[jrmach]

Just as the title says.
I really have not the want or need to save stock from simulation for the next operation.But I have to say it is pretty neat for the pedal car wheels.
Only briefly playing with it before on simple stuff,I had not noticed any problems.Now on a somewhat complex 3D model I found out somethings.#1 It just about crashes and kills the computer #2 The .STL file is huge(one at 104 and one at 114 mb)
I heard a couple gripes in the past about nuking the computer almost,,,,now I understand,hmmmmmmmmm

.STL files I have little knowledge of.Are they by nature that huge?Or is something going on in BoB in the shadows when saving ?

[The Engine Guy]

Just as the title says.
I really have not the want or need to save stock from simulation for the next operation.But I have to say it is pretty neat for the pedal car wheels.
Only briefly playing with it before on simple stuff,I had not noticed any problems.Now on a somewhat complex 3D model I found out somethings.#1 It just about crashes and kills the computer #2 The .STL file is huge(one at 104 and one at 114 mb)
I heard a couple gripes in the past about nuking the computer almost,,,,now I understand,hmmmmmmmmm

.STL files I have little knowledge of.Are they by nature that huge?Or is something going on in BoB in the shadows when saving ?

Hi James

Yep, the saved out .stl files will do that to you every time, I`ve been working with them for some time so I`m well aware of their issues, some of mine are over 250Mb, this does of course slow considerably launching the Simulation, does take a while for sure.

Yes, by nature they are fairly large as far as I can tell so I tend to only have a single Feature/Operation running at a time, this cuts down the overall file sizes and I can either string a few together for upload to the machine or just run an operation at a time.

Having said all that they are the dogs ******** when doing 3D mold work, I`ll try and get a photo of the current mold to upload

Regards
Rob
:rainfro: :rainfro: :rainfro:

[BurrMan]

You can check a couple things.

I would consider this a complex 3d shape for an stl:

Attachment 247808

CutSim Data Model set to default of "medium" the saved stl is around 37.6 mb..... Setting the accuracy to high the saved file is 142 mb...

What you are doing is setting how much the stl will "dice up the surface" to try and create a smooth "appearance"... a lot of little surfaces will add up

Here is a picture of the wireframe from the "medium quality" stl generated by cutsim from that model:

Attachment 247812

And here's the same wireframe from the high accuracy output:

Attachment 247810

both pictures are from the same distance from the surface....

The medium quality stl has 531,660 polygons in it...

The high accuracy one has 1,669,454 polygons.

[BurrMan]

The other thing to look out for (im not crashing or experiencing anything abnormal when saving out the stl's) will be a ram issue.

So, you have enough ram, AND, you are running the 64 bit version which will allow you to use it. (Not crash when you hit 3.6 gb or so......So, a large BobCad file with toolpaths loading up taking the private working set memory pretty high, THEN trying to create an stl out of the result of the cutsim may be bringing you to your max?

It's just a guess.

[jrmach]

poor computer barely works with saved .STL and simulation.She tries to puke.

[The Engine Guy]

Hi Burr

I`m not experiencing any problems saving out the .stl files, they save out in a few seconds, I have the CutSim set to the default medium and it is just about good enough for most of my current work. (I have 8Gb RAM and 64 bit system)

The problems come when trying to open the next file using the previous operations .stl file, can take a while, don`t know whether more RAM at this point of the workflow would be beneficial, I`ll have to get another 8Gb put in when I can afford

Here is a screenshot of the current job at the roughed out stage, not as detailed as yours but probably a fair bit bigger, the actual stock shown is just about 25 x 25 x 4 inches deep, the tool showing is a 12mm with a 2mm Rad indexable cutter (Single blade 2 cutting edges) that has to get right down to the bottom to finish it out, the walls have a draft angle on them so the gap at the bottom of the slots is only 12.135mm only slightly larger than the tool, material is steel, not too hard.

Attachment 247832

The .stl file used here at Medium setting is 172Mb, so plus the next semi finish operation toolpathing this comes out at 368Mb total file size. The "waiting time" just opening files is a pain and so is the re-computing of toolpaths if any alterations have to be made, wish there was a quicker way in the software to just re-compute the area where any changes have been made instead of waiting for huge amounts of time for the computations.

