[danielcruz]

First let me start with some background information. I'm the IT guy for a metal manufacturing company. Been here almost 9 years. In that time we have primarily used 2D CAD/CAM software. The workstations I have purchased in the past have always been more than sufficient for what we do. 4th quarter of last year we purchased a high speed mill and hired a guy to do 3D solid modeling in MasterCAM. He is complaining that the machine is running really slow and that the graphics were choppy. Not digging too deep, I've been up to my ears in reporting projects, I went ahead and upgraded his machine - current specs below. Came in this morning and he said the machine is still doing the same thing.

The problem: Now forgive me if I don't use all the proper terminology here. We have a piece of tool steel that we are milling down .002" to a very fine polished finish. The area that we are milling is approximately 3/8" wide and about 2" long. When our guy goes to run the highspeed mill processing using the multithread manager the processor pegs out at 100% all 4 cores. I am having to guess here but I would say the whole process would take well over an hour. Also, the machine is completely bogged down until we stop the process. He swears that he used to do this on much larger models at his previous job and the machine would fly. He also says he was able to continue to work in Solidworks and MasterCAM while he did this. Of course he cant tell me what kind of specs his machine had at his previous job. I know that there are probably a million settings that could impact the performance. I'm hoping someone can put me on the right track. Does this machine just not have enough processing power?

Hardware specs:
Lenovo S30
MasterCAM 8
Xeon E5-1607V2 3 GHz CPU
16GB RAM
500 GB SSD HDD
NVIDIA K5000 Video Card

Thanks to everyone in advance.
Daniel

[hoffmannm]

He is complaining that the machine is running really slow and that the graphics were choppy.

when just using MC X8? Or when running toolpath sims(backplot/verify)?

That computer is pretty beastly, mine is about the same and X8 is running pretty dang good for me. One aspect to note is that X8 is pretty new, make sure the install, drivers, etc on everything is good. Idk seems like things should be good.

[danielcruz]

I will need to go sit down at the machine to verify exactly what function he is using. In the meantime, what drivers should I be looking for? He is also complaining about edges on curves in his models in both Solidworks and Mastercam.

[danielcruz]

He is adding a Surface High Speed Opticore operation, sets all his parameters, selects the operation and then clicks regenerate. One possible key to this puzzle. I see that he has 24 surfaces selected. All of these surfaces are considerably smaller than the flat surface and several of them are vertical or at angles.

[hoffmannm]

He is adding a Surface High Speed Opticore operation, sets all his parameters, selects the operation and then clicks regenerate. One possible key to this puzzle. I see that he has 24 surfaces selected. All of these surfaces are considerably smaller than the flat surface and several of them are vertical or at angles.

hes not happy with how long it takes to regen and run the verify? How long is it taking? If there is some complex stuff going on i.e. surface toolpaths like he has, and he has everything set very tight dimensions like small step over distances, small step down distances, etc then ya it will take a while to calculate things.

[silverslammer]

Have him make sure his Z depths are controlled ( min/max) if he has surfaces above where you actually want to cut ,then by specifying a max height the cad will not try to drive them. Thus processing quicker.

[silverslammer]

Also have him check his cut tolerances, may be too refined, by opening up tolerances this will also process quicker.

[danielcruz]

Thanks for the replies. I will look into all of this.

"hes not happy with how long it takes to regen and run the verify? How long is it taking?" Not only is it taking a long time, well over an hour. But it also completely hogs up the processor and leaves the machine useless while it is processing the toolpaths.

* At his last job he was using Version 6

* He has 3 instances of MasterCAM open as well as at least 1 instance of Solidworks with a stamping die loaded. This seems to be SOP. Even with everything else closed we get the same results of the machine not being usable while the regeneration is running.

* Had him run the same process in Version 7. The regeneration ran much faster, 10-15 minutes, and did allow him to continue working on other programs. Starting to wonder if this is a bug with Version 8. I verified that he was on the latest update of MasterCAM.

We did try increasing the step sizes from .001" to .100" to see what kind of impact that would have. Still getting the same bog down of the machine.

[hoffmannm]

Thanks for the replies. I will look into all of this.

