[SCzEngrgGroup]

No it's not, nor is it $9K as someone claimed. Still in order to use it for free you have to use Fusion.. thus, you're stuck with it. Fine for the maker crowd, woefully inadequate if you're a professional.

HSMWorks for Solidworks IS $8-9K, at least it was last time I asked for a quote. Base Solidwords IS $4+K, plus ~$1500/year for maintenance and updates. If you want FEA, that is several $K more. If you want photo-realistic rendering, that is several $K more. There are also tons of third-party add-ons for Solidworks. Fusion 360, with full HSMWorks, for small users, IS free. It does not even offer some of the things that Solidworks does, like FEA, sheet-metal design tools, mold-making tools, but does include photo-realistic rendering.

Regards,
Ray L.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I also got saddled over the Solidworks conversion hump where some of my files were in the old format and then were converted when I upgraded. This meant I lost access to the older Solidworks that is in the shop where I do a lot of my work, a big problem if I needed to modify the model. It was frustrating and eventually it really pissed me off.

Ah, yes! Probably the single MOST annoying aspect of Solidworks - EVERY version changes the file format, and once the file is saved in a new version, there is no going back to the previous version. I can't for the life of me understand what benefit this has, other than pretty much requiring users to ALWAYS update, if they ever need to exchange files with others. AFAICT, that is not an issue at all with Fusion.

Regards,
Ray L.

[CL_MotoTech]

Ah, yes! Probably the single MOST annoying aspect of Solidworks - EVERY version changes the file format, and once the file is saved in a new version, there is no going back to the previous version. I can't for the life of me understand what benefit this has, other than pretty much requiring users to ALWAYS update, if they ever need to exchange files with others. AFAICT, that is not an issue at all with Fusion.

Regards,
Ray L.

Yeah, that was more or less the final nail in the coffin for Solidworks though at the time I didn't realize it. Fusion solves that problem and many more. Another problem was that I was always trying to carry a lap top or thumb drive around so that I could get from my office to making things. As a result I would end up with old or incorrect models and I would be in the shop with time set aside for making that piece or part only to find out I had the file. Not cool. My case is probably a little more precarious than most though as I have two offices and two shops and they are in four different locations.

[ihavenofish]

solidworks is full featured, reasonably well executed. with a good workflow.

fusion is a baby. its missing vast amounts of features still, BUT, it is already as good or better than SW in many of the features that are there - even without taking into account the free 3D cam. (the free hsmworks for solidworks is 2.5d only, 3d 5 axis is $7000, i think theres a 3 axis version in between).

take into account the free cam, and its a no brainer for those on a budget. its also growing in features every month, and should flesh out to solidworks level within a year or 2.

as for the quality of a file given to you - thats entirely up to the person that made the file. bad work is bad work in any software. im not even going to bother asking about specifics, because im pretty sure there arent any.

in short, dont feed the trolls... (i guess i just gave him a cookie though) :P

[daniellyall]

FEA is that simulation of loads and that sort of thing if so fusion Ultimate has most of that

[ihavenofish]

Another problem was that I was always trying to carry a lap top or thumb drive around so that I could get from my office to making things. As a result I would end up with old or incorrect models and I would be in the shop with time set aside for making that piece or part only to find out I had the file. Not cool. My case is probably a little more precarious than most though as I have two offices and two shops and they are in four different locations.

thats a double edged sword. i have a home office, a work office, and my shop with my cnc machines. my shop however has NO internet connection. so cloud based becomes a hinderance, though, with offline mode being effectively unrestricted now, i can just drag the lappy to the shop.

[ihavenofish]

FEA is that simulation of loads and that sort of thing if so fusion Ultimate has most of that

the premium package from solidworks has equivalent FEA. but the price is very high - more than ultimate. i think its 7-9k.

im not sure most people know how autodesk works with software like this. they have 400+ developers working on fusion. it isnt free for us out of generosity. they want to get all the young learners and small shops on it - so in the future the big shops will have a glut of hirable fusion users. "NOW" big shops would stick with solidworks, or bigger shops with catia, NX, etc, but if autodesk has their way (and they usually do, despite their constant fumbling) come 5 years from now, fusion will be the go to software for all shops.

[daniellyall]

If they leave there other program alone and just let the dudes that work there look after it, that's there other big fish, Powermill and the other ones that came with that company.

If you do NDA work you can't use fusion.

[ihavenofish]

If you do NDA work you can't use fusion.

not exacly. most nda's would be fine with it. if security is involved, you might have issues. but again, you can work offline for months, never letting youre files leave your pc.

[daniellyall]

yer it depends on who if it's government agencies,the 3 letter acronym one's you can't even thoe they use them same cloud provider as ADSK use, you can do 59.9 days and strip fusion of it's files.

[tmarks11]

No it's not, nor is it $9K as someone claimed.

That someone is me.

The full version of HSMWorks costs $9000 (or $2500/year)

Autodesk posts the prices right on their website. Google is your friend.

Yes, you can find some retailers do give you discounts, but not by a significant amount.

Buy HSM Ultimate | Integrated HSM CAM software to program CNC milling machines
https://www.nexgencam.com/pricing

Or maybe you were talking about the gimped free version, HSM Express? Which is missing a lot of features from the paid one (that are all found in Fusion 360 for free?

[daniellyall]

the other way is to get the product design collection $3460 AU

[tmarks11]

the other way is to get the product design collection $3460 AU

Again, that is a per year charge. And the collection doesn't contain HSM Works.

[daniellyall]

yes and it gives you fusion for cam

[ihavenofish]

Again, that is a per year charge. And the collection doesn't contain HSM Works.

so, not too useful as a cam package for solidworks

i think were getting off track here.

[C*H*U*D]

I just had a customer give me a job that he drew in Fusion 360 and all I can say so far is "I'm not impressed".

Steve, I just read through this thread but never really saw "exactly" what you got. Did they send you a part file? A drawing? Did you install Fusion to open their project and that's what you aren't impressed with? If it was a part file, what what wrong with it? Bad model or bad design?

I absolutely hated Fusion when I first started using it. I use Solidworks at my job but I need CAM at home, and for me Fusion fits that bill perfectly so I decided to learn it. I honestly wish Fusion was around when I bought my Tormach...it would have saved me $1K on SprutCAM which was the only affordable option at the time.