Software suggestions? Haas MiniMill

[Tat2nu]

Hey guys, I have owned a Haas MiniMill since they first cam out and only made simple parts on it over the years that I hand wrote the g-code for. I am looking into trying my hand at a couple of 3D projects and am hoping to get some good software suggestions from you.

I have messed around with older bootleg MasterCam and FeatureCam versions just to create some stuff on the screen but do not think that they would post g-code if I wanted them to. I really only make items for myself in low volume and am not a job shop so I could not justify the price of the high end products. I am ok with spending some money but it is a nightmare to decide what will work and what won't. I have talked with BobCad years ago and the only reason that I did not buy it was because the constant annoying phone calls irritated the hell out of me. I was even going to download the latest demo but they want to phish your email and phone number in order to get it so I assume that their business practices are the same. Alibre seemed good when I looked at it and I thought the price was reasonable at the time but now they want $2k.

I am looking for software that works, is relatively easy to use, offers basic tutorials for free and advanced help at a reasonable price and a company that stands behind their product without making excuses when something is wrong. Does this exist or am I asking too much for under $1k.

I am looking for currently something that will allow me to bore a piece of stock and then I want to hold that stock by the bore on a 5C collet indexer with an expandable collet so I can manually index it 90 degrees at a time to machine all sides of the material. Simple parts but I want to be able to create smooth contours on the parts so that they do not look too blocky. I attached a similar mock up so you can get an idea of what I want to design.

So I would like to stay under $1k, the lower the better but I understand that something decent is not going to be free. And I definitely want to avoid buying something that is buggy and need to buy something different later wasting more money. I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say, both good and bad, and would definitely appreciate any help that you can give me.

Oh, I also have an older Hardinge retrofit (Accuslide) with a Fagor 8025TG so turned parts would be nice too but not necessary.

Thanks,
Marc

[dblox]

Hi, I think SprutCAM will do exactly what you want it to do here but it's a little under 3k. If you do find anything with 3d machining and 4th axis indexing under that price, let me know! If you have your heart set on the 1k budget, you might be stuck with BobCAM (I fiddled with their demo for days and never got a toolpath - with Sprut you will make toolpaths in minutes without even reading the manual). Sprut have a full 30 day trial which will allow you to post code and see what the parts come out like. I actually used my 30 day trial to generate toolpaths for a low volume production part - once I had made enough money on that part (took about 6 months) I purchased the full version. Cheeky way of doing it but SprutCAM had paid for itself before I even purchased it.

[mcphill]

The worst part of BobCAD is their sales tactics, but you can use them to your benefit as well. You can get a full seat with Predator and all the features for under $800. It will cost you a phone number, but give them one you don't use often - got a friends work number you can use and call them from?

I am VERY happy with their software, and very surprised at the feature set for the price. There were issues with their older revisions (before v23, v24 just came out a few weeks ago) which really gave them a bad rap and soured a lot of peoples opinions.

If you review posts, only "listen" to users from v23 or newer, as v22 was a brand new interface and very different from v21 and older. Since it was new, v22 was buggy, but as I said, v23 is very stable. v24 is new, so it will likely get quite a few updates in the next few months.

You will get a free month or two of support from BobCAD, posts are free, and they do free webinars online. They continually say they store webinars online, but they unfortunately don't work whenever I try them...

Anyway, you will likely get quite a few different recommendations. I don't know how you can narrow them down unless you have a local user that can assist you with a specific package. I don't regret getting BobCAD for one second...

[Tat2nu]

That is it? I appreciate your input guys but I expected everyone here to be toting their favorite software so I could get all kinds of input. Is there a chart anywhere that compares CAD/CAM software for features and pricing? That would sure be nice...

Thanks again,
Marc

[blowlamp]

That is it? I appreciate your input guys but I expected everyone here to be toting their favorite software so I could get all kinds of input. Is there a chart anywhere that compares CAD/CAM software for features and pricing? That would sure be nice...

Thanks again,
Marc

In that case, try out CamBam. It's 2D/3D and is so powerful for the money that it's almost untrue. It's straightforward to use and can be made to do things that are beyond the capabilities of lots of other CAM programs. Just download the latest 0.9.8 beta and put it through it's paces - but do at least read the Help manual ( the What's New? in particular), as well as some of the posts on the forum, to get an insight on using it.

Martin.

CamBam - Index
http://www.cambam.co.uk/downloads/dw...beta0.9.8g.msi