MASTERCAM ATP

TUTORIAL
September 2018
 MASTERCAM ATP TUTORIAL

September 2018
© 2018 CNC Software, Inc. – All rights reserved.
Software: Mastercam 2019

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Use of this document is subject to the Mastercam End User License Agreement. The Mastercam End User License
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Be sure you have the latest information!

Information might have changed or been added since this document was published. The latest version of the doc-
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installed with each release – includes the latest information about Mastercam features and enhancements.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 5

General Tutorial Requirements 5

Files Included with this Tutorial 7

ATP Overview 9

The ATP Workflow 9

Assigning Toolpaths to Geometry 9

Exporting the Toolpaths 9

Generating a Level List 10

Mapping Operations to Levels 10

Run the Cutlist 10

Levels and Operations 10

How ATP Processes Your Files 11

Preparing ATP: Router Example 13

Exercise 1: Preparing the Interface 13

Exercise 2: Opening the Part 15

Exercise 3: Creating the Outside Contour Operation 16

Exercise 4: Creating the Outside Chamfer Operation 18

Exercise 5: Creating the Dado Operation 19

Exercise 6: Creating the Block Drilling Operation 21

Exercise 7: Exporting the Operations 23

Using ATP: Router Example 27

Exercise 1: Creating a Strategy 27

Exercise 2: Adding Levels 29

Exercise 3: Assigning Operations to the Levels 30

Exercise 4: Reordering the Operations 31

Exercise 5: Setting Up and Running the Cutlist 32

Exercise 6: Refining the Nesting 36

Preparing ATP: Mill Example 39

Exercise 1: Opening the Part 39

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 Exercise 2: Creating the Notch Contour Operation 40

Exercise 3: Creating the Rough Drill Operation 44

Exercise 4: Creating the Finish Bore Operation 46

Exercise 5: Creating the Leader Pin Drill Operation 48

Exercise 6: Creating the Leader Pin Counter Bore Rough Operation 49

Exercise 7: Creating the Assembly Screw Drill Operation 51

Exercise 8: Creating the Outer Contour Operation 52

Exercise 9: Exporting the Operations 54

Using ATP: Mill Example 57

Exercise 1: Creating the File List and Setting Options 57

Exercise 2: Scanning for Levels 60

Exercise 3: Removing Unused Levels 62

Exercise 4: Assigning Operations to the Levels 63

Exercise 5: Running ATP on the Files 65

Adding Custom Columns 69

Exercise 1: Adding a Custom Column to an ATP Definition 69

Exercise 2: Generating the Output Files 70

Exercise 3: Using Custom Data in a Report 71

Conclusion 75

Mastercam Resources 75

Contact Us 75

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—Introduction

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Mastercam ATP Tutorial. Once Automatic Toolpathing (ATP) is setup, it automates Mastercam to create
part files, NC files, nesting files, and report images with the click of a button. More specifically, ATP automates the
process of assigning toolpaths to geometry for recurrent parts, such as in cabinet and closet making. It does this by
linking operations to specific levels (layers) containing geometry, which creates a machining strategy. In this tutorial,
you discover how to setup ATP and use it to process part files exported from your cabinet software.

Chapter 1 on page 69

Goals
l Set up Mastercam 2019 for ATP

l Create operation libraries for ATP

l Configure ATP

l Create ATP strategies

l Run a cutlist

This tutorial assumes that you are familiar with the basics of using Mastercam.

WARNING: Screen colors in the tutorial pictures were modified to enhance image quality; they may not
match your Mastercam settings or the tutorial results. These color differences do not affect the lesson or
your results.

Estimated time to complete this tutorial: 4 hours

General Tutorial Requirements
All Mastercam 2019 tutorials have the following general requirements:

l You must be comfortable using the Windows® operating system.

l The tutorials cannot be used with Mastercam Demo/Home Learning Edition. The Demo/HLE file format
(emcam) is different from Mastercam (mcam), and basic Mastercam functions, such as file conversions and post-
ing, are unavailable.

l Each lesson in the tutorial builds on the mastery of the preceding lesson's skills. We recommend that you com-
plete them in order.

l Additional files may accompany a tutorial. Unless the tutorial provides specific instructions on where to place
these files, store them in a folder that can be access from the Mastercam 2019 workstation, either with the
tutorial or in any location that you prefer.

l You will need an internet connection to view videos that are referenced in the tutorials. All videos can be
found on our YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/user/MastercamTechDocs

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—Introduction

l All Mastercam tutorials require you to configure Mastercam to work in a default Metric or Inch configuration.
The tutorial provides instructions for loading the appropriate configuration file.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—Introduction

Files Included with this Tutorial

This tutorial is accompanied by part files that you can use to complete each lesson’s exercises. Place these files any-
where convenient on your system, but be sure to also keep unmodified copies. After extraction, you will have the
folders described in the following table.

Folder Name Description

AcmeSmall Cabinet DXF files and cutlist for Chapters 1 through 3.
AcmeSmallFinished Completed MCAM, mcam-operations, level list, and strategy files.
AcmeSmallOutput ATP output for the router lessons.
CustomColumns Cabinet DXF files and cutlist for creating custom columns.
CustomColumnsFinished Completed operation, level list, and strategy files.
CustomColumnsOutput ATP output for Chapter 6.
MoldBases Mold base DXF files for Chapters 4 and 5.
MoldBasesFinished Completed MCAM, mcam-operations, level list, and strategy files.
MoldBasesOutput ATP output for the mold base lessons.

