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Second Mastercam X7 Technology Preview is Live!

April 10, 2013, 12:07 pm
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The second Mastercam X7 Technology Preview is now available for download to all Mastercam customers currently on Maintenance! Here’s your chance to test-drive the latest technology that the upcoming Mastercam X7 release has to offer. This is a fully functional pre-release download allowing you to use all of your current Mastercam licenses for a timed period on the X7 platform. Take the opportunity to see the latest developments and give important feedback directly to the development team working to bring you Mastercam X7. Here are some of the updates you’ll see in Mastercam X7, slated for release later this quarter:

  • The new Tool Manager provides an easy way to create, organize, and share your tooling information throughout your enterprise.
  • Improved Backplot and Verify utilities offer a more efficient workflow, better analysis tools, and more comprehensive toolpath support.
  • Dynamic and OptiRough toolpaths create more efficient tool motion, enhanced cut orders, and faster calculation times.
  • Multi-threading support is extended to most 2D high speed toolpaths, resulting in faster toolpath processing.
  • Oscillating motion for Curve and Swarf 5-axis toolpaths improves your tool life by varying the portion of the tool used to cut material.
  • New Lathe Dynamic Roughing strategy for fast and efficient material removal.
  • And much more...
You can download the Mastercam X7 Technology Preview here.

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Visual Studio 2012 Project Templates for Mastercam X7

April 12, 2013, 5:55 am
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We recently created and published two new Visual Studio 2012 Project Templates for Mastercam X7, specifically for C# and VB.NET languages. These templates will allow you to create Mastercam C# NETHook, as well as VB.NET NETHook class library projects in Visual Studio 2012. With these templates you can quickly create a Mastercam NETHook project that will include all the methods defined implemented in a single class library. That means you essentially save the time doing the tedious job of creating a new class library and manually adding all the required NETHook methods for each NETHook project. Now you can jump right in and start developing right away.

The project templates have been published to the online Microsoft Visual Studio Gallery at the links below:

C# - http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/f4c00dcd-a21e-413f-9725-d7a1c4b48076
VB.NET - http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/823700dc-d856-4c5e-9c71-4d1b313aa250
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Come See Mastercam X7 at PMTS 2013

April 15, 2013, 7:24 am
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Come see Mastercam at PMTS April 16 - 18 at the Greater Columbus (OH) Convention Center in booth #437. We’ll be featuring the latest in powerful Mastercam machining software, including a sneak peek at our upcoming release, Mastercam X7! This new version introduces significant new capabilities and enhancements, including:
  • Mill-Turn
  • Mastercam Swiss Expert 
  • Support for Renishaw's Productivity+™ 
  • Redesigned Tool Manager 
  • New Mastercam Simulator
  • More efficient Dynamic and OptiRough toolpaths
  • Dynamic roughing strategies for Lathe toolpaths
  • Multi-threading support for 2D high speed toolpaths
  • and much more
Also, on April 17, come hang out with Mastercam professionals at Martini Modern Italian located right across the street from the Convention Center. This is the next installment in our series of “Meet Ups,” and is a great opportunity for us to chat with our customers and for you to grab the ears of some key staffers. We would love to hear about what you do and what you think about the software. We have no agenda and no real plans, but if you want to come and just hang out with the Mastercam crew, we would love to spend some time with you off the trade show floor.

Here's the details:

When: April 17, 5 – 7 PM
Where: Martini Modern Italian, 445 North High St., Columbus, OH 43215
Website: http://www.martinimodernitalian.com/Home.aspx

If you would like to join us, please click here to register. It's free and we hope to see you there!

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iMastercam Store Spring Promo

April 16, 2013, 5:28 am
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Looking for something to wear when the weather isn’t completely warm, but a heavy jacket is just too much? We have a number of excellent options for the warmer Spring time temperatures at iMastercamstore.com.

From April 16 - 22, 2013 use code EXC12 and receive 15% off your entire order, excluding shipping and taxes. Choose from a wide selection of light weight jackets, sweatshirts, polos, hats, and more. Go shopping now at the iMastercam store.

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Mastercam X7 Preview 3: New Lathe Dynamic Rough Toolpath

April 17, 2013, 6:05 am
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Shops have similar goals when programming turning operations as they do when programming milling toolpaths: reduce cutting time and increase tool life.

Mastercam X7 addresses this need with the new lathe Dynamic Rough toolpath. This strategy is designed for hard materials cut with button inserts. The dynamic motion allows the toolpath to cut gradually, remain engaged in the material more effectively, and use more of the surface on your insert, extending tool life and increasing the cutting speed.

