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Greg Mueller
Thu 19 June 2008, 08:47
I have a machine shop and use Mastercam to run the CNC mills there. Can this software run the Mechmate? It would seem that there needs to be an on board computer that actually does the axis control work. Can I do the cad in Mastercam and postprocess it and send the G/M/S/F (etc etc) code to the on board computer, like I do for the CNC mills? Does anyone know of a post processor that would arrange the code from Mastercam so that it can be read properly? Is the programing for the Mechmate done in absolute coordinates or incremental coordinates?
Just trying to figure this all out, thanks.

Gerald D
Thu 19 June 2008, 09:15
The MechMate is typically controlled by Mach3 (http://www.machsupport.com/) (or EMC2 (http://www.linuxcnc.org/), and other options too). Mach3 is the most common.

Can I do the cad in Mastercam and postprocess it and send the G/M/S/F (etc etc) code to the on board computer, like I do for the CNC mills?
Yes

Does anyone know of a post processor that would arrange the code from Mastercam so that it can be read properly?
I am sure that you already have it.

Is the programing for the Mechmate done in absolute coordinates or incremental coordinates?
Both - you can chose.

smreish
Thu 19 June 2008, 09:44
I have used MasterCam to output and send files to Mach3.
Easy, just configure your post processor to output as a .tap file.
It's in the configuration menu with the other 2 million output choices in MasterCAM.

Greg Mueller
Thu 19 June 2008, 09:52
Thanks
I'm using version 7. I wonder if that ".tap" option exists in that version. Haven't updated in a while