Build 5934

March 21, 2007 · Filed Under MeshCAM Development 

I just uploaded build 5934 to http://www.grzsoftware.com/files/MeshCAM2-5934.exe .  It will not appear on the main download page since the roughing code is still relatively untested.  Please send me your feedback so I can address any problems.

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One Response to “Build 5934”

  1. Rick R on April 22nd, 2007 10:52 am

    I have been using build 5934 for just over a week, after using build 5694 for a month. I am cutting small scale jewelry wax pieces for casting on a 4-axis mini mill (mostly rings). I have programmed and cut 8 rings with build 5934. Overall, I am very impressed, and happy with my choice to use MeshCAM.

    I would like to share with you some observations from using build 5934, some may be minor bugs, some enhancements, some just comments. I remember seeing some of these issues raised either in your blog or the Yahoo group, but I could not find them today, so some are repeats from other users.

    For my parts, the new Roughing code takes longer than the old, but I do have some better controls.

    When cutting the rings, the cutters I use can be very small diameter (0.127mm tapered end mills), with even smaller step overs to get the detail. I have noticed that when Finishing with small step over values (under .25mm), MeshCAM will create some Z-axis raise and lower off the part. I can send an image of this.

    The 4-axis output is better with build 5934, I no longer have to manually edit the G-code before running it like I did with 5694.

    When making a 4-axis Roughing program, the maximum cut depth is not always respected except when cutting at 0, 90, 180 & 270. The cutter paths go deeper when in part excess, usually only on one side of the part.

    I wish MeshCAM supported cylinder shapes for raw stock (actually, most of my raw stock is D-shaped).

    It would be nice if MeshCAM supported indexing of the 4th axis, basically, locking out the Y-axis and cutting around using only the rotary axis. There are some detailed rings I do that could be done a lot faster this way, instead of dividing the job into 8 segments and essentially over-cutting the entire ring four times.

    There are times I wish that I could ‘SAVE’ a session, and go back to it later, instead of re-opening the raw part file and starting over.

    Thank you again for a wonderful product.

    Rick