Tool database extremely slow...

[cfastM58RS]

I am using PowerMill Premium 2018  Version: 2018.0.4.1212130

The tool database is taking forever to load.  I primarily use PowerMill for creating drilling auto-runs and I have a drilling database with 2698 tools.  I understand that this is a lot of tools but PowerMill handled it fine before updating to 2018.

The database is being loaded locally from my computer, it is not trying to load it from a network drive.  So it is not a network connection or wifi issue.

It takes longer to load the database if there is more information in a project (models, featuresets, tools, toolpaths, etc.).

Before I started writing this post I opened a project to update a program because a hole diameter changed on the model.  I opened the part, activated the toolpath, recycled the toolpath, and clicked on the icon to load the tool database.  It has been about 20 minutes and the database still hasn't loaded.  It is still "Updating search results list, 64% completed".  I opened another seat of PowerMill and opened the tool database and it loaded in less than 2 minutes.

Why does it take longer for the tool database to open when it isn't a blank project???

I can not use 2018 until this is resolved.  I deal with model revisions all the time and I can't spend an hour to change one drill.

Edit: The database just loaded, 33 minutes after I clicked the icon.

[TK.421]

Here's a stupid question- How's your network connection? That seems like an obscene amount of time.

[cfastM58RS]

I have a wired network connection with 1.0 Gbps.  This is an issue with the 2018 version of PowerMill only. I opened up the same project that I had the issue with and deleted the models and then tried to load the database and it loaded in less than 2 minutes.  For some reason having model geometry in the project is slowing down the tool database.

[TK.421]

wow. that is a huge difference

[iamcdn79]

@cfastM58RS You need to downgrade back to update 3. I just noticed a huge speed difference between update 3 and update 4.

I was able to downgrade back to update 3 fortunately. If you need assistance with how to do it let me know

[bradley.hollandsworth]

I have discovered there is a very large delay with large databases on Windows 7 computers with a small about of RAM.

Are you using Windows 7 and if so, how much RAM do you have?

Brad Hollandsworth

[cfastM58RS]

Hi Brad,

I am using windows 7 and I have 24 GB of RAM.

[bradley.hollandsworth]

cfastM58RS,

24 GB should be fine unless you are getting to a low memory condition with a very large project. You can check your memory usage with the task manager and see what you are using.

Windows 10 has much better memory management to address large memory usage issues. We have done some tests and found load times are much less when loading large tool databases. We do have an open task that is looking into this and to see if anything can be done to improve Windows 7 performance issues.

Brad

[cfastM58RS]

My PC performance is not the issue.  The tool database has been much slower ever since the Powermill 2018 update.  Updating to Version: 2018.0.4.1212130 made it even worse.  The database functioned wonderfully in Powermill 2017 and earlier.

A very simple solution for Autodesk to implement would be to have the tool database interface open without loading all of the tools.

[M_Hennig]

Mine is quite slow as well, and I only have about 300 tools. I did not time it but I could actually create a complete tool from scratch before the database opens.