Any opinions on Esprit for turning and 5 axis milling these days. How pricey is it?

[rcoope]

I've been wrestling with MasterCAM lathe and I have it going fine, especially with all our tools in a custom tool library, but it doesn't simulate well as a default so I've been having problems with where the tool goes at the end of the cycle. It's a long story related to us having a Haas TL-1 with a Dorian tool post so not wanting to send the tool to the far end of the lathe like on a normal slant bed and I haven't checked if our VAR can help set up a proper simulation, but right now we have to be very careful with tool changes. But it's good otherwise.

Marcus, Obviously I know these guys and why they ended up with Onshape out of undergrad, but I've come to think that having some separation between CAD and CAM, even when you are doing both design and machining, is not necessarily a bad thing. It certainly makes version control easier. In general I would say that young engineers may not know how to hold a screwdriver but they are extremely good at learning software, so wouldn't be fazed by having to learn MasterCAM, or NX whatever. The main thing would be for the experienced mentor (that's you) to teach the general principles of tool choice and feeds and speeds etc and they'll pick the software itself up fast, even five axis malarkey. One thing I can see helping is getting the team on a common tool library which reflects tools they actually have, so it's quick to get going that way. The same applies in having models of the work holding set up and having the post and simulator properly configured at the outset. NB at our outfit, I'm about to get on the mill, which I haven't touched for 13 years, and we also have an engineer who's a rank beginner at machining who may also start. This could be interesting.

 

[pharaun159]

Esprit has a larger learning curve than most. I hated it at first and still grumble a bit from time to time but I'm still learning all the in's and out's. But once the templates and knowledge base is built it is very easy to navigate.

We use a lot of subs and macros and I love it for what it can do there, and the way you can manipulate processes. It does take a little longer to set up a complicated process with logic built in but it's worth it. Once it's done it's just plug-n-play

Ive been at it for 3months trying to learn NX on my own. Havent got a single program out yet. Most guys I talk with are not Lathe guys and they struggle to understand how to build a complete SIM with NX. Esprit i sat in an office for 1 month watching CAM wizard videos. Then walked out an steamrolled guys with 20 years Creo experience. I honestly feel Esprit is for machinists, and NX is for Computer guys the dont generally spend much time making things themselves. (I know someone is triggered). Or maybe i'm just dumb and the NX guys are smart. Who can say lol? All i know is after a year around guys using NX that all swear its better... None of them have been about to get a functional program out to their machines as quick as I can.
Especcialy when it comes to custom tool geometries and models that dont match prints.

The only place where i see NX shines is for surface accuracy and control of the tool paths. However i've also never, not been able to make my part either.

Where i think Esprit struggles is their support staff. Its like none of them can agree on how to use their own kits. We actually brought a trainer out to assist another programmer and I ended up going in there and teaching them both how to program swiss machines.

 

[pharaun159]

Milling yes, lathe no..

Its killing me bouncing from esprit to NX for lathe. Its so painfully slow. Its 30 min to get the part in the kit for NX and 6 sec for esprit. Custom tooling is all built in esprit knowledge base, and i can draw one up in 30 min and build it into the data base. We use a lot of Whizzcut custom geometry tools on the swiss machines. I also love being able to program both main and sub spindle off one set of geometry.