Mastercam Development Process

The practical example is presented as a complete and fairly comprehensive develop-

ment process using Mastercam (based on the version 7). The drawing example used
illustrates all the steps required to develop a CNC program. CNC program should be
ready for the machine without modification, once the post processor is properly
customized. This process is presented as a step-by-step method, suitable for a
self-study. To a computer novice, it may sound a little unusual approach, but there is a
purpose in it. The most important reason for the presentation is that it will show you,
on a simple example, all the steps involved to generate a program that is ready for a
CNC machine, right from its beginning.

This is not an example to teach any software details at all, although what you remem-
ber will always benefit you. It is only a presentation example. Just follow the individ-
ual steps but do not try to learn them or remember all the details. This is just a

© Peter Smid CNC Programming with Mastercam 1

Mastercam Development Process

demonstration, one that the instructor often presents in front of the students, but also
one that is well documented, so you can try it for yourself anytime, following the writ-
ten instructions. When you try to recreate the process for the first time, it is a good
idea to adhere to the written text exactly as is, even if you do not always know what
you are doing, or even agree with every detail presented. Once you are more familiar
with Mastercam, you can choose your own personal method of development, and
modify the process to suit your own preferences. The development process starts
with a given drawing - coming from the engineering office, from the customer, or
from any other source. An engineering drawing is the basic requirement. We will use
the drawing shown on the previous page.

Start with a Drawing

Tool
Tool Description Comment Operation
number

Tool 1 T01 ∅ 1.0 end mill One cut only Contour

Tool 2 T02 ∅ ½ spot drill 90° tool point G82 cycle / 0.2 sec. dwell

Tool 3 T03 ∅ ¼ drill 118° tool point G81 cycle

The example part in the drawing is made from a 4x3x1/2 aluminum plate (AL 6061).
Part zero will be at the lower left corner, and at the top of the part, and three tools will
be used:

■ T01 will make a single cut around the part, in the climb milling mode
■ T02 will spot drill all six hole locations to the chamfer diameter of 0.28: 0.25+0.015+0.015=0.2800
■ T03 will drill all holes through the 1/2 inch material, with a clearance of 0.05 below the part for the drill
penetration (breakthrough clearance)

Mastercam will calculate the exact length of the drill point and determines the depth
for both T02 and T03 tools.

Determine Cutting Parameters

Rapid
Tool Number H-offset D-offset RPM IPM
Z-clearance

T01 H01 D01 * * 1.0

T02 H02 NONE * * 1.0

T03 H03 NONE * * 1.0

Entries marked with an asterisk [ * ] will be automatically calculated by Mastercam.

2 CNC Programming with Mastercam © Peter Smid

Job Setup Mastercam Development Process

Job Setup
Since Version 7, Mastercam provides a Job Setup feature, that allows you to select or
set various parameters, such as the stock size, cutting tools, holders, speeds and
feeds, and many others.

Main Menu | Toolpaths | Job setup

Observe the various options on the following screen, and try to think about their pos-
sible meaning:

We want to change several items, namely the Stock Origin, Material, as well as to
check or uncheck some boxes. The data in the boxes that contain values is changed
easily by pointing the mouse into the box, and replacing the current value with the
new value. To check or uncheck a box, just click in the small square.

To change the stock origin from the middle of the block to the lower left corner (which
we defined as the part zero), just click once on the red arrow, then click once on the
lower left corner of the block. The arrow should be repositioned as shown in the illus-
tration on the next page.

On the same screen, change the values in individual boxes to match the illustration.

© Peter Smid CNC Programming with Mastercam 3

Mastercam Development Process Job Setup

Material Selection

Initially, there is no material se-

lected. If you do not see the selec-
tion of the proper material, press
the Select... button next to the ma-
terial, and select ALUMINUM Inch -
6061:

Press OK to exit the Material List.

The next step is to set the three tools required for the development example, from the
Job Setup screen.

Tools Selection

You can select tools separately, or from the Job Setup dialogue box. When you select
Tools... button from the Job Setup, you can define new tools, or select the ones you
want from an extensive Mastercam tool library. Initially, the tool manager display is
empty - there are no tools. Our tools are standard, so we use predefined tools.

The next illustration shows the dialogue box for the tools.

4 CNC Programming with Mastercam © Peter Smid

Job Setup Mastercam Development Process

There are many tools

available in the Master-
cam tool library, and
the best way is to filter
out those that we
need. That will signifi-
cantly speed up the se-
lection process.

Press the Filter... box.

When you press the Filter... box, a Tool

List Filter screen appears, showing all the
tool groups. Use your mouse to scan
through the icons. A small bar appears,
describing the icon.

