Sub Programs in Mastercam

Sometimes you need to program multiple parts in Mastercam, for example when you are running identical parts in two vises. Transform Toolpaths works, but it can be cumbersome; for example, you can find yourself doing multiple transform operations to get around the problem of too many tool changes in the program.

One solution is to download the free sub program post processor from In House Solutions (register with emastercam.com to gain access to the site.)
Download the file, which is in zip2go format. Open Mastercam, select help from the drop down menu and pick zip2go utility

Open the zip2go file

Choose select all

and then extract

Extract the files to a new folder

Pick "Machine type" from the drop down menu on your main Mastercam screen and then "Manage List"

Add the mpsubrep machine definition to your list

You can now select the mpsubrep machine definition any time you want to make subprograms.

Program a part normally, go to the miscellaneous integer tab in your first toolpath operation parameter page and enter the amount of subprogram repetitions you would like. (You only have to do this in one operation)

Post process your program to see the results

Potential problem:
The post processor is not updated for every version of Mastercam. I brought in the X version, but it needed to be updated for X4. To do this, click on the settings tab and then run user application.

Select update post.dll

Select the post processor to update

Second potential problem: Mastercam has changed the update post procedure for X4

If you experience this problem, click here for the solution in an emastercam.com thread by John Paris
Other potential problems: Check your file paths when searching for your machine definitions and user application. I did a side by side upgrade from X3 to X4, but found that many of my file paths were still pointing to the X3 directory.

To Setup your files Select Settings/Configuration/Files

It feels complicated, I know, but ultimately, you will need to become familiar with these processes to travel the path to becoming a power user of Mastercam.

Comments (1)

Really nice instructions
Thanks a lot!