We are currently using 4 CAM systems to program all of our equipment (NX6, NX7.5, NX8.5, Edgecam 2009). We are currently stuck with all of these because we programmed ourselves into a hole and never took the time to look up until now. At this point, upgrading is most likely going to be as painful as switching to a new CAM system. I am currently evaluating the following : Edgecam, Siemens NX, CAMWorks, Solidworks CAM Profesional, Mastercam, Gibbscam and Esprit.
We have vertical mills, horizontal bars, horizontal lathes with sub spindles and or live tooling, vertical lathes with live tooling, and a 5 axis mill with turning capabilities. We also have Renishaw probes on most of our equipment now.
Have you used any of these CAM systems? How have they worked for you? What do you like about them? What do you hate about them? How has your customer service been?
Any help would be wonderful as trying to get upper management to see the direction we need to go may be a big hill to climb.
Ive only ever used Gibbscam, but it was very easy to catch on to to do what we needed, we have a vertical mill, and a Lathe with sub spindle and mill features. I was a manual guy who only became a CNC guy when our programmer up and quit. So a few hours on youtube, Gibbs online video how tos, and a days training from out reseller and i was ready to go. Customer Service for me has been great although that has been mostly dealing with the reseller and not 3D systems. What i love about the software is the ease of use, if your unsure of something you can hit control + B and a balloon pops up that explains it. If its not enough information there to make your decision, the help file explains it more, and if it still doesnt make sense theres a wealth of knowledge on the internet with a quick google search. The thing i hate is when im using a model i always end up clicking apparently 1 to many times, and i end up sending the model to the body bag, Which isnt a big issue, its more of just an annoyance at the time for myself
I have used the following...... Mastercam, From V8 to current Esprit, 2013-2017 NX V7-V8.5 FeatureCam, 2008-2012 Versions Gibbs CAM, 2016? i think it was
Mastercam Is what I am most familiar with. Great all around software. ( and my favourite ) Easy to learn, mid range power, great service ( In MIchigan ) Valuable updates every year. Huge Knowledge base.
NX.... Extremely powerful for CAM, but just as cumbersome to be fluent. Expensive, Posts are expensive. Service is lacking, People that can use the CAM side are extremely rare!
Esprit......Good all around software, good phone support, but getting a tech on site is difficult. Difficult modeling capabilities, good post support and machine sim...Feature Based strategies are behind Others like EdgeCAM and FeatureCAM
FeatureCAM.....Great feature Based strategies, Easy to manage tool library, support is sketchy, poor modeling. Easy to learn
GibbsCAM.....Great support, Milling strategies are a little behind Mastercam and Esprit. Turning, Never used. Wizards are nice for feature recognition, Sub par.
I have been a programmer for about 20 years in multiple fields, and done some applications work for a machine tool builder as well. Feel free to get more specific if you need.
Kris
CAM Comparison Help needed!!!
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