Odd Question

If the length of the round slot is long enough (judgement call here) then I always switch it to a square slot, for a couple reasons.  One being that it takes less hits to measure a square slot than a round one (if you do it right, anyway, 6 hits is NOT enough for a round slot, 3 at each end, while a square slot, width measurement, is 6 hits).  Two, when working with pierce sheet metal, the actual radius at each end can be slightly boinked, so by measuring it as a square slot, you get a better length result over round slot since the square slot (width measurement) measure the flat sides first, then takes hits at the mid-line of the sides on the ends of the radii.

I work with castings and solid pieces of steel or aluminum, very few sheet metal items. Normally, I do 4-6 hits on each end and 2-4 along the flats. A part was checked and all the slots reported as .005" below nominal. I knew that the CMM result was correct because the machinist told me he had a wrong tool and confirmed it with hard gages. This new guy was going to write off the .005" deviation as "machine error" because he claimed PC Dmis cannot calculate round slots correctly. I could see maybe .0005"-.001", but .005" seems a bit excessive.

This guy is a younger programmer and is constantly criticizing older programs that our other programmer and myself wrote and have been using for years. At first, it was just we were not using the latest and greatest features. Now, he is telling us things like PC Dmis cannot calculate round slots or Keyin dimension can be used to insert text/comments in reports.

I'm trying to figure out if he is full of it or there is something I was unaware of. It's been about 10 years since I've been through and formal CMM training.

Machinist Aproxometers are even faster for double checking things like that!  

The thing is, I am not entering in just dimensions. I have reports that have to include the name of the operator running the program, the gage ID and calibration due date of the gages used for hard checks, part serial and lot ID codes, and other things using letters and/or symbols. So I use comment inputs, capture the input as a variable, and put it in the report as a report comment. 

I have had 3 people, outside of this forum, tell me that I can do all of this with dimensional key-in. Yet, I have not figured out how and none of the 3 people that told me I can, could show me how.

Look into trace fields :) 
Or baring that a custom form so you can easily collect the data in one place (I am not a form or tracefield guru) 
We have a form at the start of the program here that I have edited some that captures serial number, has a drop down for operator and shift, along with several fields of optional data. 

Asking on the forums is a great way to find out what you need too! 

I would have to imagine they mean Tracefields as ArkansasBeeper had suggested. Key-in Dimensions only accept numerical inputs to my knowledge. But you can do things like set an assigned variable to be the measured value, and it will display the Variable's value when the Key-in Dimension pops up and not just "V1". It must also be numerical, or it will just display 0. Either that or they simply mean standard Input comments. I'd certainly like to see their answer if they can ever truly give you one.

My shop has PC Dmis 2018, which I believe was the 1st year they started using tracefields. I was trying to do something with tracefields a while ago and the things the Hexagon help site was telling me were not options I had available. Someone said 2020 was when tracefields really took off. I'm pushing my shop to upgrade as we speak.

We used them on 2016 to add items to the report header? 

lmao 

tracefields have been around as long as Datapage has been around, way back into prehistory (DOS).

He said DOS!

I still use DOS on a daily basis.....

we have WEDM that still use DOS

Ain't nothing wrong with DOS.

I still use DOS on a daily basis.....

we have WEDM that still use DOS

Ain't nothing wrong with DOS.

ok i'll bite, what do you you use it for? 

EDIT: OH for your wire machine? 

Nope, I have several DOS batch files on the main CMM PC (XP) for setting up new jobs, archiving old jobs, daily backups, etc.

c:\batch\deltree.exe /y e:\backups\1-mon
c:\batch\deltree.exe /y n:\validator\1-mon
mkdir e:\backups\1-mon\pcdmis
mkdir e:\backups\1-mon\datapage
mkdir e:\backups\1-mon\pcdmis-global
mkdir n:\validator\1-mon
mkdir e:\backups\1-mon\docs
xcopy c:\pcdmis\jobs e:\backups\1-mon\pcdmis\ /y /e
xcopy n:\datapage\part e:\backups\1-mon\datapage\ /y /e
xcopy n:\jobs e:\backups\1-mon\pcdmis-global\ /y /e
xcopy c:\pcdmis\jobs n:\validator\1-mon /y /e
xcopy c:\my-docs\excel\plot-files\9-plot-files\z-masters\*.xls e:\backups\1-mon\docs /y

sample of a daily backup batch file.  Notice all those lovely DOS commands!!!!!!

Deltree is one of my favorites, especially with the /y added to the command, completely deletes the entire target address without prompting for approval.

fascinating. what prompted the need for these commands Matt? 

been running those for decades, when XP was NEW, needed to do my own backups, and the cheap IT only bought tiny HD's, so, I had to delete (deltree) the previous week's backups before doing the new one due to jobs being archived off and no longer needed.  if no deltree the backup folder just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger....