WorkNC is Vero is Heidenhain
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EdgeCAM is MW/MW is Heidenhain
Catia
Cimatron
Esprit
Mastercam
One CNC
Surfcam
WorkNC is Vero is Heidenhain
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EdgeCAM is MW/MW is Heidenhain
Heidenhain.
I was referred to some aftermarket educational products for Mastercam by some Mastercam CAM programmers on a Facebook group. I don't believe these are official Mastercam products, but I was able to view some material from Streamingteacher.com, a product of an authorized reseller of Mastercam products. It took me 15 months with the product to get this information which is not at all ideal, but I do appreciate those end users helping me in that regard and I hope that will help. I paid for a subscription and watched a couple videos last night and they were very promising. I was also recommended caminstructor.com (a resource I e-mailed a question to and received no response from in the past), but as a result of the referral I purchased books from caminstructor.com. Those included a 2018 home edition download, so I can run simple tests at home when I'm not being bothered by people here at work. I wouldn't move my dongle from work, I don't want to flirt with losing it because there was some ominous warning about the serious nature of a dongle loss.
It was interesting to hear that programmers generally believed making the software easier would make it less functional. There are a couple major improves that would seem logical for simplifying mastercam programming without removing any functionality.
Simple communication with the end user, like a download link also being accompanied by a read me instruction, or a critical message like "Swarf milling is not supported by Mill turn" would save time and money for the customer. It seems sometimes that CNC software attempts to have a clean, minimalist, graphical appearance can cause the end user runs into an unnecessary need to call a re-seller for PDF support of a complex download integration for example. The less we lean on the re-seller, the faster they will be able to return a call.
Bringing a question mark (actually descriptive help topic) into each dialog in the tool menus would be killer. I often deal with 5 linking parameters or some other often logical appearing pictogram based feature that I wish could tell me what it actually meant or a roll over pop out (IE: THIS PARAMETER CONTROLS THE MICRO RETRACT INCREMENTAL VALUE FOR RAPID POSITIONAL MOVES IN THE DYNAMIC MILLING OPERATION, TYPICAL INPUT = .005-.010") . Sometimes the logical settup doesn't produce logical motion which I read as I didn't properly decipher this image. Question marks on each page of a tool would be a patch for the software having hundreds of tools that work on different information input and different menus. It would be cool to know what each linking parameter in a given tool was actually manipulating rather than having to post operations several times to achieve a desired logical format. The variety in the software can give the newer user (or anyone without amazing recall) a feeling of being in a labyrinthine maze requiring impossible memory recall. I'm not an anchient Egyptian, or a cave person. Doing everything in unsupported hieroglyphics or symbols is sometimes not ideal.
If lathe stock could auto populate 3D lathe stock and talk to mill tools, that would prevent the need to do stock depiction which is a confusing and unnecessary redundant obstacle to work. This would allow the new dynamic mill tool that uses stock and 3D part features to be quickly used. Mill turn has a feature that allows planes to auto generate or associate for milled features (AKA the software knows it is in a lathe and is somewhat capable of making code without being spoon fed extraneous settup information). That would be a feature that would be neat to bring to lathe, even if that was a $1000 priced "planes template" settup by corporate or the reseller to talk to that individual post. I have 6 axis lathes not supported by mill turn and a 5 axis mill, It would be cool if they could have an auto plane generation template (I'm only assuming planes are not fun to work with in the 5 axis mill either). There is a beauty to lathe, it is dirty and faster. You can post one operation if you want.
The ultimate goal of CAM is to make difficult things easy. Strategies to accomplish that without removing control can be devised. If easy is a bad word, burn your CAM software and resume long hand programming.
I just opened a Zero Clamp workholding box, to find a nice manual. I opened the 50 page or whatever manual with its laminated cover, and looked for one simple thing- I wanted to know what air fitting was used on this European clamping pot fixture and to see a description of using the clamping and unclamping feature because IMTS 2016 was a long time ago. I saw exploded diagrams of clamping pots, pages of crazy math calculations for rigidity and force, but no simple diagram of how to clamp the workholding. Maybe they should have had someone stupid write their manual for them? The machinist and I laughed, but neither of us currently know the answer to that.
NX. Then Hypermill. Then Catia, then Delcam, then Edgecam, then gibbscam then mastercam.
Machining Strategist, 3D & 2D .Really easy to use.many with machining strategies . machine just a single surface by silhouetting its boundary It will just machine that one surface without gouging any other. boundaries can be just hand drawn about an area Been using it for 20 years now and its never had a crash. It may not be the most powerful that is something not easy to define. but it is the easiest and stable out of peps or Edgecam. Edgecam has 5 axis capability which strategist does not but at least it will keep within any boundary you define unlike Edgecam that has problems keeping in an area.
