February 15, 2011 Revision: C

Support Document

Setting up PowerMILL Defaults

PowerMILL has the ability to run a macro when it starts up to set the default values. This file is called pmuser.mac. This file is just a text file with several macro commands in it. You can create this file by recording your own macro or you can copy it from another computer. This file must be located in the C:\dcam\pmill4 folder. You also need to create an environmental variable called HOME to help PowerMILL find this directory. The pmill4 folder can hold all your configuration files in one area making it much easier to move the data to a new computer when needed.

Creating a pmuser.mac file

The pmuser.mac is created in PowerMILL by recording the operations you perform. Only flags or parameters that are physically changed will be recorded into the macro; therefore to record a value that is already set, it must be re-entered. For example, if the model tolerance is currently set to 0.001, and it is required that the macro stores the same value, then it must be re-entered over the existing copy in the form during recording.

Open a session of PowerMILL Right click on Macros and choose Record. Save the file in the pmill4 directory.

The icon for Macros will now turn red to let you know you are recording. All items changed will be recorded into the file.

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February 15, 2011 Revision: C

Bringing up the Model Drawing Options to change the Shading Tolerance to .001

Stop the recording.

Open the file in Wordpad to see the macro commands.

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February 15, 2011 Revision: C The pmuser.mac file is optional and PowerMILL can run without it. In PowerMILL 10 and above, many of the options are now stored in the registry and do not need to be set each time PowerMILL starts up. These options can be changed and will be saved when PowerMILL closes. Examples include: Tools-Options Tools-Customise Colors Tools-Customise Paths NC Program Preferences

Create the Environmental variable

When PowerMILL starts, the software checks for a user variable called HOME then looks for a directory called pmill4 under this HOME variable. Creating a user variable Go to the Control Panel Click on the System Icon Windows XP Windows 7

Double click System Select System and then select Advanced System Settings

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February 15, 2011 Revision: C Click the Advanced tab and select the Environmental Variables.

Pick NEW under the top window for User variables

Fill in the variable Name box with HOME and the Variable Value with c:\dcam. Make sure the word HOME is in capital letters

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February 15, 2011 Revision: C

You are done, close all open windows and close the Control Panel.

There can be many folders in the pmill4 area. By keeping some of the items below in this area, it makes it much easier to keep track of the items to move to another computer so nothing gets lost. These can all be defined in PowerMILL under Tools-Customise Paths Posts These files are used to create the CNC code for the machine tools. Setupsheets These files are used to create setupsheets in PowerMILL. Templates These are template files used by PowerMILL to create toolpaths. Macros These are files that automate PowerMILL. These are other important folders that can reside in the pmill4 folder. Tool Database This is the tooling database. Holders These files are defined holders for tools.

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