PowerMill from Delcam

[Dan B]

Does anybody here have any experience with this software? I attended a sales seminar yesterday, and it just blew me away. I'm ready to throw my Worknc away and convert!

Any opinions/comments would be appreciated before we make the conversion.

Thanks,

Dan

[HomeCNC]

PowerMill and PowerShape won the year long benchmark that I held at my company. We have been using PowerMill for a few years now. We have it very automated using Visual Basic programs. I gave the shop some basic lessons on VB and one guy really took off with it. He created a program that he calls 'Cruncher' This program brings up a screen that you fill out like where the 3d model is, what roughing tool to use, what pre finishing tool and what finish tool. The program will crunch all the tool path that is needed to build the part automaticly. There is a batch function that can do many different models and crunch them one by one.

It is so easy to use the shop floor people can run their own jobs if the programmer is not here or is busy.

[Dan B]

Hi HomeCNC,

I'm a big fan of vbscript and VB customizing, so this sounds right up my alley.

Thanks for the insight,

Dan

[Scott_bob]

DelCam is the best CAM system that I have seen when it comes to HSM routines. They have really done an unsurpased job of building toolpaths with smooth motion lead in's and out's. I have not seen anyone else do the Knowledge Of Stock remaining (KOS) as well either. The resulting finishes in the finished product are far better than any other system out there.

PowerShape and PowerMill are both excelant products, and you should consider using both. PowerMill is not made for designing...
The Cad side is not that expensive though. Using a hybrid 3D modeler is much better than using solids only. Being able to create surfaces mixed with solids is a huge benefit. The Cam is a bit pricy, but you really get what you pay for on these products. The automation capabilities are better than anyone else!

Although I am not yet a user, we are in the middle of the justification process ourselves... This is a product speciallizing in model machining and 5 axis stuff. I don't think it does turning for instance, but I don't know...

Good choice...

[Dan B]

Hi Scott_Bob,

We are interested in it mainly for it's 5-axis capabilities, but after spending 4 hours watching what it can do yesterday, I'm convinced that it would out surpass Worknc for 3-axis programming too.

As for PowerShape, I'm not too interested in looking at that product. We are heavily into Rhino, and having tremendous success with it.

Thanks for the feedback,

Dan

[Steve Mack]

Originally posted by Dan B Hi Scott_Bob, We are interested in it mainly for it's 5-axis capabilities, but after spending 4 hours watching what it can do yesterday, I'm convinced that it would out surpass Worknc for 3-axis programming too. As for PowerShape, I'm not too interested in looking at that product. We are heavily into Rhino, and having tremendous success with it. Thanks for the feedback, Dan

If you think Rhino is good. You really ought to look at PowerShape.

[Dan B]

Hi Steve,

Do you know the approximate cost of PowerShape?

Thanks,

Dan

[Steve Mack]

Originally posted by Dan B Hi Steve, Do you know the approximate cost of PowerShape? Thanks, Dan

It varies with the options available(and there are lots of them). the package you buy. If you buy PowerShape along with PowerMill I belive it's a $2K discount. You can also deal with your VAR a bit, especially if you buy PowerMill. Since we all know PowerMill ain't cheap

IIRC PowerShape cost us $3K or $4K. But don't quote me on that. I use PowerShape ever day for mold design, which it excels at.

[Dan B]

Thanks Steve.

Dan

[Steve Mack]

Originally posted by Dan B Thanks Steve. Dan

Do you have any models that you've had trouble at all with using rhino? Or something you wish rhino did? I have pretty extensive experience with PowerShape, and could show you what it can do.

[Oopee]

Dan,
I have both, PowerMill and PowerShape. Power´Mill is a very good product if you are machining molds,tools etc with complex surfaces. It has very good roughing routines,rest milling and very wide choice of finishing methods and so on but "simple" things like drilling tapping are, IMO, not so simple.
And what comes to Powershape, I would not be so glad to recommend it. It does quite well with surfaces but with solids it is very glumsy (or akward ?)(at least if you compare it to Cadkey, and you know what that can tell.. ) And in spite of its "intelligent cursor-system" in have found it rather uncertain whith placeing,mirroring, copying geometry. also I don´t like the "workplane"system. ( perhaps an old dog-symptom )
And if you are thinking of their "PS forMouldmaker" products, be sure that it is tested or represented with your OWN, complex models, not with those what the salesman brings with him ( /her ) ! At that point I was fooled.
Anyway, Powershape, shame to admit, is quite useless for me, I only use it if if I want to change or repair the modell while i`m making toolpaths with PowerMill. (You can select some surfaces or whole modell,start PS,make the changes you want and return to PM with changed modell, and this is almost the only thing I like in PowerShape)

Osmo P

[Steve Mack]

Originally posted by Oopee Dan, I have both, PowerMill and PowerShape. Power´Mill is a very good product if you are machining molds,tools etc with complex surfaces. It has very good roughing routines,rest milling and very wide choice of finishing methods and so on but "simple" things like drilling tapping are, IMO, not so simple.

Yes, I will agree, that the purely 2D function in PowerMill are clumbsy at best. That was my main complaint of PowerMill. But, if you do an entire design in PowerShape, export it to PowerMill, it will automatically create the features and/or toolpaths for doing drilling, tapping, etc...

And what comes to Powershape, I would not be so glad to recommend it. It does quite well with surfaces but with solids it is very glumsy (or akward ?)(at least if you compare it to Cadkey, and you know what that can tell.. ) And in spite of its "intelligent cursor-system" in have found it rather uncertain whith placeing,mirroring, copying geometry. also I don´t like the "workplane"system. ( perhaps an old dog-symptom )

I find the cursor to be invaluable. It takes some time getting used to it, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Cadkey's on the otherhand is useless on large models. Just hangs there... even on a 2.8GHZ P4 with 2 gig of ram, and an Nvidia Quadro card.

I'm sure your problem with the 'workplane' system is an 'old dog' syndrom It's proven invaluable to me however. When importing a customer's model into powershape I never once have to move the 'model' 0. I just create a proper workplane. It's also quite helpful when things are made in 'vehicle space' when working on automotive parts and such. You can have it automagically align a workplane normal to a planar surface extremely easy.

And if you are thinking of their "PS forMouldmaker" products, be sure that it is tested or represented with your OWN, complex models, not with those what the salesman brings with him ( /her ) ! At that point I was fooled.

I don't use the actual 'PSMouldmaker' product. since most of our mold bases are custom, not off the shelf And will PowerShape split every mold core/cavity perfectly using solids? Nope... Nothing I know of will on EVERY single part out there. But I can still create an entire mold design in a fraction of the time my competitors do.

Anyway, Powershape, shame to admit, is quite useless for me, I only use it if if I want to change or repair the modell while i`m making toolpaths with PowerMill. (You can select some surfaces or whole modell,start PS,make the changes you want and return to PM with changed modell, and this is almost the only thing I like in PowerShape) Osmo P