Least expensive options for simultaneous 5-axis CAM

[Storen]

I am starting this thread as a continuation of the discussion in the 4-axis thread with a similar name.


What are the most affordable simultaneous 5-axis options? I am interested in applications with a complete set of simultaneous 5-axis tools that can handle complex geometry, art projects, sculpture, jewelry, etc. in addition to the typical “mechanical shape" operations.


I know in the parts of the world where people are not concerned with the cost of the software (most of Asia) SIEMENS NX is king. I have no idea how much their full 5-axis package costs. But for those of us who have to deal with budgets and have to justify the cost of the software would be useful to explore the affordable options.


The least expensive option I know is MadCAM. It offers a pretty good set of simultaneous 5-axis tools (screenshot attached). The cost is around $5.5K (converted from €), additionally, you will need a license for Rhino3D - $1K.


Do you know of any other, less expensive product with a similar set of tools?



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[mcphill]

How much is BobCAD these days?

[Storen]

How much is BobCAD these days?

25K

[joeavaerage]

Hi,
just for the record Fusion 360 basic subscription ($545/year) plus the Machining Extensions (1600/year) so $2145/year. This is a yearly subscription. I have used it but I am by no means expert
on four and five axis, so all I can say is that it works well. My only point of comparison is three and four axis Mastercam. Of course Mastercam is a behemouth and does not really fit into this
thread not matter how good it is.

Craig

[Dan B]

I don't know if you'll find a cheaper simultaneous 5-axis option than Fusion.

[joeavaerage]

Hi,
on Storen's recommendation I've checked out Deskproto, and for the money I would say I'm impressed.

Unfortunately, it does not do continuous five axis but rather indexing four and five axis. Be great for any machine with a tombstone. The tutorial suggested it was quite an act
to generate a five-axis tool path, consisting of re-drawing your part in all five planes and generating a 3-axis tool path in each plane, then concatenating the five separate tool paths
with rotary indexing moves in between.

The continuous four axis looked better. Deskproto does not appear to have 'rotary pocket recognition' and a few other features that I'm accustomed to in Fusion + Machining Extensions
but none-the-less impressed for the price.

Lets be honest here, Deskproto could be well inferior to Fusion + Machining Extensions (or any of the other more expensive options like Mastercam, NXcam etc) and still be considered favorable
on price alone. It does miss out on simultaneous four and five axis though....and can't really be considered in the same league. Shame.

If Deskproto ever does get full simultaneous four and five axis, then some of the big players are going to lose market share amongst hobbyists.

Craig

[hanermo]

Endless issues ..
all the good big stuff like siemens nx, or dassault catia, or sw, is in the 30k+ range.

You can get good functional stuff like ad inventor cad for about 600 € if you lie or get a student edition by enrolling in something, anything.
Not sure if the cam is included - and you wont be able to migrate your stuff to commercial versions.

Madcam and fusion are probably the most mature reasonably priced no-cloud options.

The low cost - no cost options in linux are still pretty immature.
At some point, reasonable cad and reasonable cam is likely to appear .. years down the line.

cad, cam, are not so much difficult but endlessly complex with issues.
So they need endless deciding and coding on complex critical path corner issues in what-how situations with 5 dimensions, preferring speed, longevity, accuracy, tool life, machine wear.

And for commercial users, efficiency of cam paths may be very important.
So trochoidal machining, vs plain milling etc.


Good cad is very involved and much more complex than it seems.
And most-all 3d sw does not deal well at all with complex surfaces and binary ops.

Making a pair of dice is an example.
Should be easy, but it´s not.
And how accurate is the model ? How do you increase or define the accuracy ?

And the resulting models may be hard or impossible to use in cam sw.
Whats the radii on the dimples in the numbers ?

[joeavaerage]

Hi hanermo,
so how about some recommendations for continuous four and five axis CAM. This thread is less concerned about CAD and more about CAM.

The only cheap solutions I found so far are 3+2, so indexing four and five, which is a step in the right direction. The cheapest continouus five axis is Fusion +Machining Extensions,
do you have an alternative?

Craig