Losing my programmer, TurboCad or BobCad closer to real CAD/CAM?

A while back I went to a lot of effort to try out sample CAD programs but really did not have the time needed to learn them well.
Then the hard drive died.

I found a PT guy with his own seat of Mastercam and paid him by the hour.
Worked fine for me until he recently got hired on at a distant company.
So now I'm back to square one, need to learn to do this on my own.

I have TurboCad for MAC and BobCad for a PC.
My understanding is that neither is considered "Real" CAD/CAM by experts.
OK, fine, but which is closer to being a "real" program that might allow me to apply my study time to a better program later?
I think TurboCad does no post processing.
I doubt either will post for my Matsuura MC1000V or Milacron 850 chucking lathe so that will be another issue.
No funds to just buy XYZ.7, so HAVE to work with what I have.
No interest in more cripple-ware as I have to be able to post to the machines even if it means exporting to another program.

Unless there is a genuinely FREE and fully functional CAD out there these are my only choices at this time.

What is the scope of the work you're doing? 2D, 2.5D, surfacing? It sounds like you just need 2 axis turning though. There is a local shop one of my buddies works that is using BobCad on an Okuma lathe successfully.

I don't have any personal experience with either but the new releases of BodCad have looked promising and not all that painful to use. It's also nice that Al is a regular contributor and should be able to get you pointed in the right direction if you're having difficulties.

Older Matsuura mill and Acramatic 850 chucking lathe.
Mill is mostly 2-axis with occasional 3D.
Important to be able to engrave on a cylinder.
Low volume, unable to take on outside work under the circumstances, so low funds.

Let's see Turbo CAD
or
BoBCAD CAM

Looks like you should choose BoB because it does CAD and CAM

Use Autodesk Fusion 360. It's free if you make under $100,000 a year.

BobCad. There is a guy here that works for them, he should be able to help with anything you need.

converterking said:

Use Autodesk Fusion 360. It's free if you make under $100,000 a year.

Click to expand...

Sounded interesting until I learned it requires a 'net connection to function as it's "Cloud" based.
Having been in the communication industry in a former life I know exactly how insecure the "Cloud" is, and so never use it.

BobCad, 551 page user manual!
Some basic similarity to Turbocad.

VisualCAD perhaps a little simpler to learn?
For my simple needs it may be enough.
EVERYONE makes their system look slick and simple in their presentations.

I looked a long time for a program that was not selling for a king's ransom and could do what I needed.... Ended up With BOB and have been pretty happy.

Get the demo and check it out... There is a LOT of help available both here and on YouTube.

Richard/SIA said:

BobCad, 551 page user manual!
Some basic similarity to Turbocad.

VisualCAD perhaps a little simpler to learn?
For my simple needs it may be enough.
EVERYONE makes their system look slick and simple in their presentations.

Click to expand...

I was under the impression you needed a CAD and CAM solution.

VisualCAD has a CAM component too.
Hoping it will run on my PC.

Another vote for Fusion here.

Richard/SIA said:

Sounded interesting until I learned it requires a 'net connection to function as it's "Cloud" based.
Having been in the communication industry in a former life I know exactly how insecure the "Cloud" is, and so never use it.

Click to expand...

Are you making prototype / development parts? If not, most drawings you create have limited interest to cloud hackers. My vague knowledge of the program is that you can store your data files on your machine and only the program is cloud based.

Al + Bob Cad = success. Just take some time over this long weekend and learn. You will find plenty of help here. If your guy has his own seat of Master/Cam Maybe he would be willing to write programs for you as side job. He knows your shop, your work and how you like things done. He could write programs in advance and email them over. I'm sure you are capable of doing small edits at the machine if something is not perfect.

You will succeed, you have made it this far don't freak out just get to work.

Good luck

Ron

We have BobCAD where I work and its moderately stupid in most cases but for the application it seems you will be using it for I would think its your best bet. I program, operate and do setups like I'm sure most of us here do but if you need help just send me a PM with any problems or questions. I've run into a fair amount of issues with it but there's always a work around and it's fairly easy to learn if you sit down with it for a day.

take a class at one of the community colleges, see what they have in CAD\CAM.
If they have Solidworks you can get a student version and a student version of HSMWorks to try while in school, then you can make good parts fast in both design and manufacturing.
Now you could also get Inventor HSM\HSM Pro for free while a student also, All the AutoDesk stuff is free to students for 3 years, SW only good for 12 months.

then when you have found the one you like buy the commercial version as the EDU\Student versions are not for commercial work.