The illustration on the right is the setting

for 1.0 end mill, when you pick Endmill1
Flat tool type. Select English units, HSS
tool material, and use the Tool Diameter
scroll bar, to make your selection.

Press OK, when you make the selection.

Mastercam will return you to the Tools
Manager, which will still be empty.

In order to register the tool in the Tools

Manager, press the right button on the
mouse, and select Get from library... The
end mill selection will appear. Press OK
button to move the selection to the Tools
Manager.

The tool entry should

look like the one in
the illustration:

To select the other two tools, follow the same procedure - pick the Filter... box again,
and select Drill and fill-in the Tool Diameter, the Equals option (0.5 for T02, and 0.25
for T03, one tool at a time). The Tools Manager will now have three tools listed.

© Peter Smid CNC Programming with Mastercam 5

Mastercam Development Process Job Setup

You may have to un-

check the Filter Active
box, to see all tools.
You may also select
the alphabetical order
by picking any column
title with the mouse.

Press OK to exit from

the Tools Manager,
then press OK again,
to exit from the Job
Setup.

This step concludes the

Job Setup. Since we
have used a stock defi-
nition, the stock outline
should show on the
screen. To show the
stock outline, press the
Repaint icon:

or press the F3 function

key.

To see the view as

shown in the illustration, change Gview: T to Gview: I:

Gview | Isometric

You may also use the zooming features of Mastercam to position the stock outline on
the screen, as you prefer. Zooming can be done by four zooming icons, or function
keys (icon order corresponds to the description order that follows):

■ F1 ... Zoom window (first icon)

■ F2 ... Unzoom (second icon)
■ Alt F2 ... Unzoom by 0.8 (third icon)
■ Alt-F1 ... Zoom all (fit) (fourth icon)

From the Main Menu, select File | Save, and save the current work as
DEVELOPMENT. Now, we are ready to create the required toolpath geometry.

6 CNC Programming with Mastercam © Peter Smid

Create Toolpath Geometry Mastercam Development Process

Create Toolpath Geometry

Mastercam only needs the geometry as it relates to the toolpath. That means we do
not have to draw the 4x3 rectangle. The stock defined in the Job Setup will be used for
reference. The process of creating toolpath geometry will cover these basic steps:

■ Create one rectangle as the basic part shape

■ Create two vertical and one horizontal lines
■ Break out the line between the two vertical lines
■ Create two chamfers
■ Create four fillets (R0.05 and R0.55)
■ Create one 0.25 diameter circle
■ Create remaining 5 circles
■ Save the file

There are several possible methods to develop the toolpath geometry, and this is just
one of them. The Gview can be set to either Isometric or Top, whichever you prefer.
Cplane must be set to T (Top)! Here are the details - with illustrations:

1 Step 01:

When you open Mastercam Mill, the Main Menu appears. Before you create any
geometry along the XY axes, you must select at which Z-depth the tool will be working
for any given tool:

With the mouse, select Z: 0.0000 from the menu. Type-in -0.3 and press the Enter key.
The Z-value on the menu will now be Z: -0.3000.

1 Step 02:

Create one rectangle as the basic contour outline - start in the Main Menu.

Main Menu | Create | Rectangle | 1 point

Create rectangle (1):

Enter the lower left corner: 0.1,0.1
Enter the width: 4-2*0.1
Enter the length: 3-2*0.1

Simultaneously press the Alt-F1 keys to fit

the image to the screen. You may also se-
lect toolbar icon (Fit) from the toolbar
menu at screen top.

Select Main Menu.

© Peter Smid CNC Programming with Mastercam 7

Mastercam Development Process Create Toolpath Geometry

1 Step 03:

As the next step, we create the three lines that bound the cutout. Just enter the coor-
dinate values, when prompted at the bottom of the screen. Again, start in the Main
Menu:

Main Menu | Create | Line | Endpoints

Create line, endpoints:

Specify the first endpoint 0.75,-0.1
Create line, endpoints:
Specify the second endpoint 0.75,1

The same process will repeat for the two

remaining lines:

Create line, endpoints:

Specify the first endpoint 3.25,-0.1
Create line, endpoints:
Specify the second endpoint 3.25,1
Create line, endpoints:
Specify the first endpoint 0.5,0.875
Create line, endpoints:
Specify the second endpoint 3.5,0.875

Select Main Menu. The three lines should look like the above illustration.

1 Step 04:

The bottom line in the cutout must be separated into two. This is an editing process,
where existing geometry is changed. Again, start in the Main Menu.

