X3 Mill suggestions and improvements

[Thee Rickster ™]

gcode, you must be darn lucky. I experience it

every time I open my Outlook and a few others.

Two Windows of MC, fogetaboutit.

 

Firefox open does not effect it thank God.

 

Until I reboot my system after opening outlook

will it be back to normal.

 

Closing MC does not always fix it.

 

that is software related

 

200 to 300 mg files and then ya also have to worry

about severe crashing. Never in all my years of

programming have I seen files created by cam soft

ware get so huge. I use only half the tolerence

I use to use in smurfcam and the files are still

10x larger

[gcode]

Right now I have 2 copies of MC open (about 30 meg filesize)

1 copy of SW 2008

1 copy of AutoDesk Deign Review

1 copy of Cimco Edit 5.0

1 IE7.0 Window

and Outlook 2003

The system is rock solid.. I honestly can't remember

the last time I had a crash.

One thing I won't allow on my systems

is the new Windows/Outlook Search utility

that will slow any computer to a crawl.

[Guest]

quote:

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is the new Windows/Outlook Search utility

that will slow any computer to a crawl.

---

While I won't disagree with this, the biggest question is why does MCAM keep having lag, errors and crashes

 

No of the other installed software is doing this.

[Allan]

Hey; we could have the kind of troubles that powermill users have, here's a quote from their forum:

 

quote:

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I am running a dual 64 bit Opteron with 64 bit XP Pro.

Nvidia Quadro FX graphics card

SATA RAID drives

10 gig of ram

 

I am getting the "PowerMILL has almost run out of memory. It may crash or become unstable. Break has been set."

 

I am working on a large project with alot of pattern machining. I am only doing 3 pattern cuts at a time. I then empty the patterns, delete the tools paths and the NC programs and also empty the trash can after every set of 3 cuts. I do about 4 or 5 sets of cuts like this and PowerMILL craps out. It did this when I only had 4 gig of ram. So we thought we needed to add more ram, so we did. Windows reports that I now have over 10 gig of physical ram. Adding more RAM didn't help a DAMB thing Evil or Very Mad

 

What gives here? Confused

---

10 Gigs 'o' RAM is not enough.

[Thee Rickster ™]

LOL @ Allen... I feel much better now

Wish I had powermill to prove that.

 

(Never compare or reference your software to something you

denounce. I never paid for 'powermill' so reassure

me that the issues even JP complains about in MC

will get better, THATS what i bought maintenance

for, and another seat.)

 

gcode

I rarely have under 100 meg files, in MC

 

i just finished a core block that is 276 mg

The cavity 168 mb and I dare not use under .0006

tolerance.

 

I don,t seem to have lag problems if I close MC,

then check my email then close outlook, then reopen Mc.

 

All in all if I just work on one at a time and no

email, I am good. I haven't had a crash since

The SP1 came out just lag on the above issue.

 

I also notice that if I move or copy geometry

to a level and search for the lvl rather than

type in the lvl, i wait 7 or 8 sec for the lvl

window to pop up.

 

If i know the lvl and punch it in then it is

instantaneous.

 

The one thing that really bugs me is the dirty

path thing. Why does the path disappear?

I still can't get over that. It should just mark

the path so that you know something is changed.

but disapear??? Why..why...why......why

 

This gives engineering changes a whole new PITA.

 

I know of 3 softwares that paths don't disappear.

[Allan]

In a John Lennon voice:

I'm not saying that Mastercam is better or more popular than other software, I'm just saying

 

As for your files growing huge, parametric surfaces will do this when translated around they leave copies of the trims blanked in the original position. This tends to make the files grow huge quick. Where does your geometry originate?

[Guest]

Allen,

 

I have several UG native files that average 20 to 35 megs. One of the larger one when opening in MCAM is 400 megs upon complete opening in MCAM, which takes several minutes BTW

 

That is with NO toolpaths, geometry ony

[Allan]

John, since I don't work for CNC software, perhaps that is a question you should ask them.

 

[email protected]

 

Hey, I have a 25Mb UG file and when I open it in Mastercam it is 400Mb what gives?

[gcode]

quote:

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, the biggest question is why does MCAM keep having lag, errors and crashes

---

I just thought of one thing all these trouble free machines have in common.

None of them have ever had X or X2 installed on them.

The new Dells had V9 and X2_MR1 installed on

them when they were new.

The older machines all got a disk format/OS reinstall when X2_MR1 came out.

In summation.. there are no old X or X2 dll files lurking in these systems.

[Thee Rickster ™]

Sorry Allen,

you made it sounds like, 'at least its not

as cumbersome as powermill, yet.'

 

Some files i get are igs, stp, parasolids etc.

created in solid works, Ug, Pro e, etc.

 

The files only get large from tool pathing, in

most of my cases.

