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Second Quarter 2009
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Including manual entry operations in ActiveReports RPX templates for manual entry operations have been included with
Mastercam since X6. Before X6, manual entry operations could not be
included in an ActiveReports setup sheet.
To display manual entry operations in a setup sheet, add –Setup Sheet
(MAN-ENT-LIST).rpx to –Setup Sheet (MILL-FILE).rpx as a sub-report.
This will generate a Manual Entry List:
Contents 1 Tech Tips
Including manual entry operations in ActiveReports Changing the default NC file path in the control definition Transforming operations that use axis substitution
12 Help Desk
Customizing ActiveReports General Information Labels Set control definition default values before moving to new location Mastercam X6 MU3 Update Remember to enable subprograms for Lathe canned cycle output
18 Hot Topics
No 32-bit support for Windows 8 Reminder: Demo/HLE for X6 Expires in October Operating Systems for X7
First Quarter 2013
SHOP TALK
To display the manual entry text within an operation (which is created with the
Chain Manager > Change at point command), add –Setup Sheet (MAN-ENT-INFO).rpx
to
–Setup Sheet (MILL-OPERATION).rpx as a sub-report.
SHOP TALK
Changing the default NC file path in the control definition To get both X6 and older part files to have the same default folder for NC files, the
master copies of the machine and control definitions on your hard drive need to be
updated. Then existing part files need to be updated by replacing the old machine
definition with the newer one. In this example, the control definition file is
ABC.CONTROL-6, the machine definition file is ABC.MMD-6, and the desired NC folder
is U:\NC-files\.
Did You Know?
Mastercam
released
Mastercam Swiss
Expert 2012 on
12/12/12.
SHOP TALK
Updating the control definition file
Follow these steps to update the control definition with the desired NC path:
1. Select Machine Type > Design from the menu.
2. Select File > New.
3. Select Settings > Control Definition Manager.
4. Open the control definition file, ABC.CONTROL-6.
5. Select the proper post.
6. Select the Files page.
7. Enter the desired NC path.
8. Save the control definition.
Next, follow these steps to update the control definition’s default settings with the
same NC path:
1. In the Post Processors list, select Default setting for control type.
2. Save your work as prompted.
3. Open the Files page (or any page).
4. Right-click anywhere on the page and choose Import > All pages.
SHOP TALK
5. Select the same control definition file (ABC.CONTROL-6), and choose the post
(ABC.PST).
6. The control definition settings—including the new NC path—will be
imported to the default settings.
7. Save the control definition file and close the Control Definition Manager.
Updating the machine definition file
Follow these steps to update the machine definition with the updated control
definition:
1. Select Machine Type > Design from the menu.
2. Select File > New.
3. Select Settings > Machine Definition Manager.
4. Open the machine definition file, ABC.MMD-6.
5. Click the Browse button for the control file and select the control definition
file that was just changed (ABC.CONTROL-6).
Did You Know?
Mastercam
attended the
Indian Metal-
cutting Machine
Tool Exhibition in
Bangalore, India.
SHOP TALK
6. Make sure the proper post is selected.
7. Save the machine definition file and close the Machine Definition Manager.
8. Select File > New again to clear the machine definition from memory.
Any new parts that you create with this machine definition will use the new NC path.
Updating part files
Follow these steps to update existing part files with the new NC path:
1. Open a part.
2. Click the Files tab in the Machine Group Properties.
3. Click Replace.
4. Select the updated machine definition (ABC.MMD-6).
SHOP TALK
Mastercam updates the part file with the new settings. You can see the new NC path
as soon as it reads the updated machine definition. TT1012
Transforming operations that use axis substitution You would think that you would use the Rotate method when transforming an
operation that uses axis substitution; however, to properly transform axis
substitution operations, you actually need to use the Translate method. The
translation distance is based on calculating the distance around the circumference of
the cylinder for each instance of the operation.
To successfully transform the operation, the original toolpath must be created
correctly:
Did You Know?
Mastercam attended
SolidWorks World 2013
in Orlando, FL which
had 4,500 attendees.
SHOP TALK
Create flat geometry at Z0 in the Top view.
Create a toolpath on the geometry with all planes set to TOP.
Set the axis substitution options as desired.
SHOP TALK
To transform the toolpath, set the transformation Type to Translate and the Method to
Coordinate:
On the Translate tab, select Between points and set the desired number of toolpath
Instances:
The trick to making this work is to calculate the correct linear distance that will result
in the desired angular spacing around the cylinder. This means that you need to
calculate the “linear” distance around the circumference of the cylinder.
Did You Know?
