bobcadder's

[brtlatjgt]

Just purchased software but now after spending the money I'm kind of having second thoughts--was it well spent? Any longtime users out there with favorable comments-please, your upbuilding take on bobcad.

Please no bobcad bashing!

[BT1]

Get what you pay for dude!

[BT1]

I'm not ashamed to say i felt the same after i purchased.

They are very good at saying how great it is, but you know it still comes down to personal preference really. What suits you.

For me it was portrayed as being a little bit more than what it can do as is was the case.

[CNCdude]

It's funny. BobCAD-CAM gets an awesome amount of attention. Then you get the old, "you get what you pay for." Yeh, you do in a lot of cases. BobCAD-CAM software used to be this way. Yep. I will admit it as I've been working this for a long, long time now and have seen the software evolve into what it is today. Which, in fact, really doesn't fall into that catagory any longer. If you know anything about CAD-CAM at all and have used the Version 19 system, you would understand and probably agree that it is an awesome CAD-CAM system for the money. My salespeople are trained to promote the software's functionality. NOT pad things. This isn't MacDonalds! However, everyone's entitled to have their own feelings and frustrations. Technology can be difficult and sometimes hard to confront.

Brtlatjgt: I'm not sure what made you feel that way but maybe I can help. If you have any questions about the software or what it can do for you please let me know.
Sincerely,
CNC Dude

[metlmunchr]

Chris, I'm sure as soon as you see my name on a post your first thought is "attitude". I've left the attitude at home this morning though, and would like to offer a constructive criticism from the viewpoint of an owner of Bobcad 15, 16, and 17, and someone who has looked at 18 and 19 but decided not to upgrade to either.

That criticism is with Bobcad's documentation, particularly on the CAM side. I really believe you could do wonders for owners' perception of your product by including the training and how-to materials as a part of the purchase. I'm not saying you should give them away, but rather offer the product to customers as a complete package, comfortable in the knowledge that it's sufficiently documented for the average user to be able to become productive right away and to know, if he gets stumped, he can go to the help files and find out which way to go right away. Given the choice, most low end shoppers are going to try to save a buck and forego the additional docs. They get frustrated trying to figure out how to do a few things, and that frustration turns to ill will when they're confronted with the prospect of spending another couple hundred bucks to get the "rest of the instructions", which they, with some legitimacy, think they should have received with the initial purchase. You know what the customer needs in order to be functional, given the valid assumption that the potential customer has reasonable intelligence. If your base package included what you know they need, and didn't give them the option of buying less, I'll bet you'd get a lot more favorable feedback in all venues. As you said, it isn't McDonald's, so sell them the meal you know they need. It'll make them more likely to spread the word and come back for another helping when the next release comes out.

One more thing........lose the "awesome". It makes you sound like Jeff Gordon, and that could make even your wife and children want to flame you for no good reason

[CNCdude]

Metlmuncher,
When we sell a package, we provide a large volume of documentation that is sufficient in getting the software up and running. If you look through the manuals you will see checklists, lessons and more. I am not going to teach Visual Basic however. We will create specialized post processors for customers upon request that need scripts written for them.

I do take ideas from customers and make an effort to work them into future manuals as best as I can and because of this receive a good amount of positive feedback. Not every customer takes to books easily and some customers will simply won't even read them. That's fine. Trying to please the world would drive anyone insane. We don't make a habit of selling "the rest of the instructions." I'm sorry that you feel this way. If you have an idea that is constructive, I will take it into consideration for future manuals as I mentioned earlier here. PM me with your ideas or requests and I will gladly pay you some quality attention. I appreciate that you are leaving the "attitude" behind. cool. Just so you understand, I don't really think anything when I see your name in a forum.

You know, if you look at it, BobCAD-CAM probably provides the largest amount of training out of any CAD-CAM system. That just means that we have taken the time to do this for the benefit of the user. We have successfully filled our 3-day training classes every week for the last 2 years. Customer success rates are greatly improved and customers are absolutely willing to pay for this because of what they gain out of it. I'll email you some of the success stories if you would like to have a peak.

Go ahead and email me your ideas and I'll take a look at them. I'm assuming that by your post here that you are interested in this for the "Benefit" of our customers? Is that right?
CNC Dude

[Scott V]

Here is what I would like to see. This is purely in my self interest. I would like to see a chapter in the Manual on setting up for cnc plasma cutting only. I am really fumbling around and getting overloaded with info that does not even matter to me at all or I don't know if it matters or not. Even some very basic stuff to tell where to look for things would really help me. If it just had a few pages on setup it would help. Even a cd would be very helpful. My plasma table came with your software and nothing else. It's is like I need to learn about all this stuff to burn a couple of holes. I am buying the upgrades for everthing that will help, but I really do not know what I need to upgrade or not? I am happy they are working the software to make it easier for people like me but a stand alone chapter on plasma would go a long ways to speed up things for me and everyone else for that matter.

Scott

[densman]

Hello CNCdude
This is what I would like to see in a training manual. Instead of seperate lessons like one on drilling,
one on pocketing, ect. I would like to see one lesson that incorperates all the basic functions that a toolmaker might need in programing a part. Select 2 or 3 part prints that require multable functions and go step by step, start to finish creating the program or programs needed to complete that job.
With this library of refference material it would be a matter of adding or subtracting functions to create
other programs that the toolmaker will come across
I know that if you ask, people on this site could supply you with all the machine details you could handle
from basic to complex.
thanks for all your input to this site

[CNCdude]

That's a great idea Scott. When I go to write the next V20 manual I am going to need to call you on a few things so that I can add as much as possible for Plasma. Thanks for the input. You got it!
CNC Dude

[CNCdude]

Densman,
Good idea as well. Maybe a section that has 5 training lessons or so, each starting with a real print. I talked to one guy that wanted what he called a "bakers checklist" and it was a good idea. I added this to the BobART manual and will add this type of step by step list to every manual I do in the future for all types of operations.
Thanks for your support!
CNC Dude

[Kookaburra]

Great work guy's,

For BobCAD to hear what their customers need, is going to benefit you all. Keep the suggestions coming as customer input is a vital product for software and documentation development.

[Klox]

When i bought BobWire V16, the representative came and help me to install the software (I was a complete computer idiot then - still one now! LOL!). He spent a couple of hours showing me how to make simple drawings, how to save cad files, how to make g-code, how to save the txt files etc.

He then left with the words: "i'll be back in 2 weeks time to answer all your questions".
Wow! What a learning curve! I must admit it was the best thing he did. After two weeks i had only 2 questions. Scripting & Setting up for 4 axis.

There's still functions i don't use much, but i think after nearly 4 years i can say i KNOW my BobWIRE!

I think what helped me a lot was that i knew the capabilities of my edm machine, it was just the matter of how to make the g-codes (read "obstacle") that i had to overcome.

Thanx to all the positive inputs thus far in this thread, i'm sure CNCdude will take it to heart and work it into the next training manuals & upgrades...

Klox