Question about Gibbscam vs Mastercam

[canyon289]

Hi,
I'm new to machining and in the process trying to figure out what software to use. I've been checking out Gibbcam and Mastercam and I've noticed a few things. Gibbscam is simpler to use but it seems like it has less options. Mastercam is more complex but it's got all sorts of options everywhere.

As a machinist is the simplicity of Gibbscam or the power of Mastercam more desirable? Obviously I'd like to do things as quickly and easily as possible but of course it has to BE possible in the software.

I've posted this in the Mastercam forum as well since this pertains to both softwares.

Thanks in advance

[mactec54]

canyon289

This is easy, we have & use both, Gibbs has a little more than the Mastercam has to offer & much easier to use, so when you say Mastercam has more power/opitions, that is not correct, In the end they both do the same job, but Gibbs is better & easier at doing it

[montie]

I have worked at shops that have had both mastercam and gibbscam. Right now we have gibbscam and do much more complex work than we did at the shop with mastercam. I think that is part of the benefit of Gibbs is that is supposed to be simple. However when you delve into the advance 3D toolpaths and 5 axis toolpaths it is quite complex. I would suggest Gibbs, but others may feel different. They will both do what you want them to do.

[C*H*U*D]

We looked at many CAM packages and it came down to Gibbs and MasterCAM. We had demonstration/presentations of both and also received a working demo from MasterCAM. I tried duplicating the same part (one of ours by the way) in MasterCAM the day after our presentation and couldn't do it. We went with Gibbs and I was making parts the day our software showed up days before our training started.

I can't speak for the features of MasterCAM since we didn't purchase it, but the ease of use that Gibbs offers still amazes me. I'm currently using SprutCAM at home and wish it had the ease of use of Gibbs.

[canyon289]

I ended up choosing Gibbscam due to the reasons listed above. I like it a lot better than the Mastercam interface. I feel like I'm still in the 90's when I see it.

My first impression of Mastercam was that it was a lot more powerful, since there are a ton of options, but as mentioned after a while with Gibbscam you realize it does just as much more intuitively and with a less cluttered interface.