My shop is planning on taking the CNC Plasma plunge and we're leaning towards a Torchmate 3. I don't hear much said about the software however.

Shop use will include duct fittings and structural steel components (up to 1 inch thick). It'll also be used for my sisters copper craft business. We'll probably set up a water table to contain debris and smoke. We are a small volume custom fabricator, not a production outfit.

What do you guys think of the software options? I'm still relatively early in the fact-finding process. We don't need estimating software, and would rather not spring for the big bux stuff.

Thanks,

we have a torchmate three, its okay, you get what you pay for, this machine will not hold anything closer than a +/- .030 tolerance which doesn't work well for us.

well one can't expect any tighter tolerance than that working by hand. Any other thoughts about the unit? How about software?

software isn't bad, i use mastercam on a daily basis and to me the torchmate cad is a step backwards, but it's an okay program,

have you modified a mastercam post for the torchmate? I have got into the torchmate cad yet, I am much more comfortable with mastercam. I have been using the default router post and then editing my program,

no i have the torchmate cad and driver, it works fine for what we do here