Is Predator Pro for BCC worth the extra money, or would money be better spent on tooling or something more productive? I’m new to CNC, I have a Syil X3 bench top 3 axis milling machine that is controlled by Mach 3. I just purchased BCC V23 standard and found that the verify tool path work great for doing a virtual 2 ½ D profile and 3d engrave test run. I guess my question is it worth the extra cost to upgrade from Predator basic to the Pro version and are the add options a benefit?

Thanks

If you are running the syil machine you would be using Mach3 as your controller. When it runs through the tool path / G-code you get a visual of where the tool with go.

The upgraded editor from BobCAD let's you do this, it just does a better job of it. And if , if you were going to edit your g-code then having the editor upgrade would be worth it.

If you are new to CNC then the G-codes, what they do and how to edit them are something you are still learning, if you knew how to edit g-code and why then having the editor upgrade would be worth the money.

At this point If I was you I would spend the money on tooling.

When you program a job run in through the free simulator from BobCAD, load the program, cross your fingers and hit cycle start.


For me I always run it through the predator upgraded editor first, then load in on mach3 and then take it to my machine to run.

Test runs or dry runs are things you need to do un till your more comfortable with programing and know what to look at for potential problems.