[perfcomp]

I'm sure the forum gets this request a lot. I'm shopping for a CAM package to run my 3+2 head/table machine that I am nearly through building. Please see drawing here (the same as what I hope appears on this post below): http://www.airgunstocks.com/images/m...axis_notes.jpg Note when R2 rotates, the entire Y and Z assembly rotate.

I have been looking at CAM packages for a long time and still unsure what might be the best value and be able to work with my machine. As a startup I want to keep the spending down until I make some money, but at the same time I want to ensure success so I can make money. I fear my machine has a unique situation that when R2 rotates, the cutter position translates in X and Z, so X and Z need to know to move when R2 rotates.

I'll be creating the artwork in Solidworks. It might be handy to be able to work tool paths from within Solidworks, but I don't want Solidworks to be tied up running the machine, so the CAM and controller software ideally need to operate the machine separate from SW. Which maybe means a CAM solution that does not run within SW at all.
thank you,
Michael

[dharmic]

There's another step, Michael. Solidworks for design, then CAM to take your SW design to Gcode or similar (and this can run offline on your SW machine).

Then you need the machine control software - something like Mach3, UCCNC, LinuxCNC which you'd run on a computer dedicated to your machine. Or a dedicated motion controller which will usually have some kind of embedded computer in it that you can pop a USB thumb drive with your GCode and has appropriate controls and DROs etc to let you jog the thing around manually.

CAM wise, any 5 axis CAM package may be able to do the job - it'll get down to specifics of what you are trying to do. Watch out for "5 axis" software that will only allow you to index the 4th and 5th axes rather than allowing continuous motion through the cut. If just indexing will get your job done, though, it'll work out a lot cheaper.