MeshCAM is an easy to use 3D CAM program. It will work on PC or Mac (OS 10.9 or higher). You can import your file from almost any CAD or drawing program and easily create tool paths with little to no machining experience. It can create the following toolpath types. Most machinist I talk to go through the same experience the first time they try CAM–total bewilderment and frustration. Everyone has this idea that you create a 3D solid model, load it into CAM, push a button, and out pops a finished g-code program. If only it were true! Instead, you generally have to wrestle. The first release of the new OS — Mac OS X Server 1.0 — used a modified version of the Mac OS GUI, but all client versions starting with Mac OS X Developer Preview 3 used a new theme known as Aqua. Aqua was a substantial departure from the Mac OS 9 interface, which had evolved with little change from that of the original Macintosh operating. MeshLab is an open source, portable, and extensible system for the processing and editing of unstructured 3D triangular meshes. The system is aimed to help the processing of the typical not-so-small unstructured models arising in 3D scanning, providing a set of tools for editing, cleaning, healing, inspecting, rendering and converting this kind of meshes.
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Most machinist I talk to go through the same experience the first time they try CAM–total bewilderment and frustration. Everyone has this idea that you create a 3D solid model, load it into CAM, push a button, and out pops a finished g-code program. If only it were true!
Instead, you generally have to wrestle with the solid model until it imports properly, and then you have to tell the CAM program where the parts of interest on the model are and what sorts of toolpaths to apply to them.
Imagine my surprise when I loaded up MeshCAM CNC Software, stuck a solid model in it, and discovered that with very little trouble I could (drumroll please): push a button and get a g-code program. Cool beans!
Here's how it went:
First, I went and found a suitable 3D model I had done in Rhino3D. MeshCAM imports STL files for its 3D models, so I exported one from Rhino. Gun appetit mac os. Here was my Rhino model:
Coolant overflow tank…
It's a coolant overflow tank inspired by parts I saw at my friend Joe's CNC business Crime Scene Choppers. I'm not so into bikes as hot rods, but I dig his retro-WWII-aircraft look. I do most of my machining in 2 1/2D, but this kind of part will certainly need 3D profiling to come out right.
Import was a breeze–File, Open, click, done!
Next thing it wanted to know was job type:
Now that's getting my juices flowing! Love to try some 4 axis when I get my fourth built, and the 2-sided looks handy as heck too. For now, we'll go with 3 Axis just to check it out.
Okay, here's our tank loaded in MeshCAM and ready for some toolpaths:
Note the nice clean and very graphical UI…
There are a variety of options available from the little icons that match the tank's color:
– Define Stock: Let's you define the workpiece you'll be whittlin' on.
– Define Supports: Tabs. Love the tabs for fixturing. Wild poker games. My alma mater CAM, OneCNC, doesn't do them automatically, so I have to edit them in with CAD.
– Retract Height / Program Zero / Max Depth: More fine tuning options for the environment on the machine the part rests in.
– Set Machining Region: So you can use different strategies in different areas of the part. https://bonusmiles-bsb-no-bonus-deposit-saucify.peatix.com.
– Generate Toolpath: That's the one we want!
I point out these options, because they make it possible to do a lot of the complex things other CAM programs allow. The difference is you're not required to bother with those things if you just want to make a quick part.
One of the guys I grew up learning software UI design from is Alan Kay. Very talented man. One of his sayings that always stuck with me is, 'Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.' Too many products set out to make complex things simpler and wind up largely making the simple things we do most often harder!
Okay, let's click that 'Generate Toolpath' choice:
Toolpath options…
Other than selecting an appropriate milling cutter, all the right options come up pre-selected. You can fiddle around with them to optimize for your situation, or just let ‘er rip. Note that these are basically the same toolpath choices for 3D as my OneCNC uses, with some differences. I don't have the highest cost version of OneCNC, so I don't get a 'Pencil Cleanup' path like we have here. They're nice for running your ball endmill around the edges where things come together. It really helps smooth that 'raster look'. Waterline is often called 'Z-Level' in case you're wondering. And, I have to do a fair amount more work to just bang out a quick program like I did here.
