One CAM package that I haven't seen mentioned yet is Surfcam. I've used SmartCAM since 3d v3.0 and then up to ffm and I agree with Gene on all accounts.
We do part design (plastics) at our packaging div. with Pro-e, then we use Solidworks and/or Cadkey for our mold designs. Surfcam has the best translators I've seen so far so this was a big issue for us. It also has some very good surface creation and machining options. Code generators (er, postprocessors, (there I go again, using a term from SmartCAM)) are fairly easy to modify, there are 2 types, one is there own version (very limited) and the other is an application they call Spost. Spost is APT based and very powerful, although doesn't seem as flexible as SmartCAM's code generators. This same postprocessor option file generator is used by Pro-E. Earlier I said they were fairly easy to modify, I guess that is a relative statement, I programmed APT (time share and mini-computer based) for about 15 years before SmartCAM, so I have an advantage there I suppose. Anyway, enough rambling, guys, give Surfcam a good look, you may be pleased. Cheers, Chuck Glawe Courtesy Corporation Mold & Tool Div. [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.courtesycorp.com P.S. We also have a seat of Pro-man although I haven't had a chance to really use I, just experiment a little. > -----Original Message----- > From: genebo [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2001 10:13 PM > To: Michael E. Senack > Cc: John Wright; Greg King; SmartCam User Group > Subject: Re: [mfg-smartcam] Pro-Manufacturing > > > At NASA, Langley, we used Pro-Engineering and > Pro-Manufacturing for two years, > 1994-1996. It was a rough two years. We griped constantly. > We'd switched from > ANVIL5000, which was better. > > I retired and began working with FreeForm machining. Oh, joy! > It was better > than either. > > NASA, Langley switched to Unigraphics. The guys who still > work there love it, > because it's so much better and easier to use than Pro-E, Pro-M was. > > I programmed an awful lot of parts from 1967 to now, and used > an awful lot of > CAM systems. None was better than FreeForm. A few had some > features that were > really nice, and I wish I had them still. But, I wouldn't > give up FreeForm's > capabilities for all the previous systems put together. > > The only reason I would consider another system was if the > design work was > being done on a CAD system that caused me problems importing > the files into > FreeForm. If there was a CAM system that was friendly to the > CAD system, maybe > even used the CAD native files, and was capable of making > decent cutter path, I > would consider a change. > > I currently import files into FreeForm, CadKey99, AutoCAD14, > AutoCAD2000, > Automated Desktop, Rhino3D, and Solid Edge. All of these have problems > importing files from other systems. Sometimes the same file > that imports well > into one won't import into another. These are some highly > rated systems. If > they can't import files from another system without problems, > then I don't > believe there are any perfect systems out there. FreeForm has > no more problems > importing than any of the others. > > Any new system would have to allow user-configured code > generators. I've had to > deal with later purchases of new equipment for which the CAM > system providers > couldn't or wouldn't provide code generators. Once, I paid > $10,000.00 for a > "universal code generator" that claimed to be able to accept > output from a > large number of systems and convert it to any machine's code. > Hah! The company > finally gave us our money back after failing to make a single > code generator > work. SmartCam's code generators are great. > > Gene Bowen > > > > ====================================================================== > To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, > send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ====================================================================== > ====================================================================== To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ======================================================================
