[Technical Ted]

I was just checking out Mastercam's website & they don't seem to tell you what their products cost.
Can someone give me a rough idea of what Mastercam X3 Lathe costs? Also are posts included or are they extra?

[harley4ever]

Your looking at a pretty penny. Maybe someone with theyre latest can give you a better figure. My guess- prob around 5k+ whatever addons you may need

[Technical Ted]

Wow! I was thinking $1,000 to $1,500.

[ger21]

$5K is probably a very low estimate.

[harley4ever]

$1,000 to $1,500 would cover the cost of lunch that they may buy you to eat while showing you a demo. If you are looking for something in that range you may want to try dolphin cad cam. It doesnt offer the power that mastercam does but certainly is a good low cost solution.

[DSL PWR]

Wow! I was thinking $1,000 to $1,500.

Onecnc is in that ballpark for the express.

[sti2011]

In my experience the financial cost of Mastercam will be inexpensive in comparison to the mental anguish, feelings of stupidity, and anger that you will go through learning to use it! It takes awhile but it is worth it in the long run. Persistence pays off. (And maybe more than call or two for help!)
Anyone out there just pick it right up and go?


Still learning everyday...............

[harley4ever]

Its easy to say, but many of us dont have anywhere near the initial cost to even start out at.

[mekdad]

entry level lathe $3,000 full lathe $5,000
as far as learning its not that difficult as long as you have some one you can call that has half a brain

[kesparate]

we've got five axis mill. you want a number you could really choke on i could whisper what i heard about our invoice....(nuts)

[mekdad]

we've got five axis mill. you want a number you could really choke on i could whisper what i heard about our invoice....(nuts)

I am going to say about $20,000.

Am I close?

[kesparate]

you're in the ball park, but still pretty low. no official numbers for me as i'm just applications, but i heard aprx 28k. it makes being the one in charge of the dongle a bit of a chore as i do all my work on a laptop and lug all this crap around all the time.

[neurosis]

I was just checking out Mastercam's website & they don't seem to tell you what their products cost.
Can someone give me a rough idea of what Mastercam X3 Lathe costs? Also are posts included or are they extra?

If you are going to be using it for just lathe I would look in another direction. There are much better choices out there for lathe. If you choose mastercam regardless I would wait until the next version comes out. X3 is plagued with bugs and you wont be happy that you spent all of that money for a bug ridden software.

[Pplug]

The education version is significantly less.

[Mike Mattera]

I see everyone has an opinion. But few have real information.

First off: It wont hurt to call a Mastercam reseller and ask. He will in turn ask you some questions about what you do and what kind of machines you have.

Here's a tip. The more you ask for, the more it costs. No different than when you bought your truck. Every option has a price.

Tell him the kind of machining you do right now (not in the future), so you get the capabilities to improve what your doing (i.e.make more money with your current work). Mastercam is upgradable and you can add another module later. It wont cost more to add it later. There are no discounts for buying it all at once.

Here's the reason I bring this up: People will say "Ya, quote me the whole thing. We want to do 5 axis milling and Multi axis Lathe. Oh and we have a Wire EDM machine that we never use. Quote me that too.". When really, the guy is doing simple 2.5 axis plate work on a Haas. But of course he craps his pants when he sees the price for buying everything. Then he gets on this forum and tells everyone how expensive Mastercam is to buy.

Here's the scoop: You can get started in Mastercam for about $3300 including 1 year of maintenance (Entry Level Mill). This will do most of what a basic job shops need to do. Need more power? it's $2000 to go to the next level.

Does it cost more than Dolphin Cam. Damm Right it does. I sold Mastercam and I sold Dolphin cam. NO COMPARISON guys. If you need something to get by with while you get your business started get a $500 package.

But dont imagine for a minute that Dolphin, Bob or any other cam in that price range can do what Mastercam can do. There's a reason why it costs more. It's a better, all round, complete package with better support and training materials.

It's really no mystery. You want to know how much Mastercam costs, Call a reseller. I promise they wont hold you down and make you buy it. They will answer your questions honestly, if you will answer their questions honestly. Otherwise you'll get a quote for $20,000 because that's what you asked for.

No Package will hold it's value, or give you better tools than Mastercam.

Mike Mattera

[Technical Ted]

Thanks to everyone for the info. I just started looking into starting a machine shop & needed a general idea of what Mastercam costs.

Does Mastercam show how long it takes to machine the part?

[Mike Mattera]

Yes.

Mike Mattera

[Technical Ted]

Thanks again.

[harley4ever]

Mike Mattera, just because your high on mastercams hog doesnt mean its the best damn software out there. While dolphin is not mastercam and everyone realizes that, it was simply put out there as an option within his budget. We use surfcam at our shop and found it much more resourceful than mastercam. Im sure if you talk to a gibbs user, they will say the same. Same goes for Delcam. Typical words coming from a typical software reseller. No one ever said this or that was better.

[Mike Mattera]

Sorry. I thought I was in the Mastercam forum, answering a question about Mastercam. And since someone had posed Dolphin as an alternative, I thought I would point out that they do not compare (since the person asking the original question might not realize that that these 2 packages are not on equal ground).

Since this was a Mastercam question in a Mastercam forun, I didn;t feel the need to bring up a comparison of Gibbs, Featurecam, edgecam, surfcam,delcal, worknc or Esprit.

That wasn't the question. My answer was... Mastercam may cost more than a $500 Cam system because it's a more well rounded package, with better features, that appeal to a wider range of machining types. While also giving him "real" pricing. Not a guess.

He seemed to find the information useful.

Mike Mattera