should I buy Mastercam

[atvpartsmaker]

I own a Machine shop using Mazaks and Milltronics CNC Machines. Some of my operators were asking about buying Mastercam. I draw all of our parts in autocad Inventor 3D. Im just trying to find out what Mastercam can do for my company?

[cad01]

Mastercam is a very great and valueable tool for any shop. It is expensive so be ready for the plunge. Be sure to negotiate for post processors. You will want custom posts build for each machine.

[CNCRim]

Originally Posted by atvpartsmaker I own a Machine shop using Mazaks and Milltronics CNC Machines. Some of my operators were asking about buying Mastercam. I draw all of our parts in autocad Inventor 3D. Im just trying to find out what Mastercam can do for my company?

MasterCAM is great, but you have to see Mastercam yourself and make judment, because the bottom line is it's your money.

BTW, what do you guy use to program so far? CAD/CAM is not for every shop.

[inkydo69]

Originally Posted by atvpartsmaker I own a Machine shop using Mazaks and Milltronics CNC Machines. Some of my operators were asking about buying Mastercam. I draw all of our parts in autocad Inventor 3D. Im just trying to find out what Mastercam can do for my company?

Mazak-Mastercam-Machining!!!

I been doing Mazak and mastercam EIA or Mazatrol in mastercam, I started a consulting business 15 months ago and if you want some free advice on the subject shoot me a emailat aid-cnc-consulting@mail.com I would be very happy to talk with you about it all. At no cost to you.

[foxsquirrel]

It is very hard to make a decision with the CAM software, just start calling reps and scheduling on site Demos and get quotes. Just let them know you are looking at other packages and the prices will flatten out. I can say that if you buy BobCad or Dolphin both are a joke. We run mastercam but make sure your posts are 100% before you release the check.

[smorris]

MasterCam is a top of the line program. It can import files well using several different formats with out errors for programs like Rhino or Autocad. The surfacing programs work very well also. It does have a bit of a learning curve but it is a very well designed system. Also the cost is enough that you will need to be a serious user.

[foxsquirrel]

Originally Posted by smorris MasterCam is a top of the line program. It can import files well using several different formats with out errors for programs like Rhino or Autocad. The surfacing programs work very well also. It does have a bit of a learning curve but it is a very well designed system. Also the cost is enough that you will need to be a serious user.

I have to argue with you on the import working fine, I cannot import Solidworks 2010 in the native .sldprt format. You have to do a work around and save it in a parasolid format, not very impressive for $17,000 worth of software.

[harley4ever]

Keep in mind, you cant buy a Chevy Cavalier and expect it to go 200 MPH. Mastercam provides more than a dolphin or bobcad but costs about 10x more. If you bought bobcad or dolphin expecting it to compete with 10k software, that's pretty idiotic. I will say that I use dolphin every day and wouldn't trade it for anything. We also use surfcam which is around the same as mastercam. Surfcam is great for a 3d modeling and multiaxis needs. There a time and place for both. I wouldnt be so negative about lower end systems, sometimes its best to take a look in the mirror and realize you could be the problem and not to always blame others.

[foxsquirrel]

Originally Posted by harley4ever Keep in mind, you cant buy a Chevy Cavalier and expect it to go 200 MPH. Mastercam provides more than a dolphin or bobcad but costs about 10x more. If you bought bobcad or dolphin expecting it to compete with 10k software, that's pretty idiotic. I will say that I use dolphin every day and wouldn't trade it for anything. We also use surfcam which is around the same as mastercam. Surfcam is great for a 3d modeling and multiaxis needs. There a time and place for both. I wouldnt be so negative about lower end systems, sometimes its best to take a look in the mirror and realize you could be the problem and not to always blame others.

I am not being negative, just stating the facts as they are. Dolphin never supplied us with post that would work, then after several weeks would not refund our purchase price. That's not Dolphin's fault, it's the the USA reps fault that this has turned in to a bad deal. Dolphin should have dumped the ex-BobCAd clown and found a real rep. The only good version of BobCad was the old DOS version 12, the company founder wrote it and it is rock solid. I had to go back and use it many times because the later versions just would not work.

Surfcam will be on our list when we get ready to migrate, I have heard many good things about it. Another one that was recommended to us was feature cam. Gibbs came out a few years ago and the rep had an el cheapo laptop that crashed 3 times during the demo. I wish we had it on video, then they actually sent me a quote for around $20,000

[harley4ever]

I've tried several version of bobcad starting at 19 till now and find every single one of them clumsy as all get. It seems to be more of a money hungry business than anything. That's just my input. For the majority of our machining, we find dolphin to be very efficient and obviosuly for more complex machining, surfcam is quite a dandy. Im sure youll feel the same after you test run with it.

[Limpan]

Hi all, I'm a Mastercam user and I'm feeling quite comfortable with that. It's a powerful system with a lot of useful functions, no question about it. At my previous employer I was a Surfcam user and I can't deny that sometimes today when I'm having trouble (especially with post processors) I really wish that I was still a Surfcam user. Whatever I wanted the postprocessor to output I could change it all by myself because it was so simple. Mastercam is NOT the system for a guy who wants to do those changes by himself, but if you're patient enough to wait for help, you will appreciate the system. To be honest I can recommend both Surfcam and Mastercam.

[foxsquirrel]

Originally Posted by Limpan Hi all, I'm a Mastercam user and I'm feeling quite comfortable with that. It's a powerful system with a lot of useful functions, no question about it. At my previous employer I was a Surfcam user and I can't deny that sometimes today when I'm having trouble (especially with post processors) I really wish that I was still a Surfcam user. Whatever I wanted the postprocessor to output I could change it all by myself because it was so simple. Mastercam is NOT the system for a guy who wants to do those changes by himself, but if you're patient enough to wait for help, you will appreciate the system. To be honest I can recommend both Surfcam and Mastercam.

If mastercam was not so secretive about "the post" alot of the us would not be very unhappy. That is how they keep the reps in business, after the sale mods and training. Pretty lame model considering the number of CAM companies fighting for top slot in a contracted market. They did provide me with V9 Post info on .pdf after alot of crying about it, but we purchased X2 and the V9 book still did not have all the correct syntax or the details needed for X2, pretty much useless.