[harley4ever]

And on the same note, not everyone knows ALL the options out there. More options the better. While he found your info to be helpful, I am pretty sure he found all the other info helpful as well. If I buy something for 5k and find something very similar a few weeks later for half the price, I will be pretty jerked. Some helpful advice from others can always be useful, not just a SALESMAN from that company. In the end, this isnt about me and this isnt about you. This gentleman wanted to know the cost, and until we got the correct answers, we gave him as much info as the rest of us could.

[nervis1]

I bought a seat about 6-7 years ago it was about 3500 for mill 1, 5k ish for mill 2, 10k for mill 3, added 4 axis verify and 5 axis back then was part of mill 3 so that got grandfathered in when we went to x.

full cost of mill 3 with a year of "maintenance" was 15k and change.

Lathe is about 2500 to add on.

Don't know about the other products.


Shop around.

[cadcam]

So you know you can not shop around as the prices are set by CNC software. and there are territory's so you can,t just call another dealer. and like you said there are diffrent levels diffrent parts of the software. talking with the dealer is good so they can look at what you make and advise what you might need. thats how I do it.

[dertsap]

that is some valuable information
many times this question will pop up and guys start pulling numbers out of their d$$ and probably cause more confusion than anything ,its almost folklore like
it is valuable to have a reseller post some numbers in order to straighten things out without pushing their software down peoples throats like others in these forums do

[Nastyzen]

Hi
I use Easy Cam which cost me $1400.00 cdn.
I can draw and post for both lathe and mill,takes getting used to like any other software I guess.
To move up to 3D is another 3 0r 4 grand
Does this compare to mastercam? How about solidworks?

[harley4ever]

I dont think EZ CAM is in the same ballpark as Mastercam. Solidworks is a very nice desigining package. I cannot speak for any of they're cam products.

[cadcam]

Does this compare to mastercam? How about solidworks?

Well lets put it this way, Mastercam is a Cad/Cam software and SolidWorks is a Cad system. but you can get Cam software that will run inside of SW. Like "CamWorks" Or "Mastercam for Solidworks"

[dertsap]

how much has solidworks influenced the newer versions of mastercam , there are a number of things with the new interface that seem to say solidworks was here , i havent had a chance to work with the new version but i will be in the very near future

[neurosis]

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

Im pretty sure that what I gave him was real information. Mastercam X3 is plagued full of bugs. There is no doubt in my mind about that and it is not just an opinion. I thought that X2 was bad. Well X3 is just as bad or worse as far as I am concerned.

And having used "SEVERAL" other cad/cam systems, I will agree that mastercam is very good for milling applications but there are far far better options out there for lathe.

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

I am not exactly sure that that means. "hold its value". Sounds like a used car. Once again, mastercam is good for milling but there are other packages out there with with better tools. Even for milling.

[lovecnc2003]

thanks

[phoodieman]

Mill Level $12000.00

Lathe Add On $2000.00

MC Solids $1000.00

Quote from 12/7/2008

[cadcam]

phoodieman, you forgot to say what level the mill is and that would be a level 3
this dose not include Multi axis.
Also you forgot Maintenance for this.

[Mike Mattera]

Rather than point out what they forgot to add... I think it's more important to point out that not everyone needs Level 3 (3D surface machining), Lathe and Multiaxis.

That only perpetuates the myth that Mastercam is $20K and to expensive for the average shop to buy.

Mastercam packages start at $3300 (with maintenance) and go up from there.

Mike Mattera

[tobyaxis]

Rather than point out what they forgot to add... I think it's more important to point out that not everyone needs Level 3 (3D surface machining), Lathe and Multiaxis.

That only perpetuates the myth that Mastercam is $20K and to expensive for the average shop to buy.

Mastercam packages start at $3300 (with maintenance) and go up from there.

Mike Mattera

LOL if the average shop can't afford Mastercam maybe they should have someone else quoting jobs.

Personally I buy my own CAD and CAM software and if I can spend the cash they should be able too.

[Musick7]

phoodieman, you forgot to say what level the mill is and that would be a level 3
this dose not include Multi axis.
Also you forgot Maintenance for this.

We have Mastercam X2 and you can do 6 axis with it I think. I know for sure you can do 5 Axis. We can do Router Mill Lathe.

[tobyaxis]

Mastercam Level 1 supports 4 and 5 axis Indexing according to the Dealer I spoke with. Mind you this is INDEXING not Full so you can't machine Impellers and Turbines.

I doubt any other software package does that on their entry level CAM.

[Musick7]

Or you could talk to the Instructor at the college and see if he will let you make a copy of the demo that comes with every book sold. But if you never worked with Cad stuff you want the book for sure! Lord knows if I didn't have access to the books I wouldn't know what to do.

Ok everyone knows MasterCam X3 or X2 that is in College gets a FULL VERSION for FREE! Yup it's True. It's free, when you buy your text books from you college at there book store you get the mastercam book that teaches you how to operate mastercam, and you get two disc. One of those disk is a full version of master. Yes it's a FULL version, the only thing about this full version is it's the demo and you can't save you project... But I think you can save it to a zip drive or burn it to disk... It states in the book that you can save the project your working on at school and take it home to work on it more, it also says you. Can bring the project from home and put it inthe mastercam pc at school.
I got a disk from school and I have it running on my iMac with bootcamp.

[Musick7]

Ill have to look at OneCNC that, sounds pretty cool. I have a question for you about MasterCam. When you first started in this field what did you start with/learn on? I assume it wasn't MasterCam. I think the industry standard is MasterCam. That's what our College Teaches along with SolidWorks. I dont know much about this field yet so forgive me for saying this:
I don't know for sure but I think MasterCam is also a program that controls your Milling Tools, Lathe, and CNC Machine. From what I have been playing with and I am only on the Third Tutorial in the book and I am teaching myself since I work at the college... I have come across different settings for whatever your going to design that say 4th axis mill and so on, under that a ways it says 5th axis milling ect. I know when you first start working on something you should select what you want to make it on...

But I am a Noob and much input is needed. Can you use MasterCam X2 or X3 like MACH3? Or is this not so?
But OneCNC I need to take a look at. Solid works was really tuff for me so I started with MasterCam and it was better? ? user friendly... Keep in mind Theses are the only two I have ever used. I watched someone do stuff in AutoCad and he was a wiz at it! He made a pattern of a start about 3Ft. long and 16" wide in about 4 min with some designs in it for me then sent it to the plotter. The plotter took about 10 min to make! Watching him in autocad and me trying to do this in solidworks or mastercam LOL what a joke! I cant even figure out how to duplicate the exact box I made so it mirrors in the same spot on the opposite side!!! I watched Ed the guy who made the star duplicate everything but the first 3 lines that he did from scratch. Who knows maybe I'll figure this out soon? Would be nice sure would make be much easier to draw a spur gear. And yea I have the Demo version of mastercam.

[cyclestart]

the only thing about this full version is it's the demo and you can't save you project....

Back when I took a Mcam 9.1 course the demo had limited precision. Definitely for posting, but also for checking dimensions iirc (it was some time ago). Could be the newer demos don't have the same limitation.

My impression of the license pricing at that time was "How much are you willing to pay ? "

[cadcam]

The Demo is not a full version and not all books come with the demo from the collage.
I teach MC at the local collage and the school does not carry the books in the book store at all.Not sure why still. the Demo is offerd to the Students from me along with the option of buying the Student version for there projects.

As for comparing Solid works and Autocad to Mastercam. this tells me you do not know the difference between Cad and Cam softwares. You should talk with the instructor about the differences.