I made a jump through the evolution of Camax, SDRC trying to keep the pace we were used to in SmartCAM. I find when having all the solid models available (I work in a engineering firm) it was tragically redundant to redraw operations yet once again. I think most SC users are used to drawing geometry from scratch, it is painful at times importing and messaging so you can get imports to work. My solution was to parallel path a second seat of another CAM package and cut over when the thing felt comfortable. The major objective was to be able to use a solid model seamlessly. Drawing makes you no $$$!!. That lead me to partner integrated CAM packages for the sake of not falling behind in two areas, CAD/CAM. Purely for the reasons of good salesmanship and the fact that we are a SolidWorks/Autodesk house, I picked CAMWorks. I have mixed feelings for the time to comfort with it but, it's environment like others, is the way of the future. So...we are learning and winning for the most part. Little or no drawing and features like "auto detection of machinable features", outstanding! (Outstanding is the field you will be in when you first try to figure out why it isn't doing what you asked of it!) Some new users on the forums have boasted 15K$ in vested time getting up to speed. I concur, but what are you going to do when the s__t hits the fan that makes all what is comfortable change? You aren't still spinning vinyl on your record player right? I think it comes down to: Stand alone or integrated, Backwards compatible or forward, capital commitment. One thing is for certain, you won't drop your system the same day you load a new one, (be prepared the Chinese are many and they work cheap!) Good luck fellow chip flingers, Darrell Boyle Manufacturing Technical Supervisor SPECTRA, Inc 101 Etna Road, Lebanon NH, 03766-1467 e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Visit us on the web <http://www.spectra-inc.com/> Spectra Inc. - Confidential Information -----Original Message----- From: Kevin Clark [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 1:30 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [mfg-smartcam] CAM Packages I know there has probably been a lot of discussion on this. I have been trying to convince my supervisor to keep smart cam as our main stay. He's one who thinks there are better CAM packages that can be faster and more accurate in the generation of the code for our machines. Since all our machines are vintage 80's and a lot require special mods to the template file to put out the correct clearance for our particular fixtures and we do nothing really fancy (no wrapped geometry). I would just assume stay with SC. But we have vendors calling. Some we will have contact with will be Esprit, Unigrafics, Pro E, EdgeCam and Catia. So far we have had a rep from Esprit show his wares. I was impressed with some features, but wasn't impressed with having to modify the post processors using VB. So, if I may ask, which have any of you used and how do you like them compared to SC? No Vendor please! Thanks, Kevin Clark Programmer Abbott Workholding Inc. ====================================================================== 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] ======================================================================
