Meshcam got hanged while generating toolpath

[shaiwal Rawat]

Hi,
I am newbie to CNC.
I have STL file (Size 102Mb).
Kindly find the attach file related to MeshCam settings.
Kindly suggest. Thanks in advance.

[Randy]

Hi shaiwal, and welcome to the forum. I don't see anything really wrong with your settings. How long are you allowing MeshCAM to run? What kind of computer is it and how much memory do you have?

Randy

[larynx]

- Reply - Randy

Randy, I am stumped a little based on his post and your reply. Please enlighten me - you always do.

How can the "settings" be deemed correct when I do not see any stock dimensions depicted [did I miss them?] What I mean is, if the machining dimensions are smaller or tools are bigger than the details, then nothing would cut - correct? So the settings may appear ok, but based on reference to the work piece may not - correct?

Perhaps I just missed something?

[Randy]

Good questions, larynx. I did assume that the stock definition was appropriate (not fiddling with the default stock settings is always safe). That said, the machining margin is positive and about 3.5mm which will result in the whole geometry being machined, and .5mm stepovers and stepdowns would not be out of line even for geometry of 500mm large. But you are correct in pointing out I should have asked the geometry size and stock settings to be sure.

In my experience, hanging while generating the toolpath is a result of using up all the PC memory due to the stepover/stepdown being very small relative to the geometry size. When I saw the .5mm stepovers I was not worried about that. On geomertry like this plaque, waterline also is not an appropriate toolpath and will also hang MeshCAM. But there is only roughing and parallel finishing so that looks good too. For this kind of workpiece (relief on a surface) even if the tool was much larger than the details, it would still generate the parallel path--it would just bridge over the smallest details (basically a mechanical high-pass filter).

Shaiwal, don't worry about the demo running out. I see that there were 4 days remaining 4 days ago, but Rob is good about extending the demo license when you need it so just send him an email asking for an extension.

Randy