Fresh out of the box: Dell T7400 2 Xeon X5472, 3GHz, 1600MHz fsb 16Gb 800MHZ ram 160GB Raptor HD Windows XP Pro-64 Quadro FX3700 5:13 Not bad. How do I speed it up?

I recently upgraded from 2Gb to 4Gb RAM and was pleasantly suprised. No gain in the benchmark file proccessing, but significant improvement in processing larger 5 axis toolpaths.

Why do they want contol comp? Are they using different tools than you programmed for? If so, then you will never know for sure that your program will work no matter what you use to verify it. I would have the same confidence in my programs whether I used wear or control comp. MasterCam will verify both the same and then you have to trust MC and your post to put out the right code.

The key is on its own PC server. I believe that the network is simply overloaded and can't route requests qiickly enough. I have heard that upgrades for the network are in the works but what has happened in the past is any upgrade would have been adequate a year ago when it was first requested. I will investigate the possibility of MasterCam looking for other information (tool libraries).

We are using a customized ini file to direct license queries to a specific address.

We have several MasterCam workstations on a nethasp. As our company has grown the network has become slow and MasterCam's responsiveness has declined. This is particularly noticable when going into toolpaths' parameters to make changes. I am guessing this has something to do with MasterCam checking to see if you have a license available. Does anybody know what can be done to alleviate this click-and-wait scenario?

Unless it is a tapered thread mill you will need to set the "number of active teeth" to "1". Otherwise no problem.

I think you will be very happy with the FX-4600, especially combined with a strong computer. I'm running the FX3500 and it is OK, although I had hoped for more improvement in MasterCam with it. It seems that MasterCam's rotate and zoom leans pretty heavily on the CPU and system memory but that may just be my impression.

quote: Jaz, just curious where you work. Product Manufacturing is where I clock in and out.

What software are you using to verify with? MasterCam verify seems to benifit primarly from faster speeds (CPU, fsb and memory). Vericut takes more advantage of the multiple cores and more memory.

Go with HSM toolpaths. Nested bounderies is just ONE of the improvements.

Plain de-ionized water in a mister would help and not be as bad as flooding for rust. Look into some kind of oil or fluid that would be acceptable as a contaminant or see if there might be an acceptable method of cleaning parts after machining.

Headhunter firms do not have the expertise to find you what you want, if they even have a clue what it is you need. Your best bet will be to 'put the word out' just like you just did. In this case word-of-mouth and networking is your best friend. 100k might be enough, might not be, depends who he's coming from. Definitely look into stealing someone that you KNOW can do the job, but he'll be more money. Getting someone to relocate to the Seattle area might be difficult, I know you'd have to guarrentee me a whole lot more than 100k to get me to consider it (Not that I could do the job, I'm just a programmer but well paid) because the cost of living in Seattle area is about double. Profit share or ownership is a very effective way to interest and keep the very best people.

I don't run Solid Works, but almost anything will be better than on board graphics. Adding a card should not be difficult.

A couple more things about this Xeon X5482: 45nm technology (smaller = quicker) 12MB L2 cache (I've had enire CAD systems w/ less RAM)

I have never been a big fan of overclocking, its not bad or evil, just over rated. There has to be some bottleneck that the T7400 system is blasting through. Maybe a motherboard that will support that processer has quicker throughput? From the Intel site it looks like maybe the 1600 fsb CPUs require a different socket (771 vs 775) so . . . hmmm. Requires more research.

I can't tell which CPU he got then. Dell shows the possibility of an 3.2 GHz Xeon X5482 with a the 1600 fsb.

Maybe has something to do with 1600 fsb speed.

The real question is this: What is it on this this system that makes it fast?

I have used what you describe but not in that small of a hole. The ones we have are Parlec brand.

In a situation like this I usually set my maximum Z depth to .0005 to .002 above the flat floor. Works for me.

Use "Surface High Speed Toolpath" Rest Roughing toolpath type or Rough Restmill toolpath. On the Rest Material Parameters page check the CAD file or the .STL file option. On exit you will be prompted for the file to read. HTH

What are your tool paths doing that is not correct?

The machine/control this is for is a Makino Mag3 w/ their Pro5 control. Contour tool paths could be broken up by the geometry, I will probably begin doing that. I think the reason turning off arc support in the control def doesn't work is because the arc breaking occures at the post level and we are using a third party post processor.

4Gb is the max w/ XP. Is XP 64 worth the bother?