Mastercam will be
holding a Post Training
class at their
corporate office in
Tolland, CT March 12-
14? For more
information click here:
http://www.mastercam.co
m/Support/Training/Default
.aspx
SHOP TALK
The formula is:
Translation distance = Cylinder circumference / Number of toolpath instances
where Cylinder circumference = Pi × Diameter.
Pi = 3.141593
Diameter is the Rotary diameter that is entered in the Axis substitution
settings.
For a cylinder axis along X, this produces the Y translation distance:
For example, consider a Rotary diameter of 19 and 6 toolpath instances. The proper
values would be:
Circumference = 3.141593 × 19 = 59.690267
Translation distance = 59. 690267 / 6 = 9.94838
SHOP TALK
You can also type the whole formula directly into the field on the Translate page. To
make it even easier, use #PI instead of typing out the value:
(#PI * 19) / 6
TT1112
SHOP TALK
HHEELLPP DDEESSKK
Customizing ActiveReports General Information Labels Have you wanted to change the labels in the General Information section of an
ActiveReports Setup Sheet? All you need to do is click on the label and type the new
one. For example, click on Project and enter a new label, such as Coordinator:
Once you update the label, the value in the field is also erased. That’s because each
label has its own list of values. The list of values that appears in the dropdown list is
stored in a file called <label-name>.dat. You can find this file in the following folder:
\shared mcamx6\common\reports
Each time you enter a value, it is added to the dropdown list in the .dat file.
SHOP TALK
Click on the next to the field to clear all the values from the dropdown list. This
also clears out the .dat file for that label.
Updates to labels are also recorded in the registry, with their position number (1–8)
and the label file name.
The registry settings are recorded in the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\CNC Software, Inc.\Reports
Only the last-used, non-default file name for the label is written to the registry.
TT0712
Set control definition default values before moving to new location Before moving either your control definition or post out of their default locations in
the \shared mcamx6 tree structure—or updating to a new Mastercam version, using
either Update Folder or Update Post—it is a good idea to update the settings for the
default control definition to match the control definition for your post. This is
considered the best practice. To do this, follow these steps:
It’s a good idea to use “Machine Type > Design” then select “File > New” first so that
no other control definition is in memory.
1. Select Control Definition Manager from the Settings menu.
2. Open the desired .control-6 file.
3. Select the proper Control type.
4. Select Default setting for control type.
5. Right-click in any page and choose Import > All pages.
SHOP TALK
6. Select the same .control-6 file that you are working on.
7. Make sure that the proper Control type is selected, and select the post from
which you want to set the defaults.
SHOP TALK
8. Click OK.
9. Save the .control-6 file.
Now that the default values for new control definitions match the post, if the post is
moved or updated, any new control definitions that point to the moved post will
automatically have the proper values. Also, if Mastercam looks for the post in a non-
standard location, the proper control definition values will be applied. TT0912
Mastercam X6 MU3 Update Mastercam X6 MU3 is an update to certain translator files only. When you install the
update, the Mastercam title bar changes to indicate X6 MU3:
However, the Mastercam version remains the same as Mastercam X6 MU2:
SHOP TALK
To check if a translator file has been updated, select Help > About Mastercam from the
menu and check the individual files. For example:
You can also use Windows Explorer to open the \importexport folder where
Mastercam is installed and check the dates associated with the files:
TT1212
SHOP TALK
Remember to enable subprograms for Lathe canned cycle output We recently encountered a problem where a Lathe user was not getting any canned
cycle output despite having the canned cycle options enabled in the control
definition. The problem is that in order for Lathe canned cycle output to be
generated, subprograms must also be enabled in the control definition:
Go to the Subprograms page and select the Control supports subprograms option.
TT1212
SHOP TALK
Hot Topics
No 32-bit support for Windows 8 (FAQ 318) Users who wish to run Mastercam on a Windows® 8–system must have the 64-bit
version of Windows 8. Mastercam products support the 32-bit version of Windows
7. TT1212
Reminder: Demo/HLE for X6 expires in October Please note that the X6 version of Mastercam Demo/HLE will expire at the end of
October. All users of the X6 version will need to update to the X7 version. TT0912
Operating Systems for X7 With the release of X7, the support for XP and Vista operating systems will be dropped.
With X7, Mastercam will only support Windows® 7 and Windows® 8 (if W8 is released).
Windows 7 support will be for both 32-bit and 64-bit W7. W8 will be 64-bit support only.
Also, beginning with the X6 MU2 release, when you install X6 MU2 onto the XP operating
system will receive a ONE TIME WARNING that states with the release of X7, XP will no
longer be supported.
Mastercam® and Mastercam® University® are registered trademarks of CNC Software, Inc. Windows® is a registered
trademark of Microsoft Corporation. SolidWorks® is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. All
other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.