RENISHAW

PRODUCTIVITY+ FOR
MASTERCAM TUTORIAL
June 2018
 RENISHAW PRODUCTIVITY+ FOR MASTERCAM TUTORIAL

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

Terms of Use
Use of this document is subject to the Mastercam End User License Agreement. The Mastercam End User License
Agreement can be found at:

http://www.mastercam.com/companyinfo/legal/LicenseAgreement.aspx

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-
ument is installed with Mastercam or can be obtained from your local Reseller. A ReadMe file (ReadMe.PDF) –
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

Installation Requirements 5

Minimum Requirements 5

Usage Prerequisites 5

Support 7

When to Use Productivity+ 7

Post Processing Requirements and Installs 7

Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019 9

Features and Benefits 9

Tool height setting 9

Tool breakage checking 9

Part setup 9

Inspection/reporting of basic geometric features 9

Remachining 9

Associativity 9

Using Productivity+ in Mastercam 9

Probe Operations 10

Posts 12

Generating Probe Operations 13

Setting Up Your Probing Module and Stylus 14

Tool Setting 15

Measuring 18

Machine Updates 18

Remachining 21

The Logic Statement 22

Reporting 24

Productivity+ and Mastercam Posts 27

Posting Probe Operations 27

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Conclusion 31

Mastercam Resources 31

Contact Us 31

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 INTRODUCTION
This introduction to Mastercam's probing application using Renishaw’s Productivity+™ in Mastercam to combine prob-
ing with machining. It introduces you to some sample operations, addresses requirements, and discusses how
probe operations and posts work in 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: 3 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 accessed 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

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.

Installation Requirements
To take advantage of Productivity+ in Mastercam, you must have a Renishaw probe, which is operational and accur-
ate, installed on your machine tool, as well as functioning Inspection+ software. Productivity+ software generates
the necessary NC code.

Minimum Requirements
To run Mastercam 2019 with Renishaw Productivity+, you must have at least Mastercam 2019 Mill (Renishaw Pro-
ductivity+ is not compatible with Mastercam Lathe, or Mastercam Mill-Turn. For more information on Mastercam
product levels, please visit http://www.mastercam.com/Solutions.

Usage Prerequisites
In addition to experience working in Mastercam 2019, it is helpful to have a working knowledge of the Renishaw Pro-
ductivity+ suite.

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Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—1: Introduction

When you use Productivity+, you need to alter the MP post and then post that output with a Renishaw post. CNC
Software, Inc. provides a HAAS post and supporting files with the install. Please contact your local Mastercam
Reseller about post customization for other machine tools.

Use Renishaw Productivity+ with only Mill machine definitions.

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 Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—1: Introduction

Support
Productivity+ is a product of the Renishaw company. CNC Software, Inc. and it's approved Resellers support only the
integration and usage of Renishaw Productivity+ within Mastercam 2019.

When to Use Productivity+

Use Renishaw Productivity+ to take simple measurements and alignments. This will allow you to set up and validate
your parts at the machine tool. This can lead to better process control and reporting of the performance of your
machine tool. Productivity+ can be used with 3- and 4-axis mills (vertical and horizontal) and multiaxis (3+2) machines.

You can use Productivity+ to perform such automated functions as:

l Part setup

l Tool height and diameter settings

l Adjust wear and geometry values of tools in the control

l Tool breakage checking

l Inspection/reporting of basic geometric features (points, lines, planes, circles, web, and pocket sizes)

l Measuring machined areas and dynamically setting offsets to remachine

Notes:

l Productivity+ supports only Renishaw probes.

l Productivity+ will not probe complex free-flowing surfaces.

l The current version does not support continuous 4- or 5-axis motion.

Post Processing Requirements and Installs

To use Renishaw Productivity+, a Renishaw machine file (.RenMF) must be installed on your workstation. Addi-
tionally, your Mastercam 2019 post (.PST) must be configured to support Productivity+.

