Monday, February 2, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
How to pit-stop in Mastercam
THIS BLOG IS MOVING PERMANENTLY TO www.cadcamstuff.com SOON!
This is one off these functions that makes you hope that someone at CNC Software got a raise, or at least a pat on the back.
The Interrupt Mode
So you are chaining your toolpath in Mastercam and suddenly realize that you have forgotten to join 2 lines.
Now in the past this kinda of stuff would make anyone start smoking or reaching for the bottle of Scotch, 3th draw down, but CNC Software added Interrupt mode with X3.
To add the Interrupt Mode button to a toolbar:
1>In Mastercam's menu bar, choose Settings, Customize.
2>In the Category drop-down of the Customize dialog box, choose Settings.
3>Drag the Interrupt Mode button (Yield Sign)to a toolbar, or create a new toolbar by dropping the button on Mastercam's window.
As you can see below I added it to my "Right" click toolbar.
Handy little disclaimer/Warning pops up.
But now we can "trim" the line (Joining them did not work, that's a question I will submit to qc@mastercam.com) and continue the process of selecting chains.
A handy little options that makes you wonder how we have lived without it.
This is one off these functions that makes you hope that someone at CNC Software got a raise, or at least a pat on the back.
The Interrupt Mode
So you are chaining your toolpath in Mastercam and suddenly realize that you have forgotten to join 2 lines.
Now in the past this kinda of stuff would make anyone start smoking or reaching for the bottle of Scotch, 3th draw down, but CNC Software added Interrupt mode with X3.
To add the Interrupt Mode button to a toolbar:
1>In Mastercam's menu bar, choose Settings, Customize.
2>In the Category drop-down of the Customize dialog box, choose Settings.
3>Drag the Interrupt Mode button (Yield Sign)to a toolbar, or create a new toolbar by dropping the button on Mastercam's window.
As you can see below I added it to my "Right" click toolbar.
Handy little disclaimer/Warning pops up.
But now we can "trim" the line (Joining them did not work, that's a question I will submit to qc@mastercam.com) and continue the process of selecting chains.
A handy little options that makes you wonder how we have lived without it.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
SonyEricsson @ SW-World
THIS BLOG IS MOVING PERMANENTLY TO www.cadcamstuff.com SOON!
Saturday night John Hirschtick (Mr.Solidworks) announced on twitter that Head of SonyEricsson Industrial Design will be speaking at #SWW09.
You might already have read my blog post last month Will James Bond Call Solidworks Next Time?
Sounds like it could be interesting to listen to what this guy has to say.
Sadly I am not attending Solidworks World this year, being from Scandinavian myself this is almost as good as if someone from LEGO was speaking(No, they use Siemens). but maybe we would be lucky enough that one of the many great Solidworks bloggers who are attending would give us feedback on this one.
Saturday night John Hirschtick (Mr.Solidworks) announced on twitter that Head of SonyEricsson Industrial Design will be speaking at #SWW09.
You might already have read my blog post last month Will James Bond Call Solidworks Next Time?
Sounds like it could be interesting to listen to what this guy has to say.
Sadly I am not attending Solidworks World this year, being from Scandinavian myself this is almost as good as if someone from LEGO was speaking(No, they use Siemens). but maybe we would be lucky enough that one of the many great Solidworks bloggers who are attending would give us feedback on this one.
Mastercam Post Processor Intro
THIS BLOG IS MOVING PERMANENTLY TO www.cadcamstuff.com SOON!
Time to introduce some post processor stuff on cadcamstuff.com.
If you are a Mastercam user and find yourself on a regular basis editing your NC code manually, you need to consider changing the way you work.
The goal is to have every possible imagine custom switch triggered by the user inside Mastercam, without having to touch the NC code generated by the Post Processor. Every time you open up an editor to edit your code by hand you are one step closer to a crash. If you want to run more efficient in your shop, you need to have a Post Processor that works.
Some of the things we will be going through the following weeks will be:
<>Introduction to Mastercams new Post Debugger
<>Which Post should you choose
<>Add notes to help setup people and operators (My lead setup guy almost picked up my bar tap after I did this).
<>Setup a miscellaneous value so we can turn our chip conveyor on inside Mastercam.
<>Setup a miscellaneous value to activate our table probe, and then use miscellaneous real value to set a tolerance.
<>Have the Post Processor asking who the programmer for the specific job is.
There is not going to be any "Part1", "Part2" but instead I will save upcoming Post Processor Blog Posts in the "Mastercam Post Processor" Category and give it a skill level, but do not worry, we are not going to start messing with your $15,000 spindle, we will start with something safe and easy.
1st. we need to understand the fundamentals.
Each operation you create in Mastercam generates a toolpath. The operation contains, in addition to the toolpath motion, parameter information such as tool descriptions, speeds and feeds, and more. This information is written to an intermediate file, the NCI file.
What happens when you post an NCI file in Mastercam, in simple terms, is:
<> The post processor reads the NCI file, translates the NCI data into NC output based on the instructions it obtained from the post processor file.
If you have any interest in this subject make sure you hit the big orange button in the upper right corner or email subscribe to this site.
More to come...........
Time to introduce some post processor stuff on cadcamstuff.com.
If you are a Mastercam user and find yourself on a regular basis editing your NC code manually, you need to consider changing the way you work.
The goal is to have every possible imagine custom switch triggered by the user inside Mastercam, without having to touch the NC code generated by the Post Processor. Every time you open up an editor to edit your code by hand you are one step closer to a crash. If you want to run more efficient in your shop, you need to have a Post Processor that works.