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 CHAPTER 1
ATP OVERVIEW
ATP automates the assignment of toolpaths to geometry for recurrent parts by linking operations to specific levels,
each level containing geometry for a single type of operation. ATP automatically scans all levels and programs for
geometry on each level with the toolpath types you have chosen.

Once you setup ATP (create a strategy), you choose the cutlist to be processed. ATP automatically batch processes
each part file using the chosen strategy. It then nests the toolpaths and posts the results to one or more NC files
(depending on the number of sheets created). ATP sorts these files into folders by material name.

ATP is especially useful on large projects with many pieces of geometry. With a modest amount of setup, you can
save valuable time by letting the software automatically find, chain, and toolpath all the elements of a job.

Goals
l Explore the ATP workflow

l Understand levels and operations

l Learn how ATP processes your files

The ATP Workflow

Most of the ATP workflow involves preparing your part’s operations and mapping them to the levels in the part files.
After this one-time setup, running a cutlist to generate and nest your part files is a quick process. The following list is
a summary of the complete workflow.

l Assign toolpaths to geometry in the part files

l Export the toolpaths as an operation library

l Generate a level list from the part files

l Map operations to levels

l Run the cutlist

Assigning Toolpaths to Geometry

In most cases, you start with the DXF file with the largest number of operations. This file usually contains all of the
operations you need for all the other files in the job. You open this file in Mastercam and create operations just as
you would for any other Mastercam part. However, you need only create one of each operation type. For example,
if a job has several dado cuts that use the same operation type and tool, you only need to toolpath one of them.

ATP supports the following toolpaths: 2D Contour, 2D Pocket, Drill, Block Drill, Engrave, Circle Mill, Helix Bore, and
Thread Mill.

Exporting the Toolpaths

Once you have created the operations needed to complete the job, you export the operations to a library. When
you work with ATP, you load this library so that the operations you created are available for mapping to levels. A
single operation can be mapped to multiple levels in multiple part files.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—1: ATP Overview

Generating a Level List

Just as ATP needs to know about the operations it has to work with (stored in the exported operations library), it also
needs to know about the levels included in your job’s part files. ATP creates a level list for you and displays the res-
ults.

Mapping Operations to Levels

After creating your level list, you load the operations library, which makes the operations available for mapping.
Each level in the list has a drop-down menu from which you can choose the appropriate operation. You must map an
operation to every level in the level list.

Run the Cutlist

You complete the previous steps only once for each job type. After that, you can simply run the job’s cutlist to gen-
erate the files needed to cut the parts for the job, including nesting the parts on the sheet stock you define.

Levels and Operations

As you can tell from the ATP workflow, levels and operations play a central role in automating Mastercam to create
your final part files. Typically, you define the levels when creating your job’s files in your Router software. Each level
must contain the geometry for a single type of operation. For example, the part files you use in this tutorial’s les-
sons, include the following levels:

In the exercises, you create a library containing the following operations:

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—1: ATP Overview

You bring these two lists together by assigning an operation to each level, as shown below.

How ATP Processes Your Files

A lot happens when ATP automates Mastercam. The following is a general overview of the process.

1. Imports a part file into Mastercam.

2. Applies operations to the part file using the active strategy.

3. Saves results to the applicable material folder.

4. Repeats steps 1 through 3 for all part files.

After processing the part files, ATP performs nesting and then posts the results, as follows.

1. If nesting is on, runs a material nest list.

2. Saves the nested sheet as a drawing to the applicable material folder.

3. Posts NC code to the applicable material folder.

4. Repeats steps 1 through 3 for all nest lists.

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 CHAPTER 2
PREPARING ATP: ROUTER EXAMPLE
Before you can use ATP effectively, you must create the operations required by your job and then export those
operations into a library that ATP can use.

You can access ATP through the Machine tab in Mastercam.

You might also want to set up Mastercam so that the Nesting McLink function is more easily accessible, by adding
its icon to the Mastercam interface. The following procedure shows how to accomplish this task.

Goals
l Prepare the Mastercam interface to run ATP

l Open a part

l Create the operations

l Export operations

Exercise 1: Preparing the Interface

The ATP components are on the Machine tab by default, making it easy to run ATP when needed. If you use ATP
often, you will want to complete the following procedure to add Nesting McLink to the Mastercam interface. The
McLink Nesting utility provides a handy way to edit nesting files generated by ATP.

For additional information about McLink, open the Help in Mastercam and search for Nesting with MCLink.

1. Choose Options from the File tab to open the Options dialog box.

2. Select the Customize Ribbon page in the left pane.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—2: Preparing ATP: Router Example

3. In the Customize the Ribbon list, choose All Tabs in the drop-down list, and then Machine. Expand the
Machine choice.

4. Click New Group, and use Rename to name it McLink. (When you name it McLink, it adds the (Custom) to
the name.)

5. Set the Choose commands from drop-down to display All Commands and highlight McLink Nesting.

6. Click Add to add the McLink Nesting icon to the McLink group in the Machine tab. Click OK to add the new
group.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—2: Preparing ATP: Router Example

Exercise 2: Opening the Part

In the AcmeSmall folder included with this tutorial, you can find the DXF files for a complete cabinet job. In this pro-
cedure, you open the largest of these files. Typically, the largest file in a job contains the geometry for all of the
operations you need to create for ATP.