"hes not happy with how long it takes to regen and run the verify? How long is it taking?" Not only is it taking a long time, well over an hour. But it also completely hogs up the processor and leaves the machine useless while it is processing the toolpaths.

* At his last job he was using Version 6

* He has 3 instances of MasterCAM open as well as at least 1 instance of Solidworks with a stamping die loaded. This seems to be SOP. Even with everything else closed we get the same results of the machine not being usable while the regeneration is running.

* Had him run the same process in Version 7. The regeneration ran much faster, 10-15 minutes, and did allow him to continue working on other programs. Starting to wonder if this is a bug with Version 8. I verified that he was on the latest update of MasterCAM.

We did try increasing the step sizes from .001" to .100" to see what kind of impact that would have. Still getting the same bog down of the machine.

could you possibly email me a test file?

[cadcam]

Is there any way you can share this file. The file contains all the info he has done. I have been doing tech support for mastercam for well over 15 years if this helps.
But that should not be taking that long. I would like to see what he is doing and setting. I would also test this on my X8 and X9 but h=what you are saying this should really not take more then a min to process. If you need my company to sign a NDA no trouble..
Please also concider sending this file to QC AT mastercam dot com
Also if want to Send a copy to me at cadcam AT Mastercam-Cadcam dot com

regards,

[danielcruz]

Update:

The more I work with our programming guy, I will call him Frank, the more I think we have an expectations and knowledge issue. Frank kept changing the files and tools so we weren't comparing apples to apples. We now have a standard file with all the same tools to test with in both x7 and x8. We were getting the same results from both.

I worked with our local MasterCAM company and the support tech saw an issue right away. Our step over and step down were both set to .02% of the .500" tool. In the words of the support guy, "we would need a NASA super computer to perform those types of calculations quickly". Which makes sense cause the movement would be .0001" at a time. The step down does need to be very small because we are removing .002" of material and need a polished finish. We updated both step over and step down and the file went from regenerating in an hour to under 10 minutes. So I believe that takes care of the knowledge issue.

As for the expectations issue. Frank has sold everybody on the idea that his computer at his old job could run multiple instances of MasterCAM and Solidworks, run sophisticated mill toolpath processes and he could still work on other 3D models all at the same time without the machine ever slowing down. He is of course unable to provide any specs for his old machine. The differences that I know: He was working on large molds before. We are doing fine finishes on small tool steel parts, approximately 2"x3", with a high speed hard mill. My MasterCAM support tech is saying that MasterCAM recommends an i7 processor. He is also saying that every customer he has that uses Xeon processors has had issues. I have looked high and low and every CAD/CAM machine builder out there uses Xeon processors. At this point I'm trying to determine if going out and putting together an i7 machine is going to be worth it and get us the results that Frank is looking for. Thoughts?



Thanks for the offers of looking at the file. I will need to talk to the boss man to make sure he is comfortable with that. Definitely a NDA would put his mind at ease.

[cadcam]

Who is your dealer. I know almost all of them. as I used to be the teach support for the two locations out here in California. But what I am reading makes more sense this why I wanted you to show me the file.
Now to help you with your computer thought. On the Mastercam form not this one there has been a topic for years were we call it bench test and check times and specs of computers bought or built you may want join this board just for this.

Daniel, feel free to contact my company buy going to my web site. if in the future you need me to sign an NDA this a good thing. do it for a lot of large company's.
www Dot ppcadcam dot com is out site.

[hoffmannm]

Lenovo S30
MasterCAM 8
Xeon E5-1607V2 3 GHz CPU
16GB RAM
500 GB SSD HDD
NVIDIA K5000 Video Card

That is a above average computer... should be just fine...

.0001 cut... has frank produced good programs so far?

[cadcam]

The only time I use that small of a cut is micro machining wil like a .007 endmill.
I agree this computer is above par. I like more ram but that is me. lol

[danielcruz]

Actually the machine has 32GB RDIMM 2x16. I thought I only bought 16. Looks like I like more RAM too.

I saw the benchmark file but when I open it I get a message that some of the tools aren't supported. I downloaded the x8 sample files but didn't see anything similar in there.
I'm searching for our NDA.

Our dealer is MLC-CAD