Course Name: Introduction to Mastercam

Course Description:
Introduction to Mastercam provides training on the use of Mastercam X CAD / CAM software to
design parts and toolpaths for a modern CNC Vertical Machining Center. Students complete a series
of exercises that progress from designing a two-dimensional part and creating a contour toolpath to
more advanced CNC Mill applications. Safety and efficient machining will be stressed throughout
the course.

Course Objectives:
The purpose of this course is to orient students to the Mastercam program and interface. Students
successfully completing this course will have a good introduction to accomplishing common
drafting and milling operations with Mastercam. Students will be required to demonstrate hands-on
skill working with 2D and 3D toolpaths. Introduction to Mastercam prepares students for additional
study of Mastercam Surfaces and Solids.

Course Content:

Week 1
Lecture and discussion topics: Introductions, objectives, Course Syllabus, Cartesian coordinate
system, manual programming, Getting started with Mastercam.

Lab: Getting Started, Exercise 1 – Learning the Mastercam interface, Exercise 2 – Designing a
rectangle, Exercise 3 – Deleting the rectangle and using help.

Week 2
Lecture and discussion topics: Creating a new file, Creating points, lines, arcs and fillets, Mirroring
and rotating lines, Trimming lines and arcs, Creating a contour toolpath, Chaining geometry,
Choosing a tool and setting toolpath parameters, Using the backplot function to preview a toolpath,
Posting the toolpath to an NC file, Using the Operations Manager to edit toolpaths, Changing
toolpath parameters, Regenerating operations, Adding entry and exit moves, using a selection mask.

Lab: Creating a 2D Part and Contour Toolpath, Exercise 1 – Designing the part, Exercise 2 –
Creating the contour toolpath, Exercise 3 – Making changes to the toolpath.

Week 3
Lecture and discussion topics: Finishing and multi-pass roughing operations, Chamfering, Mirror.

Lab: Copying and Transforming Operations, Exercise 1 – Creating roughing and finishing passes,
Exercise 2 – Creating a contour chamfer, Exercise 3 – Mirroring the part and toolpath.

Week 4
Lecture and discussion topics: Creating arcs, tangent arcs and lines, Trimming geometry, Rotating
geometry around a center point and rotating toolpaths.

Lab: Rotating Geometry and Toolpaths, Exercise 1 – Creating the geometry, Exercise 2 – Cutting
the slots, Exercise 3 – Rotating the toolpath.
Week 5
Lecture and discussion topics: Using a mask to select arcs for the drill toolpath, Sorting points to
set the drilling order, Filtering the tool library, Creating the drill toolpath and multiple Z depths,
Using incremental values to set drill parameters, Using viewports to look at your part from several
angles.

Lab: Creating Drill Toolpaths, Exercise 1 – Creating a basic drill toolpath, Exercise 2 – Changing
the size of a drill toolpath, Exercise 3 – Drilling at different Z depths.

Week 6
Orienting geometry by choosing Cplanes, Orienting geometry by setting the Z depth, Copying
geometry with the Translation function, Offsetting a contour, Using dynamic Gviews, Using the
View manager to change the orientation of the coordinate system

Lab: Working in 3D, Exercise 1 – Creating 3D geometry, Exercise 2 – Drawing the bottom of the
part, Exercise 3 – Creating a drill toolpath in the new system view.

Week 7
Lecture and discussion topics: Circle milling, Helical milling, Slot milling, Creating and naming a
custom view, Orienting views to part geometry, Using depth cuts and multiple passes in a contour
toolpath, Remachining a part to remove leftover stock, Using Auto drill to create spot drilling, pre-
drilling, drilling, Tapping, and chamfering operations

Lab: Using Circle Toolpaths, Exercise 1 – Creating a custom view, Exercise 2 – Machining the
outside contour, Exercise 3 – Machining the holes and slot, Exercise 4 – Using Auto drill to create
multiple drilling operations.

Week 8
Lecture and discussion topics: Using Job Setup to define a stock boundary, Creating a facing
toolpath, Creating pocket toolpaths, Using the Parallel Spiral cutting method, Using the Constant
Overlap Spiral method, Using helical entry, Using an entry point in a pocket toolpath, Creating
in/out moves for a finish pass, Using ramp contours.

Lab: Facing and Pocketing Toolpaths, Exercise 1 – Facing the stock with high-speed loops,
Exercise 2 – Comparing different pocket cutting methods, Exercise 3 – Specifying an entry point,
Exercise 4 – Using contour ramp.

Week 9
Lecture and discussion topics: Remachining pockets, Using the helical lead in/out feature, Using a
metric part, Using depth cuts, Using island facing, Machining tapered walls, Using the Toolpath
Editor to modify selected points on a toolpath.

Lab: Pocket and Contour Toolpath Techniques, Exercise 1 – Remachining pockets, Exercise 2 –
Using depth cuts, island facing, and tapered walls, Exercise 3 – modifying a toolpath using the
Toolpath Editor.
Week 10
Lecture and discussion topics: Review progress and difficulties, applications, what you need to
know to pass the Final Exam. The next Mastercam courses in the series are Surfaces and Solids.

Lab: All exercises are due by the end of class today. Study and practice for Final Exam