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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > CNC Swiss Screw Machines > What CAM program is best for cnc swiss machines?
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Posts
    2

    Question What CAM program is best for cnc swiss machines?

    At my work we have solidworks/camworks and it is set up for HASS machines. We have a few, but dont use HASS often. We also have partmaker for drawing and creating programs. I was taught mastercam in school, so i figured out solid works and camworks pretty fast. Is there a way to change up the output of the program? Please help!! The person who used to program left this company. I'm just a new employee looking to help make new parts. Any advice would be great.
    Thanks,
    Female Machinst

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    803

    Re: What CAM program is best for cnc swiss machines?

    There is no one "Magicam" to recommend,
    Many possibilities,
    How about the one used with the last programmer, Did the person leave clues? or just Gcode?
    Call the machine service department they know who uses what and who makes money and not.
    The main thing is to keep the spindle turning and making parts..
    Been doing this too long

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    660

    Re: What CAM program is best for cnc swiss machines?

    Can you state what specific sector of the process you want to learn? I mean there are several ways on how to do it, on the G-code side you can do whatever you like, it depends on the machine`s capabilities, in your case a HAAS machine, a very nice highly capable piece of machine. ( I wish I can touch on it just "touch" on my lifetime ) so where do you wanna start?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Posts
    3

    Re: What CAM program is best for cnc swiss machines?

    hi my dear
    mastercam.Catia .Solidworks

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Posts
    2

    Re: What CAM program is best for cnc swiss machines?

    I know how to program HASS. trying to change the output for swiss machines

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Posts
    322

    Re: What CAM program is best for cnc swiss machines?

    As far as i remember Esprit had included operations for swiss lathes (at least in 2010)

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    381

    Re: What CAM program is best for cnc swiss machines?

    Unless I am mistaken, someone please correct me if I am, there are only 3 CAM products that will handle swiss. Partmaker, Esprit, and Mastercam Swissexpert. I have no experience with the last two, only what I have heard. We purchased Partmaker about 2 years ago. At that time, Mastercam had just acquired the Swissexpert and was a newcomer to swiss, so we stayed away from them. From what I saw, we chose Partmaker because the GUI is very nice, but it does take some learning to pick it up. They claimed that they had excellent posts, but after 2 years, I am still having things fixed. And now, Partmaker has been bought out by Autodesk and everything is in limbo. It appears they are trying to combine FeatureCAM and Partmaker into one package. That being said, overall, PM is a good solid foundation if you have posts that work for your machines already setup. And they do have phone support if your company is still on maintenance.

    If you can program the Haas machines by hand, both lathe and mill, you can program a swiss machine. There will be a learning curve, but you can do it. I started learning to program a Haas mill, then learned the lathe, and then jumped into our Citizen. In the long run, I would say try to figure out the Partmaker software. If you know Mastercam, it can't be all too different. The main thing to remember with swiss is: face off the part, do all your ID work, then do the OD work. Sometimes you can get away with turning the OD before doing the ID work, so long as it is a short length and will not drop out of the guide bushing when doing the ID.

    Good luck to you! It sounds like you are going to need it for your adventure!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Posts
    14
    As gizmo_454 mention only few can handle the full features of swiss. I use solidworks+solidcam usually but for swiss I was forced to go with something else. I choose Esprit where I found the post and machine setup files. Is not easy to work with , not so friendly and is not cheap but not so many options out there (as far as I'm aware).
    I'm also beginner on swiss so:
    Good luck ! we will need it )

  9. #9
    Show some examples of the type of work your doing. Then we can offer advice

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Posts
    59

    Re: What CAM program is best for cnc swiss machines?

    biggscam is spot on,,,in my opinion,,,easy to learn,,,and we actually wrote our own post



    keysoftwareservice.com

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Machinst247 View Post
    At my work we have solidworks/camworks and it is set up for HASS machines. We have a few, but dont use HASS often. We also have partmaker for drawing and creating programs. I was taught mastercam in school, so i figured out solid works and camworks pretty fast. Is there a way to change up the output of the program? Please help!! The person who used to program left this company. I'm just a new employee looking to help make new parts. Any advice would be great.
    Thanks,



    Female Machinst

    What software did you end up going with?

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Posts
    59

    Re: What CAM program is best for cnc swiss machines?

    I think Gibbs is the best offer so far


    keysoftwareservice.com

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    38

    Re: What CAM program is best for cnc swiss machines?

    What machine are you trying to program for?

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