Wednesday 21 January 2015

MASTERCAM 9.1

MASTERCAM 9.1 FULL VERSION



I recently finished converting my Smithy 1220 LTD to a CNC. I designed all the hardware from scratch,
as everything that I found available seemed inadequate for my needs. I design electronics
for a living, so it
was no big deal to me. However, I was totally unprepared for the world of CAM software. I use Mach3,
and although it comes with some nice wizards, they are a far cry from my needs. I finally selected
MasterCAM 9.1, as it is available to me, and is (despite its DOS-like appearance) an extremely capable
system (as you would expect for $20,000+, I think).

For those who have access to it, this article is a short introduction to how to use MasterCAM 9.x to
generate a workable G-code for the Mill. It mainly outlines the design process, and provides enough
background to allow the reader to experiment and learn its operation. I placed an emphasis on smaller
retrofit machines running controllers such as Mach3.

ADD FEATURES TO MODEL:

It may be necessary to add points etc, to make certain operations easier to define. For example, if
the corners were chamfered, it would be handy to have a point when translating model to origin.

RE-POSITION THE MODEL IN CARTESIAN SPACE (optional):

This can be done by either moving the model, or using the offsets. I prefer to move the entire
model.

Make sure that all the features are visible (LEVELS). From main menu use

XFORM/TRANSLATE/ALL/ENTITIES/DONE

The next menu will let you chose the translation method. I mostly use Rectang and Between pts
depending on what is needed.

If the model needs rotating use:

XFORM/ROTATE/ALL/ENTITIES/DONE

And then select about what point it is to be rotated, and the method of rotation. Make sure that
correct construction plane is selected, so the rotation will be in appropriate plane.

Now the model is imported, and positioned. Save the file in MC9 format.







 

 

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