Need Help!- surfcam 3d $$?

[homedirt]

Hello everyone
My Employer has put me in charge of setting up a new "in house" machine shop.
I have been with this company for 6 years, I had helped my previous Employer
in a similar way . we were using Surfcam 2.5D.
My current Employer would like a "ballpark" dollar amount(USD) for Surfcam 3D.
I don't want to talk to any sales people until I get the "Go ahead" from the boss
If anyone has purchased recently,any info would be great.
Thank you for your time

[ToyMaker94566]

I think it's around 15k... That's about what it cost me back in 1990 and I don't think the price has changed much. Then there are options to consider that could drive it even higher...

[moldcore]

We’ve been Surfcam 3D users for over 15 years but if we were looking for a CAM system today I would look elsewhere. There are so many programs today at half the cost it will make your head spin. Some of these start at prices you will pay just for maintenance on Surfcam. Surfcam is a good program but it’s interface is outdated compared to what’s others offer making it slow and clunky in today’s world. Just because you used Surfcam in the past doesn’t mean you can’t get up to speed with a new one. You’d be surprised how similar all these programs are. If you have Solidworks, like most companies do today, I would look at one of their programs. Just had a demo of SolidCam recently that looked impressive for 2.5D but was lacking in the 3D area. Also, One CNC is a comparable program for half the price of Surfcam. Shop around, there are better alternatives, but stay away from BobCad.

[ToyMaker94566]

Originally Posted by moldcore ... There are so many programs today at half the cost it will make your head spin. ... Shop around, there are better alternatives, but stay away from BobCad.

lol... Bobcad was a joke when it first cam out. They even made fun of themselves by using the name "bob's cad". Are they still a joke or have they actually became something of substance?


I would also add a thought about CAM systems; it's always in the companies best interest to stay with the most mainstream system so there is no shortage of CAM skilled employees. For instance, my local JC machine shop program teaches Surfcam to hundreds of students every year that are all now out in the work force. Food for thought.


Last, you sound like a man who knows, do you have a favorite CAM system? All I know is Surfcam so I value your input.

[moldcore]

Originally Posted by ToyMaker94566 Last, you sound like a man who knows, do you have a favorite CAM system? All I know is Surfcam so I value your input.

Surfcam is all we’ve used but have demoed a few others the past couple years. I used Mastercam for 6-8 years prior at another shop. Surfcam was better 15 years ago but it hasn’t progressed into the 21st century like the others have. It’s still basically a DOS program. Version 5.1 that we have is unusable. All the menus are screwed up for some reason. Dealer says it’s the computer and has seen it in other installs but offered no solution (typical). We’ll try to reinstall when time permits.

[ProgSol]

Surfcam is all I have used too, for the last 20 years or so anyway. I have a programming business offering off site programming and have used Surfcam since the early DOS days. All-in-all I have been happy with it. I don't like paying the maintenance fees and lately it seems every update has problems. I haven't been able to use the v5.1 either, verification problems and transforming operations in the ops manager is all messed up. I guess v5.2 is supposed to be coming out soon, hopefully they have the bugs fixed.

[machiningweasel]

I can tell you an exact price of what i was quoted....

Hope this helps

2 Axis Velocity[/SIZE] Proposal Price

SURFCAM 2 Axis Velocity $5,900.00
Maintenance: SURFCAM 2 Axis Velocity (Annual Contract) $708.00
Sub-total $6,608.00
Sales Tax n/a
Total $6,608.00


2 Axis SE

SURFCAM 2 Axis SE $2,700.00
Maintenance: SURFCAM 2 Axis Velocity (Annual Contract) $324.00
Sub-total $3,024.00
Sales Tax n/a
Total $3,024.00


3 Axis Velocity

SURFCAM 3 Axis Velocity $13,500.00
Maintenance: SURFCAM 3 Axis Velocity (Annual Contract) $1,620.00
Sub-total $15,120.00
Sales Tax n/a
Total $15,120.00


3 Axis SE

SURFCAM 3 Axis SE $10,700.00
Maintenance: SURFCAM 3 Axis SE (Annual Contract) $1,284.00
Sub-total $11,984.00
Sales Tax n/a
Total $11,984.00