1. Select File, Open.

2. In the Open dialog box, change the File type to AutoCAD files (*.dwg; *.dxf; *.dwf; *.dwfx) and select
ACME_1_Side_Right_001F.dxf.

3. Click OK.

4. Adjust the display in the graphics window so that you can see the entire part in Isometric view.

5. Select the Machine tab, then select Router, Default.

6. Mastercam creates a router machine group in the Toolpaths Manager.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—2: Preparing ATP: Router Example

Before ATP can do its job, it must have a library of operations that you can map to the levels in your part files. In the
next few exercises, you create these operations.

Exercise 3: Creating the Outside Contour Operation

1. From the Toolpaths tab, choose Contour from the 2D gallery.

The Chaining dialog box displays.

2. Select C-plane.

Mastercam will now only chain entities that are parallel to the construction plane and at the same Z depth as
the first entity you chain.

3. Chain the part’s outside edge, as shown, and click OK. For ATP to work correctly, you must do all chaining in
the clockwise direction.

The 2D Toolpaths - Contour dialog box opens.

4. Select the Tool page.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—2: Preparing ATP: Router Example

5. Right-click in the tool list, and select Create tool.

The Tool Wizard displays.

6. Select Flat endmill, and click Next.

7. Ensure that Cutting diameter is set to 0.5, and then click Finish.

Mastercam creates a new 0.5" flat end mill for the Contour operation.

8. In the Comment box, enter 0.5 outside route.

Enter comments for all operations that you will export for ATP. Later in the process, ATP uses these com-
ments as operation descriptions.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—2: Preparing ATP: Router Example

9. Select the Lead In/Out page, and ensure that Lead In/Out is turned on.

10. Click OK to create the toolpath.

Exercise 4: Creating the Outside Chamfer Operation

1. From the Toolpaths tab, select Contour.

The Chaining dialog box opens.

2. Activate the C-plane option.

3. Chain the part’s outside edge, as shown, and click OK.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—2: Preparing ATP: Router Example

The 2D Toolpaths - Contour dialog box opens.

4. In the dialog box, select the Tool page.

5. Right-click in the tool list, and select Create tool.

The Tool Wizard opens.

6. Create a 1.0” diameter chamfer mill, and then click Finish.

7. Enter Chamfer route in the Comment box.

8. Click OK to create the toolpath.

Exercise 5: Creating the Dado Operation

1. From the Toolpaths tab, choose Contour.

The Chaining dialog box opens.

2. Activate the C-plane option.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—2: Preparing ATP: Router Example

3. Chain the dado geometry, as shown below, and click OK.

The 2D Toolpaths - Contour dialog box opens.

4. Select the Tool page.

5. Right-click in the tool list, and select Create tool.

6. Select Flat endmill.

7. Enter 0.1 for the Cutting diameter and 2.0 for the Overall length, then click Finish.

8. Enter Dado route in the Comment box.

9. Select the Cut Parameters page.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—2: Preparing ATP: Router Example

10. Set Compensation direction to Right.

11. Select the Lead In/Out page and deselect Lead In/Out.

12. Click OK to create the toolpath.

Note: Although the part file contains two dados, you only need to toolpath one. When run, ATP will auto-
matically find other matching dado operations.

Exercise 6: Creating the Block Drilling Operation

1. From the Toolpaths tab, select Block Drilling from the 2D gallery.

The Toolpath Hole Definition function panel displays.

2. Select Mask on Arc. Mask on Arc allows you to select multiple holes with a matching diameter.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—2: Preparing ATP: Router Example

3. In the graphics window select one of the drill holes. You might need to zoom in on the geometry.

4. Then, draw a window around the entire part. All of the holes with a matching diameter are selected.

5. In the Toolpath Hole Definition function panel, click OK.

The 2D Toolpaths - Drill/Circles Simple drill - no peck dialog box opens.

6. Select the Tool page.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—2: Preparing ATP: Router Example

7. Right-click in the tool list, and select Get block drill.

The Drill Block Selection dialog box displays.

8. Click OK to accept the default drill block settings.

9. Enter Block drill into the Comment box, and click OK to create the toolpath.

Exercise 7: Exporting the Operations

Now that you have created the operations needed for the parts, you must export them to a library that you can use
when mapping level names to operations.

1. In Toolpaths Manager, click Select all operations.

Mastercam selects all operations in the machine group.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—2: Preparing ATP: Router Example

2. Right-click Machine Group-1, and select Export from the right-click menu.

The Export Toolpath Operations dialog box displays.

3. Choose Select Operations File.

The Export toolpath operations dialog box displays.

4. Enter KCW_AcmeSmall for the File name and click Save.

Note: When saving your operations, never choose a library that was installed with Mastercam. Doing so will
add invalid operations to the chosen library. Always give your operations library a custom name.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—2: Preparing ATP: Router Example

5. In the Export Toolpath Operations dialog box, click Apply.

Mastercam saves the operations to the selected library.

6. Dismiss the message box that appears, and then click Done.

You are now ready to run ATP and map the operations to the levels in your part files.

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 CHAPTER 3
USING ATP: ROUTER EXAMPLE
Once you have your operation library created, it is time to create a strategy for the job. This requires generating a
level list (a list of all levels in the job’s part files) and assigning an operation to each level. When that is done, you can
run your cutlist to create the job’s final files.