Main Menu | Modify | Trim | Divide

Select curve to divide

<select entity shown as 1>
Select first dividing curve
<select entity shown as 2>
Select second dividing curve
<select entity shown as 3>

The order of picking entities is important

only for the first pick. Select the entities
close to the locations as shown.

The part of line between selection <2> and <3> is now gone. Select Main Menu.

8 CNC Programming with Mastercam © Peter Smid

Create Toolpath Geometry Mastercam Development Process

1 Step 05:

The two chamfers are next, using the Chamfer command. Start in the Main Menu.

Main Menu | Create | Next menu | Chamfer | Distances

Chamfer:
Enter first distance <0.25> 0.375
Chamfer:
Enter second distance <0.25> 0.375
Chamfer: select first line
<select entity shown as 1>
Chamfer: select second line
<select entity shown as 2>
Chamfer: select first line
<select entity shown as 3>
Chamfer: select second line
<select entity shown as 4>

The geometry at this point should look like the following illustration.

Select Main Menu.

1 Step 06:

Next, we fillet the two small 0.05 radii, using the filleting command. As the Fillet com-
mand is used often, it appears in both the Create and the Modify menus:

Main Menu | Create | Fillet | Radius

Enter the fillet radius <0.25> 0.05

Fillet angle is less than 180; trim to fillet;
fillet radius=0.05000
Fillet: select an entity
<select entity shown as 1>
Fillet: select another entity
<select entity shown as 2>
Fillet: select an entity
<select entity shown as 3>
Fillet: select another entity
<select entity shown as 4>

© Peter Smid CNC Programming with Mastercam 9

Mastercam Development Process Create Toolpath Geometry

The result is two 0.05 radii at the bottom, as shown in the following illustration.

Now, we have to change the radius from 0.05 to 0.55 to fillet the large radii - select Ra-
dius from the screen menu, and change it:

Enter the fillet radius <0.05> 0.55

Fillet angle is less than 180; trim to fillet;
fillet radius=0.55000
Fillet: select an entity
<select entity shown as 1>
Fillet: select another entity
<select entity shown as 2>
Fillet: select an entity
<select entity shown as 3>
Fillet: select another entity
<select entity shown as 4>

The result is two large radii at the top of the cutout, as shown in the following illustra-
tion.

Select Main Menu.

10 CNC Programming with Mastercam © Peter Smid

Create Toolpath Geometry Mastercam Development Process

1 Step 07:

In this step, we create the small circle for one of the six holes on the bolt circle. Any
hole is OK to start with, so we select the one at the East position (3 o’clock position).
Since the holes will be drilled below the part, we need to draw the circle at the bottom
of the part. Breakthrough clearance can be added in the toolpath definition later. Part
is 1/2 inch thick, so the new Z-depth will be at -0.5:

With the mouse, select the Z: -0.3000 from the menu. Type-in -0.5 and press the Enter
key. The Z-value on the menu will now be Z: -0.5000.

Main menu | Create | Arc | Circ pt+dia

Circle, with center/diameter:

Enter the center point 2+1.5/2,1.875
Enter the diameter <1.0> 0.25

Select Main Menu

1 Step 08:

In this last step, we need to create the remaining five circles. This can be done by
transforming existing geometry, using the Xform command from the Main Menu:

Main Menu | Xform | Rotate

Select the small circle by picking it with a

mouse, the press Done on the menu.
Mastercam will need the rotation point:

Rotate: rotate about:

Origin
Point

Select Point, end enter the coordinates

for the center of the bolt hole circle.

Enter the point to rotate about 2,1.875

When you press the Enter key a special display dialog will appear. Fill in the data as
shown in the screen dialogue box:

© Peter Smid CNC Programming with Mastercam 11

Mastercam Development Process Create Toolpath Geometry

When you finish input of the data, press the Done

button in the dialogue box.

There are six circles on the screen, the original one in red, and the result of the Xform
command in magenta. These are only temporary colors, and we don’t need them any
more. To clear the temporary colors to their original colors, go back to the Main
Menu:

Main Menu | Screen | Clr colors

All colors should now be the same.

This concludes the process of toolpath geometry creation. This is also the right time
to save the geometry you have just created. From the Main Menu, select:

Main menu | File | Save

When the standard Windows interface will appear; just accept the name of the work
DEVELOPMENT, press the Save box, and delete the old file of the same name.

■ Note ...

Selection of the Main Menu after each step is not normally necessary, as the Backup
selection can be used more efficiently. However, starting each step from the Main
Menu allows for easier repeat of each step at the beginning of your training.

