[Nastyzen]

I've got the budget together to get Mastercam x4 Router with X4Solids,X4Art and 7 days training.All for about 15G's...
I run a Mighty Comet mill with Dynapath Delta 50-U controller witch can be upgraded to a 4th axis for the day the budget will permit.
Should I?
I now have EZ-cam mill/turn express and to upgrade to v17 3D would be about 5G's.
But the support so far has been pretty lousy and V17 3D does not look as powerful as X4.
Any opinions would be appreciated.
Thanks
Claude

[vanm]

Will a service contract come with that price? Also how well do the reseller support the software. There's nothing more aggrevating than to spend big money and not have you questions answered in a timely fashion.

[Nastyzen]

Yes it comes with a one year maintenance package.$1660.00 to renew each year which is a bit of a bummer but you get almost unlimited support for the contract duration.I intend to use it to the max!
thanks

[Matt Berube]

Be sure you understand what you'll be getting for support.

Maintenance alone gets you updated versions of the software only. Some MC dealers require a "support contract" to get assistance while others offer support to all of their customers but prioritize the "support contract" people first. Therefore you would be wise to find out exactly what you are getting for support.

[cadcam]

in-house will for sure take care of all issues and support you. thay have a great support team and more then one office to help with support in canada

[Nastyzen]

Boy,so far not too many objections from the cnc community.Thank you all for your imput so far.Well the budget was the easy part.The wife on the other hand still needs a little work.I'd say about 95% convinced it's a good idea.I'll give myself another two weeks to soften her up to the idea.The Que.government will even help to pay for the training.That will help alot.

[Nastyzen]

I did it!
Boy thats alot of dough I hope as heck I won't regret it..But I look at it as if I had a Ferrari with a piece of 4x4 under the gas pedal.
I invested all this money in a 3axis mill that I could only do basic things on with EZ-Cam express, and the mouving up to v17. was not much less than the cost of Mastercam.
Now with Mastercam I hope to be able to open up all kinds of other markets.
School starts next tuesday.
Woohoo! I think.
Thanks
Claude

[littlebrewman]

You won't regret it. I use X4 for lathe and i love it.I only had one issue and that was when they sent my sim mine was corrupt from the factory.other than that it is a great software.If you need some lathe programming let me know.

[Matt Berube]

Congratulations on your purchase. I am sure the training will give you a good jump start and we can fill in any gaps for you on the forums.

To get the most out of this new software I strongly recommend you consider a 3D Connexion device to use with Mastercam. The Space Pilot would be the Cadillac solution or look at a Space Navigator for a budget solution. Either one will pay for itself in the first month of use. You can find the Space Pilot "reconditioned" on Ebay for around $150 ($399 new).

http://www.3dconnexion.com/3dmouse/spacepilot.php
http://www.3dconnexion.com/3dmouse/spacenavigator.php

[Nastyzen]

Ahh!My brain hurts.The learning curve is harder than I imagined.It's been 3 classes so far and I can now draw and make tool paths,more or less.I seem to get lost on the silliest things at times.
As well as the classes I think I should get a couple of books from emastercam to help me out.The memory at my age is not as it used to be or is it that there are sooo many buttons all over and right click within this window and that one to get an other sub window...Pheeeww.
Tomorrow class#4.The day goes by verry quickly when I go there.
Matt,:drowning::drowning::drowning::drowning: thank's for the tip on the space pilot,will do once the initial $hock to the wife wears off a little more.
At this time,book budjet will go over better to fill in those g a p s.
Boy I wish I could have a rs232 connection to the brain.

[DRD]

You need to work with master cam everday, to get really good. I remember when I started out with MC, it was a long learing curve. Good luck.

[Matt Berube]

I seem to get lost on the silliest things at times.

It's not just you. I felt the same way. It just takes time to develop the habits you need to work efficiently.

Rest assured that with daily use it will definitely sink in eventually and you'll be very comfortable with it.

[kesparate]

second the 3dconnexion device. i have an old spaceball and even it rocks. they can be had on ebay for peanuts.
one of their new controllers is pretty high on my list of xmas wishes. not holding my breath though....

[Nastyzen]

Today was lesson #5 .I learned the solids part.I can actually draw stuff and make toolpaths.Wow!I can even engrave on a cylinder.At least on the computor screen.
Today was also the day I received my custom post for my Dynapath 50 controller.Woohoo!Seems the generic post promised at the time of purchase is only good for the 12-20 controlers and puts out the wrong fixtures and code.
C'ant wait to try it out tomorrow.
I've spent about 10 hrs studying and trying things out this week before class witch helped out a bit,but I tell you the curve is a difficult one.Man there are so many functions n buttons my brain hurts.
Two years ago when I first got my colchester lathe with fanuc 21iT controler,the comet mill and easycam with only one day training on each.The curve was stupendus(I didn't even know how to turn em on let alone use em,G code?Hunh?).But Easycam helped me get through the initial 75 parts or so I had to program in a rush to get and keep the contract thats paying for it all.
If I had mastercam to start with I think I may of broken down at the time.
But it's slowly sinking in this old head of mine....
Hope I don't brake to many things tomorrow.

[Mike Mattera]

I'm sure you'll do fine. Once you learn the basics, it all starts to fall into place.

Mike Mattera

[Nastyzen]

Well,I tried and tried to upload to my dynapath50 controller code from mastercam saved in.TXT from 3 different post processors supplied from my dealer to no avail..
I keep getting a format fault error with an N as I guess the problem causing the trouble.After messing with the code I at one point was able to upload with no fault only to find that the name of the program was in fact uploaded but with 0000 K in the memory?!
I've now spent over 16 hrs on this problem.
My dealer has been informed and all I could do now is wait till they come up with a solution...
I am not impressed.
My Ez-cam dealer came here at the time and got it working on my pc himself and made sure it worked the first day.
Is it normal that after all this time I still haven't been able to use my product to make money?
Mastercam works beautifully on my pc and hopfully will so on my machine.
Until then, it's good that I can count on my $1000.00 Ez-cam to put out something that is basic but works.
Has anyone had the same problem before?

[Matt Berube]

I don't know anything about Dynapath but...

Wouldn't it have to be a *.nc file extension instead of *.txt ?

[Nastyzen]

It's an older machine I think it was built on 486 DOS technology.
I tried uploading an. nc file and I get a major system error just to have this file on the same floppy as the .txt , go figure?

[Matt Berube]

All right... Lets start at the beginning... Are you able to get any program from the PC to the CNC ?

[Nastyzen]

Yes,all the old saved files from my old pc that ran on win2000 work fine.
I had to upgrade to a 3.2Gigs and XP on this newer pc to run mastercam X4.
At first I thought that having a french version of xp and an English keyboard might be the answer but having written freehand code and uploading with no problem,this ones crossed out.
I also regenerated code from Ez-cam onto the new system and it works fine.
Just before ,I tried the default routerpost from the librairy and it uploads fine but there is still nothing in the controler ,0000k?
But this time mastercam generated an error report saying(using MP run version 13.00 and post components version 10.00) I might be onto something here!
My DVD has a May date on it and I know that there have been updates since then.(chair)