Stay tuned to this blog for more sneak peeks at Mastercam X7 and check out our X7 LIVE Rollout event schedule here: www.mastercam.com/X7Rollout

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Custom Sculptures with Mastercam

April 19, 2013, 7:35 am
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Using CNC equipment to make your art is not cheating. It still is very much "art." With Mastercam your only limitation is your creativity. Listen to the owner of Bella Design Custom Furniture & Sculpture tell his story about how Mastercam changed his business.

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The Girls Sock it to ‘em!

April 22, 2013, 6:03 am
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When you think of remote-controlled robots, visions of boys-with-their-toys may come to mind.  Not so in Miami, Florida where a team of girls at the Miami Lakes Education Center is knocking the socks off the boys and their hopes of winning battling robot competitions.  Instructor Paul Kynerd’s class of robotics enthusiasts, known as Team Jag, includes the Mastercam All-Girls Team.

When Mr. Kynerd began looking for a project that would fit in with the mechanical engineering program at the Center, the idea of building a robot that would fit into the renowned Bots IQ National Championships seemed to fit the bill.  Using Mastercam, he began working with his class on the design of a 15-pound battle robot.  After two years of going it alone, his team comprised of senior girls began winning competitions and he decided to approach outside sources for funding.  He found quick success with Mastercam, who liked the idea of supporting a Bots IQ team of young women bent on a career in engineering.

With Mastercam now serving as Team Jag Robotics’ largest sponsor, the students kicked the program into high gear and have designed and built some very impressive entries to take on all comers in the robot arena.  One of their Bots, named “Mastercam’s Sting ‘em,” won the Best Engineering title at last year’s Nationals and took 2nd place overall.  Using Mastercam, they optimize the tool paths for milling the cross-bracing pockets in the aluminum bodies to achieve the greatest strength possible.

Mr. Kynerd now has 35 seats of Mastercam in his CAD/CAM lab.  Many of his students are studying with the online Mastercam University and several have become Certified Programmers.  His current goal is to work with Mastercam to build a 120-pound battle robot so the All-Girls Team can “sock it to the really big boys.”

To see Team Jag in action, visit their YouTube channel.
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A Mastercam to Mazatrol Programming Solution

April 29, 2013, 11:23 am
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Camaix, a Mastercam Third-Party Partner, proudly announces their support of Mazak machines with their Mazatrol post for Mastercam. This gives Mazak shops the flexibility of continuing to program in Mastercam as well as keeping the Mazatrol advantage. Mazatrol is a native programming language for Mazak CNC machines. By transferring all the benefits of Mastercam to your Mazatrol-controlled machine, you can generate Mazatrol programs more quickly and efficiently.

The Mastercam to Mazatrol Programming Solution incorporates a custom post-processor and interface that allows the Mastercam user to generate Mazatrol native output. It supports the following controls:

  • Mill: M2, M32, MPlus, M640, Smart and Matrix (using M640 format) up to 5-axis.
  • Lathe: T2, T3, T4, T32, 640T, TPlus and Matrix.
  • Mill-Turn: 640MT, 640MTPro and Matrix.

The output files can be set to output directly to the Mazak CNC control using any of the following methods:

  • DNC software (not included) that supports Mazatrol Protocol.
  • USB format for 640 generation machines or newer.
  • Other Mazatrol editors and viewers available in the marketplace.

If you want to learn more about the Mastercam Mazatrol post, please look at these videos:



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Mastercam X7 Preview 4: The New Mastercam Simulator

May 1, 2013, 11:26 am
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Knowing your results before committing tool to material is crucial. Mastercam X7 gives you several ways to ensure that your part will come off the machine exactly as you want it. The Mastercam Simulator offers a single streamlined interface for solid-model verification and toolpath backplotting with a powerful set of analysis tools and information. Mastercam Simulator opens in its own window letting you work and adjust your project as the tool motion display continues.


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Mastercam X7 Preview 5: Boosted Efficiency with Mastercam's OptiRough

May 3, 2013, 9:10 am
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Enhancements to our popular OptiRough toolpath deliver new options for even more efficient machining and improved motion. Using aggressive cuts with smart tool engagement, you can rough parts faster while extending tool life.

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Mastercam Reaches All Ages

May 6, 2013, 5:47 am
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The supposition that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” certainly does not apply when it comes to mastering the benefits of CAD/CAM with Mastercam. At Renton Technical College in Renton, Washington, students in their fifties are getting a firm foothold on a manufacturing career just as quickly as those recently graduated from high school. Some of the older students work swing or graveyard shifts at manufacturing companies, others have been recently laid off or have their sights set on a career with more opportunities than their current job situation.


Mastercam has been a major influence at Renton Tech for more than 20 years, as has Francisco Martinez, head of the school’s 2-year Precision Manufacturing Technology program. While the younger men and women have had daily contact with computers almost from birth and catch on really fast as expected, those in their 40’s and 50’s have responded exceedingly well. Mr. Martinez gives much of the credit to the Mastercam tutorials, with easy-to-understand and well-illustrated lessons. He stays with the Mastercam lesson plans right from the basics to actually machining the parts shown in the tutorials.

