[Machining]

Why did you buy Featurecam and does it work as you thought it would, or should?
What does it do well and what could it do better? What type of work are you doing (prototype, production, 3d, etc).

[durgam605]

I didnt buy it for the shop, it was here already. I do 90% prototype and small volume production, And alot of 2.5D nd 3D I really like the ease once your settings are correct and tool library matches your shop tooling. Auto feature does'nt do me alot of good on most parts, but i would like to see better curve generation options, and 2012 is nice since they added Hot keys to the mix.

[Tristan65]

We have 2 Mazaks which are used for prototyping by our design engineers, they at the time were not getting used often as the only Cam package we had at the time was Gibbs. Fine if you use it daily not so good if you're only using it once a month. FeatureCam is ideal, it gives you as much or as little control of the program writing that you want. The only downside I have found with it is if you are relying totally on the AFR it does do lots of air cutting, but if you are not governed by time then that's fine. Programming time is easily cut in half. The Mazaks are now booked out solid. Designers are a lot more willing to do there own prototype parts, this relieves some of the pressure put on our small batch machine shop. We have just purchased an SMX 2500 bed mill for prototype part production that the post needs sorting out for but when it is I certain it will also be booked out solidly.
We have had FeatureCam for almost 4years now it's brilliant it the role we use it in.

[wheelieking71]

as mentioned, once you have your attributes and tool crib set up properly, featurecam is lightning fast. you would be hard pressed to go from print, or solid, to part faster with a different CAM package. (i have used featurecam, mastercam, gibbs, and bobcad) and featurecam's customer support is outstanding! there are a couple guys in the support dept. i dont care for. but, when i get Chris, my problems get handled very swiftly, and he is a nice helpful guy. they are also very helpfull with their post processors. and with "Xbuild", if you pay close attention, you will be modding your own post in no time. featurecam is awsome, and i would not spend MY money on any other package. mastercam can give you more control over your toolpath, quickly. that is the only area where featurecam can be a teensy bit sketchy. toolpath manipulation. you can make it do pretty much whatever you want. but it can sometimes take a little "effin' around" (for lack of a better term) to get your desired results. so if all you are worried about is cutting your cycle-times, you might like mastercam. but if you care at all about cutting programming time, featurecam is the only way to go.

[acoustic_energy]

hi,i found AFR very useful for for 2D and 3D machining.Programming make easy save time. With AFR we can just delete feature we don't need and i found FeatureCam it simple CAD/CAM software and easy to use.

[dcalp]

i use to manually program and one day my Bridgeport route guy came in and handed me a stack of floppys and said try this. That was pack in 91, before it was called FeatureCam, and i have been with it since and thru 2 different companies. It does anything we want up to 4th axis simul.- and if not we/support figure it out and move to the next.

[H-D Tech]

I have had FeatureCam for 5 or 6 years now and the crew at Trimech have always helped me work out the Issues. I have had no training at all. I tried other software and and there is no comparison. In short the time spent messing around with other software I could have been machining parts.

Thanks TriMech and FeatureCam

[Janos]

I worked at a tool and mold shop years ago doing a lot of prototyping, 1&2 piece runs. I had never used FeatureCAM before always MasterCAM. It took a little bit to get in the swing of things to make parts but I got the owner to get us some training....WOW, that made things A LOT easier!! The guys at ProFORCE really took care of us and helped smooth out our learning curve. I would definitely tell anyone looking to buy a software package to jump in with both feet. I tried to get the owner of the last place I worked to get F.C. but he went and talked to another shop owner about CAMWorks, and then bought it. I worked there only for a short bit more and I had my fill.

(Going off on a tangent)
CAMWorks was dependent on a prearranged set of tool and strategy combinations to get something made. AFR in their eyes is teaching C.W. what to look for with the strategies that YOU TEACH IT. If you delete the tool crib associated with the strategy, you are screwed. (I found this out when I began putting in the enormous tool crib in to CW.) I got it nearly complete installing my tools in hand and then began deleting the default tools out. After I had done this I found out that NOTHING FKN WORKED!!!!!(chair) I called up the support in Orlando and was told "That wasn't very smart". No one ever said that they were linked and deleting tools was DEVASTATING to productivity.

Sorry about that but it had to be said.

FC will do whatever it can with the tools you have. If you only have a .250 end mill and a chamfer tool in your crib. hit AFR and see what it does. It will take those two tools and try it's best to make the part. Not just throw up alarms saying it can't be done.

If someone has a need for a very powerful system FC is the way.:cheers:

P.S. Editing a post for your needs or want is fast and easy too. No need to have Predator or any other to make a part.