Well if I was in management at Bobcad, I would be going over to see Michael Gibson (MOI) and licensing the whole CAD package off of him, job done in my opinion.
Definitely
Definitely Maybe
Almost Certainly
Yes
Well if I was in management at Bobcad, I would be going over to see Michael Gibson (MOI) and licensing the whole CAD package off of him, job done in my opinion.
Barrie @ Composite Specialities Ltd. using BobCAD V29 Mill 3 axis Pro, Geomagic Design, Bricscad V16 and MOI V3
Agreed, today was offered a package for a great price BobCAD with the BobART and 3 axis Mill Pro modules - but after reading here and on the web getting nervous about the purchase. It does appear to be very different from parametric programs and apparently has a steep learning curve - which doesn't intimidate me. The question is - is it a program worth purchasing? It took since last August to get productively familiar with Fusion 360 - with the aid of books and videos. It doesn't appear there is a single book available on Amazon for BobCAD. Would be very reluctant to ask questions about the program here. Also downloaded MOI and it does appear to be quite an easy to use program - however limited.
youtube,,,,type in bobcad,,video's galore
Al Depaolo's After Dark videos on YouTube provide excellent tutorials, along with the Learning Professor Video DVDs, which you should add to your purchase, provide a better learning resource than any book and sensibly asked questions are met with a wealth of assistance right here.
Any CAD/CAM has a steep learning curve, you've already learned Fusion 360 and thus are now familiar with an Autocad-alike, you need to start with identifying what's wrong with it that you don't want to stick with it?
You can download and use the free BobCAD-CAM demo for as long as you want, once your modelling and tool path generation are where you think they need to be you can (Al assures me you can even if sales act dumb) request a short fully functional trial license that will allow you to generate code to test on your machines so there is no risk if you sensibly use the resources on offer.
Yes Al ran through a demonstration with me and is an ace at BobCAM. That's a good question: why not stick with Fusion - well some suggestions here and around that BobCAD is easier/better to use, isn't cloud based and actually you own it and whatever you design with it. However, so far working through the CAD demo tutorials has proved more difficult than with Fusion. It seems to me that BobCAD is more of a CAM program at least that's where most of its strengths seem to be. Also, 3rd party documentation is non existent - for example books on Amazon. NURBS based programs interest me - but staying with Fusion and purchasing a much cheaper NURBS program like MOI may be the smart way to go - at least for me at this point. Thanks for the input.
VGcustom
Any CAM programme has a steep learning curve be prepared for that, IMO the 3D printers have created a culture where people think that you just throw a 3D CAD model at the 'maker machine' and the desired object comes out like it is on a conveyor belt, not saying for one moment that you fall into that catagory.
Despite my frustrations with the CAD side of BobCAD would I go down the same route again? Yes I probably would. I could use Alibre CAM as I have full level Alibre but I am doubtful that I would be able to create some of the odd control geometry and surfaces that are required when programming, this creation of control geometry is not unique to BobCAD, as I was a senior manager in an F1 motorsport sub contractor I saw the programmer toolmakers often making these types of geometric additions.
I know a lot of people are going down the Fusion 360 route but I have reservations about this, the cloud based storage is not to my liking although I believe there are work arounds on that, not owning the license also spring to mind.
A very important thing to remember with CAM packages is that a large number of these packages (a majority IMO) use the same CAM kernal, so up to a point what is the cheapest way to get to that CAM kernal, for me this is through BobCAD. AlibreCAM which is produced by Mechsoft uses the same CAM kernal.
With regard to product documentation, as others have said there are a mass of Youtube video's which often quickly explain an issue and also lead you ontop other relevant subjects.
What projects are you actually planning on making?
There is a lot of G code being produced by people using BobCAD.
Regards
Barrie
Barrie @ Composite Specialities Ltd. using BobCAD V29 Mill 3 axis Pro, Geomagic Design, Bricscad V16 and MOI V3
Agreed!
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