The last shop I worked at was a tool & die shop. We started out with Weber Prompt and went to Mastercam. I had no formal training in either. Where I work now I have recently (3 months ago) been given the position of programmer. We have Smartcam and Edgecam. Migrating to Smartcam was relatively painless. From a Mastercam users point of view, geometry creation, especially 3d, really sucks in Smartcam. I am not suggesting Mastercam is great, I have had way to many problems with Mastercam to suggest that. But it is better in my opinion than Smartcam. Personally, Edgecam sucks. It is so non intuitive that after looking at it several times I have given up on it. I don't know what dope addict came up with that gradient screen(it can be changed). I just can't figure it out. This is from a guy who went through 3 systems without a hitch. I have talked to the Featurecam rep. I would really like to try it but cash flow is tight right now. In the mean time I will watch and see what ratings you guys give these different systems.
Benz Babecki Kingsbury Inc. Philadelphia, PA 215-824-4985 > -----Original Message----- > From: Michael [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 8:09 PM > To: 'smartcam user group' > Subject: [mfg-smartcam] CAM Packages, more > > > Chris Hurst wrote: > > we just looked at featurecam , pretty inpressive.they have come along way. > fellows ,we are all going to have to change oneday , with all of the > awesome > advice on this forum there is a package out there somewhere.we hope !!! > > > First, allow me to say that I do not sell software. I have also looked > at many cam packages, most are way over priced for the good that they > offer. There are two packages that I have found that both replace > Smartcam and for quite a cost savings. I bought Visualmill two years > ago and have been more than satisfied. I recently bought a second > package that also is quite a good replacement for Smartcam, that > package is, "believe it or not" OneCNC XPert. I had once looked at > OneCNC Mill Professional and was not overly impressed, this XPert > package is really really nice. Anyone who is milling in Smartcam need > not spend 12k and have to still buy posts from Mastercam. Both of the > packages I mentioned have their own post creation utilities and they > are very straight forward on how they work. Both of these packages are > more than adequate at replacing Smartcam. The OneCNC XPert is maybe > closer to Smartcam than Visualmill but depending on what you are > making either can replace Smartcam at a portion of the high priced > competition's mega price. OneCNC XPert has a setup sheet documentation > that is generated automatically with graphics of the model and can > email the sheet direct from inside the software. Great tool selection > and lots more, reverse post g code programs, toolpath applies well, > both Visualmill and OneCNC have a free demo. > http://onecnc.com/ > http://mecsoft.com/ > I have bought these products and like them both. FWIW, I used ProE for > 6 months and found it to be bloat ware at a very high cost, not what I > needed. I program for a shop who has Mastercam and they call me to > program most of their parts in my software because of the speed I can > turn jobs around. Go figure. > Michael > > -- > > > > > > > Michael Gailey > Artistic CNC Mill, Router and Engraver Programming > 3D modeling for Product Design and Development > http://www.microsystemsgeorgia.com/toc.htm > > > > ====================================================================== > 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] ======================================================================