This is the backplot from just the roughing pass–too many lines if I add finishing to make sense of it:
Meshcatchrelaoded Mac Os X
I've saved the best parts for last. First, MeshCAM is very inexpensive–$250 for what you've seen here. Hey, I'm not sayin' it has all the options of a $6,000 to $15,000 CAM program, it doesn't. But how are you going to go wrong for $250?!??
The thing is, you'll need several software packages to get started with CNC. We've studied them all and compiled a special guide to the Best CAD CAM Software for Beginners.
It's got buying guides, tips on evaluating the best packages for you, and best of all, it has guides to some of the most smoking secret deals on CNC Software out there. These are deals almost nobody knows about. There's even an amazing deal on MeshCAM from us (way less than $250), so check it out!
Meanwhile, give MeshCAM a try. You won't be disappointed.
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Coolant overflow tank…
It's a coolant overflow tank inspired by parts I saw at my friend Joe's CNC business Crime Scene Choppers. I'm not so into bikes as hot rods, but I dig his retro-WWII-aircraft look. I do most of my machining in 2 1/2D, but this kind of part will certainly need 3D profiling to come out right.
Import was a breeze–File, Open, click, done!
Next thing it wanted to know was job type:
Now that's getting my juices flowing! Love to try some 4 axis when I get my fourth built, and the 2-sided looks handy as heck too. For now, we'll go with 3 Axis just to check it out.
Okay, here's our tank loaded in MeshCAM and ready for some toolpaths:
Note the nice clean and very graphical UI…
There are a variety of options available from the little icons that match the tank's color:
– Define Stock: Let's you define the workpiece you'll be whittlin' on.
– Define Supports: Tabs. Love the tabs for fixturing. Wild poker games. My alma mater CAM, OneCNC, doesn't do them automatically, so I have to edit them in with CAD.
– Retract Height / Program Zero / Max Depth: More fine tuning options for the environment on the machine the part rests in.
– Set Machining Region: So you can use different strategies in different areas of the part. https://bonusmiles-bsb-no-bonus-deposit-saucify.peatix.com.
– Generate Toolpath: That's the one we want!
I point out these options, because they make it possible to do a lot of the complex things other CAM programs allow. The difference is you're not required to bother with those things if you just want to make a quick part.
One of the guys I grew up learning software UI design from is Alan Kay. Very talented man. One of his sayings that always stuck with me is, 'Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.' Too many products set out to make complex things simpler and wind up largely making the simple things we do most often harder!
Okay, let's click that 'Generate Toolpath' choice:
Toolpath options…
Other than selecting an appropriate milling cutter, all the right options come up pre-selected. You can fiddle around with them to optimize for your situation, or just let ‘er rip. Note that these are basically the same toolpath choices for 3D as my OneCNC uses, with some differences. I don't have the highest cost version of OneCNC, so I don't get a 'Pencil Cleanup' path like we have here. They're nice for running your ball endmill around the edges where things come together. It really helps smooth that 'raster look'. Waterline is often called 'Z-Level' in case you're wondering. And, I have to do a fair amount more work to just bang out a quick program like I did here.
This is the backplot from just the roughing pass–too many lines if I add finishing to make sense of it:
Meshcatchrelaoded Mac Os X
I've saved the best parts for last. First, MeshCAM is very inexpensive–$250 for what you've seen here. Hey, I'm not sayin' it has all the options of a $6,000 to $15,000 CAM program, it doesn't. But how are you going to go wrong for $250?!??
The thing is, you'll need several software packages to get started with CNC. We've studied them all and compiled a special guide to the Best CAD CAM Software for Beginners.
It's got buying guides, tips on evaluating the best packages for you, and best of all, it has guides to some of the most smoking secret deals on CNC Software out there. These are deals almost nobody knows about. There's even an amazing deal on MeshCAM from us (way less than $250), so check it out!
Meanwhile, give MeshCAM a try. You won't be disappointed.
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'There's no reason to use Apple hardware at the bottom of your private cloud, unless you have to.'
