[klane00]

Hello cnc community, my name is Kevin and i am based out of Long Island, Ny. My company just recently purchased a 3-axis cnc machine from MultiCam. Rite now we are in search for a software package that is industry specific to what my company does which is fabrication of ACM panels. At the moment we are using a software package called Enroute which seems to not have the flexibility options that we are looking for.

I will be be drawing and machining our panels so it is important to find a software that has certain drawing aspects as well as a good Cad side to it.
One of the first issues i have noticed with the Enroute software is there is no "stretch" option. For example, if i have to draw 50 panels with a return on them, and the only dimension of the panel that will change are the face of the panel, "not the returns" then hypothetically we would only draw one panel, tool path it, and use that as a template. So instead of drawing and tool pathing each individual panel separatly and having countless ways to make mistakes, I would pull up the template, and choose a face to edit size, and save as a new panel.

I hope Im explaining our situation correctly and any advice or recommendations are highly appreciated. I am looking into 2 software's at the moment (bobcad, and autodesk inventor). Again I am new to all software so Im looking for the best one that fits our industry and
looking to jump rite into training.

Thank you

[ger21]

I don't think you need a 3D CAD program like Inventor.

I'd look at a good 2D CAD program (Even a free one like Draftsight) and a good 2D CAM package. I highly recommend CadCode, which can fully automate the toolpath and code creation.

[klane00]

Thanks so much Gerry for such a quick reply. I looked into the 2 software programs that you mentioned and I appreciate the suggestions. We are looking for more of an all in one package that offers Cad and Cam together. Im sure both of what you mentioned would work for our company but it seems like moving backwards from going from an all in one software package (EnRoute) over to two separate software's. hope this makes sense and any more advice is greatly appreciated.

I don't think you need a 3D CAD program like Inventor.

I'd look at a good 2D CAD program (Even a free one like Draftsight) and a good 2D CAM package. I highly recommend CadCode, which can fully automate the toolpath and code creation.

[jramos187]

Klane,

Working in the ACM panel industry I have seen a few software work one of the best is simply AutoCAD in combination with Toolpath. The other is PANEL Builder by AXYZ this can be a pricy option but will definitely work.

[klane00]

Klane,

Working in the ACM panel industry I have seen a few software work one of the best is simply AutoCAD in combination with Toolpath. The other is PANEL Builder by AXYZ this can be a pricy option but will definitely work.

Thank you for your suggestions. My company has AutoCad, but I am not well versed in it. We ended up going with a program called enroute and a second program to do the panels called Shape Master. Both work together for panel fabrication. I would suggest anyone interested in ACM panel fabrication to look into those two as well. Thanks again for the suggestions.