Changing the feedrate is causing toolpaths to go dirty again!! Does this whether you change it in the toolpath parameters or "edit common parameters". And, it will take forever to regenerate the path. The "recalculate values" button is still half broken as it was in X5MU1. It will not recalculate values unless you open the "cut parameters" window and then go BACK to the "tool" window. What is with the screen blanking for a few seconds when changing geometry to a new level? Started using stock model. Why does it take so damn long to calculate?! I verified the toolpath and saved the stock as an .stl years faster than waiting for the stock model to calculate. What a joke!! Coolant in the operations manager is off when it is actually on. Did anyone notice it doesn't work properly with X-Style coolant? How the hell can this crap get past the quality dept. again?! Sorry bout the rant, but this stupid sh@% is getting old!

Yep, I corrected myself in my last post in this thread.

No such luck here Mike. Our IT/Lead Engineer guy is off on medical leave for 6 weeks. The server is blocking my ip address and I don't wanna mess with it till he gets back. I'll post when we get back on the little project.

Thank you so much Günther! The men on the floor and myself appreciate it!!

NOthing yet and I haven't heard any chatter on it. You may have to learn Active Report Designer. SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was in error about the file size being the same. I was looking in the old download folder and was looking at the original file instead of the new. I would have reinstalled the old file and caused some damage!

Thank you for clarifying that Jim

I find it kinda funny that the new install file is the EXACT SAME SIZE as the original. I just hope they didn't post the old install file on their website by mistake.

It appears the file version and file size is exactly the same as it was in late November. I'm wondering if we must install this and then install a patch soon after to fix the issues. A patch would be nice since I wouldn't have to uninstall X6 on the few seats we have.

Thanks Gcode. I'll play with the Network and Sharing Center when I get home

I'm currently using gotomypc.com, but my internet connection at home is a joke and the drop in graphics quality is a joke. I used USB to Ethernet Connector software for the Mastercam dongle, and seems to work great. But, now I'm trying to get pro/e on my home laptop to work with the server installed license, which is not a dongle. That's where I get confused with the VPN Tunnel software. I downloaded OpenVPN GUI on both the server and laptop, but now what do I do?

If I VPN into our server, must I load the VPN software on my home PC and the Server at the shop? I'm assuming I just have to load the software on my home PC and enter the Server's IP addy and password.

IIRC, I actually responded to Rickster's post regarding the issue at hand. It happens to me now and then, but not near as often. If you search through my posts, several months back, you may find it.

Consider it done Thrash. I just sent them a short email linking this thread.

Thanks for the explanation Thrash. I guess I'll just leave the stepdown out of the report then. The operators can always look at the gcode and see the z steps if they really wanna know. I don't understand why so much information is offered in the active reports, but not stepdown. Sounds stupid to me. Especially since X+ offered so much in a little package and generated reports INSTANTLY!

Ok, I didn't explain what I need correctly. I can easily create custom XML tags. I should have asked how to create a new XML file that can be bound as a control in the Report Explorer and linked to MCAM as shown in Chris' snapshot above. He shows an example of "MAXSTEP". I would like to create one named "STEPDOWN".

Is there any way to create a "STEPDOWN" XML tag that will work with MCAM and Active Reports? I hope I asked that question correctly since I'm not familiar with any kind of XML creation.

In X5 and X6, "MAXSTEP" displays stepover and not stepdown. And, it will display an incorrect value on the Optirough toolpath. The Data Field is correct. X6 will however, display the correct "STOCK TO LEAVE" values.

The Active Report setup sheets also won't output the "stock to leave", "stock to leave z" and "stock to leave xy" on many of the toolpaths. This package seems WAY OVER ENGINEERED and still can't deliver what the simple X+ package offers. Edit: Some of the values seem to work better in X6

I've been playing with the "maxstep" for a week and it seems to only accurately display the correct STEPOVER value on the Surface High Speed Area Clearance, Core Roughing and Horizontal toolpath. It does not output stepdown. In fact, I'm gonna remove the "maxstep" from the setup sheet because it will also default to zero or a previous value if toolpath isn't relative to the "maxtep" command. The operators get confused with incorrect data.

Since I haven't seen any positive chatter regarding X+ being updated to X6, I thought I'd take a crack at creating my own using the Active Report Designer. SUCCESS!!! But I have NOT been able to find the XML tag or a way to define "stepdown" in the utility. I'm assuming it is impossible. Anyone succeed outputting the "stepdown" value in your Active Reports?

No wonder why I couldn't figure it out. All of my machine defs are setup to use X-style coolant. I switched one of my def's to the old coolant and it appeared correctly. Thanks much Brian!

Well, I thought the faulty control def migration had something to do with the network, but after trying to transition X5 to X6 on my home laptop, I ran into the same issue. After I migrate and update the shared folders from a temp folder on the desktop as per John's instructions, I still must enter all of my control def settings. I noticed when I open the control def, the mcamx6 post is active, but it has a red "X" over the top, but the old mcamx5 post has a green check. I go ahead and click on the new mcamx6 post, save, and it turns to a green check, but all of the control def settings reset. I have had this issue with every version of Mcam since X2. Luckily, most of the settings are in my head or I can just look back in X5 and adjust from there, but there has to be a reason for this. Anyone experience this but me?

Why do my toolpaths state "Coolant... -Off" in the operations manager when I actually have the coolant on?

Ah! Thanks alot Leigh!