Mastercam to EdgeCam

[Turk88]

I am currently a Mastercam user but I am considering switching jobs. Does anyone here have any experience with both Mastercam and Edge? The new job uses Edge and I am unfamiliar with it.

[kendo]

I have very little experience with both mastercam X and edgecam v12
but thats enough to tell you to keep your job, or maybe you can switch me.
I'm sitting here all morning wishing I had a mastercam job, edgecam is making me so mad

I never had a problem doing anything in mastercam, the program is very intuitive, I learned completely on my own by watching a tutorial for v9, and by playing around with the program. And I was playing with a pirated version at home just to get a feel for cam. Everything worked as it should however, and I went from never seeing camware to being able to program 3d solids in about a week.

On the other hand, my company wouldn't buy mastercam, and bought edgecam instead. That was almost a year ago, and I feel like I've been wasting time ever since. I don't use it at all unless theres something I just cant do on my own (not too often at this job)
Support is such a joke, just look at this forum. So many unanswered questions, so little activity, threads sit idle for weeks, for about a week recently there wasnt a single post made in this forum.

Now compare that to e-mastercam.com
That place is jumpin with activity. I go there all the time to learn more and more about things not even related to cam. I think thats the biggest selling point of all. The last time I contacted ATS, my edgecam dealer, for support, they literally put me down saying that what I was having problems with is SOOOO simple, I just need to pay for and attend their training. After going back and forth a bit, they admitted that the function wasn't working on my system because I got the cheapest entry milling license. They KNEW that from the beginning, but they would have had me pay for training anyways.
Then of course, it just turned into a sales pitch for a license upgrade

Im not saying mastercam doesn't have problems of course, but in my limited experience I couldnt find one. Compare that to the fact that edgecam on my system does intermittant crap all the time that is totally unacceptable.
for instsance,
-sometimes clicking a button does nothing until the 7th or 8th time you click it
-imported drawings lose their coord origin
-options in the dialogue boxes grayed out for no reason, start over and its there again
-asks for starting points, but doesnt use them
-The help file is only helpful if you have full blown package with solid machinist, theres hardly anything in the whole help file about anything 2D
it deosnt even tell you what you can and can't do, it just says "some of these features my not be available to you", then you end up on the phone with tech support getting insluted like me

So there it is, this program is givin me hell this morning, then I see your thread, so I've vented.
I will say however, that before edgecam, we had bobcad, and that makes edgecam look like a cadillac by comparison, but by that same yardstick, mastercam must be a porsche.

[Turk88]

I do love Mastercam and don't really want to switch. I too love the e-mastercam forums. As a matter of fact I know I have seen you there from time to time.

I have used bob as well and that is awful.

The shop I am looking at moving to promotes from within and does some very cool work. They would be willing to teach me 5 axis work and that is great.....but then I have to use edgecam and I am not sure I really want to go back to another software.

[rider23]

Edgecam wouldn't be such a bad experience if the tech support would put a little effort into helping a guy out once in a while, after all they don't supply a proper instruction manual for a person to learn on their own so why should they get so upset when they get a bunch of calls from people asking the simple questions.
I have called tech support asking if edgecam could even do the operation that I wanted it to and all they could do was tell me that I needed the next level for what I was doing, but the outline of the level we have said that I should be able to do it.In the end there was more talk to upgrade then anything, and I ended experimenting on my own and finally figuring it out a week or so latter. Now when ever I call I don't get any real help because I only have a week of training of the most basic operations , and most of my problems are with 4 axis milling or live tooling in the lathe.
my boss has written off the hole program and expects nothing from edgecam and this is after 18,000 plus for the purchase price and training,Which we found out that there is too much to learn with these 1 week courses that the always try to sell and they don't care if you have your maintenance up to date unless it is expired, I`ve only been able to learn as much as I have because of all the extra time spent on my own trying different combinations with the cycles.
The biggest problems I have with edgecam is there always seems to be some little box, that is hidden somewhere else, that needs to be checked or a special move that has to be made for the cycle to work properly, and that's what I end up calling tech support for but they spend more time talking upgrading and training that the call turns into a big hassle and preaching that the reason for tech support is to help install the program on the computer and supply updates for new releases. talk to any other cam software support and they will gladly help you with any problem no matter how big or small it is.
Even talking to my supplier that we bought the program from complains about the quality of the tech support and says that the reason for tech support is to answer the simpler questions that cause problems, he's even taken problems to tech support on his own and not gotten any replies leaving him upset because it a product that he sells and ends up answering my questions( yes my questions are so basic some times that all I need is a little advice from someone who has operated it )
Any how if you are just starting with edge cam I have been told that it could take from a year to a year and a half to learn the ins and outs of what the program does and how to get it to do what you want, using the help menus and reading trough the vague manuals that you get supplied on disk , after all you have to learn modeller, if you don't have a drawing program, edgecam design, edgcam manufacture , and how to edit/use your posts in code wizard if you want your graphics to be at all accurate or need changes on the way your posts are done. good tech support or proper manuals could drop that learning time drastically

