Newbie Questions

[Rising Sight]

I have been reading through this forum for opinions and some information about some CAD/CAM software. I am wondering how hard this software would be to learn for an experienced machinist,but new to CAD/CAM.

From what I have read it seems like OneCNC is a very good product and seems to be very competitive in price with most of the other popular software out there. I have a quote for the Mill Professional with 4th axis and I have the guys that control the funds waiting on my decision.

Any information that any of you have would really be appreciated.

Thanks.

[HuFlungDung]

Have you had the online demo? You don't have to buy it sight unseen

Get them to go carefully and slowly through the setup of several machining processes, and see if you 'get it'. That's really what it is all about, over and over again. Either you'll love it or......you won't love it

[Ken_Shea]

OneCNC, from my first impressions two years ago provides very quick results to those of us with machining experience but new to CAD/CAM. With the XR2 series it is so far ahead of the XP I started with that a comparison is impossible.

I have no experience with other CAM programs and some experience with a CAD program called Alibre (which I consider a great value) although no comparison in my opinion with ease of use or power to OneCNC.
I consider OneCNC a powerful CAD/CAM package for virtually any level of machining requirements.

There is much to be said with a integrated CAD/AM package such as OneCNC.
I do not believe there is anything in it's price range that comes close.

Some of the things I have seen machined using OneCNC are almost unbelievable.

Ken

[Rising Sight]

I haven't had the online demo yet. They did ask me if I would like to set up an online demo,but I'm swamped with work for a while.Maybe I could have them set something up early sometime since I am three hours ahead of them.

How is their customer support for new users?


I will be getting the 4th axis addon along with the 3axis Professional to do some fairly complicated parts. It is really good to hear about their software being able to handle complex parts.

Thanks.

[HuFlungDung]

Customer support is excellent!

Now why is that funny? Because, you'll see my annoying mug (and WMS, ChrisJ, and Ken) frequently on the OneCNC support forum, too. But, there are several willing participants who handle the easy questions, or the hard questions we know the answers to. But the developer is also frequently on line there, to view the discussions and help out with the tough stuff.

There have been several occasions where discussion on the forum has lead to enhanced functionality, even patches, within hours. That kind of occurance is a bit rare now, as the product is very solid going into its 5th generation. Still, exciting changes do come about quite frequently.

So, if you don't want to read the help file , you can always ask about it on their forum, or search the archives, as most every common question has been answered at least once. Sometimes, asking is the most direct way to get the quick answer that you need.

[rustyolddo]

R S, I was in your very shoes not long ago, zero CAD/CAM experience, a home conversion CNC machine with a hobby controller and DOS based machine driver software. I cannot think of a greater challenge for a software purchase than that.

I literally was making chips in a total of maybe 8-10 hours worth of study over the course of several evenings. All self taught. I called tech support exactly one time, that was for help configuring my post processor for my home brew machine. I've asked a few questions on the forum & in a few cases answered my own questions with a little further study. I can always get an answer anytime day or night within an hour or so in the forum.

OneCNC offers their performance guarantee, 30 days to try. I guarantee in way less than 30 days, you'll be up to speed.

If you are looking for software to make parts, if you are somewhat "lazy" when it comes to having to draw your part, if you have a short attention span and have to read over study material two or three times to grasp it, then OneCNC is your ticket. I'd suggest that you pick up the Bonnie Roskies book as it is a good reference. Zero learning curve as far as I'm concerned.

If you are looking for something to do fancy moving object modeling and such, you might look at some other offerings.

I have no ties with OneCNC other than as a satisfied and enthusiastic user.