When you post a part with a properly configured Mastercam 2019 post, it interacts with the .RenMF file to create
both probing and metal-cutting code. If your Mastercam 2019 post processor has not been properly configured,
probing operations will not be incorporated in the NC output.

Please see Productivity+ and Mastercam Posts for more information.

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 PRODUCTIVITY+ IN MASTERCAM 2019
Renishaw Productivity+ allows you to use to program and simulate a Renishaw probe for your machine tool. It per-
forms simple measurements and alignments, and allows the set up and validation of your parts at the machine tool.
This can lead to better process control and reporting of the performance of your machine tool.

Features and Benefits

The following lists the key benefits of using the automated features of Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019:

Tool height setting

Productivity+ can measure your tool height and automatically update your tool parameters.

Tool breakage checking

Productivity+ allows you to program your tool setter for tool breakage detection. If breakage is detected, an error
is automatically output to the control.

Part setup
Probing operations can calculate the position of part components and features and automatically update and/or set
your machine offsets.

Inspection/reporting of basic geometric features

Productivity+ can provide automatic inspection and reporting of basic/prismatic geometric features (i.e., points,
lines, planes, circles, web and pocket sizes), which can be easily set up as an operation.

Note: At this time, Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019 cannot be used on types of features with free-flowing surfaces,
such as ports.

Remachining
Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019 provides automated probing of your part during the machining process. This can
update your tooling parameters on features that might be undersized, set the offsets (i.e. diameter and wear off-
sets), and remachine the feature. This functionality also detects features that are oversized (out of spec) and cannot
be remachined, which can be set to end the process, eliminating wasted machine time.

Associativity
Probe toolpaths are associative to part geometry. If a part's geometry is moved or changed, the probe toolpaths
will update accordingly. Editing part geometry or moving a part in space, may result in dirty toolpaths. Regenerate
the dirty operations to update the toolpaths.

Using Productivity+ in Mastercam

CNC Software, Inc. has incorporated Renishaw’s Productivity+ interface into Mastercam 2019, allowing you to integ-
rate process control into your CNC programs. To generate a probe cycle, you create and edit a probe operation,
just like you would any other toolpath operation in Mastercam 2019. Then, like any other toolpath, Mastercam out-
puts the probe operation to your machine. However, unlike other Mastercam toolpath operations, probe output
requires a two-stage posting process.

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Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

Probe Operations
The probe operation is stored in Mastercam 2019’s Toolpaths Manager. Edit the operation, as needed, to make
adjustments. The operation is a snapshot of your model at the time the operation was created.

To create a probe operation, select Probe from the Mill Toolpaths or Router Toolpaths contextual tab.

Probe operation parameters are set in the Probing Dialog box. Your selections generate the following:

l Probe calibration

l Tool settings

l Inspection cycles for measuring different aspects of your part

l Machine update cycles to adjust to the recorded measurements

l Reports

l Logic statements to vary the response based on measurements

l Label statements to use as reference points in conjunction with the probe operation tree

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 Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

See Mastercam’s Help for more information on the functions and options available in this dialog box.

Use Renishaw’s embedded Help for more detailed information on the parameters you set for each function. Hover
over a setting, or click it to display Help information at the bottom of the dialog box. If the Help topic contains more
information than will fit in that section, you can either use the vertical scrolling bar, or resize the Probing Dialog win-
dow.

Note: A warning symbol or a red X to the left of a setting indicates a missing or erroneous value/parameter. Hover
over the setting for more information.

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Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

Posts
Probing operations require an additional processing step before they are posted to your machine. This additional
processing incorporates instructions from the selected Renishaw machine file (.RenMF) and is initiated from the
Probing Post Tool dialog box which displays after you accept the settings in Mastercam’s standard Post processing
dialog box. (See Mastercam’s Help for more information on the Post Processing dialog box.)

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 Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

In order to successfully create probing output, you must have a post processor with probing enabled and a .RenMF
customized for your specific machine. Select the .RenMF after you have initiated the post from the Probing Post
Tool dialog box, or when you configure your probe operation from the Probe Configuration dialog box.

