[ohioengr]

I am looking for a quality cam product for a 2 axis lathe(hitachi seiki)I used smartcam at previous employer but not to happy with the support.Mastercam seems alot better!Anyone have any recommendations?

[chrisryn]

Just from experince using esprit, mastercam, smartcam, gibbscam, easycam, edgecam.

Go with Edgecam. They all have there pros and cons but edgecam is my favorite, mastercam is the popular one, its what I used till I found edgecam.

[ohioengr]

you used smartcam and mastercam ,how easy was it to switch from smartcam to mastercam?I used smartcam for 5 years ,in the late 90's and now I want to use mastercam.Will the change be confusing?

[chrisryn]

I started with mastercam and then dabled in smart cam. So I won't be much help I tought myself mastercam. The local votech had smartcam and I messed with it for about 2 days before giving up. I don't know if that awnsers your question but thats about the extent of it.

[ctate2000]

I would buy tools with the money and write G-Code in MS Notepad.

[Delw]

I've used smartcam since the early dos versions, both for lathes and mills. I tried mastercam surfcam and a bunch of others and it took me a long time to learn and I still suck at it. I am sure if I started on mastercam or something else it would be just the same to switch.

Smartcam support is pretty darn good, they also have a email list and you get support from 20-30 guys on every question you have. that to me is unbeatable. not to mention tons of tips and tricks.

2d milling on smartcam or any software should be pretty easy to learn however

[Dr Pete]

I would buy tools with the money and write G-Code in MS Notepad.

Yep, Machining a part right now that no program would handle.
Buy good quality tools and a G-Code book

[JROM]

Yep, Machining a part right now that no program would handle.
Buy good quality tools and a G-Code book

TRY PROGRAMING A 3D SURFACE MODEL WITH YOUR G-CODE BOOK!
I'D LIKE TO SEE THIS PART THAT NO CAM SYSTEM COULD HANDLE!
BULL!!!!!!!!