Some of the things we will be going through the following weeks will be:
<>Introduction to Mastercams new Post Debugger
<>Which Post should you choose
<>Add notes to help setup people and operators (My lead setup guy almost picked up my bar tap after I did this).
<>Setup a miscellaneous value so we can turn our chip conveyor on inside Mastercam.
<>Setup a miscellaneous value to activate our table probe, and then use miscellaneous real value to set a tolerance.
<>Have the Post Processor asking who the programmer for the specific job is.
There is not going to be any "Part1", "Part2" but instead I will save upcoming Post Processor Blog Posts in the "Mastercam Post Processor" Category and give it a skill level, but do not worry, we are not going to start messing with your $15,000 spindle, we will start with something safe and easy.
1st. we need to understand the fundamentals.
Each operation you create in Mastercam generates a toolpath. The operation contains, in addition to the toolpath motion, parameter information such as tool descriptions, speeds and feeds, and more. This information is written to an intermediate file, the NCI file.
What happens when you post an NCI file in Mastercam, in simple terms, is:
<> The post processor reads the NCI file, translates the NCI data into NC output based on the instructions it obtained from the post processor file.
If you have any interest in this subject make sure you hit the big orange button in the upper right corner or email subscribe to this site.
More to come...........
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Mastercam in a time of lawyers and disclaimers
THIS BLOG IS MOVING PERMANENTLY TO www.cadcamstuff.com SOON!
Sad, funny or just the times we are living in, it seems like everyone have to spend more time looking over there shoulder than looking forward.
MastercamX3 added a disclaimer when opening a second instance that have resulted in some confusion among users.
Old:
New:
Disclaimer is all it is, nothing have changed and that is alright. If you have issues running 2 instances of MastercamX3 at the same time it is most likely your system that is the cause, I have had 3 instances open on my "Commodore 64" alike system at home without problems.
Sad, funny or just the times we are living in, it seems like everyone have to spend more time looking over there shoulder than looking forward.
MastercamX3 added a disclaimer when opening a second instance that have resulted in some confusion among users.
Old:
New:
Disclaimer is all it is, nothing have changed and that is alright. If you have issues running 2 instances of MastercamX3 at the same time it is most likely your system that is the cause, I have had 3 instances open on my "Commodore 64" alike system at home without problems.
Monday, January 12, 2009
I did not know it could do that!
THIS BLOG IS MOVING PERMANENTLY TO www.cadcamstuff.com SOON!
Being a user of a CAD/CAM software can be just about as frustrating as anything, but at the same time to hear "Oh I did not know it could do that!" has to be one of my favorite things.
"Oh I did not know it could do that!" is why Tips & Tricks presentations are so popular at user group meetings, you see people nodding there heads and have that smirky smile on there face, and you know that they are thinking "Oh yeah" (not to be confused with the guy I played online poker with last night, I will get my money back, I swear")
Here is the thing that made me say "Oh I did not know it could do that!" last week:
Switching between Horizontal and Vertical Ordinate dimensions in Solidworks, you are just one "right" mouse click away.
"Right" click=>More Dimensions=> Make your switch.
Being a user of a CAD/CAM software can be just about as frustrating as anything, but at the same time to hear "Oh I did not know it could do that!" has to be one of my favorite things.
"Oh I did not know it could do that!" is why Tips & Tricks presentations are so popular at user group meetings, you see people nodding there heads and have that smirky smile on there face, and you know that they are thinking "Oh yeah" (not to be confused with the guy I played online poker with last night, I will get my money back, I swear")
Here is the thing that made me say "Oh I did not know it could do that!" last week:
Switching between Horizontal and Vertical Ordinate dimensions in Solidworks, you are just one "right" mouse click away.
"Right" click=>More Dimensions=> Make your switch.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Maybe CAD/CAM companies are going to fast?
THIS BLOG IS MOVING PERMANENTLY TO www.cadcamstuff.com SOON!
We all understand that advertising is necessary these days, and companies are paying big money for pointing there product to the right crowd. Kinda funny that major CAD/CAM companies like Autocad, Solidworks, Mastercam and Esprit are so focused on racing.
I know there are a hundreds cool moving parts, and I do find the above picture pretty awesome, but they are missing a very cheap and loyal resource ............. The user.
On the Mastercams forum people have been screaming for swag for years and they are ready to pay full price for it.
Going to Solidworks User groups meetings you see peoples eyes getting bigger if there is a raffle for a coffee mug at the end.
If I was a CAD/CAM company I would overfill the market with my logo stamped on all kinds of cheap plastic and polyester stuff, Oh Yeah people would wear it, it would be like having the "Network" all uniformed.
It will have a greater influence on my next vote for purchase of CAD/CAM Software, when visiting costumers or vendors where they are happily advertising for there partner in there success than some sticker on a race car.
We all understand that advertising is necessary these days, and companies are paying big money for pointing there product to the right crowd. Kinda funny that major CAD/CAM companies like Autocad, Solidworks, Mastercam and Esprit are so focused on racing.
I know there are a hundreds cool moving parts, and I do find the above picture pretty awesome, but they are missing a very cheap and loyal resource ............. The user.
On the Mastercams forum people have been screaming for swag for years and they are ready to pay full price for it.
Going to Solidworks User groups meetings you see peoples eyes getting bigger if there is a raffle for a coffee mug at the end.
If I was a CAD/CAM company I would overfill the market with my logo stamped on all kinds of cheap plastic and polyester stuff, Oh Yeah people would wear it, it would be like having the "Network" all uniformed.
It will have a greater influence on my next vote for purchase of CAD/CAM Software, when visiting costumers or vendors where they are happily advertising for there partner in there success than some sticker on a race car.
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