What a Mastercam post processor does, when a custom post processor is worth having, and what to send when you want a post developed or fixed.
Mastercam works out the toolpath. A post processor turns that toolpath into the G-code your machine control can read. The same toolpath posted through two different posts gives two different programs, so the post decides how tool changes, coolant, canned cycles, rotary moves and program start and end appear at the machine.
A Mastercam post is a .pst file, written in Mastercam's post language. It works together with a Machine Definition and a Control Definition, which describe the machine's axes and the control's limits. All three need to agree for the output to run cleanly.
A generic post is often fine for a simple three-axis machine on a common control. It stops being enough when the machine has its own cycles, options or axis layout, or when your programmers keep fixing the output by hand before it runs.
Signs you need a custom post processor: edits at the machine after every program, wrong or missing tool-change and coolant codes, rotary or five-axis moves that need checking line by line, probing or machine-specific cycles you want posted straight from Mastercam, and house conventions your operators expect to see.
Post development means a new post written for your machine and control, built around how your shop programs. Post modification means changing a post you already have, whether that's a fix for one bad block or a new option for the programmers to switch on.
Either way the work starts from a proven program for your machine. That gives a clear target for what the output should look like.
DR Precision writes for Fanuc and Siemens Sinumerik controls. Each reads G-code differently, and machine builders add their own options on top, so the post is written to the machine in front of it and not to a template.
On Siemens controls that includes swivel and transformation handling, such as TRAORI and CYCLE800, and settings like CYCLE832 for smooth surface output. Five-axis post processor work on both controls covers tool-centre-point output, tilted work planes and safe rotary moves.
Send the machine make and model, the control, the axis layout, your Mastercam version, a sample program you know runs well, and your current post if you have one. The more of that you send, the more accurate the quote.
Every post is checked line by line against your sample code and dry-run at the machine before real material is cut. You receive the post, the Machine and Control Definitions, and a short guide to the options.
It is the file that converts Mastercam's toolpath into G-code for a specific machine and control. It decides the format of every line the machine reads.
You need one when a standard post gives output you have to edit by hand, or when the machine has features such as five-axis kinematics, probing or special cycles that the standard post does not handle. If you are unsure, send a sample program and a description of the problem.
Yes. Send the post and describe what is wrong or what you want added. Small fixes and new options are common requests.
Fanuc and Siemens Sinumerik.
The machine make and model, the control, the axis layout, your Mastercam version and a proven sample program. See the section above.
Email the machine make, model and control, plus a sample program or your current post.