Goals
l Create a strategy

l Modify the level list

l Create and nest your part files

Exercise 1: Creating a Strategy

To create a strategy, you must start a new strategy file and generate a level list from the parts.

1. In the Machine tab, select ATP.

The Configuration dialog box displays.

Note: If the Configuration dialog box does not open, the ATP configuration was previously set. In this case,
you need to be sure that, when the Mastercam ATP dialog box opens, Configuration is set to KCDw.

2. If you are asked to save changes to your current part file, select No.

3. Select KCDw from the Cutlist Specification list, and click OK.

The Mastercam ATP dialog box displays and ATP is now configured to read cutlists generated by the KCDw
software package.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—3: Using ATP: Router Example

4. Select New Strategy.

The Strategy Explorer dialog box displays.

5. Select Level Scan.

The Level Scan dialog box displays.

6. Enter KCW_AcmeSmallList into the text box, and click OK. The Level Scan dialog box allows you to type a file
name for the level list you are about to create.

The Browse For Folder dialog box displays.

Note: If you choose an existing file from the drop-down in the Level Scan dialog, you can merge the chosen
level list file with levels ATP finds in the level scan.

7. Navigate to the PartFiles\AcmeSmall folder, which is supplied with this tutorial, and click OK.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—3: Using ATP: Router Example

8. ATP scans the DXF files in the selected folder, and builds a list from the levels found in those files, as shown
below. This may take a few minutes.

Exercise 2: Adding Levels

Once you have the level list, you must add levels and place operations in the correct order for cutting the parts.

1. Select Add a new level.

ATP creates a blank row in the Level list. You must create this new level in order to include the Contour -
Chamfer operation in the list, due to the part’s using the same chain for the outside contour cut and the cham-
fer.

2. Click in the blank row, and type Panel_0p7500 as the Level.

This gives you two references to the Panel_0p7500 level, one for the Contour operation and one for the Con-
tour - Chamfer operation.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—3: Using ATP: Router Example

Exercise 3: Assigning Operations to the Levels

1. Choose Select operations file.

2. When asked if you want to save your changes to the level list, click Yes.

The Open Operations file dialog box opens.

3. Select the KCW_AcmeSmall.mcam-operations file, and click Open.

ATP loads the operation library.

4. In the Operation column for the DrillDrawer level in the Strategy list, click the black drop-down arrow, and
select the operation with the Block drill comment.

Mastercam maps the Block Drill operation to the DrillDrawer level. Notice that the Operation Comment
column contains the comments you entered when creating the operations.

5. Assign the Block drill operation to the DrillPilot and DrillShelf levels.

6. Assign the 0.5 outside route operation to the Panel_Op2500 level and the first Panel_Op7500 level.

7. Assign the Dado route operation to the Rout and RoutTab levels.

8. Assign the Chamfer route operation to the second reference to the Panel_Op7500 level.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—3: Using ATP: Router Example

9. You should now have the operation mappings shown in the following picture.

Exercise 4: Reordering the Operations

1. Select the Panel_Op2500 level, right-click to the left of the name, and choose Move Last from the menu.

The level moves to the end of the list. It is important to arrange the operations in the correct order before
generating files with ATP.

2. Move the first Panel_0p7500 and the Panel_0p2500 operations to the bottom.

Your operations should be in the order shown below.

Note: You must ensure that you are right-cicking in the area to the left of the name so that you are moving
the correct level.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—3: Using ATP: Router Example

3. Select Save, and then click Yes if asked to save the level list.

The Save Strategy dialog box displays.

4. Save the strategy under the name KCW_AcmeSmallStrategy, and then click OK in the Strategy Explorer
dialog box.

Note: You can create multiple strategies for the same level list, allowing you to apply different operations in
different situations.

Exercise 5: Setting Up and Running the Cutlist

Now you are ready to set up and run your cutlist with ATP, which creates the files for your parts. After generating
the parts, you can refine your nesting parameters as needed.

Note: You can create marking operations that will be output before other operations. Create a Contour or Engrave
toolpath and choose a center drill tool. Mastercam recognizes this type of toolpath as a marking operation and
always outputs it first, regardless of the sorting method chosen.

1. Select Options in the Mastercam ATP dialog box.

The Options dialog box displays.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—3: Using ATP: Router Example

2. Ensure that Use geometry depths and Set Z zero top of part are selected, and click OK.

Note: When Use geometry depths is selected, ATP determines the operation depths from the 3D geo-
metry. If you are processing 2D geometry, Use geometry depths must be off and the depths defined in
each operation’s linking parameters.

3. Select Nesting.

The Nesting Options dialog box displays. Use this dialog box to define nesting parameters for the current
ATP job.

4. Change the Part - part distance setting to 2.0, and then click OK.

This change will force more space between the parts when they are nested onto the sheet material. (You
nest them closer later in the tutorial.)

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—3: Using ATP: Router Example

5. Click the Open Cutlist button, browse to PartFiles\AcmeSmall, and open the file ACME_CNCList.txt.

6. ATP reads the cutlist and displays the data in the Cutlist pane, as shown below.

7. Click the Output Folder button, and browse to where you want ATP to place the files it generates. (Do not
choose the folder that contains your source DXF files.)

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—3: Using ATP: Router Example

8. Click the Select Machine Definition button, choose ROUTER DEFAULT.MCAM-RMD in the dialog box that
opens, and click Open.

