Bill, Kevin, There is no set rule when it comes to allowing editing (or not) that applies to everyone because of the simple fact that all of us have different applications. I myself work in a tool & die division of a large electronics oem manufacturer. In tool & die, almost every piece is one-off, and therefore it would make no sense to save the process models or the g-code programs. Also, the tool & die industry here in America is very quickly losing ground to foreign "low cost" manufacturing centers. Because of this, profit margins are extremely thin, and our parts must be manufactured as quickly as possible, with as low cost as possible. No prove outs, no setup pieces, no time to dink with Smartcam to provide a "perfect" program. We usually work with a blend of Smartcam generated g-code mixed in with operator edits at the machine. In fact, there are times when it is an asset to pass off some of the simpler programming tasks to the operator, such as when a hole is missed, or programmed with the wrong tool (I know; that doesn't happen to any of you out there [smile] ). Of course, I have tinkered with our cg's to produce as much edit-free code as possible, but the variety, complexity, and one-off nature of the components that make up a progressive sheet metal stamping die make it next to impossible to become totally edit-free for a large number of the components. The point of all this is that what works for me will not necessarily work for you. But it's always great to share ideas in the forum. I've picked up more than a few tips from here which have made me more productive. Regards,
Christopher Kocourek Tool & Die Designer Flextronics Enclosure Systems ====================================================================== To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ======================================================================
