Mastercam post editing

[Garwood]

I'm trying to Edit the MPFAN.PST post I have for Mastercam X2. I have tried using Cimco Edit and Mastercam's own editor.

I can make all the changes I like, but when I go to save it, it won't save as a .PST file, only as .TXT or .NC so Mastercam won't recognize it.

Anyone know what I'm missing?

 

[Barbter]

Once saved as a .txt.
Rename it to .pst.
?

 

[Garwood]

Once saved as a .txt.
Rename it to .pst.
?

The .PST is not an option in any editor I have except for one.

Boy. I really don't know what I'm doing here. The internet is full of "Just modify your post, it's so easy a caveman can do it".

Only way I could get it to save as a .PST file was to select MC Edit as my default editor and and open it that way.

I changed nothing, just saved it as a .PST file again and now I have bricked it lol. Now it errors out when I try to post.

 

[Garwood]

Mpmaster - Master G-Code Post - Version X2

Based on CNC Software's master mill post - Mpfan - this post has additional features. eMastercam.com is operated by In-House Solutions Inc. - Authorized Canadian Distributor. Please do not email post requests or support questions. For post requests or support contact your local reseller. Click "d...

www.emastercam.com

This appears to be an updated post from the MPFAN.PST I have.

 

[Garwood]

OK. Sky is not falling lol.

I am not a computer person, just fuck things up somehow.

My guess is I don't have any editor that is correct for a .PST file so when I saved it, even though it saved as a .PST file, the formatting was wrong?

I was able to load the new MPMASTER post processor and associated machine and control definitions no sweat. Just dropped them in the right folders, selected those files in Mastercam machine and control definitions and it works like a champ.

The things I wanted to change in MPFAN were just tool staging, getting rid of the rotary axis zero ref return at each tool change and maybe a few other small things.

Well, the new MPMASTERS post does all the things exactly like I wanted anyway. LOL.

So nothing went to plan, but I got exactly what I wanted in the end.

 

[Barbter]

In future, take a copy of your post first and rename it lastworking (for example).
Then the post you're going to edit - rename the extension .txt.
Then open it in notepad.
Change away to your hearts content WITH CARE
Save and close it.
Then rename it .PST.

 

[Garwood]

In future, take a copy of your post first and rename it lastworking (for example).
Then the post you're going to edit - rename the extension .txt.
Then open it in notepad.
Change away to your hearts content WITH CARE
Save and close it.
Then rename it .PST.

That makes total sense. It does not seem to work for me at all.

I have discovered the new post puts an M08 and M09 and every damn Z move in a program. Fucking ridiculous.

The solution is easy- set COOL_ZMOVE to no$

Can't fucking do it with any of the software I have.

 

[Garwood]

I was able to use Microsoft code viewer to open and edit the MPMASTER.PST file. I made the changes, saved them to a new file name and couldn't get it to work.

I was thinking maybe the control definitions file and the .PST file need to have the same name so I tried again, just saved it as the same old MPMASTER.PST file name loaded it all in there again and it seems to be working correctly now.

What a PITA.

 

[Mud]

The internet is full of "Just modify your post, it's so easy a caveman can do it".

I cringe every time I see that also. As well as the CAM sales pitches that say "We supply a post editor so you can just build whatever you need yourself".
Post issues are the very first hurdle to clear when I make a decision about CAM. BTDT.

 

[Barbter]

Is it as simple as....you grabbed a newer updated post, which is LATER than X2?
So it won't work....
You need to revert back to your original X2 post, and go from there....

 

[Barbter]

I cringe every time I see that also. As well as the CAM sales pitches that say "We supply a post editor so you can just build whatever you need yourself".
Post issues are the very first hurdle to clear when I make a decision about CAM. BTDT.

In Mastercams defence....this is why I chose it when Eng manager at previous place (bought 3x full seats), and then when I had my place, bought 2x full seats.
Because it is fully customisable, and you can make it do just about anything you want....
With enough time and patience!

