School teacher needs help

[cjdavis618]

I understand. That is very much the way I felt withthe other programs as well. Due to the ease of use, I bought Alibre Expert version that has a cam package. Since it is integrated within the program, there are no export routines for it to use with the cam program.

I later purchased visual mill (Which is what Alibre rebranded and uses for cam) which has many more functions built in. But I simply export them into .igs files and import them into Visual Mill. I really like both programs. They are very good.

[sansbury]

Yeah, my issue is that even the "lite" version of Alibre is ~$1000, which is approaching the value of my car

CAD-CAM is where the real frustrations in this hobby kick in. The mechanics and electronics are mostly commoditized and relatively inexpensive, particularly with the small machines. Mach is only $150, and EMC is totally free, and both get the job done very well. But even the "hobbyist" versions of integrated CAD-CAM packages are mostly in the $1k range. I was looking the other day at how easily I could build a trunnion table to turn my little mill into a 5-axis machine. But, how to generate the toolpaths? Sooner or later this is the roadblock you hit.

[cjdavis618]

I agree, it can be expensive. Between the software, tools and machines, I have sunk over 13k into all of this in a very short time. But I believe that the investment is a greater portion of the return as well. I believe that good tools produce good work. So I try not to skimp if at all possible. Eventually, this may turn into a business and I want to have a good work flow to make is successful.



I have made some mistakes in my purchases along the way, but I can say that Alibre and Visual Mill weren't one of them.