For more information on post files and posting probe operations in Mastercam 2019, see Productivity+ and
Mastercam Posts .

Generating Probe Operations

Productivity+ is used for tool and part setup, in-process gauging, and post process inspection. It uses a measuring
probe—via a Mastercam probe operation—on a machine tool to determine fixture offsets, orientation, and critical
dimensions.

This guide uses the part file PROBINGEXAMPLE, which is provided with the tutorial, to demonstrate some of the avail-
able probe operations. The post file for the Generic Haas 4-axis machine (Generic Haas 4X Mill.pst) and the
mill machine definition (Generic Haas 4X Mill MM.mcam-mmd) is also provided.

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Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

The post file must be placed in the following file location:

C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\shared Mcam2019\mill\Posts

The mill machine definition must be placed in the following file location:

C:\Users\Public\Documents\shared Mcam2019\CNC_MACHINES

Setting Up Your Probing Module and Stylus

Begin by opening the part ProbingExample. Save the part as ProbingExample_XXX, where XXX are your ini-
tials.

Before you can create a probing operation, your probe and stylus information needs to be communicated to the
Renishaw software within Mastercam 2019. The Select probe dialog box opens the first time you create a probe
operation.

The buttons on the right-side of the dialog box do the following:

l Edit: Opens the Edit Probe dialog box, where you can edit the properties of the current probing module and
stylus.

l Create: Opens the Edit Probe dialog box, where you can create a new probing module and stylus.

l Delete: Deletes the selected probing module from the database (completing this action requires con-
firmation).

l Import: Imports a probing database (.RenPD) from another source.

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 Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

l Advanced: Expands the Select probe dialog box to display properties of the current probing module and
stylus.

Configure your probe and stylus by editing the following parameters. Be sure to change the Tool change ID, which
is intentionally set to require input. (You do not need to do this as part of the tutorial. This is a general procedure
that you can refer to as needed.)

1. Change the default Probe name to more easily identify your machine/probe installation.

2. Set the Tool change ID to the tool slot that your machine uses for the probe.

3. Click the Probe module drop-down to choose the probing module installed on your machine.

4. Click the Stylus drop-down to choose the stylus attached to your probe module.

5. Click OK to save your probe information to the database (.RenPD).

The Probing Dialog dialog box opens after you have configured your probe and stylus information.

Note: Calibrate your probe with your controller as well as with your Productivity+ software before attempting to
use it in production. Create a calibration cycle from within Mastercam 2019 by selecting Probe Calibration on the
Probing Dialog toolbar.

Tool Setting
Prior to machining, if you have a tool setter on the machine, use Productivity+ to check tool offsets. Use the probe’s
breakage detection during processing to determine aberrations in tool diameter and length.

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Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

Measuring Tool Length and Diameter

In one probe operation, you can establish tool offsets for all tools in the tool magazine. The procedure below
describes the basic steps that are required to create a tool setting cycle. Specific settings are determined by your
machine control and tool setter.

1. To create a probe operation, select Probe from the Mill Toolpaths or Router Toolpaths contextual tab.

The Probing Dialog box opens.

2. Select your tool setter type (contact or non-contact) from the Tool Setting menu. The most common tool set-
ter is the contact OTS.

3. From the fly-out menu, choose a tool length/diameter for your control, or select the generic option.

4. Enter the necessary tool information. (Tool change ID.)

5. Enter the remaining parameters as necessary.

6. Click OK.

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Breakage Detection
Probe operations can monitor tool integrity during the cutting process. The procedure below describes the basic
steps that are required to create a tool inspection cycle. Specific settings are determined by your machine control
and tool setter.

1. Create a probe operation.

2. Choose Contact or Non-Contact, based on the probe you have.

3. From the fly-out menu, select the appropriate option. Choose the cycles that correspond to the macros that
are loaded on your control.

