[Der3er]

Hi folks,

I'm -still- in the process of deciding which cam-package to buy. I'm not a novice and mainly stuck between a rock and a hard place as for price and features/usability. For daily work on one 3 axis and one 4 axis machine I use mostly VCarve pro 6.5. It's easy and fun to use, not very pricey and I've used it a lot since version 5. Now initially, this tool was meant for woodworkers and I do aluminum work most of the time but you can get it to do the job anyway. If there weren't some nasty little odds that point your mind to look for sth. better. Namely efficient toolpath strategies and simultaneous 4 axis operation.

I had a look both at sprutcam 8 and rhinocam. Both work sort of, both offer seemingly exciting toolpath strategies for around 5K, both seem rather buggy to me. As for the ease of use both are quite disappointing (though I'm quite familiar with a few cad/cam packages).

What are your experiences using madcam in terms of ease of use, predictable and reliable results, smart toolpaths, friendly support and so on? Any comments will be appreciated.

Regards, Harald

[svenakela]

I make paths, post process, start the machine and leave it for hours. Yes, I trust madCAM entirely. It's not harder to use than Rhino itself, but I also believe that any CAM program will be better in the hands of someone with good material and machining knowledge. If you're a decent machinist, you'll get awesome results with madCAM.
Download the trial and go for it.

[Rodent]

so far it's served my guitar building needs well, especially when you consider capabilities for cost

all the best,

R