[cypher]

is it time to move on ?. thats what im asking myself. 15 year mcam user and totally dissatisfied about X. I have done a 45day test with delcam and like what I see. also have looked at featurecam. we are a prototype house and need speed and function for 3 to 5 axis Haas mills. I can still bangout code with V9.1 mc but until cnc screws there head on straight im unsure about what to do.

any sugestions?

[Tarkus]

I suggest waiting a while until they hammer out the more annoying bugs from X. I too find it foreign and strange. In fact, I avoid using it whenever possible. But I'll give it a year or so and see what happens.

[jonbanquer]

is it time to move on ?. thats what im asking myself. 15 year mcam user and totally dissatisfied about X. I have done a 45day test with delcam and like what I see. also have looked at featurecam. we are a prototype house and need speed and function for 3 to 5 axis Haas mills. I can still bangout code with V9.1 mc but until cnc screws there head on straight im unsure about what to do.

any sugestions?

I guess it comes down to the type of parts you are machining. If you looked at DelCAM PowerMill you know it's awesome at 3 axis surfacing toolpath and not very good at 2 1/2 axis production milling. If you looked at FeatureCAM you know it's very good at 2 1/2 axis production milling and good but not as good as DelCAM PowerMill at 3 axis surfacing toolpath.

The one thing that concerns me about MasterCAM X is that they use the same (and have for years) component toolpath verification (MachineWorks) that FeatureCAM does and yet MasterCAM's implementation of MachineWorks is still very poor. I wonder after all these years why this is STILL the case ?Both Gibbs and FeatureCAM's implementation of MachineWorks is excellent.

Do you have time to wait a bit and see if MasterCAM X gets the rest of it right ? If so, I would wait. I believe they will. I see a lot of good in MasterCAM X. I can also see why some users are frustrated with what they feel is a slower product.

jon

[ehtesham]

I wanrt SDK of Mastercam X, So please help me I am urgently needed it

[cypher]

waiting is something thats been going on for 2 years. ever since they boasted about the great "X". So I continue to pay maintenance all this time. and I get a sub par product for my money?? X is full of bugs that where all fixed in the latest MR release of V9.1
That is why I may spend my money on a product that already works. at least my maintenance money is going toward enhancing a product. Not fixing bugs that should never have been released in the first place

[10K]

Looks like MR1 has fixed some annoying things in version X. The first thing I noticed was that I wasn't constantly having to ESC from unwanted selection windows. You actually have to click AND DRAG at least a little bit to start a window. I haven't had a chance to really shake it out yet, but so far MR1 looks pretty good. Even so, I'm considering moving on to another brand. I don't like the new machine setup/postprocessor, or way some stuff operates within the operation manager, or a bunch of small but annoying stuff. For the most part, it seems like McamX is setting me up to make mistakes and I get punished for it every time I miss something.

I have heard a lot of good things about WorkNC and we're looking into that one.

[dmealer]

Hey guys,
I guess I am the oddball here. After using featurecam for many years, I changed jobs and had to learn MC 9.1. I absolutly hated it. Mainly because of the enviroment. Now that we hace MCX, I regard having to open MC 9.1 like mowing the lawn. I put it off as long as possible. I will have to agree with John though, their simulation stinks.

As far as being slower, I don't see that at all. I rip through 4th, 5th axis and 3D toolpaths a lot faster with X than 9.1. Although this may be because X is a more familer enviroment to me.

My 2 cents

[gibbsman]

I only have a limited amount experience with mc9 and have heard that some people are unhappy with mcX, so what do you guys think of Gibbs. It's what I have been using for 3 years and I really like it.

[Jerseycnc]

I used to use Gibbs 4.33 on the Mac side in 1994 and liked it alot. Havent tried virtual Gibbs but have been seeing it these last few months-looks good.I'm just not sure about putting things in a body bag or stitching surfaces -sounds a little strange.
I left the Mac platform in 1999 to use Surfcam. I guess the problem with Surcam is its not well known or I might say its not popular like Mastercam. But its a strong 3-5axis program-you may want to look into that.
By the way I am taking classes in mastercam X and the instructor made a comment
that those people who used earlier versions ( 9 ) will have a harder time then those who are just starting off; like myself. I really dont have anything to compare. He also said he hates it. there you go and he teaches it. Ditto on my 2 cents.

good luck-just another learning curve!

