Solidworks+solidcam or esprit or onecnc

[leggetmachine]

Hello all. I just have a few questions on cam and cad. where i work they use solidworks and esprit. I have been reading on here about these differnt cam packages. i was wondering what the pros and cons of useing solidworks with solidcam or esprit or onecnc are. Just was wanting find out whitch cam is better i have also read something about maintenance what is this and do any these cad/cam packages. Any help would be great.

[HuFlungDung]

Maintenance is an annual fee which some software companies require before they will issue their program bug-fix updates to the user, or even to give tech support past the first year of acquiring a licence. OneCNC does not have a maintenance fee. Of course, when a new version is released, there is an upgrade fee for current users.

As for the pros and cons, well you'd have to try them all to know which one suits you the best. If someone came along who had used all three, they could give you an evaluation. So take advantage of any and all demos that you can.

[leggetmachine]

how much to these Maintenance fees usualy cost.

[ghyman]

I have used SolidWorks for about five years, Esprit for ten, but have only had a chance to use onecnc for about a month.
My opinion is this:
SolidWorks is a fine package for modelling, solid-to-drawing, file conversion, and 'what-if' solutions to design changes. It is intuitive, powerful, and allows a person to quickly turn any concept into a solid. IMHO, it can't be beat.

Esprit was (at one time) a Lexus in a field of Pintos. it allowed quick and easy generation of geometry, toolpaths, and solid CNC code. The posts were very simple to customize, and it allowed the user to modify the original geometry, then update the sketch and toolpath to match, without having to re-create associations. Again, my favorite.
HOWEVER: Esprit tried (about 4 years ago) to upgrade their package to be all things to all people. A sexy new GUI, supposed integration with SolidWorks (and a host of other CAD packages), and a complete makeover of all the internal 'stuff'. And it's horrible. They sacrificed intuitiveness for looks, and they lost the majority of the functionality that made it an outstanding product. It went from being very easy to use, to being the same old headache that most of the other POS cam systems seem to be. Even the simple functions are non-existant: When defining a new tool, I can't enter " 15/64 " for a drill diameter, I have to reach for my calculator and enter the decimal value. Likewise, I used to be able to use " (15/64)*.75 " for my peck depth, but not since the facelift.

Esprit now sits in seldom-used folders on three computers; we use SolidWorks to do ALL of our CAD work, and pipe the DXF output to PartMaker or SmartCam.

Hope that answers a few questions.

[Verfur]

ghyman,

you most have a an older version of Esprit. The 2005 version works fine with fractions at least mine does. To me Esprit rocks it has multiple axis and auto feature and one of the most definable post prosser set up I have ever had. I have used Esprit sence 2000
and the biggest gripe I have is the Cost then again you get what you pay for. And the SMC (software matanece contract) gets you the most current up to date version and unpresedented support. The guys that sold me Esprit always want to know of any
complants or sugestions for the next release. IMO the best. And solid works is by far the best.

Oh the SMC fee is around $1000 USD a year.

John