[BROCD]

In the process of CAM software justification and am looking for some feedback from any of you who have had to do this. I have justified software with a 2 year payback on indirect labor alone but now the bean counters want to know how much time this stuff is going to save the company in cycle time. Right now we still program everything from 3 axis mills to 5 axis millturns by hand and I feel the programs are pretty efficient but have no comparison from which to estimate any cycle time reduction. I am looking for ways in which CAM software is going to make my parts run faster. Any thoughts are appreciated.

[Dolphin USA]

CAM software can do wonders and save all sorts of time, errors, etc. I think it really depends on the nature of your work though to decide the extent of it.

[m98custom1212]

The cycle time wont change much you until you start using high speed toolpathes

[awerby]

I don't think the payoff from using CAM comes in the form of cycle time reduction. Usually, hand-written code is pretty efficient (once it's been proven). But the process of writing it isn't. Your programmers would be using their time a lot more effectively if they got some help from modern technology. And there are lots of parts that would be nearly impossible to program by hand; you'd be able to bid on those jobs instead of passing on them.

Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software

[BobWarfield]

Do a few sample parts you already have hand programs for and then compare the cycle times. It's possible the CAM will run slower depending on how good your programmers are.

Best,

BW

[txcncman]

I do not think you can do a reasonable estimate without an actual time study. In actual use, without proper knowledge and training, what I have seen with CAM software is the programmer ends up running back and forth to the office to make changes during program testing. A huge time waster if they do not get it right the first time. CAM programs usually introduce unneeded tool movements. The best solution is a combination of manual programming and CAM. Manual programming for simpler parts or parts that need maximum efficiency. CAM for more complicated parts and parts with 3D surfacing or when production will be small quantities.

Tell you bean counters, "Nevermind. We can wait on the CAM software for 5 to 10 years when we are out of business for not growing into the 21st century and can no long compete."

[BROCD]

Thanks for the feedback all.

[glovebox20]

Look at other benfits as well.

Program docuatmation
Collision checking
Reduce time to program complex parts
'high speed maching' tool paths
The abbitly to post Program to differnet controler, insted of rewriting it all over again.
etc.

Not all of these benfits can be easily tracked by a stopwatch and/or calculator.

Granted, the benfits to be able to hand code programs will never be replaced by a cam system, exspecialy when it comes to working out post issiues, but cam systems can still be a usful tool to use.

[vdek]

You won't be able to justify CAM software via Cycle time alone, you need to justify it via programming time, and that depends on the nature of your work and how capable your machine controllers are in producing CNC code through conversational programming.