[squale]

what are the most widely used CAM packages? I hear a lot of people using GibbsCAM and Mastercam. Are these the most popular?

I do manily prototyping work, no crazy 3d molds, etc. I do mainly 2.5axis stuff on a 3-axis cnc bridgeport and Fadal machines. Sometimes I throw in a 4th axis for a rotary table.

[Matt.Close]

Widest used software? That would definitely be Mastercam, with nearly 140,000 seats installed world wide. It's been around forever, and you will get the best service and support out there. Gibbs is good at what they do, but what they do is limited, and good luck getting help and post processors.

A friend of mine took their training, and he hated it. He said he would rather hang himself than use Gibbs again. He works at a shop that has Gibbs, but bought his own seat of Mastercam to use.

Anyway, don't listen to salesmen, or other users, try it for yourself to see.

[artrans]

Guys be careful i have the bob cad software which is great how ever i lost the toogle key that goes in the usb port. bob cad wants 300 dollars for that key. i paid 400 for the soft ware that to me me seems very unfair. I am a home machinst. So if you have that key tie it to your thumb and do not mis place it it will cost you big time .thansk art

[MachiningPartne]

I have worked with few different software from 24 year old geopromt to geopath,mastercam to surcam. I think there is no one best software out there, many things should be considered including capital,return on investment and need. What do you need and not what do you want. If you have huge capital you can go with surfcam and trumill but you have to shed thousands of dollars plus evenmore for training,licences , programmers etc. Most common seems mastercam. I have been using geopathc(bay area california) for years and find it enough for 2d, if you need 3d or complex parts look at more sofisticated cad like mastercam,gibbs works fine for most too. hope this helps

[barriecole]

does anyone have any experience with powermill (delcam)?

[John Murphy]

Barriecole, we have used Delcam's Powershape and Powermill for about 10 years. Before that we had tried 2 other packages and soon found out they had limitations which hindered us. Our business is mostly injection mould tools, in many areas including aerospace.
I must say we are very pleased with the software, and more functionality is being added with each new release. However I will not run down other's software, most can be very productive in the right hands.
We have about 20GB in files now, all created with PS and PM.
If there is anything specific you would like to ask, I will try to answer it for you. John

ps:I was wondering why the poll in this topic didn't include this software, or at least an "other" category? -edited to ask this question.

[Shawn Schwartz]

I think there is no one best software out there, many things should be considered including capital, return on investment and need. What do you need and not what do you want.

This is in fact not how most people think, they only look at the upfront costs of the software. They do not take into account the fact that some CAM packages are faster, easier to use, better customer support, etc... Of course I think my software is the best, just like my competition thinks they have the best. There is a difference in software though, especially when you start to get into 3-D machining. All of these factors need to play a big part in your decision making process. If you are using software for a hobby shop that is a different story. The fact is I talk to shop owners all the time that are only interested in the price. Let’s say my software can save you 10% in machining and programming time. You say 10% is not much of a savings, certainly not enough to make me want to go out and spend thousands of dollars on software. Now let’s do the math, that means in a 40 hr workweek you just gained 8 hrs (4 hrs programming and 4 hrs machining) right? Most shops have an average shop rate of somewhere between 50 and 70 dollars per hr. That figures out to a little over $20,000 per year. That is just one seat programming for one machine and only 40 hrs per week. I don't know about you but I never only worked 40 hrs a week in the shop. I am not saying that everyone needs to go out and buy new software, just the ones that are not using mine! (That was supposed to be funny) Seriously, don’t just write it off because you think it is expensive. The point is you have to look at software as an investment not an expense. This is one of the primary reasons we at Sescoi let you use the software in the shop before you buy it. It is one thing for me to say I can save you money it is an entirely different thing to be able to come to your shop and prove it!

[Hillbird]

Hello daer, i'm a newbie with an F1 controlled by Alphacam V5..still looking for tutorials for Alphacam V5, how to select workplane how to select workplane...Gr. Hillbird

[Grantie]

Has anyone heard of EdgeCAM? Is this a good product?

my employer has just ordered EdgeCam, we will receive it later this month, we are a small firm off approx 15 engineer's based in Central Scotland,

We have no previous experience with cam software but do know our manager hunted high n low, asking anyone who would listen, for advice n all we heard was EdgeCam is the best product around.

