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what CAD/CAM do you like with your Haas?

BigBlock10

Plastic
Joined
Jun 18, 2011
Location
charlotte MI
What CAD/CAM program do you like for your hass lathe?

I am looking to pick up a cad/cam program to learn with and to get some part ideas that I have in my head down on paper so to speak. I will have about 6 months to a year to learn whatever program I go with before I put it to use with a lathe, I am saving up money to buy a TL-1. I have about half of the funds that I will need and am contemplating getting a second job to help speed up the process. Being that I am only 26, I am trying to stay debt free as possible.
I will be using this software to help design parts that I make for atv/motorcycle racing. So if anyone could give me some ideas on what program they like to use with their haas lathes I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you

Derek
 
The idea of staying debt free is a good one. For a 2 axis lathe a CAM program is not needed. The Hass control is good and easy to program complex profiles. That said I would buy a 2D CAD program or a 3D and but CAM package later.

Athack
 
I agree that staying out of debt is a good idea...

Going in dept for a 65" plasma TV and gaming pc is a bad idea.

Going into debt for a CAD/CAM system for your business is called an investment, your 26. You have to decide if your serious about this or just dicking around.

If your serious, buy the biggest baddest 3D CAD/CAM system you dare and master it, forget making chips for now, plenty of shops out there to make the parts from a QUALITY 3D model file.

My personal adventure started at 45... SolidWorks with FeatureCAM, from a well established and reliable vendor who recognizes that you are a long term user with a long future.

Don't wait- study, choose wisely, work smart not hard!

Best of luck,
 
I don't need no stinking CAM on a two axis lathe. :)
Really, look at the G7X (G70, G71, ...) cycles and it makes you wonder what a CAM should be good for on a two axis lathe. If you later decide that it would help you, that's OK. But I certainly wouldn't buy one right from the start.


Nick
 
Although a big fan of Mastercam (both mill and lathe) I would tend to agree with these guys. ESPECIALLY since you are talking a tool room lathe. The built in programming inside the Haas (Haas VQC) is probably all you will need. I believe the new ones will allow you to import DXF files (and put toolpath on them?)...so most likely you should make sure it has those options and you will be good to go.

If you need Cad beyond that then Solidworks seems to be the most favorite (but there are many others for way cheaper)
 
Yes... your absolutely correct, but design is/should be his primary goal... get the only tool that is portable, powerful and controls propriety design.

But if I were 26 and had good ideas I would not waste time & money on machines and machining. Design it, delegate production, work on next revision or idea, market, market, market - that's how you make money!

Speed to market is the key to success - a good idea will be quickly copied or imitated. don't waste time/money on the tools of production, a good solid model can become a product in whatever machine tool needed in skilled and capable hands...

If I had a do over at 26, I would buy a kick ass PC and the software mentioned, skip the CAM - delegate the production to people who have the tools and talent.

NOW is the time to start!
 
Yes... your absolutely correct, but design is/should be his primary goal... get the only tool that is portable, powerful and controls propriety design.

But if I were 26 and had good ideas I would not waste time & money on machines and machining. Design it, delegate production, work on next revision or idea, market, market, market - that's how you make money!

Speed to market is the key to success - a good idea will be quickly copied or imitated. don't waste time/money on the tools of production, a good solid model can become a product in whatever machine tool needed in skilled and capable hands...

If I had a do over at 26, I would buy a kick ass PC and the software mentioned, skip the CAM - delegate the production to people who have the tools and talent.

NOW is the time to start!

I do like this idea, but I would sometimes use this machine to make repairs on parts.

Thank you guys for all the good points! The only reason I would want a cam program is so I would not have to stand at the machine and program for each part that i design.


Thanks guys

Derek
 
so I would not have to stand at the machine and program for each part that i design.

Ummmm ... might be thinking about buying the operator panel alone. Looks to be quite reasonably priced, works standalone, is intended for classes. Might have USB too, I don't know.
And you could operate that in your bed too. :D


Nick
 
Cad= Solidworks. It is basically an industry standard for CAD anymore. It is fairly easy to pick up and alot of third party self help books. It can do both 2d and 3d. It has enough capability to handle anything down the road you will need to design along with import and export compatability with many other cad packages.
CAM = I understand you are buying a lathe but can a mill be far behind. Then you can look at a free CAM package 2d only for Solidworks called HSMXpress at http://www.hsmworks.com/hsmxpress/
Hope that helps you out.
 