9. Your file paths should be familiar to the ones shown below:

10. Click OK to run the cutlist with the settings you selected. ATP automates Mastercam to create and nest the
parts from the DXF files.

Note: Do not do anything with Mastercam until you see the message Process Complete The process may
take some time.

11. Dismiss the Process Complete message, and open the output folder you created in Step 7.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—3: Using ATP: Router Example

In the output folder you selected, you now have two subfolders, one each for the 1/4" Melamine and 3/4"
Melamine materials. Each folder contains Mastercam part files, NC and NCI files, bitmaps for use with reports,
and the nesting file (Nesting.ini), as shown below.

12. Open the file 1_4 Melamine.mcam with Mastercam (found in the 1_4 Melamine subfolder you just cre-
ated). This file shows the nesting for the 1/4” parts.

13. Right-click in the graphics window and choose Fit to view how the parts are nested.

Exercise 6: Refining the Nesting

At this point, you might be ready to cut the parts, or you might want to adjust the nesting parameters to fit the
parts better on the sheets. The following procedure shows how to make such adjustments.

1. In the Machine tab, click McLink Nesting.

The Specify file to read dialog box opens.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—3: Using ATP: Router Example

2. Navigate to the 3_4 Melamine folder where you had ATP generate the job’s output files, and open the Nest-
list.ini file.

After some processing, the Nesting 2019 V2016R3 dialog box displays. This dialog box provides access to
your nesting parameters.

3. Click the Parts tab, change Part-Part Distance to 0.1, and click OK.

After some processing, the Nesting Results dialog box displays.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—3: Using ATP: Router Example

Note: You can save the changed nesting parameters as defaults by clicking the Save button in the Nesting
2019 V2016R3 dialog box.

Notice that the parts are more tightly nested in the sheet, as shown below.

Note: If you want to further refine your nesting parameters, click the Redo button to return to the Nesting
2019 V2016R3 dialog box. You may notice an increase or decrease in the number of operations depending
on your default nesting parameters (options) set in this dialog box.

4. Click Cancel to close the dialog box.

For more information about nesting, please refer to the Mastercam Help.

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 CHAPTER 4
PREPARING ATP: MILL EXAMPLE
When using ATP in the Mill configuration, you use a file list instead of a cutlist. As with the Router example, you must
still create an operations library and map the operations to the levels in the files.

Note: This chapter assumes that you have set up ATP as described in the section "Preparing the Interface" on
page 13.

Goals
l Open a DXF part

l Create the operations

l Export the operations

Exercise 1: Opening the Part

In the MoldBases folder included with this tutorial, you can find the DXF files for this lesson. In this procedure, you
open the largest of these files, because the largest file in a job typically contains the geometry for all of the oper-
ations you need for ATP.

1. Start a new Mastercam session. Make sure you are using the inch configuration.

2. Select File, Open.

3. In the Open dialog box, change the File type to AutoCAD files (*.dwg; *.dxf; *.dwf; *.dwfx) and select
1.dxf.

4. Click OK.

5. The part should look like the following image. (You may want to change the geometry’s color to make it easier
to see.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

6. Select Mill, Default from the Machine tab.

Mastercam creates a mill machine group in the Toolpaths Manager.

Exercise 2: Creating the Notch Contour Operation

The mold bases project contains much more geometry than you will create operations for. To keep the example
short, in the next set of exercises, you create only the seven operations represented on the levels in the 1.dxf file.

1. From the Toolpaths tab, choose Pocket from the 2D gallery.

The Chaining dialog box opens.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

2. Chain the left notch, as shown, and click OK.

The 2D Toolpaths - Pocket dialog box opens.

Note: Remember, for ATP to work correctly, you must do all chaining in the clockwise direction.

3. Select the Tool page.

4. Right-click in the tool list, and choose Create tool.

The Tool Wizard displays.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

5. Select Flat endmill, and click Next.

6. Ensure that Cutting diameter is set to 0.5, and then click Finish.

Mastercam creates a new 0.5” flat end mill for the operation.

7. In the Comment box, enter 0.5 notch - NOTCH.

Be sure to enter comments for all operations you will export for ATP. Later in the process, ATP uses these
comments as operation descriptions.

8. Select the Cut Parameters page.

9. Set Pocket type to Open.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

10. Select the Linking Parameters page.

11. Set Depth to -0.25, and change all parameters to Absolute.

12. Click OK to create the toolpath.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

Exercise 3: Creating the Rough Drill Operation

1. From the Toolpaths tab, select Drill in the 2D gallery.

The Toolpath Hole Definition function panel displays.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

2. Select the hole center shown below and click OK in the Toolpath Hole Definition function panel.

The 2D Toolpaths - Drill/Circles Simple drill - no peck dialog box displays.

3. Select the Tool page.

4. Right-click in the tool list and select Create tool.

The Tool Wizard displays.

5. Create a 4" long, 0.7" diameter drill, and click Finish to exit the Tool Wizard.

6. In the Comment box, type 0.70 sprue rough drill - SPRUE_BUSHING_CENTRE_HOLE.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

7. Select the Linking Parameters page.

8. Set Depth to -0.5, all parameters to Absolute, and click OK.

Mastercam creates the toolpath.

Exercise 4: Creating the Finish Bore Operation

1. From the Toolpaths tab, select Drill.

The Toolpath Hole Definition function panel displays.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

2. Select the hole center shown below and click OK in the Toolpath Hole Definition function panel.

The 2D Toolpaths - Drill/Circles Simple drill - no peck dialog box displays.

