[fidodido1322]

Dear All,

I am new on this business,and i am looking to get a CAM and CAD program, but i am not sure which program is best, my business is in Plastic Injection mold and Blowing Plastic Mold. Can you help me to deside?

Some said that PowerMill and PowerShape is the best, is this is true? and i need to know what is the difference between those 2 programs and the FeatureCam?

Thanks

[anilam]

I've used powermill for many years now and have shown on many occasions that it can out perform any other cam program when generating toolpaths. had it running against edgecam once and proved to the boss man that it's 40% faster in calculating times. edgecam could not even handle the size molds we were doing it kept "running out of memory" do yourself a favour, you don't want to buy something that cannot DO the job or breaks down / hangs the pc / runs out of memory.

we used it to mill 5 large (±3.5ton molds) - it never once gave us hassles!! did all the toolpaths flawlessly/ never crashed the pc! get powermill it does the job - no headaches! and get a dedicated pc with dual screens for it. version10 can take advantage of multi core pc's etc.

don't forget to get PSexchange as well, this allows u to translate from any format into powermill.

I'm not so clued up on powershape, have heard of people running powershape converting to solidworks cause they say solidworks is easier & quicker.

out of Cimatron / PRO E light / edgecam / Ez_cam / OneCNC and even FEATURECAM I'll take powermill anytime!

[john h.]

We went from Mastercam to PowerMill and haven't looked back. Right out of the box PowerMill was 25-30% faster on tool paths. Best thing we ever did!:cheers:

[Eagle Eye NC]

I've used Catia, Mastercam, Gibbs and Powermill. Powermill is far the superior choice. I am an offline programmer and purchased Powermill as my programming software too.

[Suraj]

hi there
Powermill and powershape are best for die casting die and plastic mold design and programming.

Featurecam detect features from the model like Holes,pockets etc.

cheers
suraj

[adnanahmad]

i am using power mill...
when i execute the code...the following error appear on the machine panel...
error code are given below

1) 0:8:47 E365: DRVosition error,hit limit 0r voltage low(1)
2) 0:8:47 E378: DRV:in disable state!(1-X,2-Y,4-Z,8-u,16-v)(-15)

these errors generate when
1) G2 and G3
2) i and j coordintes
3)
when job size was X30 Y30 Z10 it does not generate any error..
when i increase to X70 Y70 Z20 it generate error as i given below

1) 0:8:47 E365: DRVosition error,hit limit 0r voltage low(1)
2) 0:8:47 E378: DRV:in disable state!(1-X,2-Y,4-Z,8-u,16-v)(-15)

plz solve the problem...and tell me this is due to operation or any technical reason...

[amunchet]

Responding to the OP...

PowerShape has a steep learning curve, but is probably one of the best modlers for complex, organic shapes (I like it better than Rhino). If you're wanting just basic solid modeling, SolidWorks/some of the addons are the obvious choice; if you need to do more complex, organic stuff, PowerShape is the way to go.

Pretty similar story with PowerMill. We also use Surfcam for 2D/2.5D machining (which I believe is what FeatureCAM can be used for), and it is hands down superior to PowerMill for that. That said, for any 3D carving (i.e. mold cavity work) or 4-5th Axis Work, PowerMill is the better choice.

End of the day, really depends what you're trying to do. DellCAM products take a bit to get used to, but if you're in the business of organic shapes, probably the best I've seen. If you're doing mainly simple stuff, go with SolidWorks/maybe FeatureCAM.

[Tony the Ferret]

If you reeally want to increase your shop performance, just skip to WorkNc fro your local Sescoi dealer. they will show you what fast reliable toopaths you could be using

[wizard200097]

Hi fidodido1322
I recomand powermill for CAM and solidworks for CAD.
make your desicion