If you want to save money, take a class at the local community college and qualify to download the student version of Autodesk's Inventor. Inventor has one of the most generous term of use license I've seen. Even unemployed people qualifies. Anyway, the download version is good for 3 years and I think they are being generous because they need to grow their user base. The various 3d cad software are fairly similar so even if you decide to go with a different 3d cad software, the stuff you'll learn with Inventor will still apply.

There are also free open source 2d cad program like LibreCAD that are fairly decent and may suit your need if you are working with a TL-1.

I would suggestion you go with the TL-1, try to get by with LibreCAD, and learn on Inventor because used machines retains more value than used software.
 
There are also free open source 2d cad program like LibreCAD that are fairly decent and may suit your need if you are working with a TL-1.

+1
I see no sense in buying a $$$-CAD for a 2-axis lathe.
I sketch my lathe parts, dimension them from right to left and be done. On a sheet of paper.
Without IPS, plain G-code. It's no rocket science.


Nick
 
Yes... your absolutely correct, but design is/should be his primary goal... get the only tool that is portable, powerful and controls propriety design.

But if I were 26 and had good ideas I would not waste time & money on machines and machining. Design it, delegate production, work on next revision or idea, market, market, market - that's how you make money!

Speed to market is the key to success - a good idea will be quickly copied or imitated. don't waste time/money on the tools of production, a good solid model can become a product in whatever machine tool needed in skilled and capable hands...

If I had a do over at 26, I would buy a kick ass PC and the software mentioned, skip the CAM - delegate the production to people who have the tools and talent.

NOW is the time to start!

Well after giving it some thought, I have decided to take BGL's and others advice and pick up a cad/cam program to design parts and farm them out untill I can pick up my own cnc. I will continue to do what I can with my manual mill.

Thank you guys for all the help.
 
I have programmed our HAAS for 10 years with no CAD/CAM.
Once you use the HAAS control enough and know GCODE it takes no time at all to punch in a program right at the machine.

BUT,from time to time I would get a job with geometry that was a real PITA to program,like a feature with a angle starting at a radius then into another radius that was critical.I always managed with those by drafting it out old school to find my tangent points for the tool nose to make the critical angle,radius etc.

We bought OneCNC from our HAAS rep a year ago,I have never touched a CAD program in my life.Brought it home to play with a few nights and a week later I was making programs.I am prolly slow compaired to a schooled CAM programmer who know all the tricks but I managed on my own.

Were the software shines is with tricky geometry on a part,you can't beat the software to figure tangent points of and angle,radius etc.
Pretty much 90% of what we do can be punched right into the control with no need for fancy software,often I only use the Editer program to write a program instead of at the control because I can do it faster on a PC keyboard were I can use several fingers instead of one.
The main purpose we bought OneCNC is for the CAD to deal with prints instead of old school hand drawings,the CAM was an added plus.

Keep in mind...if you know little about CNC or the code it uses,any software is just gonna help you crash it faster :)...kidding.
 
Next big thing?

I hope it works well for you!

I was 14 (1974) when I saw a state of the art 3d CAD system that was wire frame only, clunky, difficult to use and very expensive for just the 8mhz computer to run it... by your age they were solid images, fast and reasonably affordable.

- imagine what will be around when your 50.
 
Well after giving it some thought, I have decided to take BGL's and others advice and pick up a cad/cam program to design parts and farm them out untill I can pick up my own cnc. I will continue to do what I can with my manual mill.

Thank you guys for all the help.

Don't go cheap. Solidworks....Pro E.... ETC. Look and see what will get you a job.

No need for the CAM side unless you have a machine.
 
Yes, but ... directly linking to it doesn't work.
Click here, scroll all way down and open the "control simulators" foldout.

Nick


Hahahaha....I can just see it now, some guy walkin into starbucks with his Haas control simulator and sitting down with a coffee to do some programming on it!

For 2 grand, thats a pretty good chunk towards a real cam program. Id recommend that route. If you can't justify mastercam or something else high end (can't believe Im gonna say this),
I hear bob-cad isnt all that bad for the price. At the very least you get great CS from aldepoalo. Pm him, Im sure he'll hook you up nice.
 
Hahahaha....I can just see it now, some guy walkin into starbucks with his Haas control simulator and sitting down with a coffee to do some programming on it!

:D
You'll get a lot of stares from hot women.
That once worked with an iBook (the curvy one with a handle). Now you need a Haas control.


Nick
 








 
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