PartMaker Software

Does anyone have any experience with this software/company? How does it stack up against Gibscam, Mastercam?

Thanks

They are about as good as each other all need rejuvenating. We prefer Onecnc to all of them. We have Mastercam and Onecnc and when we were looking for a replacement due to the maintenance costs we looked at Partmaker and well it is not as good as MC or Gibbs but Onecnc was the best for ability simulation and price

Have you used OneCnc on a multifunction mill turn center?

for the serious hobbyist, check out the christmas gift offer from bobcadcam version 17 for $190 fully functional, good for milling and 2-axis lathe

also look at: http://www.dcad.com/

My interest in this software is for business, not hobby. I am looking for something that is fast at doing non-mold cnc programming, can be used on a multifunction turn/mill center, and has a good verification module. Sort of leaning toward Mastercam/Gibbscam, but I appreciate any coments on other good packages. Been hand writing g-code for 20 years, time to learn something new.

I believe partmaker claims to specialize in cnc swiss turning or at least have a module for that type of multi function work. I had a dumbed down version of partmaker mill that came with my VMC. I would say that it was only OK. I am now using ONECNC XR and really like it. But I am not sure that they have a lathe module yet. If they do it would be worth looking into. Their pricing is good and the support is excellent.

I have seen a lot of comments on onecnc in an earlier thread, not a lot on turning or turn/mill though. Most of our work is turning now. I also understand there's no demo version available.

I believe there is a demo for onecnc. You contact the company, register, and they send it to you. i think you get a 30 day trial or some such.

Cost was $3 to $5K per seat as I recall.
Since I had Visual Mill, I couldn't justify the cost.

But, all the info I've seen on this site, indicates that the happiest users are OneCNC guys....

FWIW, I bought a full version of Visual Mill because it looked like I'd have to spend another $3K or so to get the same "advanced" toolpaths in OneCNC XR, as they seemed to come only with the high end package that had a lot of CAD/modeling software features that I wasn't interested in.

Also, I didn't like OneCNC's secretive attitude which sounded too much like "trust us, we're wonderful". They have a users forum that is only available to purchasers. I asked to just be given read ability, and was rebuffed. VM's forum is open to anyone to read, and if you want to post and ask questions all you have to do is register for the forum.

I presume that either VM or OneCNC would have been way more than adequate for my CNC-newbie needs (though VM has full 4th axis now, not "soon"), so they lost out on what I could tell about the feature mix coupled with a failure to convince me they were likely to be as good as they claimed to be.

Your mileage may vary,
Michael

Well I suppose if that all you could afford at the time so be it so good luck in your endeavors you have to start somewhere and afterall it is better than Bobcad and many start with that.

Like many of us you will find that it is next-to useless to do real work and you will then make a change when you become experienced.

The visual-mill forum has very little experience there and no graphic examples and constructive help that you could even begin to compare to Onecnc. That is because there are really not many real world users on there because of the lack of visual-mill software ability.

Personally I am glad Onecnc has a private forum for users, it is probably the most knowledgeable forum on the web. Being private it cuts out all the crap. I have noticed that it is by users request there that they keep it private because there are posts there to that effect.Some really experienced helpful guys there so you can easily learn from them without having to post just observe.

We also have a Mastercam license and their forum is a waste of space in comparison and that is also private also but theirs is mostly off topic or they are totally insulting a new-user quite often.

Hi Mekom,

I have communicated with people who've used VM in business and have been quite satisfied with it, so it would appear your experience conflicts with theirs. Maybe it didn't do what you needed, but it does what they need, and they seemed happy enough to recommend the product.

I don't intend to get in a pissing match with you, as you sound like you actually have a lot of experience with CNC and I'm just starting out. But the attitude in your post seems similar to that I've seen in other OneCNC official and unofficial posts: "OneCNC is the best thing in the world, everything else is crap, trust us and give us lots of money".

Frankly, OneCNC's attitude was quite helpful in pushing me into spending my money elsewhere.

The OneCNC forum may be several orders of magnitude more helpful than the VM forum (or even here at PM), but until they make it so that people can view it (not post, VIEW) prior to making a purchase decision, that claim is just more marketing blather to me. The VM folks seem to be willing to host a forum and let anyone see what their users are having difficulty with, and how the VM staff responds to them.

Who knows, in a couple of years I might get enough feedback to feel comfortable with OneCNC, and it may prove that VM won't do what I need (though I find that difficult to believe since people who are moldmakers that could presumably buy OneCNC seem to be willing to stick with VM). If that happens, I'll look at OneCNC.

But at this point in time their marketing policy is a failure for getting my money, though it seems to be effective for other people. I hope those other people are perfectly happy with their purchase, as I think more high-quality choices are always better than fewer.

BTW, I could have bought the top of the line version of OneCNC XR (instead of VM), even though my budget was happier with about their second from top or middle level version, so your "Well I suppose if that all you could afford at the time so be it " comment is way off base.

But that purchase looked to be money going out to get CAD software features I've already got. And when looking at CAM features/dollar VM seemed to deliver more for the money.

<edited to add: ironmonger2xs, sorry if I derailed your thread>

cheers,
Michael

[ 01-12-2005, 09:05 AM: Message edited by: Michael Moore ]

partmaker is making it's name in the swiss turn area since there are no real competitors for these intricate machines.
partmaker is however a low-budget package that can't compete in the milling 2d/3d areas.
i tried it before i "buyed it" from this guy
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