[ihbuilder]

thank you Ben , , It's better then what I got now ( nothing ) I'll give it a chance . I had talked to them about a refit , but in my readings , I decided to stay with what I have for now . it just seem to good to be true .


Steve

[Ben Colby]

I'm doing a CamSoft refit on my Brother TC-221 drilling/tapping center. It's been in process for over a year now and its learning curve is steep. The jury is still out on it. My advice is
leave your control alone as long as it's in working order. I have no intention on dumping my
Centurion IV as long as I can keep it running. The Centurion IV's G-code is not quite industry standard EIA but it's capable of doing most anything.

[Wcarmn]

I have several milltronics machines (6) and have owned Mastercam X5, Bobcad, CamSoft, and others.

We still own and use Mastercam & Bobcad. Mastercam is an incredibly powerful product. The support is good. We have an excellent Mastercam dealer here. BobCad, while not in the same class as Mastercam, has also been quite good. and I have had very good luck with Bobcad support as well.

Keep in mind the Milltronics control is in itself quite powerful. If you take the time to learn it well, there will be little that you really need the cam system for.

If you are serious about getting a good cam system, do your investigation. Read up on the companies and products you are interested in. If you find a particular company has a lot of complaints, proceed carefully.

Bear in mind...There is a real learning curve to most cam software. The software will only be as good as the training and support. Choose wisely and you will be happy.... good luck.

[ihbuilder]

well the cent 4 has been giving me more trouble It's getting tiresome So I sacrificed getting a cnc Lathe to get a 1999 vm15 /cent 6 that is local only downside is no atc but I'll get 1 in the future soon . I guess I'll try the camsoft cam I'm just skeptical of them

[Ben Colby]

I don't want to bad mouth CAMSOFT but the Centurion 6 can use a very generic CAD/CAM
as it's code is very close to Fanuc EIA. BobCAd comes to mind if you don't want to be so
spendy and I'm sure there are many others. The only reason I mentioned CAMSOFT is they
have a post for a Centurion IV which is a bit unique.

[ihbuilder]

I don't want to bad mouth CAMSOFT but the Centurion 6 can use a very generic CAD/CAM
as it's code is very close to Fanuc EIA. BobCAd comes to mind if you don't want to be so
spendy and I'm sure there are many others. The only reason I mentioned CAMSOFT is they
have a post for a Centurion IV which is a bit unique.

thats 1 reason why I was going to camsoft I don't want to be spendy but on the same token , I don't want to be cheap and be disappointed . I'm going to keep checking a bit . I still have to get a windows puter to be able to use some demos .

[cadman]

thats 1 reason why I was going to camsoft I don't want to be spendy but on the token , I don't want to be cheap and be disappointed . I'm going to keep checking a bit . I still have to get a windows puter to be able to use some demos .

I would stay away from Camsoft. Their focus is on controllers anyways.

The first cam software I bought was the AS3000 Level 5 or 10 (don't remember which one) back in '96 or '98. They stopped any further development of their cam software just before a reseller talked me into buying it. I knew nothing about the different systems available and kicked myself in the rear for going with something based on price.

Functionally, it is more or less ok for anything basic, but it is obviously a dinosaur compared to everything on the market. Remember, this is the cam software version of Latin. It does have severe limitations with roughing (pocketing) as soon as geometry gets even slightly complex (cannot fully pocket).

If I remember correctly, the simulator bundled with the level I had was the lite version of Predator, and is junk. Simulating lathe toolpaths is even worse.

Just look elsewhere, even at Bobcad if need be.

[ihbuilder]

then camsoft is out I have a lot of complex pocketing to do