[Mike Mattera]

Yep!

Mike Mattera

[Mike Mattera]

Turk88: Here is a link to some video training for Edgecam. It will help you get an understanding on how they think, because it's very different. Everything is separate in the Sequence Window (Operations Manager). You add a Tool, then add a toolpath Cycle, then add a Move To Toolchange. The Tool, Move to toolchange, Coolant controls and Plane selection are NOT part of the Operation. Because of this the Sequence list gets HUGE.

Possibly you can get the new employer to spring for it, but it would certainly be a good investment for you to expand you capabilities before you get there. I can also get you a demo disk with the Training CD's.
http://www.tipsforcadcam.com/store/2...ategory/353295

All Edgecam Training CD's are on Sale right now.

Mike Mattera

[Turk88]

Thanks Mike. Right now I am waiting to hear from the company. If I do I will then be looking to purchase the CDs.

I just want to find a good company that I can call home for the rest of career...but don't we all.

[John Holmes]

I used Mastercam X for about a year and then switched to Edgecam X10.5. I did not like it at first but now after 3 years there is no way I would go back. Edgecam takes a little bit to get used to but it has so many options that Mastercam does not have. The solid model associativity changes and strategy manager options are just some of the many. Once you get used to the difference you will love it. I will say that it is easier to learn to draw in Mastercam, but once you get used to edgecam and their pci options, you won't go back! Now I am running Edgecam 2009 and it keeps getting better.

[John Holmes]

I used Mastercam X for about a year and then switched to Edgecam X10.5. I did not like it at first but now after 3 years there is no way I would go back. Edgecam takes a little bit to get used to but it has so many options that Mastercam does not have. The solid model associativity changes and strategy manager options are just some of the many. Once you get used to the difference you will love it. I will say that it is easier to learn to draw in Mastercam, but once you get used to edgecam and their pci options, you won't go back! Not to mention the how easy it is to builld the posts. Now I am running Edgecam 2009 and it keeps getting better.

[John Holmes]

I used Mastercam X for about a year and then switched to Edgecam X10.5. I did not like it at first but now after 3 years there is no way I would go back. Edgecam takes a little bit to get used to but it has so many options that Mastercam does not have. The solid model associativity changes and strategy manager options are just some of the many. Once you get used to the difference you will love it. I will say that it is easier to learn to draw in Mastercam, but once you get used to edgecam and their pci options, you won't go back! Not to mention how easy it is to builld the posts. Now I am running Edgecam 2009 and it keeps getting better.

[Mike Mattera]

I can see you feel very strongly about that. Enough to repeat it 3 times.

Mike Mattera

[John Holmes]

My bad computer was slow the other and I did it accidently. My only complaint with edgecam is the ability to use subroutines. I have yet to find anyone who can enlighten me on how to make edgecam profile or threadmll or any kind of mill with subroutines. I mean post out edit free subroutines in absolute or incremental modes in just simple pocket milling like you can with Mastercam. I have tried working in toolpath translate, rotate, matrix mode and all. I get subs but lots of junk in it. I don't think it is possible. I just can't believe that something so simple is so difficult.