Build 6856
February 28, 2008 · Filed Under MeshCAM Development
I managed to track down several of the big bugs that were found by users in the last preview build. It’s still not any more complete than it was before but it should be a little more usable.
1) Fixed the no-finish-path bug.
2) Fixed the huge gcode file problem.
3) Fixed the Simple Toolpath command problems.
You can download it here- http://www.grzsoftware.com/file/MeshCAM2-6856.exe .
Comments
29 Responses to “Build 6856”
Robert,
Comparing just on the screen, identical jobs, 6738 makes a smoother finish pass than 6856 at the expense of 3x file size. The latest version would mill much faster using software without look ahead (both of mine) but I haven’t done any actual cutting tests yet. Both versions I ran with a tolerance setting of .01mm, far lower than I can ever hope to see with real hardware but seemed to be required to get nice looking paths. Not a real problem except for the calculating time, 56 took twice as long as 38 while using 100% of both cores. Something is still not quite right, I’m testing with very small pieces of my typical models, no way do I have the patience to feed a full model to 56
Jeff
Wow, for me toolpath generation went from four hours to one hour.
Jay,
I found that 6856 IS a LOT faster than than 6852 but have to compare the results with 6738. 6738 has worked well for me as a production version (even if it is a beta) I like what Robert is doing but even 6856 is still rough around the edges. A balance between compute time, path quality, and real world milling tolerances and time.
Wow, four hours! You have FAR more patience than I do. On a good day I might not kill it after an hour, say I needed to go grocery shopping or it was bed time.
Jeff
Time for some real numbers.
Version 6852. Wing cut
Took ~2.04 min and made 68483 lines of g-code.
Estimated cut time (CutViewer) 40:12min
Version 6856. Wing cut
Took 14 seconds and made 4643 lines of g-code.
Estimated cut time (CutViewer) 40:08min
Both tests had these constants.
Bit = 1/2in router bit, endmill
Tolerance = 0.002in
Finishing pass only
Step over of 0.063
feed rate of 100
plunge of 100
X pass only.
Please understand that CutViewer does not reflect real world cutting. Lots of small movements slow my CNC way down! I am using Mach3 to drive my CNC and this is a problem that I have been unable to work around. From what I understand, this problem effects most CNC’s.
New version, 6856, is much sloppier when finished, but that is easy to fix by increasing the tolerance, but does take longer to calculate (~5min). In my case from 0.002 to 0.0001. The good news is the line count only goes from 4643 to 16032, which is MUCH better then 68483 lines.
New feature request. Show lines of G-Code in the status box once finished.
Do remember that Robert warned us that these recent 68** releases are VERY beta and bug infested. With our help and observations he should be able to make MC better than it has ever been. The more test input Robert gets the easier his work is, after all he deserves some sleep.
I am still using 6738 for real work but am having lots of fun playing with the latest 68** versions. Perhaps I need to get out more
Jeff
Persistent bug!
http://www.batbuilds.com/~adam/cnc_rev5/untitled.PNG
Figured it was a problem with 6856, but It comes up in 6715. Problem does not exist in 5946. Come up with water line cuts. Is there an archive of MeshCAM’s? It would be nice, in order to track down bugs like this to an exact version.
-Adam
Adam,
Changing the build number in Roberts standard url for downloads seems to work at least back to 5946. Looking at my disk I do have installed builds back to 4079. If Robert doesn’t have an archive of dead versions AND doesn’t object I could send you the .exe file of any particular build (sorry, the install files are long gone, duplicating the folder structure of the current version with the old .exe should work)
Get permission from Robert, and send me your email address off line jdemand AT gmavt.net.
Jeff
Adam, the waterline retracts have always been there. They have tended to be worse near the boundary between waterline and parallel finishing. I’ve been griping about them since release 1184…
Randy
I should add that they are not as bad as they used to be.
Randy
Well, got my first test part cut on my new CNC. Had to use two version of MeshCAM to pull it off, both 6856 and 5946. Was a total of 35,000 lines of g-code. Took about 45 min for the cut.
Before
http://www.batbuilds.com/~adam/cnc_rev5/meshcam.PNG
After
http://www.batbuilds.com/~adam/cnc_rev5/wing/img_7153_resized.jpg
Finished part is 8.5×5.5in
MeshCAM is still the best peace of software, even with its bugs.
-Adam
Adam,
Congratulations and so sorry to report you have a new addiction. The cure involves 12 steps depending on your choice of paths, raster X and or Y, waterline, or pencil
Have fun.
Jeff
Adam, looking good. Why the two versions? Plus please email me ASAP at zephyr9900 [at] comcast [dot] net.
Randy
I’ve done a comparison between build 6738 and 6856 on an stl model that meshcam 6738 previously created the cut data for, the file took around 6 hours to cut late last year.
This is a 4th axis job with 180 degrees between cuts (2 cuts)
Build 6856 has created a slightly smaller file size than 6738, the cut lines look nice but I don’t have cut viewer so can’t check the cut. Not much difference in retracts with slightly less in the parallel finish, they are much more logical though. Before there was a few retracts that did little or nothing, now they seem to be there for a reason, if you know what I mean.
Waterline finish seemed to have 2 cuts that may damage the job but without running it I could’t tell for sure.
My laptop is a single core processor and there was little time difference as you would expect but 6856 seemed slightly faster.