 

I split the files into separate mold components and

place them in cut position, like I have done in

every software that I have ever used.

 

I never make copies unless i get new data for

changes.

 

for example

 

What choice do I have but to move the old geo

to a different level, and bring in the new geo

place it, just so my paths don't go dirty, just so

I can see what they did with what geo they made

with.

 

aggravating and time consuming, so now I do

all EC's in a different environment prior to

bringing it into MC. This is actually faster.

 

MC's tool paths are my reason for using MC

Left over and rest and re machining are top notch.

 

if I have Geometry that comes in over 50 meg

I will read it in solid works and translate it

out then into mc, it can reduce it by half the

size

[Thee Rickster ™]

gcode

 

I am formatting a p.c. this week and installing

X2 MR2 SP1 only, for my new seat on it.

 

I will let you know how she blows, i mean goes.

 

Rick

[Allan]

quote:

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What choice do I have but to move the old geo

to a different level, and bring in the new geo

place it, just so my paths don't go dirty, just so

I can see what they did with what geo they made

with.

---

Rick, have you tried the change recognition in the file menu? It should save you some steps.

[sharles]

Gcode,

 

thanks for the suggestion on the stl file. I'll give it a try.

 

I have, finally, gotten rid of the crashes (complete uninstall, got rid of all old versions of mc except X2SP1, clean reg, install MR2 as a stand alone), but the lag and large files are annoying. Now when I go to post my toolpaths all my toolpaths in my ops manager "disappear" while mc thinks about posting it, before the final ok to transfer the file to my machines. Just glad I'm not the only one having these kinds of issues.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I think I've had a couple crashes but most of them seem to stem from my SpaceNavigator... meaninf I'll try to rotate something and it will just hang, then bring up the box you can send the issue to Mastercam... and I do. It's not annoying. I use Autosave and it saves every 10-15 minutes...

[Darren Long SPE]

Time based retract for tool inspection on 2D toolpaths ...... I know its in the High Speed Option, but it would be nice when machining some bad assed materials to have the tool retract up for inspection.

You just press a button on the Hurco machine ......

 

No problems running X2 MR2 SP1 ..... hasnt crashed yet, seems stable with Outlook, CIMCO, Inventor 2008. . . . .

[Guest]

quote:

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You just press a button on the Hurco machine ......

---

Are you sure that machine isn't just going on break?

 

[Dave Ball]

You guys are scaring me. I am about to buy 2 new seats and get back on maintenance with the first. Maybe I should just stick with X mr2. I hate lag!

[Thee Rickster ™]

gill

 

Do you have any other versions installed?

 

X2, X ?

 

Cus i am going to format my drive to totally get

rid of previous versions if this keeps up

 

Rick

[gcode]

Before you go mad dog on your computer

try uninsatlling ALL Mastercam products

the clean your registry with this

Then reinstall V9 (if you still want it)

and then X2_MR2.

You can really jack a computer up if

you install older versions of Mastercam

on a machine after newer versions are installed.

ie (installing X2 then X can cause big trouble)

[Thee Rickster ™]

Mad dog, with rabies, evan...lol

 

gcode

 

I started with X2 in Oct 06, a week prior to the

release of X2, 3-P.C's ago

 

I am not installing anything but X2 MR2 SP1

if I format or reg. clean

 

This lag thing sucks, I got this PC in Aug and

installed X2 SP1, got maintenace in Nov and

Installed X2 MR2,then SP1

 

Its like I am on a old hyper threading chip??

 

Have you ever used abexo reg cleaner?

That is the only one I have used/trust

 

guess it wouldn't hurt to try ccleaner

 

Rick

[gcode]

quote:

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abexo reg cleaner

---

No , I've never tried it.

I've been using CC Cleaner for a couple of months

and the price is right.

I'd try an uninstall and reg clean before going the lobotomy route.

As a beta site , I do it pretty often and it usually fixes weird behavior.

I'd haven't seen the lag issue in a long time, but

your files are way larger than mine so that may

have something to do with it

[Thad]

At my new job, my 3 GHz box with 1GB of RAM is slower than my 1.6 GHz with 768MB of RAM at my last shop.

 

Thad

[gargodude]

I too agree with those above that a "bug fix only" MR needs to be released. NO NEW FEATURES (even though different S & F on contour finish cut would be quite nice), just bug fixes. Many of us have submitted bug reports. Some major ones have been addressd, but many simple ones still exist from way back. I think CNC Software would do well in listening to existing users rather that marketing for at least one maintenance release. After all, ISN'T THAT WHAT WE PAY FOR?

[Justin Fore]

How about a translucent (or transparent) background for the operations manager?

[YoDoug®]

quote:

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I still think mcam needs to have full Graphical Toolpath Control.

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LOL, I just noticed this one Shawn.

 

I think we also need HOOPS graphics.