Shawn Lankton, chief revenue officer of MacStadium, is honest about why his company exists. It's not there to compete with standard colocation companies on cost, latency or geographic distribution. Instead, he hopes to target a very specific niche: 'We exist because Apple requires their customers to work with Mac infrastructure at the bottom of their stack. And that's not our call, that's just a problem that we endeavor to solve.
'We have come up with technology, infrastructure, expertise, best practices to make that possible, easily and at scale.'
This feature appeared in the July issue ofDCD Magazine. Subscribe for freetoday.
When you need Apple
Vidar (itch) mac os. Targeting companies that need to use the Mac OS, such as Xcode app developers, MacStadium operates server racks full of tens of thousands of Mac computers across five data center locations - Atlanta, Las Vegas, Silicon Valley, Frankfurt and Dublin. Primarily, MacStadium uses private suites in Equinix and Zayo data centers, but has a small footprint in a Keppel facility in Dublin.
'We have plans of getting to Asia in the near future and launching additional points of presence,' Lankton said. 'But we don't really need to be within 50 miles of a customer for them to have a good experience, because the use case is not super latency dependent.
'If you're sending a build or a test job to one of our data centers, that may be a three minute or a three hour job. And so if it takes an extra few milliseconds to travel to the data center, that doesn't really impact the performance or the user experience.'
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As a business, the company started 'with a bare metal offering of Mac minis and Mac Pros,' Kevin Beebe, MacStadium's VP of product management & security, told DCD. 'And as our product evolved, we got into virtualization and led the initiative to get Mac OS and Apple infrastructure supported within VMware.
The coin project mac os. 'In the last two years, our revenue has exponentially grown in the enterprise market - 70 to 80 percent of our revenue is from that customer base now.'
Core to wooing that enterprise audience is being able to offer the reliability, compliance and security standards of conventional data center equipment. Forced to rely primarily on consumer equipment designed to live under a desk, this can prove challenging.
To deploy the various flavors of Mac systems, MacStadium designs its own racks. Originally, 'we had tons of Mac minis deployed in fully custom racks that are 10 feet tall and double wide and very non-standard,' Lankton said. 'We still have lots of customers deployed in those racks, but for the 2018 Mac minis and for all the Mac Pros and for anything that comes after, we have designed racks that fit in standard 19' designs. That's to allow us to deploy in more points of presence, and to deploy more rapidly.'
Pro designs
Currently, the company's most popular device, the one it still deploys in the largest volume today, is the 2013 Mac Pro. Unfortunately, the cylindrical design - referred to disparagingly by some as a 'trash can' - does not immediately lend itself to being stacked in a rack.
'How do you get a round peg in a square hole? We have a custom designed and manufactured sled,' Lankton said. 'We add the enterprise upgrades that allow it to go from a consumer device that has a 1GbE port and a single power supply to something that looks like an enterprise server when presented to a hypervisor layer like VMware that has dual Ethernet, dual SAN fabric connection, and dual power.'
When Apple updated the system in 2018, it kept the same shape and size. 'People would look at that and say, 'Well, it wasn't a big design change, you shouldn't have to do a whole lot of work,'' Beebe said.
Rainer mac os. 'But the power management and thermals are significantly different, and they updated from 1GbE to 10GbE network interfaces. So we did a whole Cisco Nexus spine leaf architecture for the new racks that we were designing. It ended up being a lot bigger initiative than most people thought it would be.'
Lankton added: 'The ports are in a different place, the airflow intakes and outputs are in a different place. The cooling and power requirements are massively different. We had to start from scratch and deploy brand new racks for those in about two months.'
The company faced a similar dilemma with the iMac Pro, an all-in-one machine where the computer is built into the screen. 'It's a tragic waste of a 5K screen: nobody's looking at them in the data center,' Lankton said. Dark harvest book project (demo) mac os. The company fits 24 of the machines in a standard 19in rack, with two systems packed together, screens facing but disabled.
'It's one of the realities of dealing with Apple hardware,' Lankton said. 'We get what we get. And we won't build custom hardware on that front: Apple trusts us to take their hardware and be true to what they have produced.'
