Meshcam 7 Beta looks interesting

There’s a new beta for MeshCAM 7 on the meshcam site. Looks like they’ve been working hard on UI issues. It’s only the first beta, but looks like there are at least a few new features in there.

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First impression, mostly good. Playing “find-it” in all the menus and pull downs. There will be a few changes to my workflow vs version 6. So far, those seem less helpful but that is likely because I knew version 6 really well. Too soon to tell if this new beast is easier or harder for me. that said, it might be easier for a new user to master. Cannot find some old geometry commands like “rotate geometry” which I use regularly. So, that is a must fix in my book.

Hey Mark-

Rotation and setup is a big point of confusion for noobs, so I thought I’d try simplifying the process to see if that made it easier. In V7, the orientation is set when you import a part and the rotation command is hidden.

Do you find the need to rotate parts after importing them with this new system or do you just click “ok” during import with the expectation of changing the rotation later?

There will be a lot more changes to the UI coming. V7 is the first time there’s been any breaking changes to the UI in a long time so the goal is to take every opportunity to make it better without concern for the past.

I find I need to rotate it later because I actually want to generate two toolpaths in different orientations. This is really just a tiling operation for something that is probably better done on a shapeoko…but I have a nomad, so I’m trying to make it work. What I want to do is import, get everything set up in the material, set a couple holes on an axis (and maybe, a 1/8 calibration hole to use for home), generate a toolpath for a chunk that fits on the machine, then rotate the whole thing 180 degrees and put it back down on pins through the alignment holes and do the other bit that hung off the table. I’m struggling a little with the length of a part that just won’t fit unless I turn it around - there isn’t enough room off the x or y axis for it to clear (either hits the back of the cabinet, or hits the tool length pin) doing a more “normal” tiling exercise. If I have to reimport and start over from scratch just to get it turned around 180 degrees, that’s a lot of extra hassle. Not the end of the world, but a lot of hassle.

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n this case. the part is has a rectangular shape and I wanted to clamp the stock in the small nomad vise, thus while meshcam 7 was presenting the proper face of the part, I wanted to rotate the part 90 degrees on the z axis as viewed. This would align the geometry with the clamp. (i.e. allow clamping so that the long part of the rectangle was in the jaws of vise and the short sides were north-south on the y axis). In other cases is it like mikep says, and I want to work from both ends of a long part. Or I have details on 2 faces, Or I am trying to get more than one part put of a sheet of stock that has been fixed to the bed and I need to rotate some of them to get a better yield.

If you hide rotate in the geometry menu , I would be happy.