 


Mr. Martinez introduces his students to Mastercam in the sixth quarter, after they have mastered basic and G-code programming. He starts with simple geometry and 2D programming of tool paths, such as contouring and pocketing. Once they are comfortable with 2D, they proceed to 3D programming, as well as 4-axis and 5-axis machining.  They have 25 computer stations in their Mastercam lab, all loaded with the latest Mastercam software. By using state-of-the-art Mastercam technology, Mr. Martinez knows that his students, both older and younger, and their future employers all benefit from the newly acquired CAD/CAM skills.



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Let's Meet Up at Eastec

May 7, 2013, 8:56 am
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Come see Mastercam at EASTEC, May 14 - 16 at the Eastern States Exposition (West Springfield, MA) in multiple booths! In the Better Living Building (Building 5), you’ll find our CNC Software, Inc.  in our Corporate Booth (#5249), Mastercam Reseller Cimquest, Inc. (booth #5377), and Mastercam Reseller Macdac Engineering (booth #5537). At each booth, we’ll be featuring the latest in powerful Mastercam machining software, Mastercam X7! This new version introduces significant new capabilities and enhancements, including:
  • Mill-Turn
  • Support for Renishaw's Productivity+™
  • Redesigned Tool Manager
  • New Mastercam Simulator
  • More efficient Dynamic and OptiRough toolpaths
  • Dynamic roughing strategies for Lathe toolpaths
  • Multi-threading support for 2D high speed toolpaths
  • And much more
Also, on May 15 from 5 – 7 PM, come hang out with Mastercam professionals after the show at the Red Room in Lattitude Restaurant, located right across the street from the show. This is a great opportunity for us to chat with our customers and for you to grab the ears of some key staffers. We would love to hear about what you do and what you think about the software. We have no agenda and no real plans, but if you want to come and just hang out with the Mastercam crew, we would love to spend some time with you off the trade show floor.



Here's the details:


When: May 15, 5 – 7 PM

Where: Lattitude Restaurant, 1338 Memorial Ave, West Springfield, MA 01089



If you would like to join us, please click here to register. It's free and we hope to see you there!


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Mastercam X7 is Released!

May 8, 2013, 5:25 am
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It’s here! With dozens of powerful new tools and enhancements, Mastercam X7 is ready to help you make the most of your shop.

If you want to see what X7 has to offer, click on over to http://whatsnew.mastercam.com/ for a quick tour of some of the highlights, or come to one of our global Rollout events.
 
Packages will begin shipping in the coming weeks, but if you’re a current maintenance customer, you can download Mastercam X7 right now at:

http://mastercam.com/Support/Downloads/MastercamX7/Default.aspx#X7

Please contact your local Mastercam Reseller with any questions and happy programming!

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IOF Competition Deadline Reminder

May 10, 2013, 10:55 am
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We have gotten many inquiries about our Innovator of the Future Competition and we know there are lots of students out there working hard on their entries. This is just a quick reminder that the deadline is next week, May 15th.  Parts need to be postmarked by May 15th, not to our door, so that means you still have a little bit of time left to put the finishing touches on your parts and get them in the mail to us.  If you need a refresher on the contest details, please visit: http://mastercam.com/iof/contest.html.

Please mail your parts to:

CNC Software, Inc.

C/O IOF 2013 Competition

671 Old Post Road

Tolland, CT 06084

We are very much looking forward to seeing what you’ve been working on. Please stay tuned for the results.

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Mastercam X7 Preview 6: Faster Processing

May 15, 2013, 1:24 pm
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Speed comes in many forms. How easy is it to program a toolpath? How quickly can that toolpath get the part off the machine? And the subject of today's post - how fast does the software process? Mastercam X7 delivers several different methods that speed up processing time and let you get to what's important - cutting chips.

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Eastec Wrap Up

May 17, 2013, 11:10 am
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What a great week we had at Eastec and surrounding open house events! Mastercam was there in force in many booths throughout the show, including our corporate booth, Cimquest, Compumachine, Macdac, and on the majority of the machines running throughout the show. We also had a presence at Able Machine Tool Sales, Inc. (Agawam, MA), Discover More with Mazak Northeast (Windsor Locks, CT), and Tri-TECH 2012 (HFO Trident, Windsor, CT). If you were at any of these events, you were sure to see what our newest release, Mastercam X7 has to offer. A few capabilities, enhancements, and products you may have seen are:
  • Mill-Turn
  • Support for Renishaw’s Productivity+™
  • Redesigned Tool Manager
  • New Mastercam Simulator
  • More efficient Dynamic and OptiRough toolpaths 
  • Dynamic roughing strategies for Lathe toolpaths
  • Multi-threading support for 2D high speed toolpaths
  • Mastercam Swiss Expert
  • And much more

 
Our Sales Manager with Jeremy Bout of the Edge Factor

Additionally, we held another one of our Mastercam Meet-ups Wednesday night at Lattitude Restaurant right across the street from the show. With a turnout of over 30 people, we had a great time chatting over a few drinks and some delicious appetizers. If you made it, we’d like to thank you for coming. If not, we’ll see you at the next one!
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Spring Promo at the iMastercam Store

May 20, 2013, 8:20 am
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It’s time to break out the short-sleeve shirts! Looking for something new to wear? We have several options for you at iMastercamstore.com.

