Hello Fellow Zoners,
Does Anyone In The Houston Area Use Bob-cad? Im Trying To Get Some Feed-back On This Software. I Was Wondering If It Is Worth The Money And Time. I Currently Use Shop-talk To Do My Programs. Does Anyone Use Shop-talk Or Has Used It In The Past?
Thanx,
Picman

I am a BobCAD user in New York. Been using BCC since V17 through V21. What would you like to know about BobCAD?

It has Full Solid Creation
3D G-Code Toolpaths
CNC Simulator
Free Post Processors and Free Custome Post Processors.

Worth evey dime I have paid, and the Software keeps getting Better and Better. Big Shop Power at Small Shop Affordability

www.bobcad.com
http://216.117.147.20/bobcadsupport/forums/index.php

Have a seek peek at V22 here in CNC Zone.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?p=192103#post192103


Everything Boils down to what type of machining you do and Part Complexity. Only you can decide what Software is best for you. Try a demo of V21 and ask Questions on the BCC Forum.

Welcome to CNC Zone. :cheers:

i have bobcad i hate bobcad i live in houston and you can come out to my shop and check it out i will even sell it to you if you want its v22 3d pro which has all the 3d tool paths what ever thats worth also includes bob art and dongle it is 3 weeks old and will come with everything i got with it $1500 take it away please

Ah, there it is. That stench of another BobCad discussion. I have seen a LOT of this type of chat here and the people who HATE BobCAD GREATLY outnumber those who love it. I have read enough to know that I will never spend a dime with the people over at BobCAD.

Then again this is just my opinion.

well i am glad that someone is learning from my mistakes

Bash Bobcad forum on CNC Zone(nuts)

Many others than the few on CNCZone use and like Bobcad.

There are thousands of happy users. I quess that a few who can not figure it out will not stop them from selling to many more happy customers who do get training and who do produce great parts.

Man I made the mistake of downloading the trial version and their sales rep won’t leave me alone long enough to try it out! OK that may be a slight exaggeration. but they have really been working me though and tried to give me a deal on V22, Boabart and Mill/Mill 2X, Mill 3X and training videos all with 2 seats for about what your asking for yours racefast.

What’s the biggest grip with it? Have you used others with better luck? What’s your experience level? Mines a little on the duh side. Anyone been through their training class or the full set of videos? Did it/they help?

TJONES same questions to you please.

I gotta find something I like.

Thanks in advance to all who respond.

get gibbs cam and take the training then you can do anything

Biggest gripe..

Not too many boundry options for solid machining. LVL..counting on the parts to be used...Low in Lathe...fairly high in mill. (I did get training in V21 and yes it helps)

I have used a few other CAM systems for Wire, Mill, and Grinders and I think Bobcad is very nice for the price. No, it is not Mastercam and not to be considered as an argument.

The point is this is a Bobcad forum not another company. CNCZone does offer other areas to advertise and compare brands. Bobcad users come here for help not to be beat on for buying this software.


BTW: I would agree that you should get what you like.

tjones


i have to believe that there are people who are able to use and produce parts with bobcam and i am sure that my ability to use bobcam is not as good as it could be i would be willing to get training if i thought is was worth it but when i submit a problem drawing to bobcam the so called experts on their own software and after 3 weeks they still have not been able to figure out what is wrong with it and why it will not even compute a tool path without crashing when you try to do so why would i pay these people a dime to train me on something that they obviously dont have a better understanding of

bigest gripe that could take a while


first off the post procesor that was supplied for my specific machine centroid m400 does not work at all fortunately i got one off of cnc zone other wise i would still be waiting. second the program crashes constantly, third the toll paths generated and shown in the verify are not what is actually being cut on my machine fourth the tool paths generated are wasteful, time consuming and do not produce a good part finish, fifth the support on demand is a joke they have not been able to solve any of my problems and i spend 3 or 4 hours on the phone with them a day they go so far as to log on my computer and still cant figure it out so i send them the files and 3 weeks later they still cant figure it out six i am just sick of it if i feel like it i will continue to work on the list of gripes but this should suffice for now

Sounds like plenty of problems to me.

I do not have many issues with crashing software. Not sure why some seem to have a lot and others not hardly at all. Maybe it is specific operations in the software that some use more than others.

As for the training there are several options. One important one is the fact that the person who does the seminar training is not a Bobcad employee. He actually uses the software to produce parts on his own equipment. Some very nice stuff too. Sorin has his own help forum as well. www.cadcamtrainer.com/forums/index.php

He also provides some free training videos but most of them are on the older versions. Not too many produced on the new software yet as he does this for free for his students.