 

[Barbter]

As an addition....when post editing, I had kept a couple of dozen small mastercam files that I would always load and post to be able to compare and ensure there were no bugs.
This is because a lot of my mods were done by my reseller and in case something got misinterpreted (which actually never happened).
In the end I had 1x mill post, which worked for 3x different VMC's makes with various 4th axes
All via a posting "prompt" which asked:-
"tool preselect" Y/N (this was for the Robodrills)
"rotary output" N, Index only, Index with Lock Codes, Simultaneous (this was for straight 3ax, 5C rotary, full rotaries)
It was a whole lot easier in servicing just the one post/control/machine definition files, than what "should" have been at least 3.

 

[Garwood]

Is it as simple as....you grabbed a newer updated post, which is LATER than X2?
So it won't work....
You need to revert back to your original X2 post, and go from there....

The post I got from Mastercam is for X2 which is what I have.

 

[lobust]

I cringe every time I see that also. As well as the CAM sales pitches that say "We supply a post editor so you can just build whatever you need yourself".
Post issues are the very first hurdle to clear when I make a decision about CAM. BTDT.

In defence of that statement, in SOME cam systems it really is that easy. The post editor is in my top 3 favourite things about featurecam.

I'm not sure where MC sits exactly as I haven't used it in a long long time, but as I recall it's pretty close to the other end of the spectrum...

 

[Mud]

In defence of that statement, in SOME cam systems it really is that easy. The post editor is in my top 3 favourite things about featurecam.

I'm not sure where MC sits exactly as I haven't used it in a long long time, but as I recall it's pretty close to the other end of the spectrum...

I learned on Smartcam. It had a trace feature in the post editor that you could turn on, when it was on it showed where each line of code was created in the PP. That made it a breeze to find that place and make a change. (I did however have to pay someone to create a post for an old control I had because it used Ps and Qs for cutter comp and I had no clue how to start. The paid creator had to get outside help too.) I really miss that in other newer Cam systems., notably Edgecam. It's mostly poke and hope otherwise. The deal in Fusion really sucks IME. If we didn't have free online help it would be a dealbreaker.

 

[Garwood]

My favorite things about Mastercam X2 are how free it was to me, How I've been using it since it was new so I know it OK enough and when I can't figure something out there is a decent knowledgebase out there and the answers are written on forums, not hidden amongst 50,000 catchy titled videos on Youtube (Fuck you F360).

I'm not very good at learning computery stuff. So I keep using this old crap and maybe someday I'll have to change, but for now it's what I've got.

 

[Kustomizer]

My favorite things about Mastercam X2 are how free it was to me, How I've been using it since it was new so I know it OK enough and when I can't figure something out there is a decent knowledgebase out there and the answers are written on forums, not hidden amongst 50,000 catchy titled videos on Youtube (Fuck you F360).

I'm not very good at learning computery stuff. So I keep using this old crap and maybe someday I'll have to change, but for now it's what I've got.

I have up to x5 but mostly use V9 on an old XP machine. I like V9 because it had words rather than pictures and everything stays where I left it rather than rearranging based on what I use most. Most of my parts are pretty simple and sometimes I finger cam them just to make sure I still know how to do basic math.

 

[Vancbiker]

I learned on Smartcam. It had a trace feature in the post editor that you could turn on, when it was on it showed where each line of code was created in the PP……

First CAM system I ever ran was SmartCAM. IIRC my serial number was 4. Ran on an 8088 PC with a 8087 math processor chip and a green screen display. Their PP was awesome. Early versions did not have the trace function but it was easy to implement a similar function by adding a comment to each function block.

It was incredibly flexible too. One shop made a post that output code for their CMM which was programmed in HP Basic.

 

[lobust]

I learned on Smartcam. It had a trace feature in the post editor that you could turn on, when it was on it showed where each line of code was created in the PP. That made it a breeze to find that place and make a change. (I did however have to pay someone to create a post for an old control I had because it used Ps and Qs for cutter comp and I had no clue how to start. The paid creator had to get outside help too.) I really miss that in other newer Cam systems., notably Edgecam. It's mostly poke and hope otherwise. The deal in Fusion really sucks IME. If we didn't have free online help it would be a dealbreaker.

Featurecam has a similar post debugging system. Only thing it's missing is a variable state viewer, but you can work around that by outputting them in the actual posted code or by displaying them in message boxes...

 

[Barbter]

The post I got from Mastercam is for X2 which is what I have.

This is the top line of my X2MR2 mill post....is yours definitely the same version?