From May 20 - 24, 2013 use code SPMY15 and receive 15% off your entire order, excluding shipping and taxes. Choose from a wide selection of light polos and T-shirts. We also offer FLEXFIT baseball caps in navy and silver/gray.

Visit iMastercamstore by clicking here.


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Free Webinar - Adjusting Feedrates for Arcs in Mastercam

May 22, 2013, 6:10 am
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The guys at eapprentice are offering another free Webinar today. They will discuss several ways to adjust the feedrate of your CNC machine to accommodate the corners of your part.

Think of it this way . . .  If you’re driving down a country road at 60 miles an hour, you’ll need to slow down for turns.  A gentle curve may not require you to slow down at all, while a sharp curve, such as turning onto a side road, will require a much slower speed than 60 miles an hour. The same concept applies when manufacturing parts, especially for older CNC machines that may not have a “look ahead” type of feature.  If you’re using a new cutter, capable of high feedrates, you’ll cut material just fine, but lose accuracy going around corners because the machine is moving too fast and cannot change direction at the programmed speeds. Eapprentice will show you several methods for correcting for this in Mastercam.

The presentation will be followed by a Q&A with their panel of Mastercam experts. The presentation will deliver the basics, but will also be beneficial to power users.

Adjusting Feedrates for Arcs in Mastercam
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM PDT

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/240661855

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

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Searching for Ways to Keep Students Engaged?

May 24, 2013, 6:30 am
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The Mastercam Wildest Parts Competition provides just the incentives students need to keep doing their best work through the end of the year. To enter the competition, students are simply asked to send in nearly any Mastercam project they have created over the course of the year. If requested, entries will be returned in one year, after we have displayed them in our offices and at numerous shows.

Prizes:
Prizes are awarded in both secondary and post secondary categories and everyone who enters receives a Mastercam shirt.

1st Place - $1,000 and a plaque for home and for the school
2nd Place - $500
3rd Place - $100

All place finishers in the post secondary categories will also receive Mastercam Entry with Art.
Better than cash prizes, students win bragging rights and an excellent accolade to add to their resumes. For all of the entrants, simply having their instructor encourage them to compete is an honor.

For full information on the competition, including full rules, entry forms, and instructor prizes, go to www.mastercam.com/WildestParts.


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Third Party Partner Spotlight: Moldplus

May 29, 2013, 8:56 am
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Moldplus, a Mastercam Third Party Partner, offers powerful advanced design tools for the Mastercam user. Originally designed for the mold industry, the software solution now offers even more tools for various industries ranging from the aerospace to the medical industry, that use CNC machines or robots for manufacturing purposes. Powerful trimming and untrimming surface tools, along with surface patching tools, continue to be a great help for Mastercam users. The solution is offered in different levels and packages to cater to the needs of the client.

Moldplus V10.6
The new version of Moldplus offers several new features to the 5-axis toolkit and various internal enhancements to the overall software solution. Below are some of the highlights of the new version:

  • Create Mastercam Curve 5axis toolpaths with 1-click—Once the geometries for the curves and vectors are created using the automatic function or the manual edge selection method, the geometry can be directly passed to the Mastercam curve 5-axis parameters and have the toolpath created.
  • Create curves on edges and splines—Create curves and vectors by clicking on edges. Also, output the curves as parametric splines to allow for better machining results.




  • Welding geometry—Quickly identify and create welding geometry (curves and vectors based on the intersection of edges) for the robotic welding industry where creation of such geometry is a tedious and painstaking task.
  • Isolate inner and outer shell face enhancements—The selector for isolating inner and outer shell offers a slide bar to select faces on complex models more easily. Fillet faces (concave or convex) alone can be isolated and stored on separate layers.
  • STL Utilities—The splitting interface has been improved with new tools for dynamic preview of slicing the STL bodies, ability to preview and create closed bodies, easier management of split bodies, and direct saving of the bodies as Mastercam entities. The STL create edge function also allows for previewing the edges that will be created and storing the body and edges directly as Mastercam entities.

Moldplus is continuing to improve their interface and working on offering several new tools for the emerging market needs.

For more information on the 5-axis toolkit from Moldplus, please visit www.moldplus.com/5axiskit.htm.
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