[widget_maker]

I guess I was hoping to see all sorts of changes to the conversational routines, but there looks to be little new from 1.8. Oh well, it's now I'm retired ( a little early) time to get back into using the mill as it was intended, with CAD/CAM not just the occasional conversational or manual machining. Time to relearn solidworks for the fourth time!

[jwatte]

If you're going to jump in, you might want to consider Fusion 360. The hobbyist license is "free forever" (or until Autodesk changes their minds) with yearly renewals.
The integrated CAM in Fusion is quite strong, and the hierarchical modeling is pretty good.
It's a little weak in some areas (no "bolted connection," NPT threads only available in some hole modes, etc) but generally it's quite good!

[widget_maker]

Thanks.

I did actually download the 30 day free trial of fusion 360 yesterday. Thought I'd watch a few videos and have at it. Seems quite similar to Solidworks, and I have only used HSMworks CAM which i beleive forms the basis of fusion360 CAM. I will give it a shot and if I like it I'll sign up for the year long "free" license.

[maker of things]

second fusion 360 for hobbyist. I am polycadderous and use Solidworks, Inventor, Alibre and Fusion 360, sometimes all in the same day. The basic functions are similar enough between them all for modeling a single part. Haven't attempted assemblies or drawings from fusion yet, but the cam is very well documented on youtube between Autodesk, Titans of CNC and NYCCNC to name a few.

The first thing I found in 2.2.2 that I really like is the ability to search and sort tools. Being able to display only tools with descriptions put all my tools on one screen. Very helpful when you are trying to build your tool library in cam package.

[David Bord]

I went from SW and Sprutcam to using Fusion360 for everything. I agree with the others, check it out. There is a TON of support and training available and its pretty easy to pick up if you are familiar with SW.

There are some huge benifits with using it both for CAD and CAM together. When you make changes to your model in CAD, it is super easy to regenerate your tool paths for CAM. They have some good posts for Pathpilot as well.

[widget_maker]

I did start a 30 day trial, and as you say it is VERY similar to solidworks. The learning curve was very easy, especially with all the youtube videos available. So far I like it, the one weakness I've found is the text. I want to center letters on a radial circular pattern and it is not a simple process as I seem to remember it being on solidworks. Problem stems from the fixed bottom left anchor point of the text. It looks like this has been complained about a lot over the last few years but so far autodesk has not improved it. So, I am getting confident with the CAD, onto the CAM next but having used HSMexpress before I suspect that won't be too bad.