[LouF]

So Dolphin partmaster is not 3d then? I was under the impression from their website that it was. Well so much for that then. If all it has is 2.5D cad cam then I already have those bases covered quite nicely with what I already have. I am looking for an INEXPENSIVE 3d Cad cam solution (yeah I know right) that I can get my feet wet with 3d machining on. CamBam seems like it is gonna be about the cheapest avenue for that so far. Anyone else got a better suggestion. Other than Bobcadcam the only inexpensive option for 3d cad seems to be Alibre and MOI3d. Anyone here using MOI? Peace

Pete

I was thinking the same about Dolphin partmaster I e mail them and received a reply about there product videos which they are using is partmaster pro which costs more $399.00 for Hobby use add $200.00 more for Commercial and it's only 2.5 and if you want to use it in more than one PC. you need the dongle that's $200.00 More. I am also looking at going inexpensive route. So far for 2.5 I am thinking CamBam I have looked at the Vetric products downloaded there trial the cut 2D & cut 3D are nice but very limited. I like Vcarve pro6 but then I would need to buy the Cut3D it is more than I can spend at this time $849.00 they have Aspire which will do what I need but at a cost of $1995.00. So I want to get the most bang for my buck I am new to the CNC world and am looking at Hobby use I have Mach3 and am waiting for delivery of my machine from Fine Line Automation any help is welcomed..
Lou

[Starleper1]

I demo'd MOI. To me it seems to have more of an artistic feel to it. Maybe my opinion is biased from using Solidworks for so long though.

[LouF]

Which version of Solidworks do you have is it expensive?

[WOTDesigns]

nate- did you check out eapprentice yet? I just finished class 4 last night and watched 5 this morning but haven't tried the learned tasks yet. last night I was able to wireframe the part I'm working on fairly quickly and apply toolpaths. I'm confident that after watching 5 I'll be about to import my SW parts, create geometry from them and start cutting

I also realized that for simple-ish 2.5D it isn't required that you create 3D geometry. I actually programmed my part first by drawing a 2D sketch, using the sketch to define the toolpaths, just typed the DOC into the linking parameters, and defined my stock with a simple box representing the depth. it allowed me to see the final part in verify and catch a simple error I had made.

I will see my buddy that uses the other online instructor tonight and have him show me a few videos so I can compare.

[harley4ever]

Dolphin is primarily a 2.5D program but it's not to take away from the power. I have seats of a few different software systems, and bang for the buck, dolphin is by far my favorite. The best starting point would be to dig in to a few different packages yourself and see. Whatever you can pick up and run with, start there.

[LouF]

Harley4ever, thanks I have download a couple and will download a few more and see which one I like best...

[LouF]

LouF,
check the Draftsight forum. I seem to remember your problem coming up quite often and the usual culprit is the driver for your video card. Going from memory, they say to try reducing the hardware acceleration in windows setting first to see if that is the problem and again usually updating the driver for the graphics will solve the problem.

Art, Thanks I found the solution to my PC crashing with Draftsight it was exactly what you said no problems now..

[LouF]

How is the support with CamBam and the others?