuff!!!

What started out as a legitiment effort to sack a bumbling politician has become a farce (happens in other states also). My vote is for the porn star because I feel she is a True People Person!

22 years and about 9 shops. N Franco- Obviousely you're one of the lucky ones. That "mothership" jetisoned a lot of cargo. Good cargo in a lot of cases.

Can you add stock to the intersecting cylinder and create the curve from that geometry?

Check the date on your current mp.dll file in c-hooks folder. If I remember correctly we had a problem with the new one that came with 9.1 SP1. The date on the one we're using is 12/24/02. No guarantees this will fix the problem.

We suffer from the no note blues also. We have added a group called Program Notes above the first operation group which has a manual entry that is non postable. We use this for anything someone else may need to know about the program along with any after post edits that need to be done. Hope this will help.

Nick, Makes me glad they laid me off. Aaron, You're a real piece of work.

Solution: Because the point of entry and point of exit are exactly the same the cutter WILL NOT retract regardless of "Keep Tool Down" selection. I don't like this feature and now have to go back and change the entry point on every program and every operation that needs a retract just to clear chips. Perhaps CNC Solutions should reevaluate this function. Normally I prefer to have bores start and end at the center of the arc which gives the operator a point he can use if he needs to troubleshoot.

Jim, Got rid of the old versions. Mcam kept opening new programs with old versions. File associativity problem in XP.

Thanks for your time guys. I think I'm going to have to come up wth plan B like 'change at point' (if this will work). Thanks agian.

Andrew, Here's the sinerio: I have a family of parts previousely programmed. I don't have the time to go back and recreate all those paths in all the programs and repost and reproof. I don't mean to seem impatient but the "Keep Tool Down" function in "Depth Cuts" is not working as it should. The tool is staying down regardless of the radio buttons selection. It used to work prior to V9.1.

Could this be a post issue?

I'm finishing three diams, .688, .625, .645, with a 1/2" end mill 1.20" dp. Holes are predrilled with a 15.5mm (.610) drill thru. I don't think changing the type of toolpath will help. All I need is Mcam to retract between depth cuts and it's not working.

Thad, I dropped it on the FTP site. I didn't know I wouldn't be able to move it once it was there so it's on the root directory. Perhaps Cadcam would be kind enough to move it to the MC9 folder. Sorry Cadcam, just call me green. I named it NO RETRACT.MC9 and santitized all non relevant operations. Play with it and let me know if you find a solution. THX

David, I'm leading on and off with arcs but still damaging cutters. Use clearance.... is not checked. Thanks anyway.

Hello All, I'm experiencing a little problem with retracting between depth cuts. I'm cutting some 304SST and need to retract between depth cuts to clear chips. I turned "Keep Tool Down" off, set my retract height at .5 absolute with top of stock at 0 abs. "Use Clearnce Only..." is off. The path does not retract between depth cuts in backplot which I verified with posted code. The only way I've been able to accomplish the retract is by setting Depth Cuts to "by Contour" which is not efficient in this case. This problem occured in a newly created program on a differant P/C also. We have not installed the 9.1 Service Pack on our system yet ("if it's not broke don't fix it") but we have all the current patches installed. Is anyone else having this problem?

N Franco---- Show some pics of the Mazaks!

Sorry "Select by Tool"

A "Select by Toll" option would be handy.

Hello All, I'm doing some thread milling and was wondering what the best way to define a multi tooth thread hob would be. It works defined as a bore but verification isn't accurate. Any suggestions?

Thanks All, I believe a font editor is the ticket here. Let's see if the Company will spring for it.

Thanks Rekd, It doesn't look like it creates a TTF from DXF though. Any other thoughts?

Rekd, No luck with that search iether. Got a link?

Does this converter work from DXF to TTF?

Hey All, I came across an engraving situation where I needed both upper and lower case lettering in a font that matched another cam system we use in our shop. The DXF created by the OTHER Cam system was not usable for driving tools. I got thru the job by creating the geometry I needed. My question is: Can I create a True Type Font from geometry, compatible with Windows, that can be imported as a note then converted to geometry for driving tools. This would be easier than merging each letter or symbol, scaling it then transforming it to where it needs to be. I can't be the first to have a need for Custom Fonts. Any help?