3. Select the Tool page.

4. Right-click in the tool list and select Create tool.

The Tool Wizard displays.

5. Select Bore and create a 0.75" diameter boring bar tool, and click Finish.

6. In the Comment box, type 0.75 sprue finish bore - SPRUE_BUSHING_CENTRE_HOLE.

7. Select the Linking Parameters page.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

8. Set Depth to -0.5, all parameters to Absolute, and click OK.

Exercise 5: Creating the Leader Pin Drill Operation

1. From the Toolpaths tab, select Drill from the 2D gallery.

The Toolpath Hole Definition function panel display.

2. Select the hole shown below, and click OK in the Toolpath Hole Definition function panel.

The 2D Toolpaths - Drill/Circles Simple drill - no peck dialog box displays.

3. Select the Tool page.

4. Create a 4” long, 0.75” drill, and click Finish.

5. In the Comment box, type 0.75 leader pin drill - LEADER PINS.

6. Select the Linking Parameters page.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

7. Set Depth to -0.5, all parameters to Absolute, and click OK.

Exercise 6: Creating the Leader Pin Counter Bore Rough Operation

1. From the Toolpaths tab, select Circle Mill from the 2D gallery.

The Toolpath Hole Definition function panel.

2. Select the hole shown below and click OK in the Toolpath Hole Definition function panel.

The 2D Toolpaths - Circle Mill dialog box displays.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

3. Select the Tool page.

4. Create a 0.375" diameter flat end mill tool, and click Finish.

5. In the Comment box, type 0.375 leader pin counter bore - LEADER_PINS_CBORE.

6. Select the Roughing page.

7. Select Roughing.

8. Select the Finishing page.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

9. Select Finishing.

10. Select Finish, and set Number to 1.

11. Select the Linking Parameters page.

12. Set Depth to -0.3, all parameters to Absolute, and click OK.

Exercise 7: Creating the Assembly Screw Drill Operation

1. From the Toolpaths tab, select Drill.

The Toolpath Hole Definition function panel displays.

2. Choose the hole center, as shown, and click OK in the function panel.

The 2D Toolpaths - Drill/Circles Simple drill - no peck dialog box display.

3. Select the Tool page.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

4. Create a 0.4218" diameter drill, and click Finish.

5. In the Comment box, type 0.4218 assembly screw drill - ASSEMBLY_SCREWS.

6. Select the Linking Parameters page.

7. Set Depth to -0.5, set all parameters to Absolute, and click OK.

Exercise 8: Creating the Outer Contour Operation

1. From the Toolpaths tab, select Contour in the 2D gallery.

The Chaining dialog box opens.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

2. Chain the outside of the part, as shown, and click OK.

The 2D Toolpaths - Contour dialog box dispays.

3. Select the Tool page.

4. Select the 0.5 Flat Endmill.

5. In the Comment box, type 0.5 outside contour - MATERIAL.

6. Select the Linking Parameters page.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

7. Set Depth to -0.5, set all parameters to Absolute, and click OK.

Exercise 9: Exporting the Operations

Now that you have created the operations needed for the parts, you must export them to a library that you can use
when mapping level names to operations.

1. In Toolpaths Manager, click Select all operations.

Mastercam selects all operations in the machine group.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

2. Right-click Machine Group-1, and choose Export from the context menu.

The Export Toolpath Operations dialog box displays.

3. Click Select Operations File.

The Export toolpath operations dialog box opens.

4. Enter MoldBases as the File name and click Save. The file should be saved to the default location.

Note: When saving your operations, never choose one of the libraries that was installed with Mastercam.
Doing so will add invalid operations to the chosen library. Always give your operations library a custom name.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—4: Preparing ATP: Mill Example

5. In the Export Toolpath Operations dialog box, click Apply.

Mastercam saves the operations to the selected library.

6. Dismiss the message box that appears, and then click Cancel.

You are now ready to run ATP and map the operations to the levels in your part files.

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 CHAPTER 5
USING ATP: MILL EXAMPLE
In this chapter, you create an ATP strategy for generating the mold base project’s final files. This process is similar to
what you did to create a cabinet strategy. For this chapter, however, you set up a file list in place of a cutlist.

This chapter assumes that you are continuing the tutorial from "Preparing ATP: Mill Example" on page 39. If you are
starting this section without completing that lesson, open the file 1.mcam included with this tutorial.

Goals
l Create a strategy

l Run ATP on your files

Exercise 1: Creating the File List and Setting Options

To create a strategy, you must tell ATP about the files to use, as well as set the appropriate options, and map oper-
ations to levels.

1. From the Machine tab, choose ATP.

The Mastercam ATP dialog box displays.

2. If necessary, change Configuration to Mastercam, and click Yes. (You must restart ATP if you make this
change.)

3. Select Options.

The Options dialog box displays.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—5: Using ATP: Mill Example

4. Deselect the Use geometry depths option. Select Set Z zero top of part and Keep nested drawing open
at end of process, and then click OK

You are not using the Use geometry depths option because the 2D geometry has no defined depths. In this
case, ATP will get depths from each operation’s linking parameters.

5. Select Add Material.

Mastercam adds the default material into the Files list.

6. Select File, located to the right of the material row.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—5: Using ATP: Mill Example

7. Select all DXF files in the MoldBases folder, and click Open.

The files are added to the Files list.