I am looking forward to learning all about it as i've only saw it on demo. I'm also sure its gonna be a hard slog to get up n running so no doubt will be looking for advice in the near future.

[Shawn Schwartz]

I am not trying to toot my (our) own horn but this was just too cool not to share with you guys! Follow the link to see what our Japanese office machined!

http://www.tomco-web.co.jp/01_news.html

[rkonnen]

Beautiful piece of work. What was the scanning software and equipment?
Regards,
Richard

[Shawn Schwartz]

I dont know...like I said they did this over in Japan. Whatever it was did a good job and our software handled the stl files quite well too. Hope you enjoy!

[cadcam]

That was a great video and piece of work. As for softwares looks like Geo magic for scanning then brought in to Catia V5 from there they programmed it with WorkNC not sure why they did not go with the Catia all the way, but I will say really nice job.

[Tony the Ferret]

Hi, i appreciate your comments and feed back. my exeperience was fairly similar. I was working in a mould making company, and they had "graftek" single surface machining on a unix box, no shading, rotation or even collision checking. you can imagine my grief machining a sander body of 300+ surfaces,,, yep correct 300 toolpaths. I then evaluated what was availalable in the uk in 1994. surprisingly not much. duct was on the way out for pmill, catia could not machine, Matra was ok, SDRC never turned up, so we went for UG (V8), after 5 years and many crashes i went to Sescoi as support engineer and learnt more in 3 weeks than in the last 4 years. i now have my own company and sell WorkNC (Demo, install, train) We have prospects that expect to be unproductive (based on previous CAM experience) for months, but are the shocked when after 3 days they are machining complex mould parts. since 1999 i have never experienced a gouge or machine crash, and that is from awkward users who are trying to make it crash. Yes there are cheaper packages out there. But when it comes down to the cost of programming a part in blood sweat and tears,. WorkNC will be your best mate. We do not have any bad users, only lazy ones. They have found a series of toolpaths that will do most everything and that is all they do. Read in the cad part, apply a saved stratergy, press the go button, run the toolpaths on the CNC.... Job done. May need an extra bit of picking out, or a toolpath may need to be set with a smaller stepover. Or now they can see where it has not machined and make an EDM electrode from the same package.
I am biased you are right. but also i am a believer in having the best software.
have any questions please ask ???
Regards
Tony

[Dan B]

Yes, I would have to agree that WorkNC is a top notch CAM software. There may be others with a few more bells and whistles, but for ease of use, with consistently reliable results, it can't be topped.

Having said that, for anyone that has a home based company, or perhaps is a hobbyist, you really need to look at Rhino and MadCam. WorkNC obviously is in a different league than MadCam, but then so is the price tag. Personally, if I was starting a business at home, my CAD/CAM weapons of choice would be Rhino+SpaceClaim+MadCam. For around $3500 I would have all my bases covered, from conceptual design, complex surfacing, feature based editing, 2,3 and positional 5 axis programming.

By the way, I'm not basing this off of demo's. I have, and use, all three of these magnificent softwares at work. Support for all 3 is fantastic.

Here is a link if anyone is interested:

http://madcamcnc.com/start_page.html

I have looked at all of the CAM packages that run in Rhino, and MadCAM seems to pack the most punch for the money.

Dan

[Terrence]

I have found ProNC very limiting, using a 4th rotary axis table. Does anyone use PTC's ProNC? I need a good 3D CAM to use with our rotary 4th axis, any suggestions with one that will interface with our ProEngineer solid modeling in Wildfire 3.0?
Terrence

[awerby]

I have found ProNC very limiting, using a 4th rotary axis table. Does anyone use PTC's ProNC? I need a good 3D CAM to use with our rotary 4th axis, any suggestions with one that will interface with our ProEngineer solid modeling in Wildfire 3.0?
Terrence

DeskProto is simple to use, but quite powerful and fast, with several 4th-axis strategies to choose from. If you can generate a STL file with ProE, then it should work fine. You can try it for free by downloading it from www.deskproto.com . It should work for a month before asking you to buy it. If you decide you like it, let me know - I can give you a good deal on it.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[agressoru]

Can somebody tell me about Pro/Toolmaker is included in PTC Pro Engineer ? Thx guys

[bigjohn444]

ug g simple cam works ez cad

[asmanss]

TEBİS number one.WORKNC number 2.POWERMİLL number 3.