4. Enter the necessary tool information. (Tool change ID.)

5. Set the remaining parameters, as necessary.

6. Click OK.

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Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

Measuring
Probing operations use measurements obtained from selected or constructed entities to execute process control
tasks. Select a probe method from the options on the Probing Dialog toolbar and enter data, as necessary, to create
an inspection cycle.

You can probe the following features:

l Points, Lines, Circles/Arcs, and Planes

l 2D Corners and 3D Corners

l Webs or Pockets

Machine Updates
Operation 1 in the sample part shows an example of using a probe operation to establish the part position and then
updating the machine settings based on the measurements.

As with other Mastercam toolpaths, you can click in the Toolpaths Manager to view the operation’s settings. Open
the Operation 1 parameters to see how each inspection cycle is used to update the machine.

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Cycle1/Update2 – Establish Top of Part

Cycle1 probes a point at the part top.

Update2 redefines the selected WCS by changing the Z coordinate to equal the measured point in Cycle1.

You can make the following machine updates with Productivity+ by selecting an option from the Update Type drop-
down list. The availability of these options depends on the type of cycle you are referencing.

l WCS Update l Tool Length

l Tool Diameter l Machine Variable
l Rotation Update

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Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

Cycle2a/Update6 – Establish Part Center

Cycle2a probes a series of points on all four sides of the part. This computes the location and dimensions of the
Pocket feature.

Feature characteristics obtained from a probe can be reported to the user, used in calculations, or used in logic
statements.

Update6 redefines the selected WCS by changing the X and Y coordinates to equal those measured in Cycle2a,
establishing the part center.

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 Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

Update2 redefines the selected WCS by changing the X and Y coordinates to equal those measured in Cycle2a,
establishing the part center.

Note: The options listed for WCS to Update are populated by the planes that are created in Mastercam’s Planes
Manager. Work offset numbers assigned in the Planes Manager will automatically be used when the plane is
changed in the probing operation. See Mastercam’s Help for more information about the Planes Manager.

Remachining
Operation 7 in the sample part shows an example of creating a probe operation to check the feature for out-of-tol-
erance measurements. If the probing cycle picks up out-of-tolerance measurements, you can program Pro-
ductivity+ to modify the tool offsets (length, diameter, or wear) and remachine the feature. In cases where
remachining cannot repair the feature (i.e., oversized holes), you can also program Productivity+ to stop the
machine.

Open the Operation 7 parameters to see how Productivity+ uses logic statements to remachine features.

The Inspection Cycle

Cycle4 probes the selected circle, checking its center point and diameter.

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Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

The Measure Circle function probes points within the hole to establish its inner diameter (ID).

The Logic Statement

Build logic statements by creating conditions and actions from the options in the Probing Dialog toolbar:

l If...Then
l Else If
l Else

To enter or edit a condition statement—the If or Else If portions of the logic branch—open the Condition Builder dia-
log box. From the Probing Dialog click the condition field, and then click Browse on the right side of the field. A hard
value may also be entered here.

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The Condition Builder dialog box:

In the Condition Builder dialog box, a Controlling Condition defines the relationship between any two of the fol-
lowing:

l Measured entities (defined in any probing cycle)

l Constructed entities (defined in any probing cycle)

l Nominal values

Condition options (Condition 1 and Condition 2) can refer to any feature you have defined in any probing cycle or to
a nominal value that you enter.

Note: In the Condition Builder, you can right-click on a feature to quickly select an entity attribute or the nominal
value of a entity.

In Operation 7, the If statement checks the probed diameter of Circle1 to a nominal value of 19.5 mm.

Add the actions you would like performed to the Then or Else portions of the logic branch. Action statements would
typically be a machine update, g-code block, or GoTo statement.

Labels and GoTo Statements

A Label creates a reference point in a probing cycle or operation. A GoTo statement programs the machine to jump
forward or back to that reference point to skip operations or repeat them. All GoTo statements must reference a
label, which is why a label is created every time you add a GoTo. You can delete the created label and reference one
of your choice.

