I am new to the forum, but I have a very urgent question. Hopefully a few of you have the time to help me out.
I am currently a Gibbs user, and have been for about 6 years. We bought a Mori Seiki NL lathe last year, and have since put two more on the floor. Gibbs has struggled to give us what we needed out of these machines (primarily post problems). Also, Gibbs has been somewhat weak as far as 3D milling and having any level of control over customizing and perfecting tool paths, IMO. The turning is also weak with not enough options to make for effective machining processes. We have a Mori NT on order and are nervous to try and program this machine with Gibbs. We are looking very seriously at Esprit and EdgeCAM to fulfill this need.
If we switch, we would like to switch all of our programming over to the same software, so that is also a concern. Some of the things we will need are:
Full 3 & 4-axis capability
4 & 5-axis positioning
Multiple spindles (lathes)
B, Y, and C-axis
5-axis simultaneous
Full mill/turn support
Great post processors that are easy to edit/configure
Full Machine Simulation with collision detection
We are a job shop that sees many different types of parts, we need a CAM package that is just as flexible. We also have an apprenticeship program, so the software needs to be something that we can eventually train in-house (at least how to edit and create simple toolpaths).
If any of you have comments as to how EdgeCAM can meet my needs, I would appreciate your feedback.
Thanks,
Travis