CAM Software conflict with HAAS?

[kwallace]

Heya guys I have just put the deposit for a HAAS VF6 and I am not looking into getting the software to run it.

On the cad side I think I will go for Solidowrks but on the CAM i was wondering if there are any packages wither very well suited to HAAS or any there any that conflict with HAAS's version of G code?

If nothing, I think i will go for SolidCAM

[DRD]

We just bought a new vf3 with 5 axis, that will be here in feb 08. The cad/cam side was a long venture of looking.
After seeing, and trying a demo of everything made, master cam is what worked for us. Being brought up on autocad, the master cam was easy for me to learn and made since.
I am sure just about any cam program will drive a Haas. The post processor is the brains to write the G code to drive the haas. What ever cam you go with, make sure you have support for the post processor, you will need it.
One thing to look at closely, if you do use solidworks for drawings, what ever cam you use, make sure the translator works seemlees with solid works. Last thing you need to be doing , is to be fixing a bunch of translation errors, from solids work drawing to the cam package. Sometimes it's better to have a cad/cam package all together to elimanate problems.
Good luck.

[CNCRim]

since solidwork is your CAD choice, solidCAM is best think go with it. And for G-code output to match your machine you should won't, because it's up to post processor, you can change it anyway you like them to.

[Donkey Hotey]

I considered CamWorks (another 'integrated' plug-in CAM program for Solidworks) when I was shopping for a CAM package. These are a couple of reasons why I did NOT go with an embedded package:

First and foremost was maintenance: You will be forever locked in to upgrading BOTH pieces of software regularly (paying maintenance fees on both). If you're perfectly happy with Solidworks but you like a feature on the new version of the CAM software, you don't have the choice of letting one lapse 3-5 years.

Also, if there is a bug with the CAM software and they tell you "it will be fixed in the next version." you have no choice but to stay on maintenance for both packages.

The other aspect was support. What if you get on board and they disappear in a few years? What if that happens and something really slick comes out in SolidWorks that you 'just have to have'? You'll be stuck buying another CAM program, just so you can upgrade your version of Solidworks.

Integrated software sounds like a good idea 'today' but I'm not so sure it's the best long-term solution. The good thing is that Solidworks is so widely used that you can be assured that any CAM program out there is going to be forced to be compatible with your Solidworks files.

FWIW: I'm a Solidworks / MasterCam user. I'm not entirely happy with MasterCam X but I was far happier with MasterCam 9 than I was with CAMworks.

[kwallace]

Thanks guys,

From what I have read MasterCAM is the way to go but I cannot find a price for it anywhere around, my budget would be about $7500 for a CAM package. Is MasterCAM out of the picture considering this?

[kwallace]

Thanks guys it has been educational.

My budget for a CAM package is around 7000 which i think means mastercam is out (for tooling work)

[Donkey Hotey]

Please post what you find but IIRC, MasterCam wasn't much different in price than most of the competition. Everything seemed to be in the $12-14K range, just to get started.

Take a look at BobCad. I knov very little about it but lots of people seem to like it for 2.5D work. Do some research in the BobCad forum (here) and see what you think:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/bobcad-cam/

[SeymourDumore]

Donkey pretty much summed up every reason why buying an integrated CAM sw is a bad idea. IMHO, the integration of CAD and CAM is just not worth the hassle of those points.

As far as tooling design, I'd saay you may want to increase that $7K figure. Sure, you can get a couple other packages for slightly less than that, but I think they are going to get in your way often enough that you'll wish for something else.
My vote would be FeatureCAM. For 2 1/2D it's about 4K, but 3D and feature rec added it's around $10K.
If you want to program the way you want to program and run your parts, the lower cost alternatives are just not gonna cut it. I have tried and sure wish the hell I didn't.
I also started with fingerCAM and BobCad, so had no baggage or experience with real CAM systems, and FC was just plain natural with the ability to do anything and everything in a sensible manner.
Download the demo to play with, and if you like it you can get a 30 day fully functional trial dongle for $50. No strings attached.

[PBMW]

I'm another Solidworks / Mastercam user. I thought about an embedded system. But for a lot of what I do, I need to add a bit of geometry as containment, or points to mark entry to pockets....Hard to do in Solidworks

[ltmquik]

We use SolidWorks and CamWorks and SurfCAM. We were with CamWorks only but needed another CAM system to fill in the gaps when CamWorks was trying to get their "upgrades" to work.

I believe that there is no single "do all, fix all" CAM system on the market. There will always be something that one system will do that the other will not. My suggestion is to choose a CAM package that suits most of your needs, is supported locally, and that others in your area are using. Another suggestion when shopping for CAM software is to make the reseller use a part that you are working on. The ones that they do demos on are tried and true. This will give you the satisfaction that at least the reseller knows how to run the software.

Any machine will run programs from any CAM software provided the post processor for the CAM software is configured properly. I would avoid CAM packages that make you purchase the post processors seperately.

MY $0.02..

[Daniel_Harris]

Let me start with the disclaimer that I sell SolidCAM and used to sell Mastercam. If SW is purchased as a bundled package with SolidCAM then the maintenance is tied to both and you would have to stay on maintenace to receive updates of SW and SC BUT if you already have SW then the current version of SolidCAM will run all the way back to SW 2004. Most CAM vendors have trial version including SolidCAM I would recommend you try them before you make a decision.

[cadcam]

Now what if mastercam was the Cam side that was in Solidworks instead of Solidcam or camworks. would that some thing to check out?