I have not had any problems with verifying tool paths at all. I have yet to have any program do something that does not show up on the verify. I also have the full Preditor option so maybe that helps. Maybe the trouble is in the post. I have a Mazak machine and started with the basic Fanuc post.

As for wasted moves....that comes along with my complaint of boundries...need better options for sure.

Maybe you could post a sample part here and we could try to help.

Coming from a Cadkey background and not wanting to spend too much money on personal software, as well I needed something that could output gcode for my hobby milling machine. My overall review of v22 is one thumb up. I don't have any experience with any older version of bobcad. So far so good. And when I received the training videos with the package, a few of the disks were damaged. I called Bobcad and told them about this, within 24 hours I had a replacement set, impressed.
The one problem that I am still having is when working with my home computer and then transferring things to my laptop to work, I can start to draw but I can't seem to save or open a file into Bobcad, . It crashes every time, I would turn off the antivirus and disable the firewall. Doing this I can get it to work, but I can't have them turned off forever, turning them back on and going to work with bobcad again same issue, won't open or save files. I have read other posts on similar problems but still haven't found a solution, when I get a chance I will have to contact bobcad about this.

Greg

What anit-virus and firewall are you using?

I use AVG with no issues.

Have been using Panda antivirus with it's own firewall. I am thinking about switching back to Norton however my home computer doesn''t seem to have any problems with this (bobcad crashing while antivirus and firewall operating while on the laptop) and using the same Panda on that. It's an Intel, with the laptop its a dell inspiron 6400, both computers have 2 gigs of ram and the video cards are more that enough. It's just one of those unexplained quirks. Could be part of the reason of why people complain about software and programs, but using two different types of computers shows that with the home computer bobcad is almost flawless and hardly any trouble at all.

Greg

I bought a new Haas SL10 and Bar 300. I have been running V21, but the lathe side is weak. Started with V18 and had every update version sense. So I call BobCad and"get The Treatment" I end up with V22 Lathe, the throw-in Predator stuff level 1 and three dongles, with training videos.
Load the V22 and spend 2 day watching videos, get up to speed, but my computer keep crashing (digitaltigers, dual core 2, 2.6 w/ 4 gigs ram) a fast machine. I keep getting “Insufficient Resources”. So I Call Tech support (3Times and get three different stories), but not before they charge me another $200.00+ for 12 months, (something that was left out of the conversation when I “Got the Treatment”) to repair this problem. I was told that the design team was aware of this problem. I ask for the patch and was told “There is not one”. This is a problem with the REDO and UNDO feature, the stack in the program keeps growing until the RAM is used up. On my machine this means Hard Boot. The “fix” from Tech Support was to every so often when you are drawing to save and close the program, then reopen, this will clear the stack, “Gee what a great feature, and you get it free.

I’m done with BobCad and their sale tactics.

Just want what I paid for!!!

I'm slow to learn but don't spend a lot of time on it.
yes the sales staff won't let up !!!!!!!

I'm cutting foam and plywood and look for a chicago firm to cut my
dxf files, a few sheets of 1/4 inch 32 inch by 48 inch

olroywillis

I run V23 bobcad in Houston. Its not bad for simple projects I do at home.
It does what I need for the price I paid. I still kinda resent it really.
I'm still kinda pissed that the highspeed tool pathing is feature you have to purchase and not, a free upgrade.

Do yourself a favor if you decide to buy, and get a prepaid cell phone and throw it away after your done. I seriously did change my phone number so I wouldn't have to deal with the constant sales pitches.

the sales reps are brutal.......................they will even call your work repeatedly (after i instructed them not too!).
the thing i dislike most about the service is the 'dickoring' about prices. i was about to pay them almost full price for a seat of mill; when, i found out that they were in my city offering it for free to one of my employers (first seat free, each additional for under 500 bucks.......i was pissed!).
i them went to the cmts show and was actually looking for the training videos; once again the price start jumping all over the place (800 for the set, 500 for two sets etc.).
i have a seat of mill and haven't even used it yet; i just don't know if it is worth learning something with all of the baggage (sales rep). I do some consulting for small operations; could you imagine if i set them up with a seat of Bobcad (their sales reps would drive them nuts with follow ups).

Hello,

I just saw your post. if ou have not found a machine to work on, I have a CNT Motion 900 that has a cutting area of 6ft x 12ft x 7in. I am located on California ave near Chicagoave in Chicago. I use BobCad V22. If you are in need of this machine please contact Renato 312 218 6957. renato01@comcast.net
Thanx

I have a CNT Motion 900
Cut area 6ft x 12" x 7in
Located California and Chicago ave In Chicago
Contact: Renato 312 218 6957 renato01@comcast.net
Thanx