Integrated CAM Software, what are you using?

[tnik]

Well, a couple years ago I was looking into getting integrated CAM software, but that was around the time the US economy decided to take a dive and it just wasn't feasible to do. So, of course I stopped following development. We've picked up a bit, and it looks like I can take the plunge into something new.

ATM, I need 3 and 4 axis functionality. The 4 axis functionality being positioning and true 4 axis movements.

My questions are, if any of you use an integrated CAM package with SW:

Which one do you use?

Why do you use it?

What are the pro's and con's you've come across?

What was the learning curve like?

I really appreciate any insight you can give me. And please, I don't need salespeople giving me their spiel about how there package is the best. I'd much rather hear from the people that have real world experiences with the software.

Thanks!

Tom

[BanduraMaker]

I'm using VisualMill 6 pro for solidworks and it's pretty decent. I bought it primarily because I felt it gave the best bang for the buck and, I found a guy selling an older version for a song that dropped the price even further.

It does have some quirks and bugs in it but some of them may be due to my newness to this stuff and the fact that I'm running it on a pretty old Mac under VMware fusion.

I went with the pro version because it adds some machining strategies that I wanted that weren't available on the standard or +4 version. I'm currently running only 3 axis but am planning on adding a 4th later this year.

The VM 4th & 5th axis strategies aren't very sophisticated but it should do what you're looking for. They just released VM2012 and it's apparently got full blast 5th axis capabilities. The biggest problem I see with VM6 is that there's really no support for configurations or assemblies.

There have been a lot of requests for assembly support on their forum and I'll bet that will be added in the next release. A guy on the tech support line told me that configuration support is also on the list but I haven't seen many requests for that on the forum so we'll see.

Pros:
It was quite easy to learn how to use but you will have to play around a bit. Use the simulation a lot - I've found it very accurate.
It offers a lot of advanced machining strategies at a price point many others can't touch.
Easy tech support - just a phone call away
Easy to customize the post processor

Cons:
Integration into solidworks is a bit rough - sometimes you change a sketch and it flags a bunch of MOPs as changed even though the sketch you changed didn't affect that MOP.
Some bugs - e.g. sometimes if I use "regenerate" from a high level folder it will crash where if I go MOP by MOP it won't. Sometimes the stock alignment will inexplicably go off into the weeds and it's hard to notice.


Overall, I'm pretty satisfied but concerned about the maintenance costs. I'd really like to have a system that does everything I want (meaning assemblies and configurations) that's stable before my 1st year of maintenance runs out on SW and VM in July but I'm not convinced that will happen. If not, it probably means that I'll have to go another year with both products which will be around $2k...

If I had to do it over again, I'd probably still go with VM for SW. If money was no object, I'd be looking at SolidCAM.

[jess fuqua]

I use solidcam its great software.
It works perfect with solidworks.
Try a demo.

[BuddyGo]

I am using ZW3D (formally VX) CAD CAM, capabilities from design to manufactuing, 2 axis - 5 axis. In the new ZW3D 2012 version, the added turning function is what I have desired for a long time. The pro's is cost effective, 7000 dollars for a complete version.
But it is not so easy to use. Sometimes you have wait for a long time when it go crash. The direct editing still needs enhancement.

[luisreynoso]

I am using Delcam for Solidworks, the owner of the shop bought it because they had been using Delcam's PowerMill before I went in.
I haven't tried any of the others but I have to say it works great for me, integration with SolidWorks is very smooth, it's very easy to learn. I learned how to use it by myself, without any prior CNC experience.
I have been using it for milling on a Haas VF2, done some 5 sided machining and have yet to come up with a full 5 axis simultaneous program.
I'll be using it for lathe programming soon, I have done some test runs and it seems to work as smooth as for milling.
One thing I don't like is its lack of wire EDM support. It's something we need, and I know it is featured on Delcam's Featurecam, which is esentially the same software only it works as stand-alone.
Two thing I do like are its vast Post Processors libraries, and it gives pretty decent feeds/speeds calculations given the right input.
Hope this is useful for you. Greetins from Argentina.

[yancho]

I teach a demo of SolidCAM and CAMWorks and I am very pleased. With SolidCAM is a slow but precise and elegant finishes. CAMWorks is a very quick job.

[freeflyer]

HSMWorks here. Fantastic for 3x still, still a little rough for 4x and 5x.