Any CAD/CAM/CNC gurus on here?
 

We keep bringing more work in house and I need to know what is the best CAD/CAM software to use.

Current needs are really only 2D, but once I am up to speed it will be 3D and I do have a machine that is 4 axis capable.

Been beating my head against the wall with Bobcad, I need something more.

Ready to pull the trigger on Mastercam, but I bet someone here has an opinion.

It's for making boat parts, so all good, right?

Theres lots of different versions of it. We use AutoCad Mechanical here...but we dont integrate it with CNC machines or anything fancy like that. If its rapid prototyping you want to do then best thing i would recomend is to call a local machine shop up that does what you want to be able to do and ask them what system they are using.

I wouldn't give a squirt of pi$$ for Bobcad.

We are using FeatureCam and it works great.

Remember boys and girls...if you need some diamond or CBN tools for your machines...www.Diagrind.com puts gas in my boat!!!

What about Pro Engineer? This system is probably the easiest system to use once you learn how to use it and it is much more advanced than autocad...

One of the guys that has a CNC next to me uses Master Cam. One of the guys that I work a lot with uses Autocad to design stuff but like Wally does not integrate with a CNC. If he can figure it out then anyone can, he is not the sharpest tool in the box.

Agreed Bob CAD is pretty primative. THere are several softwrae programs available but you really need to look at the skillset of your engineer and integration with machines. Are you running Conversational or G-Code?

Julie

We also use FeatureCam and it works excellent.

Julie, G code at this point.

PS - engineer is me, learn this stuff as I go

I use and teach EdgeCam, In the past I have used SurfCam, and also MasterCam. Those 3 are pretty similar. We do our solid modeling with both Autodesk Inventor and Solid works and then export the files. I have also used Pro-Engineer.

I love it when a woman talks like that:eek::party-smiley-004:

I am in a CNC shop, but on the Quality side of things, havent got a clue what we use:bigbird:

Now if Marc was asking for Staistical Process Control or Statistical Q.A. software, then i could help, but I dont think his shop is that big.... YET;)

I Use Pro-Engineer and Our CNC is Pro Machine. They seem to work very well togther. For someone new to CAD Solid works is about the easiest system to use.

Marc, After lenghty discussions we ended up with Feature Cam over Gibbs, something about the post processors or something. If you want to call, I will get our machine shop supervisor for the explaination.

I haven't used many of the CAM specific programs but....

Autocad will get you through most 2d.

For 3d, I would go Solidworks, Inventor, or Unigraphix. You can generate 2d from any of those programs as well.

I mostly just do CAD work though.

- Tom

First off, what are you using the software for? Reproducing parts? Fitting parts to something else? New design? And how do you get your data into the computer now?

I've used Unigrafix and AutoCAD, perfer AutoCAD as it seems easier to learn and use, but UG appears to be more powerful as it was developed by the old MacDonald-Douglas Aircraft company a while back and runs best on Sun Systems computers. Have seen UG solids "drawings" taken directly to rapid prototyping and results were good, but this was 14 years ago.

Pro/E is the best. You can take the model to rapid prototype, stuctural, manufacturing and just about anything else you can dream of.

What do you want to spend?

I am a CAD/CAM Systems Engineer. I support 150 seats of Unigraphics, 40 seats of Solidworks, 75 seats of Autocad. We do 4, 5 and 6 axis machining directly from our 3D UG and solidworks models. For UG we have UG CAM which produces tool path directly in the software. For solidworks we translate out to MasterCAM.

UG is at the top of the totem pole with solidworks falling in the middle and then AutoCAD at the bottom. Price range....

1 seat of UG (What they call a designer bundle which does not include CAM is roughly $12,000

1 seat of Solidworks with also no CAM is roughly $5000

1 seat of AutoCAD 2D is roughly $1800

Any other questions, let me know!

1 seat of Mastercam 2.5 D w/cam is $5K, 3D is $10K, and my head started swimming after that.

Does not sound so bad at this point.

Don't forget to add for the post processors if applicable.

We use work NC and rtm lemoine

You might want to try "CoCreate" from PTC (PTC is the parent company for ProE). They purchased it from someone else and have done some upgrades on it. I have the free "personal" version at home and like it. It is basically an earlier version that is crippled, but you can try it this way before buying it.

You should take a close look at Solidworks/Camworks. Camworks is integrated into Solidworks. Solidworks is easy to learn and use plus it's a very powerful solid modeling solution. If you make a change to the part after tool path has been put to it you simply regenerate tool path and the changes of the model are taken into account.

Cost is the same as Mastercam, about $10k for a 3d package and 15k for a multi axis package. That includes the post processor.

Call the Camworks guys and they will come to your shop and show you how it works.

I feel the advantage over Mastercam is that Solidworks is a much more powerful design package.

I also would go with Solidworks/Camworks as the great choice!! Mastercam is over priced for what you get...The big thing is make sure they have a post for your machine. Depending how old your machine is, posts somtimes become a problem and make sure the the post is included, when you purchase your CAD/CAM. We also use a CAD/CAM pakage call Cimatron, that is very high end and works great for 5 axis... good luck!

I'm a CNC shop, I have been using Mastercam for 20+ years. I have bought and tried others (surfcam etc) Always came back to MC. I use Solidworks for the cad side,. MC now integrates inside SW. For 3D work Delcam can't be beat but MC is getting very close. I will be going to a MC seminar to see there latest release (X4) on the June 26. I'm told it is awesome. The support from MC can't be beat.

MC is a very popular CAM software and has improved over the years. We run a mold shop of about 15 CNC's of vertical. horizontals including two 5 axis machines. We have Surfcam, Mastercam, and Cimatron as programming software's, and when we look at the way the programs cut and did time studies between all three, Cimatron blows them all away. We also hired a CNC operator/programmer, that until he started with us, has only used MC and after a year, he is just blown away by Cimatron. BUT, it really depends on the type of work you do, as to the best software for you. Every CAM software his it's strong points and weak points, for example, Cimatron is very poor for 2d programming, for 2d we go to Surfcam or MC....