[proengines]

Hi all,

I've been fiddling with a few different CAM demos on my Tormach and really needed something to do a job over the weekend which had a lot of pockets that needed to be cleared.

I am going to buy Sprutcam 7 (All posts) when finances allow as I just picked up a Cincinatti Sabre 750 for bigger stuff but bought Sheetcam on Saturday afternoon out of frustration with the way I was doing things. I am really impressed with the program for the price. It cost me $178 and I was cutting the pockets within an hour of downloading it.

Great service also, I emailed Les about the post processor and had a reply in 10 minutes.

Cheers,
Greg

[pete from TN]

Yeah man gotta agree for 2.5D work it is REALLY hard to beat sheetcam. I have made all sorts of neat stuff with it and I have even figured out how to setup my boring head and other stuff. Currently I am working on a way to be able to use my T/C tapping head with it but have not found a way to include the dwell in it yet. I am sure it is doable tho. I especially like how when you are doing a similar job like say an engraving you can often just import a new file over and existing one and the thing just automatically figures out the toolpaths. I also like the Tabs features it has, very adaptable and I am just getting started. I am also currently investigating CamBam's newest release which is 3d capable and even has a lathe option included. Looks pretty good so far. Never used sprutcam but hear it is also pretty nice but it is not cheap... peace

Pete

[SteveKoerner]

Maybe the program is good but their website certainly is not. The description is very sparse. I couldn't even find what file types it accepts.

[pete from TN]

The program takes .dxf, HPGL, excellon files for circuit boards and a few others that I remember. I always write to a dxf and it seems to like Acad revision 14. No complaints and while I have never had to contact Les personally I understand he is very responsive about helping people with the software. He is also looking into doing some lathe functionality as I remember hearing that might be out soon. I have made a bunch of parts with it and it is so far my goto program for 2.5d. It does not have any 3d functionality, I wish it did because the UI is really simple and easy to understand and the thing just seems to work the way I want it to every time. So long as I do the drawing right and not leave out any gaps in the lines and it is very nice with layering of Acad style drawings and works a treat with that. For the price and 2.5d it is really hard to beat I think... Peace


Pete


P.S. there is also a forum here and on their website for additional help

[proengines]

I agree Steve, the website is pretty basic but the program is great, I used it quite a bit over the weekend and after working out how to position the drawing it worked every time. The only problem I had was that it was inserting a g43 height offset in the code which I didn't want there. I just edited it out myself but I'm sure it's something I didn't set up properly in the tool table.

It helped me finish a job that paid for the program and the cutter I had to buy to do it plus a little to cover my time so I can't complain. Photos below:

[pete from TN]

That is a beautiful part you made, I suppose it is some sort of motor mount. Really like the pocketing on the bottom. That all was 2.5d Too huh.... Yeah I think it is a pretty decent program and it has done everything I have asked of it so far.... Nice work man..,peace

Pete

[proengines]

Thanks Pete, yep it's a motor mount for an electric motorbike a customer is making. That little motor is 30kW and water cooled, amazing given it's only 5" round!

There's probably a better way to make it than how I did but it was a pretty good learning experience. It buzzed those pockets out in no time, the long contoured bit on the base took hours to cut, I just drew up the shape as a pocket and let it go. I had to take pretty small cuts given the length of the cutter I made up.

I'm so impressed by this little machine, it's now my favourite.

[rowbare]

Great service also, I emailed Les about the post processor and had a reply in 10 minutes.

I there an issue with the post processor or is there a special one for the Tormach?

bob

[proengines]

Hi Bob,

No, no problem with it, I was looking through the list and there is a "Tormach Inch" post processor but not a metric one so I was wondering if there was a problem as I work in metric. The normal Mach 3 post processor has worked fine so far.

[saabaero]

Check this CAM package out. It does 3D and is inexpensive.

MeshCAM: Great Ease of Use in a 3D CAM Package

MeshCAM - CNC Software - CAD/CAM Software

[pete from TN]

I have not tried meshcam but I have heard really good things about it. In fact Bob Warfield has a little blurb up on his site right now about it. He seemed to have really good things to say about it. Might have to download the trial and give it a spin.. peace

Pete

[proengines]

I downloaded the demo and it does seem pretty impressive, I'm going to have a play with it this weekend. I just need to think of something to do with it.

[SteveKoerner]

I just looked over the Meshcam site and got interested until I came upon the fact that it won't drill holes. That makes it not a consideration as my first CAM tool.

[rowbare]

I just looked over the Meshcam site and got interested until I came upon the fact that it won't drill holes. That makes it not a consideration as my first CAM tool.

MeshCam is a 3D contouring application so holes are largely out of scope for it. It is great at what it does but you still need another tool for 2.5D and hole drilling etc...

Unfortunately there is no one stop shopping for CAM at hobbyist price ranges.

bob

[proengines]

I didn't notice about the hole drilling, That's a bit of a let down but still for its other features I think it's a worthwhile part of a cheap CAM toolbox.

I use D2NC a lot for basic profiling and hole drilling now. It was the first program I bought a couple of months ago and it's just so quick and easy to do standing in front of the machine.

Saying that, given my massive 3 months of CNC usage, I'm probably not the person to be giving advice