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IndustryArena Forum > CAM Software > Visual Mill > Anyone using Visual CAM-MILL for SolidWorks in a real machine shop vs hobby
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    16

    Cool Anyone using Visual CAM-MILL for SolidWorks in a real machine shop vs hobby

    I have nothing against hobby work, its just that hobby users tend to be more patient
    and tolerant about non perfect operation.

    Especially interested in knowing if this SW has the features and robustness to do 3D injection molds.
    ie: minimizing post milling finishing.

    Most youtube video's for CAM SW (all vendors) only shows simple parts and this says nothing about
    robustness.

    Does this SW cause crashes?
    Does this SW puke on some IGES or STEP import?
    Does this SW generate surprize paths on occasion?
    Did you wish you had purchased something else?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    547

    Re: Anyone using Visual CAM-MILL for SolidWorks in a real machine shop vs hobby

    Try asking this on the Practical Machinist site. I think you will get more feed back on SW combo'd with VM. We used it with Alibre for more than 5 years now, it is the full 4 axis pro version and we have no complaints. I think it works as well as the big name CAMs at less than a third the cost. Plus support has been good with Mecsoft.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by jjg View Post
    I have nothing against hobby work, its just that hobby users tend to be more patient
    and tolerant about non perfect operation.

    Especially interested in knowing if this SW has the features and robustness to do 3D injection molds.
    ie: minimizing post milling finishing.

    Most youtube video's for CAM SW (all vendors) only shows simple parts and this says nothing about
    robustness.

    Does this SW cause crashes?
    Does this SW puke on some IGES or STEP import?
    Does this SW generate surprize paths on occasion?
    Did you wish you had purchased something else?
    Hallo man,
    even my reply is comming quite late - hope it will help some nice chaps to save their bucks.

    Yes I do own real machining shop with VMCs controlled by Siemens. And our major buz is all kinds of mouldand oddly shaped 3d parts.

    I really wish I'd never hear about VisualMill.
    Standalone VisualMill crashes abt 3-10 times a day.
    SW + VM crashes some 3-5 times per day.

    In worst time I had to spend up to 5 hours just to import IGES into VisualMill. Therefore I was forsed to go for VM for SW. This solved import geometry problems.

    Surprises: yes and no. Whole programm is a surprise and full of unperformed promises. At few cases it skips G00 in output gcode. That results mashine to move across whole workpiece in idioticly slow speed... People are complying abt tool diameter compensaton since 2006 and - its not fixed yet, etc. In general where is no documentaton and existing one looks to be created by pre-graduated kids.

    My conclusion is: its not a tool, but a toy. May be suitable for lowtech hobby workshop, but not for pros.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Posts
    56

    Re: Anyone using Visual CAM-MILL for SolidWorks in a real machine shop vs hobby

    Re: Anyone using Visual CAM-MILL for SolidWorks in a real machine shop vs hobby? Answer: Absolutely- and it works very well!

    After a few weeks away, I was just browsing the cnczone and noticed this thread. I was surprised to find JJG’s question, as over the past 15 years I have experienced and observed VisualMill earn a solid reputation in both the hobby and industrial markets. Our company has used VisualMill (and more recently, VisualMill for SolidWorks) for nearly 15-years in the aerospace and defense industry. We use VisualMill every day, and 90 percent of our work is 3-axis milling, and approximately 1/3 of that work involves very complex surfaces. VisualMill typically generates flawless toolpath quickly and easily, and it also has excellent simulation capabilities to verify the results prior to posting. And thus, from my perspective I find shadowvoice’s negative experience and opinions to be so different from our experience, that it make me wonder if he may have been plagued by some sort of underlying hardware or virus problems. And it is inconceivable that (assuming that he paid for maintenance/support) MecSoft or their resellers wouldn't have been able to work through these problems with him.

    Anyhow, I was compelled to comment in order to reassure JJG and others that VisualMill is a value-packed, professionally-supported (although we rarely need them), industrial-grade product. Admittedly, VisualMill still doesn’t have the brand-recognition of the most popular, more expensive, and heavily advertised CAM systems. But within the mid-range industrial CAM market, I believe that VisualMill is widely regarded and respected as one of, if not THE best-in-class software.

    Regards,
    Dan

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    5728

    Re: Anyone using Visual CAM-MILL for SolidWorks in a real machine shop vs hobby

    Thanks for weighing in, Dan. I agree that most users have a much different experience from "Shadowvoice" in Latvia. I use the program myself, and haven't had any problem importing IGES files, but anyone who has doubts about the program's ability to do that can try it with a demo version before purchasing, and any issues can be worked out with the support team, which really does try hard to make things work for customers. Stand-alone VisualMill is a very robust program, and while I have been able to crash it on occasion, it's usually turned out to be my own fault, when trying to execute a command I didn't understand how to use. Multiple crashes per day would indicate persistence in a similar error, or, as Dan points out, an underlying problem in the hardware or ancillary software employed.
    Andrew Werby
    Website

  6. #6

    Re: Anyone using Visual CAM-MILL for SolidWorks in a real machine shop vs hobby

    Quote Originally Posted by shadowvoice View Post

    Yes I do own real machining shop with VMCs controlled by Siemens. And our major buz is all kinds of moulds and oddly shaped 3d parts.

    In worst time I had to spend up to 5 hours just to import IGES into VisualMill. Therefore I was forsed to go for VM for SW. This solved import geometry problems.

    Surprises: yes and no. Whole programm is a surprise and full of unperformed promises. At few cases it skips G00 in output gcode. That results mashine to move across whole workpiece in idioticly slow speed... People are complying abt tool diameter compensaton since 2006 and - its not fixed yet, etc. In general where is no documentaton and existing one looks to be created by pre-graduated kids.

    My conclusion is: its not a tool, but a toy. May be suitable for lowtech hobby workshop, but not for pros.
    Latest amendment:
    Yes, I sent more than 5 different IGES files what caused system halt/crash to Tech support. No real help for me, but hopefully it will be sorted out in next releases.
    Can You imagine to tell to customer: "please use specific IGES Type 144, otherwise we can't accept Your order. Our fancy software can't import Your miserable files." I believe it's easier once to sort out issue with respective translator module and make it able to read most of incarnations of IGES.

    Complain about skipped G00 - I was partly wrong. I found place in PP where respective code was skipped. But still - I used PP included in delivery and had to de-bug it to sort this out. Was I wrong using developers PP? Are these real PP included into installation or sort of DIY?

    Documentation and help files: Hope this gonna be real Help in 2016 version as my comment was related to versions pre 2016.

    Cutter compensation: Yes, I received an advice how to cheat system and get compensation working... Suggestion was to use negative stock settings in order to get tool center tool paths output. Well... Regret I got no suggestions what to do with simulation and part verification after such advice implemented So if You want to use cutter compensation in Siemens way - forget about correct part simulation and verification.

    Btw - according What's New documentation many of small annoying things are fixed in 2016!

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