I just came around, I think that the best CAD programming for Pros is SolidWorks, and the main CAM programming is Mastercam, however Fusion 360 is arriving quick. Professionals need the product that performs best for somebody who is a specialist in utilizing the product. They need CAD that lets specialists make accuracy drawings quicker.
DM me, if you dont agree with me.
Currently working with customization in salesforce, with crm consulting app.
I just posted a link to a video series I did, and HSMWorks for SolidWorks came out best for me. SolidCAM was most capable but a little pricey. MasterCAM was hard to use, pricey, and they charge back maintenance like SolidWorks does. VIsualCAM by MecSoft was the best user interface, the easiest to learn and use, and had clear pricing on their website. I only considered programs that run inside my SolidWorks. When I tried the stand-alone VisualCAM, I thought I was in 1992 doing AutoCAD 12. It makes complete sense to use the same interface to do CAD and CAM.
So your first question is: Standalone or add-in to a CAD program? Some companies don't want to buy SolidWorks thinking they can buy a stand-alone CAM like BobCAD or MasterCAM. I feel this is a mistake. Watch that BobCAD video where they do all kinds of grief trying to do 3D toolpaths over some holes in an imported IGES part. In SolidWorks it is trivial, you just move the rollback bar up so the holes in the surface disappear, or suppress the holes, then pop over to the CAM tree, do the toolpaths, and then you can restore the SolidWorks condition and keep doing your CAM. So then the question becomes the best CAM that has integrated CAD. For hobby types Fusion is hard to beat, it's free. But you have to keep your files in AutoDesk's server up in the cloud. I think AutoDesk inventor uses local files, and there is an HSM port as well as a SolidCAM port to it. There is always NX, which not only has great surfaces, but tightly integrates its CAD and CAM. Since I have used SolidWorks for 20 years, and have hundreds of parts already done, getting a CAM that worked inside SolidWorks was my choice.
I found VisualCAM by MecSoft to be the easiest to learn, but it was unstable on my goofy 4-monitor laptop setup. They also have clear pricing and you can get decent 3D for $2500 bucks that includes a compare function on the simulator so you can see gouge and excess conditions color coded.
I found MasterCAM to be extremely difficult to use. I disliked SolidWorks CAM by CAMWorks having three trees, a feature tree, an operation tree, and a tools tree. I never knew where I was and what tree did what. I did three parts and the CAMWorks automatic feature recognition never worked right. None of the automatic wizard stuff in any program seemed to work for me. The most capable program was SolidCAM, by a long shot. Thing is, it is five grand instead of 500 a year, and HSMWorks was good enough.
I was also delighted that there is a Mach4 post for HSMWorks on the web, though the Mach3 post that comes inside the install would probably work as well.
Gibbs likes to say "simply powerful, powerfully simple" I agree with them. but you did not include them in your list? I just could not pass up the opportunity to say something good about them. It is obvious when cam developers do not have enough machining background to have the responsibility of creating the interfaces that makes your job unnecessarily complicated. maybe, take a poll on the cam software people dislike the most.
Best - for what purpose ???
For Turning and turning+drilling+milling with MTM machine = EXAPT systems
For Milling Moulds and Patterns = WorkNC
For flame cutting = Nestix
For robot milling CAM-software + RoboStudio
--- JTS
Arbeitet seit 7 Jahren an SolidCam.
Ich habe HyperMill jetzt seit ein paar Monaten und es scheint das bessere Programm zu sein
Has been working on SolidCam for 7 years.
I have had HyperMill for a few months now and it seems like the better program
Free Cam is best for editing
Cimatron is by far the all around winner but it’s very pricey. I’ve been using it for 25 years and they’re progressive and stay ahead of the competition. I also use Solidworks and Camworks on a daily basis and have grown to really appreciate the feature recognition. They have come a long way in the last 5 years with their 3-d routines. I’ve been playing around with Mastercam lately and it seems pretty archaic.
I’m a journeyman mold maker and have been using 3-d Cad/cam software since 1987, so I’ve been around the block.
Fusion360.
SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD.
Solid Edge CAM Pro.
GibbsCAM.
AutoCAD.
To cut 2D parts or project toolpaths as 2.5D or even generate G-Code for 3D Bas Reliefs I think TYPE CAM is among the most advanced solutions.
https://www.type-edit.com/cam/
please help me , i need post processor for citizen cincom m32 to machining in esprit pleas urgently
MasterCam is Best.
No votes for Revit?
Cimatrone