Apple will always be in control
Therein lies the greatest potential weakness in MacStadium's business model: They serve at Apple's pleasure. 'We talked about actually taking the screen apart and trying to just rack mount the internal components,' Beebe said of the iMac. 'And, that would be frowned upon by Apple and non-supportable going forward.'
Perhaps it's an imbalanced relationship, where power rests with Apple, but MacStadium is confident that it has nothing to fear. Apple is out of the enterprise infrastructure business, and has no need to compete, while the existence of MacStadium makes it easier for businesses to develop apps and test them with Safari. In recognition of this, Apple highlighted MacStadium during its October 2018 event.
'There's always been the question of how much Apple would support or acknowledge us and so that kind of validated that,' Beebe said. 'I think even a lot of customers have had hesitancy of using MacStadium or any Mac hosting company. Apple has a very strict enterprise licensing agreement that's kind of open to interpretation but, being on stage, validated that they know exactly what we're doing and find that to be acceptable.'
For many in MacStadium, the on-stage shout-out was a surprise. 'As usual with Apple, we didn't know anything beforehand,' Lankton said. 'There were only one or two folks inside the organization that had advanced knowledge, even as a camera crew was coming through our data center to photograph the Mac minis.'
The same level of secrecy shrouded Apple's latest event, held this June. 'We had no advanced tips from the Apple team,' Lankton told DCD, days after the conference. There, Apple announced a new Mac Pro, the first major redesign in years.
Packed with Xeon CPUs that go up to 28 cores and 1.5 terabytes of memory, as well as AMD Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs, the new Pro is an expensive rectangular beast.
'There have been estimates that the fully spec'd version might cost upwards of $35,000,' Lankton said. 'It's obviously a super impressive machine.'
It will also come in a 4U rack mountable version, built by Apple. So where does that leave MacStadium? 'Anybody can put a Mac Pro in a data center,' Lankton said.
'Where we stand out is knowing how to configure those Mac Pros, having a supply chain to deploy them, having Mac expertise on staff, and knowing how to deploy those Macs in a cloud which allows customers to really treat that infrastructure as code rather than just have a Mac in a data center.'
Beyond the rack
The company won't know whether it will have to make changes to the rack mountable system until it gets its hands on the Pro - later this year, at the same time as everyone else. 'If there are expansion modules to provide enough network connectivity and if we can work with the power modules to connect that to our redundant power systems, then we may not have to do anything proprietary to it,' Lankton said. 'But there's a big difference between rack mountable and enterprise-ready server.
'Anything that's rectangular you can put in a rack, but you need to have full redundancy and supportability to really call it an enterprise machine. And so we'll make whatever upgrades we need to make.'
While the company has received some interest in deploying the system, it also suffers from the same issue impacting all 2018 Mac systems - the T2 Security Chip.
An Apple custom silicon chip, T2 stops Macs from running any operating system that's not signed by Apple - including Linux or VMware ESXi.
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'None of those devices are VMware Certified,' Beebe said. 'We're trying to bring Apple to the table to help solve that, because Apple and VMware haven't [worked] so well directly together in the past. We've had to play middleman in getting that done.'
This is why the 2013 Mac Pro remains the company's most popular device, as it shifts further from 'Macs in racks' to providing more cloud services.
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'We've done that since the very beginning using VMware as a hypervisor platform,' Lankton said, 'but more recently, we've supported a new Mac-only hypervisor called Anka, and then Orka is the next iteration of that.'
Orka is the company's own in-house virtualization layer for Mac infrastructure based on Docker and Kubernetes technology. 'That's really purpose built for the users that need to have infrastructure that looks and feels as generic as possible, while still fitting inside of Apple's requirements that all app builds be done on Xcode,' Lankton said.
'What we want to do is help our customers abstract that infrastructure layer as much as possible, so that their iOS and Mac app builds and tests look more and more like the same thing for Android or back-end server code or anything else.'
He added: 'Our customers don't just want a Mac in a rack, they want a Mac in a cloud.'
Further reading