Before starting the toolpath development, the display shows both the stock outline
and the geometry created - Gview | Isometric view is shown in the illustration:

12 CNC Programming with Mastercam © Peter Smid

Toolpath Development Mastercam Development Process

Toolpath Development
The sole purpose of developing the toolpath geometry was to create a unique data-
base of mathematical objects that Mastercam can process, and then create a CNC
part program. Now is the time to use the toolpath geometry for individual tools.

Select Top view from the Gview submenu, and Toolpaths from the Main Menu. In this
menu, there are three options that relate to the 2D applications. They are:

Contour
Drill
Pocket

Since the first tool application is milling of a contour (not a pocket), select Contour
from the menu:

Main Menu | Toolpaths | Contour

In the Windows dialogue box, accept the DEVELOPMENT as the new NCI filename, by
pressing at the Save box. The selection asks for a chaining method. Chaining is a fea-
ture of Mastercam that allows you to select entities in a certain order, usually for the
cutting purposes. On the screen, there is a prompt:

Contour: select chain 1

Select Chain from the menu. Pick entity shown as <1> in the following illustration
(left figure), and maintain the recommended picking location, it is very important! The
selected contour will be highlighted, and an arrow will appear, showing the direction
of the cut (right figure):

You may contour more than one set of entities, so Mastercam gives you a choice on
the menu. Mastercam also offers several chaining methods. For this example, there
are no more entities to chain, and no special chaining required, so select Done from
the menu to terminate the chaining.

At this point, the first page of the Contour Properties screen will appear - the Tool pa-
rameters. This screen shows most of the data taken from the Job setup, and allows
for modifications. Fill-in the tool parameters to correspond to the screen as shown:

© Peter Smid CNC Programming with Mastercam 13

Mastercam Development Process Toolpath Development

Now, select the second tab, Contour parameters, at the top of the screen, to fill-in the
contour parameters for the T01, to be as shown:

When you mark and click on the Lead in/out... box, another screen will appear, de-
scribing the entry and exit parameters. These parameters are used to start away from
the first entity, and end away from the last entity chained.

Fill in the following Entry/Exit settings:

14 CNC Programming with Mastercam © Peter Smid

Toolpath Development Mastercam Development Process

Press the OK box,

when you complete
the settings, and
press the other OK
box, to exit from the
last screen.

Mastercam gener-
ated toolpath will
show on the screen.

Complete toolpath is
shown below.

The same process will repeat for the second and the third tool, both of them drills. Re-
peat the setting of Tooling parameters for the second tool (T02) - the spot drill:

Main Menu | Toolpaths | Drill

The menu offering the method of adding

points will appear.

Select Manual method for our example:

When selecting the points, you have

to select a snap method for accu-
racy. We need the center of each cir-
cle, so select Center on the menu
(for each point) or press the letter C
before each pick. The order is not
very important, but starts com-
monly from the 0° position (3
o’clock). We use that position as the
first hole, and continue to pick the
center of each circle in the CCW di-
rection.

After the last hole, press the (Esc)

key to see the path. Press Done to
terminate the selection process.

© Peter Smid CNC Programming with Mastercam 15

Mastercam Development Process Toolpath Development

Fill the above screen (0.28 is the chamfer dia.), and select the Drill/Counterbore tab.

After you enter the drilling parameters, make sure to check the Tip comp... box. Note
that we have set the depth to 0.0, which means Mastercam will calculate the depth
from Z0, based on the tool tip values. Click on the Tip comp... box, and fill-in the pa-
rameters relating to the tool tip only (no breakthrough value is needed).

Press the OK box, after the tip angle of 90° has been entered.

16 CNC Programming with Mastercam © Peter Smid

Toolpath Development Mastercam Development Process

Press OK when finished, and

another OK to get back to the
beginning.

Toolpath for the spot drilling

will show on the screen.

For the third tool, the 0.25 drill (T03), the same process will be exactly the same. Re-
peat the setting of Tooling parameters for the T03 - the drill:

Main Menu | Toolpaths | Drill

The Drill: add points menu will appear, select Manual, and pick the 6 holes by their
center. After the last hole, press the (Esc) key, then Done to terminate the selection
process and see the path. It will be the same as the previous one. Fill-in the next three
dialogue boxes as shown in the following illustrations.

First screen dialogue is the Tool parameters:

Next, press the Drill/Counterbore tab.

