camworks - is it worth ?

Hi all ,

Does anybody has a couple years experience on camworks? , I m really interesting on automation in camworks - how does it work ? Another thing is technical support for UK area - how is ? Thanks

in the meantime check out autodesk fusion 360
since that free under 100 K annual income, I think you can not loose with..

im guessing you are a smaller shop with a couple of person..

Do you use automation ?

in the meaning placing parts with robotic arms, no I don't
making production continuous with loading-unloading parts.. I think that indeed for larger shops..

and of course for larger series..

for that task possible you need a lot help... im concerning about between design and producing..

automation - I mean programming in camworks using automation like most of things software doing itself or most of toolpaths are done cause software did it . When you open camworks website you can see that advert contain automation is well . That's why I ask about it

im really confused..
after I choose a toolpath method, any camprogram calculate automatically toolpaths..

I set parameters and it calculates..

tooldatabase contains virtually everything..

little hard to imagine what could be automatized behind this..

programs are void holes in surface within roughing and even within finishing
then hole toolpathed in a separated task with other tool

well.. you better to asking them, because it looks like in solidworks you have to prepare the model, associating attributes or call names to surfaces..

then camworks ""recognize"" the geometry and pending of the machining center set up a possible way to machining the part..
it is important that pending of machining center because what a 5 axis can perform, that different than a 3 axis..

theres a video might says more to you..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iZDQYbylPg

Automation in CAMWorks will consume endless hours of your time. The tech Data Base is full of useless tools and has no 3 flute and very few five flute end mills. Drill the same so from the start you have to populate your own worthwhile tool library. Then you have to get a strategy for differing types of tool paths and link your tools and tools paths together and imagine doing this for a ton of things. Then once you are done updates will corrupt the data base. Updates from Microsoft can and will corrupt your data base. Scrap another month of your time for each redo. No I am not kidding. If the promise of the website and demo was true CAMWorks would be a world beater but as it is the implementation of the dream is so complicated and fraught with failure that few rarely finish it. Most buyers in my experience leave within a few years because it is just to time consuming to make it work. Volumill is supposed to be this wonderful super efficient machine strategy but by the time you figure out how to pick features to machine somewhat complicated 3D parts you can be many HOURS into just one cam plan. CAMWorks is expensive to buy and yearly in maintenance. I was a CAMWorks for Solid Edge user and the program was so bad that the user forum for the Solid Edge side has had one post in the last 16 months. The few that were there have moved on and the ones on the SolidWorks side complain about the tech data base and post issues all the time. Some of the problems go back all the way to ProCam and have yet to be reliably taken care of. Geometric knows there are problems and they never darken the door of the forums to help. They are quick to say though that problems are the fault of the user for improper modeling procedure but then never tell anyone what proper procedures are. If you want to suffer intense aggravation and wasting of time and money I highly recommend CAMWorks.

Proof is in the pudding. Ask a VAR to demonstrate it. On your PC not theirs. Then ask him to set up a tool library and tech data base relevant to the part you provide which he has not seen before. I mean all the steps to make it work just like the slick glossy demo parts they have been using for years do. Then post cod to your machine and cut. Make them do it all and watch the dude start trembling over what you want. If you do elect to abuse yourself make sure you get things like working to your satisfaction posts for all your machines as a condition before you pay them. They will make promises and not abide by them if they can and will charge you later for those same things. I know because it happened to me. I would recommend HSM but they are subscription only now.

None of these automated CAM programs work easily out of the box. All of them are very labor intensive. I figure that with HSM I could create years worth of cam plans in the same time CW would take to just get the TDB going. I don't know what your exact needs are but safe to say that CW with bells and whistles is every bit as expensive as something like NX Cam or Mastercam and others and ever so much more troublesome to use. I can't say enough about how disgusted I was when I dumped CW4SE. You go there don't complain later as you have been warned.

I think you're talking about Automatic Feature Recognition (AFR)?
If so, sorry to say, it doesn't really work unless you make a lot of simple boxes with holes.
I like CAMWorks (7+ years so far) but they all have pluses and minuses. What we like most about CAMWorks is that it works within SolidWorks. The files are the same. And it makes our parts (medical instruments with few square features).

You use what the company provides. Period. They will almost all make parts depending on complexity. I believe the free versions are only 2.5 axis?

Don't listen to the mouth foamers. The ones who swear the CAM they use is the best or far better than yours. Just plain silly.

That said, I like lapuser's idea to make the sales guy make your part as you watch. We did that, and the sales guy did it, although without using AFR.

I have been using CAMworks for 12 years. Those trashing it really don't understand it and I find that rather comical. It's like SolidWorks in that it does a million different things. But as we all know, we only use a few of those things over and over again. CAMworks is that way too. I have 25-35 different strategies that I use all the time. When I chose a particular feature, EVERYTHING in it is populated exactly how I want it. My tools, my speeds and feeds, step overs, cut depth etc.... 9 times out of 10 I can use it exactly as is. Sometimes I need to tweak it. But overall, this software saves me a ton of time. But I think even better than the time saving is the lack of crashing. The saved strategies work and have been proofed out over and over again. So there are almost no mistakes filling in all of the info. It's all there, and how I want it to be, every single time.

I have yet to lose my data as stated above. And if I did, I could start from scratch and have all back up to speed with out much fuss. You just do what YOU need to do in CAMworks. Not the million things CAMworks does, If you have the money I would recommend it. I have used mastercam, ezcam, bobcad and a little but of gibbscam. I like camwoks the most. You do need to learn how to manipulate and change the database. But once you grasp this effectively, changes are quick and very powerful. I use my CAMworks in SolidWorks.

EZFAB can you explain how to get camworks to cut smoothly with the Z level. I had my camworks dealer tell me it was my machine yet I recently had a shop owner with a 1yr old Haas that they bought new see my machine run and was pissed my 1986 hurco machine cuts as well as his new Haas. He was told its in the setting. We have the same dealer and the dealer cant seem to help him with the settings in camworks to make it run smooth and accurate

Hi JThomsen, I also have a 1986 Hurco and I have not found a post processor that works well, could you provide me with a copy of the post processor that you use? Thank you

Hi JThomsen, I also have a 1986 Hurco and I have not found a post processor that works well in CamWorks, could you provide me with a copy of the post processor that you use? Thank you