8. Select Nesting.

The Nesting Options dialog box opens.

9. Deselect Nest toolpaths, and click OK.

The mold bases do not need nesting.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—5: Using ATP: Mill Example

Exercise 2: Scanning for Levels

1. Select New Strategy.

The Strategy Explorer dialog box displays.

2. Select Level Scan.

The Level Scan dialog box displays.

3. Enter MoldBasesLevels into the text box, and click OK.

Note: If you choose an existing file from the drop-down in the Level Scan dialog, you can merge the chosen
file with levels ATP finds in the level scan.

The Browse For Folder dialog box opens.

4. Navigate to the PartFiles\MoldBases folder, which is supplied with this tutorial, and click OK.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—5: Using ATP: Mill Example

5. ATP scans the DXF files in the selected folder, and builds a list of levels found in those files, as shown below.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—5: Using ATP: Mill Example

Exercise 3: Removing Unused Levels

To keep this tutorial shorter, in "Preparing ATP: Mill Example" on page 39, you created operations for only a subset
of the many levels included in the files. To run ATP successfully, you must remove the unused levels from the level
list.

1. Select the black arrow to the left of ASSEMBLY_SCREWS_CBORE and right-click it. Choose Remove Level
from the right-click menu.

Mastercam removes the level from the list.

2. Delete all levels except ASSEMBLY_SCREWS, LEADER_PINS, LEADER_PINS_CBORE, MATERIALS, NOTCH, and
SPRUE_BUSHING_CENTRE_HOLE.

Note: Hold down the [Ctrl] key to select multiple levels.

The Strategy list should then look as shown.

3. Click Add a new level.

Mastercam creates a blank row in the level list.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—5: Using ATP: Mill Example

4. Click in the blank row, and type SPRUE_BUSHING_CENTRE_HOLE as the level name. To avoid errors, you can
copy the level name from the existing one, and then paste it into the new level.

Exercise 4: Assigning Operations to the Levels

1. Click the Select operations file button, located to the right of the Operation libraries text box.

2. When asked if you want to save your changes to the level list, click Yes.

The Open Operations file dialog box opens.

3. Select the MoldBases.mcam-operations file in your shared Mcam2019\mill\Ops folder, and click Open.

Mastercam loads the operation library.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—5: Using ATP: Mill Example

4. In the Operation column for the ASSEMBLY_SCREWS level in the strategy, click the black drop-down arrow,
and select the operation with the 0.4218 drill tool comment.

Mastercam maps the drill operation to the ASSEMBLY_SCREWS level.

5. Assign the Standard drill - 0.75 operation to the LEADER_PINS level.

6. Assign the 0.375 Flat Endmill operation to the LEADER_PINS_CBORE level.

7. Assign the 0.5 Flat Endmill (for the Contour Operation Type) operation to the MATERIALS level.

8. Assign the 0.5 Flat Endmill (for the Pocket Operation Type) operation to the NOTCH level.

9. Assign the Standard drill - 0.70 operation to the first occurrence of the SPRUE_BUSHING_CENTRE_HOLE
level.

10. Assign the 0.75 bore bar operation to the second occurrence of the SPRUE_BUSHING_CENTRE_HOLE level.

You should now have the operation mappings shown in the following picture.

11. Reorder the operations as shown below.

12. In Strategy Explorer dialog box toolbar, click Save, and then click Yes if asked to save the level list.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—5: Using ATP: Mill Example

The Save Strategy dialog box displays.

13. Name the strategy to MoldBasesStrategy, and then click Save in the dialog box.

Note: You can create multiple strategies for the same level list, allowing you to apply different operations in
different situations.

14. Click OK in the Strategy Explorer dialog box.

Exercise 5: Running ATP on the Files

1. Anywhere convenient, create a folder named MoldBasesOutput.

2. Click the Output Folder button, and set Output Folder to your MoldBasesOutput folder.

3. Click the Select Machine Definition button.

The Select Machine Definition file dialog box displays.

4. Set the File type to Mill Machine Definition (*.mcam-mmd).

5. Select the default mill machine (MILL DEFAULT.MCAM-MMD), and click Open.

6. Click OK to run ATP with the settings and files you selected.

ATP automates Mastercam to create MCAM and BMP files for the parts in the DXF files.

Note: Do not touch Mastercam until you see the message Process Complete.

7. Click OK to dismiss the Process Complete message.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—5: Using ATP: Mill Example

In the output folder you selected, you now have a subfolder. The folder is named according to the type of
material you are using. This folder contains your files, as shown below.

When you run ATP with Nesting off, it does not create NCI and NC files. To create these files, you must post
the ATP-generated part files manually.

8. Choose File, Open to open the file 1.mcam. You may need to set your File type to Mastercam Files (*.m-
cam).

This file shows the toolpaths that ATP created for the part’s geometry.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—5: Using ATP: Mill Example

9. Examine the other part files in the output folder to see how ATP applied toolpaths to the geometry.

67
68
 CHAPTER 6
ADDING CUSTOM COLUMNS
There may be times when the cutlist you receive for a project has an extra field. Consider, for example, a KCDw case
where your cutlist contains extra data that specifies an edge banding code. Because the KCDw definition installed
with ATP does not expect this extra data, if you try to load the cutlist in ATP, you get an error.

To solve this problem, you can add a custom column (or columns) to the cutlist specification in the KCDw definition.
The following exercises show how to do this for a KCDw project. The steps are similar for other ATP definitions.

