[bscook86]

My job had this program sitting around the shop and has never used it. They are still writing programs by hand. I finally got the chance to move up in the company as a supervisor and would love to take over the programming, both for job security, monetary gain, and the fact that i am just really interested in learning it. I cant write program by hand yet, but i can edit/alter almost anything we use. I understand and can read the programming as well. If this software sucks, is there a better free one out there? I doubt they will be up for purchasing a new program until i can show the big wigs how useful and efficient it can be. any help would be awesome!

[Trotline]

I'd skip to the current version. You can download a demo free, and there are lots of basic instructional videos available free, in addition to the set they sell. BobCAD, like other CAD/CAM packages, has a steep learning curve. You'll need to spend a while learning the software, but once you do, you'll utterly blow the doors off most hand programmers, for other than dirt-simple parts.

Luke

[bscook86]

I'd skip to the current version. You can download a demo free, and there are lots of basic instructional videos available free, in addition to the set they sell. BobCAD, like other CAD/CAM packages, has a steep learning curve. You'll need to spend a while learning the software, but once you do, you'll utterly blow the doors off most hand programmers, for other than dirt-simple parts.

Luke

oh ok sweet. i dont think the parts we usually run are particularly over-intricate. Basically just mill, drill, tap, interpolation of either a groove or bore diameter.

[bscook86]

when i go to the website, it allows me a free download to a v25 or a bobcam for solidworks download. think one is better than the other?

[mcphill]

If you have SolidWorks, BobCAM is a pretty nice setup as you can do all the CAM programming within the SolidWorks environment. That said, features are usually first released in BobCAD... You should download both, though, and try they out. I would think they could apply any upgrade credits to whatever version you choose in the end.

[bscook86]

If you have SolidWorks, BobCAM is a pretty nice setup as you can do all the CAM programming within the SolidWorks environment. That said, features are usually first released in BobCAD... You should download both, though, and try they out. I would think they could apply any upgrade credits to whatever version you choose in the end.

i wish i had solidworks. do they offer a free trial as well?

[mcphill]

Nope - and SolidWorks is a $10k+ investment! You likely want to stick with the V25 demo...

[bscook86]

Nope - and SolidWorks is a $10k+ investment! You likely want to stick with the V25 demo...

wow, that is a high dollar program!