Sometimes it can be a half hour, I do all mold work in sections/levels now, before I was waiting hours, on one occasion the file was so big that I set BC to compute the toolpaths for a job at 5.30pm and at 11.00am the following day it had done 30%, file was 780Mb, since been "chopped", "pruned" etc to manageable bits so not a huge issue but it means spending a lot of time doing the "chopping" and "pruning".

I have duplicated the job at a different location on a different CadCAM software and I was able to do the whole thing in a few minutes over 7 hours with pretty much the same file size
That is a huge difference, pity I can`t do all my work at the other place, or better still afford the other software and computers they have

This is why I keep prodding BC to try and get things to move a bit (A lot would be nice ) quicker inside the software, I don`t know the first thing about writing software code for this type of software but my "basic" brain says that what one bunch of developers can do at one software HQ then another bunch can do the same or similar elsewhere, there is no doubt at all that BobCAD is one of the most resource intensive softwares, from my own limited experience only stuff like Work NC and Seimens NC that cost in excess of $25000 and are being used on very, very expensive high end hardware (BOEING use them!!) which very few can afford are as resource intensive

All good fun I suppose and maybe I`m just getting too old for it all, seems to just get harder in some ways with each new version of BC, I suppose the more they put in the software in functionality etc then the more "numbers have to be crunched" and the slower it goes unless the user can afford the much needed, much more powerful and much more expensive hardware to run it one

Regards
Rob
:rainfro: :rainfro: :rainfro:

Hmmmm, that turned into a bit more than 2 cents worth

[SBC Cycle]

Couple of notes on saving STL's for stock.

The quality of the simulation has the most to do with the size of course. I use "Medium" for most cases and just a bit better for when it is required. The Zoom also has a big impact on the size. If you hit "x" a few times to zoom in while the simulation is running, no problem, but if you Regenerate the model at anytime while you are zoomed in, run sim, then save - the STL file will be much larger than what it would have been originally. The Refine buttons will also obviously increase the detail (and the size) of the model.

When you then use your saved STL as "Milling Stock", the STL is saved with the .BBCD file. I find that using more than 2 Machine Setups in one Milling Job is buggy and counter productive so I use different Milling Job's instead of Machine Setups. It is not uncommon to have 5-6 Milling Jobs and if each (except the first which is simple rectangular stock) has it's own STL for Milling Stock the BobCAD file is going to be huge and slow to open, slow to run, and crash prone even with 8mg of memory. So, when the Milling Job is complete and I am done adding machining features I will go back to the Milling Stock wizard and change it to Rectangular, hit the "Next" arrow, then hit "OK". That removes the STL from the BobCAD file but maintains your Origin and stock orientation. I always have the original saved somewhere and it's easy to reload it if I have to make changes later but there is no reason to use up those resources once you are finished with it.

[SBC Cycle]

Summary of workflow:

Complete all machining features in Milling Job 1 and simulate. When I know it's done and I've zoomed in/out on all the areas I want to look at I close Sim and re-open it. At the Medium setting I will hit "x" once or twice to zoom in. Then I regenerate and run the Sim all the way through to the end. Save the STL as Part-Number-OP2-Stock.stl

Create new Milling Job (2). Use STL as stock and complete all machining feature in Milling Job 2. After Simulating many times to make sure it's as I want it, I close it and repeat the steps before: Reload the Sim, hit "x" once or twice, regenerate, run to the end, save as Part-Number-OP3-Stock.stl

Create new Milling Job (3). Use STL as stock just as before but before I even create any more machining features I go back to Milling Job 2 and change the stock to "Rectangular". This will permanently remove the 30-40mb STL from the file, which is more of a common size for me. Rinse, repeat as necessary.

If I need to go back and edit a feature that recognizes stock in Milling Job 2, I will have to run the stock wizard again and re-select the STL but that's just a couple clicks. The key step is NOT moving forward in the stock wizard to the Stock Orientation page. After loading the STL, just hit "OK" to skip that step and it will maintain your origin.

[jrmach]

yup,yup,and yup.........And if you can get by without using this feature,by all means do.

[RAF.]

yup,yup,and yup.........And if you can get by without using this feature,by all means do.

HIP HIP

[Trotline]

Thanks, SBC Cycle, You pointed out some things I didn't realize about how the Sim can affect the .stl. Good stuff to know.

Luke

[SBC Cycle]

Always

Saving the stock is one of my favorite features of the Simulation.

[jrmach]

Always

Saving the stock is one of my favorite features of the Simulation.

Once I get some steroids for my wimpy computer it may be mine