Buy Software vs Programming servise

[JeffreyCNY]

Does anyone have any experience with paying someone to create a program file to make a part versus buying expensive software that will generate the file. A friend of mine has a machine center, but has not purchased any CAM software. We have had a few discussions about the hiring a CNC programmer to generate a program when needed versus buying software. He can manuallly enter G code at the panel, but on complex parts the development time and glitches are killing him. The software he was quoted was over $10,000, than there is the learning curve to get the software to work for you. Has anyone used a sub contractor to generate the code? What is the cost of the contractor?

[ger21]

What kinds of parts is he making? There's a lot of much more affrdable software out there that may work.

[HuFlungDung]

Maybe post an RFQ on this site asking for programming services quotes. You just never know what the price will be until you ask. I suspect there are lots of hungry guys out there who will work at an affordable rate.

Now whether it will be handy to do this contracting out, I don't know. Probably sucks if you are in a hurry to modify a program and its late, or a holiday. Kind of puts your power as a shop owner in the hands of someone else, too. Not a good state to be in, IMO.