https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...rGhd5_SookDpv5

Here is a playlist I made of three YouTube videos where I evaluate VisualMill. I don't use a demo part dreamed up by their marketing department, but a part made by a machinist mechanical engineer buddy that was meant to be hard to program. I did a similar series for the free SolidWorks CAM that comes in 2018 and later releases. I posted that in the forum for SW CAM.

I do like the way VisualMill works, but my particular installation was unstable. It kept changing stock allowances from 0 to 1. If I set any operation to be all finishing or all roughing, it would add some rapid Z moves a foot or two through the part. This is likely because the installation failed, saying it could not install one of the Microsoft Visual C++ packages since I already had a newer version installed. This might have come from my TurboCAD, or SonyVegas, or CAMtasia or gosh-knows what program.

This is part of my learning CAM and in preparation for buying a CAM program. I won't be using the free SW CAM, since it does not have a perpetual license. When you stop paying SolidWorks maintenance, the CAM program stops working. I have an Avid Benchtop Pro, so I am hoping to do light 2- and 3D machining in aluminum.

Paul