Hi Guys.

I'm new to this forum. So first of all - Hi to all of you!
And 2nd. Sorry for a lot of text =)

I'm working in a small mech workshop, with 30 employees in Sweden. And have worked as a production tech the last 5 years.
Have worked in total 8years at the same firm.

I'm the one who is responsible for cad all our fixtures, making all programs to our machines, and choosing the right tooling for everything.
We are also 2more that works in CAD/CAM besides me. But they work almost exclusively with mold/die manufacturing.
We work mostely with cast iron, ductile iron, and god forbid - White cast iron...
But we machine nearly every material group.


We currently have the following machines;
1 Haas Vm2
1 Haas Vm3
3 Okuma Ma600HB
1 Heller H2000
1 Okuma Multus U4000
1 Star SR38-B (swiss lathe)
And some other small lathes.

And in week 48, we will recieve our new Heller HF 5500 machine.


Today we are using Edgecam for all programming.
We have posts for every machine.

But now when we have invested in this new Heller machine, we would like to have a better program.
We have so much trouble today eveen programming our Haas machines for the patterns, that I dont even want to think about programming 5 axis sim, in the new Heller.

We had a DMU 80 monoblock a year ago. And programming it was a PITA!


The main reason we want to change to another program is;
We think that the support in Sweden is really bad. Nearly everytime you call in with something you want help with, it takes them 3-4 days to get an answer.
If you'll even get an answer...

A lot of bugs in the program. Like if you use a simple rough operation, with a certain cut increment, and have prismatic geometry.
You have absolutely no idea of what the code will look like. But the simulator will simulate that everything is fine, But the code is not good.

In machine setup the program will make some random adjustments to the alignment of the part, by itself.
So if you do not check the output zeros properly there is a risk of collision.

You can not use rest rough in a good way. You'll get a lot of air cuts.

The posts are not good. A lot of faults, which they can not help us with.

We do not get full machine simulation.

And when you work with large files, the program is really slow, and takes a long time to calculate the paths.
And of course, 1000 other things that we are not satisfied with.


We are so sick of this program now, so we would like to try something else.
I invited a seller from Tebis to show me the program.
And i would say that Tebis is a good program for pattern making, and also all the 5 axis stuff you want to do.
But it's not good at all for lathes. Like the Multus machine.
But i really like that the program suggest tool lengts, and the best angle for machining.

We have also got some test milling programs from Tebis, with really good result due to better tool pathing than Edgecam can provide.

And last week I had a seller from Hypermill come to visit me.
At a first view, I would say that Hypermill is a lot better allround program.
You can program lathes and such with nearly all functions that you want.
And it does all 2d, 3d, 5sim milling as good as Tebis.


For Tebis you'll get a personal contact for support.
In Hypermill there is no support in Sweden. So you'll have to call a Danish support-center.

Tebis is bad at lathe-programming.
Hypermill is good (but still lacks some of the functions that are actually good in Edgecam)

Tebis is around 15k more expensive than Hypermill.


Im pulling my hair here, because I want to change cam program. Learn how to program in it, before W 48.

What I like in edgecam is that you can set up a part in 2minutes.
Import the file.
Pick your stock.
Pick the fixture, or import a fixture.
Feature find.
Choose post, and then you're done.

In the other programs it felt like it is a little more complicated.

One big minus in Hypermill for the lathe side, is that it does not support "waveform" turning.
And also you can not machine in the main spindle and the sub in the same sequens.
You have to make one total maching for the main side, and then a new sequense for the sub side.

Now to the tricky question. Which program is the best choise for us?
Both program have a lot pros and cons.
But i'm really tired of using Edgecam.
We want a program that we can count on. That we can see the full machine simulation in, and know that we will get the same result in the machine.


Is there any other program that we should try? =)

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