As for the Cloud thing its a great way to learn any of the solid modeling\CAM at now cost to you except time!

With SolidWorks you have like 7 CAM software's that run inside of it, BobCAM for SW, DelCam for SW, HSMWorks, Visual Mill for SW, SolidCam, CAMWorks and a few others, if you are doing mainly 2 \ 2.5 axis work HSMExpress is free as well as DelCam 2.5 axis is free.

JMO

I certainly understand trying to do it low buck.
The entrance is big but think about buying a M-cam (or equal or above) seat and not signing up for yearly upgrades.
Serious dollars up front. A serious CAD/CAM for you.
In most shops time is money but for some reason iron on the floor is considered way above silly software to make it work.
Perhaps because you can physically see a machine tool. Not so much for the soft side.
Yet that cnc is brain dead without good software to drive it.

I'll freely admit to being a Mastercam user and fan since the mid 80's, their may be better options for others.
A friend has a system for body dies that kills Mcam. Drag a box on your die, load tools, press green button, walk away and come back in 6-20 hours.
Only $82,000 per seat, worth every penny for his shop to have a seat at every machine but it would be useless to me.
What you need to run makes a difference.
Bob

Richard/SIA said:

BobCad, 551 page user manual!
Some basic similarity to Turbocad.

VisualCAD perhaps a little simpler to learn?
For my simple needs it may be enough.
EVERYONE makes their system look slick and simple in their presentations.

Click to expand...

We have been using Visual CADCAM pro for 5 or 6 years now and it gets the job done. I consider it in-between the Bob Cad and the pricey systems. Look on their website particularlly training as you are close enough for a classroom training.

For me, CAD CAM packages have always been a love hate relationship. Since I've retired I been playing with a few free and near free CAD CAM systems out there. Currently I trying to learn Fusion 360 it does look interesting for someone as myself who is now a hobbiest/small business income generator.

In theory my guy will continue to writer and send me programs as needed.
But in my experience once some one leaves the immediate area they fade away and become unavailable, too busy with new local concerns.
So I expect that I only have a short while to learn to do as much as possible myself.

My programmer has certainly been less expensive up front than buying a $30,000.00 CAD seat but still not free.

I had several CAD//CAM demo versions on the lap-top used to drip feed programs until the hard drive recently died on that PC.
Might not have mattered much since they were probably expired.
I've replaced that PC and will now secure some more demo's.
I already have BobCad 21 on another PC, read the manual yesterday until it began putting me to sleep.
Not looking too "Intuitive" so far but I will put some more time into it.
Trying to load another version of VisualCad today.

As the leader of a one-man-band I do everything here.
So time to learn CAD is hard to come by without some other duty being ignored in it's place.
THAT annoys the customers as it means their goods are delayed.

I would happily hire another programmer but already learned that most cannot - will not deal with my older machines.
My inside work volume is not high but without ready access to programs outside work is dead.
I still find myself doing too much on manual machines which are just too slow.
Lots of short run or one-off here, more reason to do my own CAD.

We have done engraving along a cylinder many times using simple programs, they may be 3d but are not 4d.
I am using ease of programming text on the surface of a cylinder as my best test of CAD programs.
This also seems to be a universal CAD weakness, or maybe it's just me.
I have some experience with an old version of Surfcam and so it seems the most natural to me.
But it STINKS for engraving as it just will not "Explode" text using the claimed steps.

Classes would be great if I only had the time available.

The problem with Cloud insecurity is that I see it as a likely portal for more than just having my designs stolen.
I never connect a PC to the 'Net, ever.
All web access is done on my old MAC, never had a virus or breech.

I am not sure if this will meet all your needs, but Rhinocam is versatile and inexpensive. As described: "...general purpose machining program targeted at the general machinist." You need to run it inside Rhino 5 program, but I think both together are about $2000.00 - and much less for the student version.