Steve
6856 kills my dual-Xeon(Irwindale) machine at work. This is a dual-CPU motherboard, but each CPU is single-core. I am running XP Pro SP2. When I launch MC, the hourglass cursor shows up briefly, then back to the normal arrow cursor. Nothing happens but everything is frozen. I ctrl-alt-delete to bring up Task Manager but when I click on “proceses” pane Task Manager disappears. ctrl-alt-delete does not work a second time and I need to cold-boot the machine by leaning on the power switch. This is exactly repeatable after a reboot and upon twice uninstalling and reinstalling MC.
This is much more dramatic than the report I was going to make:
I have a comment/observation on the finishing threshold angle implementation. When I set an angle, MC seems to evaluate vs. that angle of the toolpath itself, rather than the underlying geometry. When I have a part with a substantially flat top surface that is at top of stock, and vertical walls, and specify “don’t machine top of stock” and a parallel limit of less than 90 degrees (i.e. I only want to finish sloped surfaces) MC will still make superfluous toolpaths along the top edges of the part where the ballmill would be wrapping around the edge. Even though both adjacent surfaces are not machined, the edge between them is!
I was going to run a simple model and take a screenshot to illustrate this when I discovered the above…
Randy
Randy,
Maybe more work and less play at work?
You could also ask for a new computer, dual quad core cpu etc, the kind which dims the lights when booting … Although it might be awkward to explain the need.
Jeff
Hey, it was lunch hour!
And the engineers do get the best and fastest computers, but only every three years (about two Moore cycles… 
)
Randy
Randy,
OK, you are forgiven this time.
Jeff
OK, an update. I uninstalled 6856 and downloaded and installed 6852. It fires up fine. Naturally it is unregistered since I forgot to write down my key before uninstalling 6856, so I can’t do anything meaningful with it.
So I installed 6856. It runs fine also, unregistered. Now that I remember, so did 6856 the first time I installed it at work, before I brought in my license key and registered it.
So it appears that only registering 6856 kills my work PC…
Randy
A couple of observations about 6856 (which says 6857 in the revision history that initially comes up):
In the View menu, I can toggle “smooth lines” on and off but there is no check mark next to the menu item to indicate its state.
In “classic” screen mode, when I rubberband the MC window, the graphics window scales up and down to follow the window size. In “side menu” screen mode, the graphics window will expand with the main window, but stays large and just crops as I shrink the main window until I click in the graphics window, whereupon it snaps back into full view.
Randy
Randy,
I install each new release into a new folder, IE meshcam2-780000 (wishful thinking
and manually set up short cuts and copy the named short cut to my meshcam start up folder. I never never! overwrite an older install. Lots of different old versions available on my drive with no cross contamination. I probably have the second best collection of old versions after Robert. All of them accept the same old key file, I can even run multiple versions at the same time, gets confusing and sure pegs the task manager performance reports with a dual core —(
Jeff
Oh yeah, Jeff, I’ve got the installers for 1-18, 2-2349, -3337, -4915, -5420, -5694, -5861, -5934, -5946, -6512, -6628, -6689, -6699, -6701, -6713, -6738, -6852 and -6856. I have no problem uninstalling completely and reinstalling, since I have my post files backed up separately. Maybe I come in third…
Randy
Randy,
A slightly different collection but I think we are tied for #2. We both probably both have the similar anal retentive habits.
Robert is damned good at his craft, but he benefits from us few freaks really pushing the limits and testing left right and off centre.
Jeff
I have 18 versions in my download folder, and probably a bunch more on a CD from my last PC.
And I haven’t downloaded this one yet.
OK, I bow to your superior pack-ratting skills, Gerry.
Realistically, I can only think of one time where I needed to revert to a prior release because something I needed broke in the new one. I too salute Robert for his skills.
I am using 6856 and have found very little to complain about (other than that little locking up the whole PC thing
) And a lot of my perceptiions stem from the fact that I use MC and SheetCam hand-in -hand on most parts I do. I rarely use purely one program or the other…
Randy
I’ll admit to dim recollections of once or twice using an older version. Usually the current or almost current version is good. Pack rat habits don’t die. Maybe once Robert is rich and famous version 1.0 will sell for a fat premium on ebay
:-)
Jeff
I have taken a personal stand and deleted all but the two latest installers. So there.
Randy
Randy,
My last post was meant as humor. I’ve worked with more than enough copyrighted client material, and their lawyers are really looking for enough work to justify their retainers. Not really nice people to deal with even when you are both on the same side, cross them and hope for being re-incarnated as a bug.
Jeff
PS: My version 1.0 was lost a few disk crashes ago.
Jeff, no worrry. Even though I’m an injure-neer my humor detection algorithms are finely honed.
But I realized that, as long as Robert is trusting me as one of the bleeding-edge software testers, I should repay the honor and not leave myself a crutch. I just did the deleting this afternoon. It’s a personal thing, I guess… :p (where is the emoticon guide for this blog anyway?!?)
Randy
Randy,
I ain’t a real injure-neer despite my dads attempts to raise me properly. After 25 years he is accepting my choice of being a gold mangler. Even lets me help on some of his real injure-neering jobs. And it really is fun to be helping on the bleeding-edge of something I enjoy working with. Most of my other bleeding edge pursuits revolve around such mundane tasks as paying bills and taxes
I just hang onto old versions for reference, and because I’m really loath to discard any data. A couple of months ago a note from a 20 year old notebook saved my day (and a southern body part).
Despite my oftentimes casual and humorous attitude I have total respect for Roberts rights and appreciate his trust in you injure-neers , this one abusive tester, and all the rest of the folks commenting on his work.
Jeff
Jeff