© Peter Smid CNC Programming with Mastercam 17

Mastercam Development Process Toolpath Development

Note the depth above is set to

-0.5, which is the bottom face
of the plate. When you click
on the Tool tip... box, you
must also fill the break-
through clearance plus the
tool tip angle for a standard
drill:

Press OK boxes on all opened

dialogue screens. The last
step is to check the opera-
tions from the main menu:

Main Menu | Toolpaths | Operations

The Operations menu opens up a listing of all three operations (T01, T02, and T03) in
the development example. Press the Select All box, to mark all three operations in the
operations manager, for further processing. The illustration on the next page shows
the operation manager display.

Operations Manager
Operations Manager is a very powerful way to see what operations have been done,
what tools have been used, and what files have been generated. By clicking on an
item in the manager, you can edit settings, backplot, postprocess, and perform many
other tasks.

18 CNC Programming with Mastercam © Peter Smid

Operations Manager Mastercam Development Process

To see the toolpath, you may choose the

Backplot option to observe the toolpath in
various configurations, or you may
choose the N-See 2000 option to see the
toolpath as a solid model, including the 3D
tool animation, all in a shaded form.

In order to generate the part program it-

self, press the Post option. Mastercam will
use the default post processor MPFAN
(generic Fanuc post processor), which is
included with the software.

If you choose to pick the Backplot menu

option, a screen menu will appear.

To change N to Y (no to yes), or Y to N (yes

to no), just click the menu item once.

Change the Gview to Isometric, then press Run from the backplot menu. The follow-
ing illustration shows the isometric toolpath for all three tools:

Feel free to experiment with other views, including the N-See 2000 option.

The final step is the post processing of the toolpath and all the cutting data collected
during the program development. Your program output may vary slightly from the
one shown, depending on the current configuration of the Mastercam software.

© Peter Smid CNC Programming with Mastercam 19

Mastercam Development Process Post Processing

Post Processing
Post processing is a func- %
O1234
tion of Mastercam that for- (PROGRAM NAME - DEVELOPMENT)
mats the program output (DATE=DD-MM-YY - 07-12-00 TIME=HH:MM - 08:56)
to be compatible with a (1" TOOL - 1 DIA. OFF. - 1 LEN. - 1 DIA. - 1.)
specific machine and con- N1G20
N2G0G40G49G80G90
trol system. Press the Post N3T1M6
option in the Operation N4G0G90G54X-1.6Y-1.S1528M3
Manager, answer all the N5G43H1Z1.M8
questions about files (ac- N6Z.1
N7G1Z-.3F24.45
cept defaults), and the final N8G41D1X-1.
program will appear. N9G3X-.4Y-.4J.6
N10G1Y2.7321
N11X.2679Y3.4
If you study the program N12X3.7321
carefully, it may be close N13X4.4Y2.7321
to your preferences, but it N14Y-.4
may still need work. Mas- N15X3.3
N16G2X2.75Y.15J.55
tercam only offers a ge- N17G1Y.325
neric post processor, and N18G3X2.7Y.375I-.05
it is up to the user or the N19G1X1.3
dealer to modify it to the N20G3X1.25Y.325J-.05
desired output format. N21G1Y.15
N22G2X.7Y-.4I-.55
N23G1X-.4
Setup Sheet N24G3X-1.Y-1.J-.6
N25G1G40Y-1.6
N26G0Z1.
Setup sheet is not a part of N27M5
the post processing, but it N28G91G28Z0.M9
may be a desired selection N29M01
(1/2 TOOL - 2 DIA. OFF. - 2 LEN. - 2 DIA. - .28)
in some cases. N30T2M6
N31G0G90X2.75Y1.875S1833M3
To make a setup sheet, N32G43H2Z1.M8
N33G98G82Z-.0841R.1P.2F8.8 (*SHOULD BE Z-0.14)
start from the Main Menu, N34X2.375Y2.5245P.2
select NC utils, and Setup N35X1.625P.2
sheet. Accept the defaults, N36X1.25Y1.875P.2
and the setup sheet will be N37X1.625Y1.2255P.2
N38X2.375P.2
displayed on the screen. N39G80
You can also customize N40M5
the setup sheet, and you N41G91G0G28Z0.M9
can print it. N42M01
(1/4 TOOL - 3 DIA. OFF. - 3 LEN. - 3 DIA. - .25)
N43T3M6
N44G0G90X2.75Y1.875S3667M3
Conclusion N45G43H3Z1.M8
N46G98G81Z-.6251R.1F8.8
N47X2.375Y2.5245
This concludes the com- N48X1.625
plete development pro- N49X1.25Y1.875
N50X1.625Y1.2255
cess using Mastercam as N51X2.375
the software for a CNC pro- N52G80
gram generation. N53M5
N54G91G0G28Z0.M9
N55M30
Don’t forget to save your %
files!

20 CNC Programming with Mastercam © Peter Smid