I am new to cad/cam/cnc software.
What is the the most affordable or cheapest software I should
get or buy to learn?
I want to get into small metal parts manufacturing.
thanks for any help you can give.
You should not touch BobCRAP V22 even if it's given to you for free.
Consider yourself warned!
You should do an extensive evaluation of this product and post your
findings, good, bad or indifferent. Make sure you try the graphical
toolpath editing.
People have spoken favorably of Rhino here. There's a bunch of stuff in the
$1 K range that's been talked about here. There have been numerous older
threads on this.
I, of course, don't have clue.
Whatever you do, do it quick, and do it with authority, or else you might
wind up like me--cadcam-less, AND in a perpetual fetal position.
I am, however, perty good with trig. :)
One thing I did do was look at ng's devoted to a product, to see what
products had the most discussion about them, which sort of implies the depth
of user base. I think Rhino had a good group, but it's been a while.
This is not a guaranteed litmus test, however, as the forums on a product's
website can be pretty extensive as well. Check those out too.
The biggest problem in my mind is: How will you *actually know* what is a
good usable product?, as very few people giving opinions have fluency in
*several* products, esp. low-end products.
The answer is, and this is not a great answer, is to download a trial
version, "learn it", download another, learn it, etc. This is an effing
*full time job*, yo!
But, if you are really going to be cadcam-intense, probably a very
worthwhile education. But time-consuming.
However, by the 4th or 5th program, you would proly get the knack. I
wouldn't get the knack, but most other people would.
If you have any educational affiliation, you can get fully functional
student seats of more expensive stuff for very cheap. Mastercam has an
extensive educational division.
Also, don't listen to anything Jon Banquer has to say.
He has about a thousand package wrappers and press releases on cadcam
scattered on his milk-crate supported plywood bed, and each morning, when he
plays Captain Ahab with the floating Cheerios in his cereal bowl with his
Spiderman Spoon, he'll read a cadcam wrapper along with back of the cereal
box, whilst he fumbles for the Free Prize inside sed box.
Then he will jabber, here, in ccs, and on his blob about that product and
about his fantasized relations with the CEO of that company, for the rest of
the day.
If you piss him off, he will curse your mother, and invent stories about her
chasing you around your room with a strap-on.
Etc. And etc. And etc.
Has to do with tertiary Banqueritis, from the B. coli bacterium. Think Al
Capone.
Be very careful listening to those who have no clues about CADCAM.
This group is filled with CADCAM idiots such as Tom Brewer, Bottlebob,
Kris Hogg who posts as Mr. PV ( Kriss Hogg doesn't even own a CADCAM
program), Joe788, John Carroll, etc.
Rhino is a CAD program. It isn't a CAM program!
RhinoCAM is a separate program made by Mecsoft that you can buy for
Rhino. I no longer recommend this approach because Rhino is very weak
at drafting and because the owner of Rhino isn't interested in making
Rhino good at mechanical modeling. Rhino is a surfacing program. Rhino
is not and will never be good at mechanical modeling because McNeel
(who owns Rhino) feels other companies are much better and doesn't
with to compete with them.
Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA
Here is a recent quote from the owner of Rhino about why they won't
devote the necessary resources for Rhino to be good at mechanical CAD.
?Our clients have been asking for an affordable intuitive mechanical
design tool to create the details and components that they integrate
into their products designs. Since we are not experts in MCAD, we are
hesitant to try developing mechanical design tools. When SpaceClaim
introduced LTX we were thrilled that they included 3DM support,?
stated Bob McNeel, CEO of Robert McNeel & Associates. ?It is exciting
to see the most innovative minds in the MCAD community focusing their
resources on building a new generation of MCAD tools for the Rhino
users.?
At one time Rhino could have been the ideal solution and platform for
budget CAM. I believe McNeel has made a huge mistake. So be it. The
direction of CADCAM changes very quickly and very few people in this
newsgroup can understand or follow where the market is going. If you
wish to understand where the CADCAM market is going and who the
leaders are as well as how to make the best choices you need to read
the Jon Banquer blog.
Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA
in the forums link.
There are discussion groups there for many CAD and CAM programs. Pick a
few, download their demos and give each a whirl. Affordable can have widely
different meanings - what does it mean to you? Free, $100, $1,000, $10,000,
or $50,000?
And, then you might qualify for the ed. discount. Might even have one
directly thru the votech.
Altho some programs may have a semester credit minimum to qualify.
Here is a recent quote from the owner of Rhino about why they won't
devote the necessary resources for Rhino to be good at mechanical CAD.
?Our clients have been asking for an affordable intuitive mechanical
design tool to create the details and components that they integrate
into their products designs. Since we are not experts in MCAD, we are
hesitant to try developing mechanical design tools. When SpaceClaim
introduced LTX we were thrilled that they included 3DM support,?
stated Bob McNeel, CEO of Robert McNeel & Associates. ?It is exciting
to see the most innovative minds in the MCAD community focusing their
resources on building a new generation of MCAD tools for the Rhino
users.?
At one time Rhino could have been the ideal solution and platform for
budget CAM. I believe McNeel has made a huge mistake. So be it. The
direction of CADCAM changes very quickly and very few people in this
newsgroup can understand or follow where the market is going. If you
wish to understand where the CADCAM market is going and who the
leaders are as well as how to make the best choices you need to read
the Jon Banquer blog.
=====================================
From someone who can't manually contour, can't use a spreadsheet, and who
has NEVER, in the history of amc/ccs, answered a specific question on
ANYTHING.
He *is*, however, fairly expert on hand creams, but opts for vaseline cuz
it's cheap, and in jb's case, re-usable.
The Jon Banquer blog is the only blog dedicated to cutting through the
bullshit that unfortunately fills the CADCAM industry. You you can
count on the FACT that I tell it like it is. The typical forum,
newsgroup or blog "Fanboy" mentality simply doesn't exist on the Jon
Banquer blog.
Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA
The Jon Banquer blog is the only blog dedicated to cutting through the
bullshit that unfortunately fills the CADCAM industry. You you can
count on the FACT that I tell it like it is. The typical forum,
newsgroup or blog "Fanboy" mentality simply doesn't exist on the Jon
Banquer blog.
Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA
The majority of machining content has left Usenet for the web. This
includes the rec.crafts.metalwork Usenet group which I only
occasionally cross post to, so it's not like brain dead parrots like
what Bottlebob has become can blame me for destroying that Usenet
group even though I'm sure he would like to try.
The majority of pc help content seems to be on the web and has left
Usenet. (I now know why my drives are slow and what I need to do about
it.)
The majority of SolidWorks content is on the web.
Neither you nor Steve Mackay post the kind of content here that you
use to. Same for many, many others.
To get and keep real sustained content you need some moderation and
you need a forum run by someone with a clue. You also need to attract
new users. No one here seems interested in doing anything about it.
I don't think blogs are a passing fancy. I think there are here to
stay and will morph into something even more powerful. For sure the
blogging software could be a lot better.
The subjects that are being mentioned and discussed on my blog could
not be done in this group as those posting to my blog have no interest
in this group... for damn good reason.
Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.