Beginner needs sensible advice on hobby price cad/cam software selection.

[UKRobotics]

Hey all,

I'm knew to the world of 3D machining and in the next few weeks will be reaching completion of my mach 3 bridgeport retrofit.

I have dabbled with various CAD demos so producing a 3d part wont be totally alien to me, however the CAM side of things certainly is.

I was hoping some of you might be able to reccomend a good 3d cam package that someone could afford on a hobby kind of budget (basically under $1000) or under $500 if thats possible.

I have used solidworks and like that very much however I dont think I have a hope of being able to afford it. So are there any 3d cad packages out there which work in a similar way to solidworks with out the four figure price tag?

[ger21]

Alibre. They have a free (limited) version, Xpress. Once you get the Xpress version, they'll send you email offers to get the full standard version for around $500

[ViperTX]

Their website really bites the big one......you're locked into a circular queue until you fill in the recommended email listing. There were some other hiccups. Didn't get it downloaded.

Paul

[harley4ever]

Havent heard many good things about Alibre's CAM. I use dolphin cad cam. Give it a whirl. Im happy with it.

[Cartierusm]

Rhino is excellent. If you can produce yourself or someone with a student ID it's super cheap.