[Mike Stevenson]

I have been using Mastercam since ver 3.0. And all I can say about Mastercam X is it's a piece of crap! What once was an old, buggy, DOS program shoehorned to work into the Windows environment has now become an overbloated piece of junk like Windows XP! And after all of the hype about how great it was going to be it turns out to be a very goofy windows interface of the same thing with a couple of tool path tricks added. Very disappointing. If you really want to step up to the plate with a CAM system buy Catia or NCL. These programming tools will allow you to actually put the cutter where YOU want it on a turn by turn basis. Most of the programming systems on the market are way too automatic with very little or no tool control at all.

Michael

[Jerseycnc]

Mike,

I think most software is like that where its becoming automatic and having less control. They want to sell the product and make it easy. Their pitch is buy our software and your a programmer in just a short time. The bells and whistles are for show. By the way in one of the other post gibbs was brought up and I have to say there is a good cam system. As I mentioned I used it on the Mac side and really like it. There posts where good also.
I didnt buy it because at the time they didnt offer 5 axis simultaneous- So I bought Surfcam. That was in '99. As far as Mcam X I cant form an opion because I'm still learning it. It does have a couple of features I like but more I dont like. It takes time to break from the mold we seem to get in-I guess.

[cadman]

If you do look elsewhere for cam software and:

1.Your parts are very complex, both feature-wise and geometry-wise,
2.You do multi-axis work,
3.You have a LARGE software budget,
4.You don't mind learning new software with a very steep learning curve,
5.You don't mind long programming setup times,
6.You want control over every part of your toolpaths,
7.And you know some C type language (helps)

Then like Mike said above, buy NCL if you can afford it. That will be your last cam purchase. The shop I work at uses NCL and was one of NCCS first customers. I own a seat of Gibbs which I use at work but my employer is sending me to class at NCCS so I can start programming with NCL. There isn't anything this software can't do and you have absolute complete control over everything.


That said, if you have 15k + invested in software I personally would work around the bugs. More than likely CNC will address most of the bug issues. If you still have 9.1 and have no issues with it then why change if it works?

Just my 2cents

CM

[Mike Stevenson]

Jerseycnc,

I agree. Gibbscam does have a little better control than mastercam and surfcam definately outputs better toolpaths albeit still very automatic. With almost all of these systems the demo parts that come with them perform spectacularly. But as soon as you try to put in a 'real' part with 90 straight up walls ( i.e. No draft angle) they fail miserably. I wiil admit after so many years of working with mastercrap I have figured out ways to get around a lot of these situations but WHY should I have to?

Cadman,

Most of what you say is correct except if you are familiar with the old APTsystem (Automatically Programmed Tools - The original programming language with full 5-axis control built in from the start) then NCL is a breeze. On top of that NCL much like Catia allows you to work either in GUI just like Mastercrap or modify any toolpath at any time with the NCL (Numnerical Control Language) capability. Absolute, move by move, ability to 'drive' the cutter and stop it anywhere using the standard Part, Drive, Check surface ability to come in contact with THREE surfaces simultanously.

Also knowledge of the C programming languare is unnecassary unless you are making third party add-ons to the system. Besides NCL is written in FORTRAN just like APT was. The C language side is for The GUI windows interface mode.

My two cents.

Michael

[Mike Stevenson]

One more mind blowing detail: A full seat of NCCS's NCL is in the same exact price range as CNCSoftware's Mastercam X! Not 2 or 3 times more as the salesman would have you believe. Same goes for dassault systemes CATIA.

[cadman]

Gonna go off topic with a last reply here -

Mike - any good tips for someone using NCL for the first time?