Machining Margins
I got the basics of the machining margin code working. Below you can see the roughing limited to .25″ around the standard MeshCAM model. This should make 2-side machining, and machining using supports, much more attractive. No longer do you have to define the border size either, the supports run to the edge and you just define how far beyond the model to machine.
I still need to figure out where to put the setting for how far to machine. I think I’ll probably put it in the global parameters section of the toolpath dialog since your selection will likely be based on your tool diameter selection.
Finishing is still generating too many retracts when the path is linked so I still have that to take care of before a release.
New Support Examples
I’ve got most of the new geometry support code working and it’s much better than before. First, the way that each position is selected is much more robust; you should no longer have any trouble placing them where you need them. You can also see that they have a new shape in the pictures below, they’re now elliptical. Each point on the ellipse is intersected with the model to ensure an accurate fit. This means that you should not have any gaps at the edges of the support if it meets a curved surface and, if you’ve got a thin walled part, you should never have the support break through to the interior. The elliptical shape keeps the perimeter of the support closer to its center which should reduce the likelihood of part of the support missing the geometry. The new code can handle a miss but it will always be better to avoid the problem in the first place. Purists may not like the new shape because it’s got a smaller cross section and, as a result, will be less strong. The new code I mentioned a few days ago about only machining one tool diameter away from the geometry in the future, as opposed to clearing the whole area as it does now, will keep the effective length of the supports shorter. I think this will more than offset the reduced cross section.
I just need to fix the dialogs to let you have better control over the Z placement and the new geometry support system can probably be called done. Unfortunately it isn’t something I want to release without the new code to only machine the minimum area around the model. I got the core algorithm for that working today so I just need to integrate it with the toolpath code for that to be ready as well.
New Supports
The next thing in the list to be updated is the code for adding supports to the geometry. I didn’t know how many people were using them until recently so they had not received much attention. I spent some time redoing part of the code to make them applicable to any type of machine job- not just 2-side jobs. The support changes probably won’t take too long but it dovetails into some other changes I wanted to make to optimize the machining regions. I’m going to try adding a way to machine only the area covered by the model + the tool diameter- not just the bounding area but a free-form polygon that would be automatically calculated. This eliminates the need to define the frame dimensions for 2-side jobs. In theory this should not take that long but who knows.
I’ve also been looking at Solidworks lately so I tried a small UI change. I like it so it’ll probably stay. You’ll also see a new tree view on the left. It’s just dead text right now but I’m going to flesh that out more and see if I like it as a UI to let users see a complete view of the document.
Build 6738
I just uploaded Build 6738 to http://www.grzsoftware.com/files/MeshCAM2-6738.exe . I’m posting it here only until I get some feedback to make sure I didn’t break anything.
In this build you’ll find the new stock dialog, the new menu, and some new rendering code. All are pretty significant either in terms of lines of code or because they modify parts of the program that have been static for years. I really want to get whatever feedback you can provide to make sure everything is correct.