Goals
l Add a custom column to the ATP definition

l Generate the output files

l Use custom data in a report

Exercise 1: Adding a Custom Column to an ATP Definition

1. In Windows Explorer, browse to the folder that contains the ATP definitions (usually C:\User-
s\Public\Public Documents\shared Mcam2019\ATP\Definitions).

2. Make a copy of the KCDw.xml file, and name it KCDw - Extended.xml.

3. Open the copy into an ASCII text editor, such as Notepad.

4. In the <COLUMNS> tag, change the value from 14 to 15, which adds a custom column to the cutlist. (See the
image below.)

5. Change the <CUSTOM-COLUMNS> tag from False to True.

6. Save the file.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—6: Adding Custom Columns

Exercise 2: Generating the Output Files

To get the new column data into your output files, you must run the cutlist containing the new information. Before
you can do this, however, you must create your operations library, level list, and strategy file. You saw how to do
this in Preparing ATP: Router Example and Using ATP: Router Example. Rather than making you go through the
steps needed to generate these files, this tutorial supplies them for you. In the following procedure, you copy the
files where they belong and generate your new output.

1. From this tutorial’s CustomColumnsFinished folder, copy KCW_EBC_AcmeSmall.mcam-operations to

C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\shared Mcam2019\router\OPS.

2. From this tutorial’s CustomColumnsFinished\ATP folder, copy the Levels and Strategies folders to
C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\shared Mcam2019\ATP. If you are asked to confirm folder
replacement, click Yes.

The ATP folder now contains the strategy and level list files that you need to run the cutlist that contains the
added column.

3. Start ATP, and ensure that Configuration is set to KCDw – Extended. This is the KCDw definition that you
modified in the previous exercise. Remember, you need to restart ATP if you change your configuration.

4. Set Cutlist to the file ACME_CNCList_EBC.txt, which is included in this tutorial’s Cus-
tomColumns\AcmeSmall folder. This file represents a cutlist that has additional data—in this case, an edge
banding code.

5. In the Cutlist pane, use the horizontal scrollbar to view the Custom 1 column, and notice the edge banding
code, 94039000.

6. Set Output Folder to wherever you want ATP to place the generated files.

7. Set the Machine Definition to the ROUTER DEFAULT.MCAM-RMD definition supplied with Mastercam.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—6: Adding Custom Columns

8. Make sure the Strategy is set to KCW_AcmeSmallStrategy.xml.

9. Click the OK button to run the extended cutlist.

ATP generates the output files.

10. In the output folder, find one of the material XML files (for example, 1_4 Melamine.xml), and load it into a
text editor.

Find the custom column definition containing the edge banding code. You can use this information in reports,
as you see in the following steps.

Exercise 3: Using Custom Data in a Report

As you learn in this exercise, the new edge banding code can now be used in your reports.

1. From the Mastercam 2019 folder in the Start menu, run Active Reports Designer.

2. Choose File, New to start a new report.

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Mastercam ATP Tutorial—6: Adding Custom Columns

3. Click the data source icon on the Detail header.

The Report Data Source dialog box opens.

4. On the XML tab, set File URL to the XML file you located previously (1_4 Melamine.xml). 

5. Set Recordset Pattern to //NESTING/SHEETRESULT/SHEETS/SHEET/PARTS/PART (must be uppercase), and

click OK.

6. In Report Explorer, open the Fields node and then the Bound/Document node.

Notice the NESTING node. This is the first node in the recordset pattern you entered previously.

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 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—6: Adding Custom Columns

7. Follow the recordset path (open NESTING, then SHEETRESULT, and so on) down to CUSTOM-1, which is the
data element for the added edge banding code.

You can drag this data element into your report where needed.

For more information on ActiveReports, please refer to the Mastercam Help or the ActiveReports Setup Sheets
tutorial, available on the Masercam website (https://www.mastercam.com).

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74
 Mastercam ATP Tutorial—Conclusion

CONCLUSION
Congratulations! You have completed the Mastercam ATP Tutorial! Now that you have mastered the skills in this
tutorial, explore Mastercam's other features and functions.

You may be interested in other tutorials that we offer. Mastercam tutorials are being constantly developed, and we
will add more as we complete them. Visit our website, or select Help, Tutorials from the File tab.

Mastercam Resources
Enhance your Mastercam experience by using the following resources:

l Mastercam Documentation—Mastercam installs a number of helpful documents for your version of software
in the Documentation folder of your Mastercam 2019 installation.

l Mastercam Help—Access Mastercam Help by selecting Help, Contents from Mastercam's File tab or by press-
ing [Alt+H] on your keyboard.

l Mastercam Reseller—Your local Mastercam Reseller can help with most questions about Mastercam.

l Technical Support—Our Technical Support department (+1 860-875-5006 or [email protected]) is

open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. USA Eastern Standard Time.

l Mastercam Tutorials—We offer a series of tutorials to help registered users become familiar with basic
Mastercam features and functions. Visit our website, or select Help, Tutorials from Mastercam's File tab to
see the latest publications.

l Mastercam University—Mastercam University, an affordable online learning platform, gives you 24/7 access to
Mastercam training materials. Take advantage of more than 180 videos to master skills at your own pace and
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latest Mastercam news, follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/mastercam), Twitter
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Contact Us
For questions about this or other Mastercam documentation, contact the Technical Documentation department by
email at [email protected].

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