Operation 7 lists two different courses of action based on whether the measured diameter is less than 19.5 mm or
not:

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Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

If the diameter of Circle1 is less than 19.5 mm, the Then statement programs a machine update that modifies the
tool diameter offset and then returns the process to a label (Label2) established in Operation 5, so that the part can
be remachined with the Contour toolpath (Operation 6).

Else (if the diameter is not less than 19.5 mm), the process should proceed to Label 4, which is located in Operation
8.

Note: Open the parameters for Operations 5 and 8 to view Label2 and Label4.

Reporting
With any probe cycle, you have the option to output measured data into a report to a file or RS232 port. Operation
3 in the sample part uses a probe operation to inspect part features after machining and generate a report. This
reporting happens by whichever means your machine currently dprints (for example, via RS232 or to a file).

Note: The report format is generated by your control’s library macros and depends on your machine control. The
current DPrint setting is used to output the report.

Open the Operation 3 parameters to see how Productivity+ generates reports.

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Cycle3 – Inspect
Cycle3 inspects three selected points to establish a plane.

Cycle6 – Report
Cycle6 generates a report that lists the outcome of Cycle3.

Follow these steps to create a report:

1. Select Reporting to create a reporting cycle.

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Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—2: Productivity+ in Mastercam 2019

2. Drag measured or constructed entities to be referenced on to the report statement.

The sample part generates a report fairly early in the cutting process. However, you can generate reports at any
time: before, during, or after machining. If you want to show Tolerancing, you must turn tolerancing on in the
report cycle.

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 PRODUCTIVITY+ AND MASTERCAM POSTS
When you post a part with a properly configured Mastercam 2019 post, it interacts with the .RenMF file to create
both probing and machining code. If your Mastercam 2019 post processor has not been properly configured, prob-
ing operations will not be incorporated in the NC output.

Please contact your local Mastercam 2019 Reseller about post customization for other machine tools.

The following exercises require both a Productivity+ enabled machine definition and post processor.

Posting Probe Operations

1. Create a part using one of the Productivity+ enabled machine definitions, or load ProbingExample, which
was provided with this tutorial.

Note: If your part was not created with a Productivity+ enabled machine definition, replace its current
machine definition with one that points to a properly configured post in the Machine Group Properties dialog
box.

2. Select the desired operations and select Post selected operations .

The Post processing dialog box displays.

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Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—3: Productivity+ and Mastercam Posts

3. Click OK. Also, click Save in the Save As dialog box that appears.

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 Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—3: Productivity+ and Mastercam Posts

4. The posting process begins and the Probing Post Tool dialog box displays.

5. Click Browse next to the Renishaw Machine File path.

6. Select the desired Renishaw machine file.

Note: Select Strip NC to remove all probing calls from the posted NC code. Remember that the Renishaw
machine file must be customized for your specific machine before you can run the posted code. Refer to your
Renishaw product documentation.

7. Select Process. When processing completes, the Log Output tab displays the processing results.

8. Select Done. Mastercam 2019 completes the posting process.

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Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—3: Productivity+ and Mastercam Posts

The following picture shows how some sample posted code looks in Mastercam's Code Editor.

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 Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam Tutorial—Conclusion

CONCLUSION
Congratulations! You have completed the Renishaw Productivity+ for Mastercam 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
help prepare for Mastercam Certification. For more information on Mastercam University, please contact
your Authorized Mastercam Reseller, visit www.mastercamu.com, or email [email protected].

l Online Communities—You can find a wealth of information at www.mastercam.com. For tech tips and the
latest Mastercam news, follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/mastercam), Twitter
(www.twitter.com/mastercam), or Google+ (plus.google.com/+mastercam). Visit our YouTube channel to see
Mastercam in action (www.youtube.com/user/MastercamCadCam)! Registered users can search for inform-
ation or ask questions on the Mastercam Web forum, forum.mastercam.com, or use the knowledgebase at
kb.mastercam.com.

Contact Us
For questions about this or other Mastercam documentation, contact the Technical Documentation department by
email at [email protected].

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