Fusion 360 vs. Mastercam

[Paull1979]

So i have been trying for months to just grasp the basics of modeling and designing in mastercam and can not get the hang of it.. What if any are the fallbacks of using Fusion over mastercam. I just started messing with fusion and was able to design my part and run toolpaths on it in less then a week of watching videos and asking questions. So im leaning towards fusion as my go to program now

 

[DavidScott]

I like and use only Fusion myself, use what works best for YOU and your needs. For me and my needs there is no better cad/cam program than Fusion.

 

[EMTech]

Each Cad or Cam software has strengths and weaknesses.

MasterCam and Fusion360 both have Cad and Cam capabilities. Fusion360 is stronger on the Cad (sketches, modeling, and print creation). MasterCam is stronger on the Cam.

If you can accomplish everything you need with Fusion360, there is nothing wrong with using it.

 

[goooose]

Too bad they didn't add a down vote option in the update. Shit like this is getting old.

 

[Paull1979]

I actually went and purchased a license for solidworks/solidcam. And I tell you what this is where it is at. Solidworks is not as easy to use as fusion to me but damn the cam programming part of it is a no brainer. You just got to make sure some parameters are correct and it does it all for you. I think I finally found the software for me

 

[mhajicek]

So i have been trying for months to just grasp the basics of modeling and designing in mastercam and can not get the hang of it.. What if any are the fallbacks of using Fusion over mastercam. I just started messing with fusion and was able to design my part and run toolpaths on it in less then a week of watching videos and asking questions. So im leaning towards fusion as my go to program now

Mastercam can handle much more complicated stuff, and give you finer control over the details, once you're experienced with it. But the biggest thing is once you buy a seat of Mastercam, you have it forever. You don't have to pay maintenance to continue using the version you have indefinitely, and you never have to ask anyone's permission to use your software. With 360 and all other cloud based systems, you have to keep paying your subscription or you lose it, and lose access to all your work. You have to be online and the software calls home for permission to run. It forces you to always use the latest version, and sometimes updates will break files or move features you rely on behind higher priced tiers.

 

[friesen]

You could use hsmworks if you have a fusion license.

What you are doing is fine for now, but don't be surprised if you realize some reasons later. My biggest frustration with f360 is this: 1 year later, I want to make a little change to some program, and I spend 4 hours working around a bug or change that makes the old program not work anymore. HSMworks doesn't have this issue exactly, but I don't expect it to stay around indefinitely.

 

[mhajicek]

You could use hsmworks if you have a fusion license.

What you are doing is fine for now, but don't be surprised if you realize some reasons later. My biggest frustration with f360 is this: 1 year later, I want to make a little change to some program, and I spend 4 hours working around a bug or change that makes the old program not work anymore. HSMworks doesn't have this issue exactly, but I don't expect it to stay around indefinitely.

Yup. In non-cloud software, if you don't want to bring it into the latest version, you open the fie in the old version, make any needed changes, and post it out again. I know people who have an old XP box with Mastercam V9 (not X9) from 2002, and it still runs just as it did when they bought it. The hardest thing will be having to reprogram all your repeat parts when you decide to switch to non-cloud software; the longer you wait the more work that will be.

 

[Jaxian]

To start just get Fusion, it's not like your going to drop $6,000 to play around with Master-CAM. That was my quote last year on the mill 2D package. No maintenance. I own it. No lathe, no 3D stuff. I was all in at like $13k for all with training. You have to be making money to buy that.

If you are then lets get to my very loose overview. They both work well, the CAD part of Fusion is easier in my opinion. The CAM is much, much better in Master-CAM.

As for long term consider some things. I went back to a file I hadn't run in like a year. I made some changes and when I went to post they had changed everything. I spent hours trying to figure out where my stuff was. They even changed the posts so I had to re configure them. Not fun. More of an issue they had moved one of the toolpaths I used behind a pay wall. If I wanted to use it like it was I would need to cough up $1600 more a year. So at over $2k with the extra package (normal stuff you would want) I would in three years be paying what Master-CAM cost. For me that is a no brainer. Just need to get a small business loan to get all the packages and training I need at once. I do lathe and simultaneous 4th also.

Lastly if money isn't an issue here was the biggest difference for me. I spend honest to god hours fighting with Fusion. The functionality is there but it is never in a sensible place. It's one check box, hidden in one tab at the bottom with a weird name. If you know this, you are golden, if you don't your are going to go crazy trying to get simple things done. You just have to know everything, you will find nothing advanced by poking around.

With Master CAM things are much more intuitive. When I look in the place were it makes sense for something to be it's there. Vastly less annoying to use. No CAM is friendly but with Master-CAM I don't feel like it's fighting me. I do what would make sense and I works like you would expect. More work, less cursing and searching the internet for answers.

Just need to get a large lump of cash to get it all.

 

[Plane Parts]

So i have been trying for months to just grasp the basics of modeling and designing in mastercam and can not get the hang of it.. What if any are the fallbacks of yusing Fusion over mastercam. I just started messing with fusion and was able to design my part and run toolpaths on it in less then a week of watching videos and asking questions. So im leaning towards fusion as my go to program now

Fusion 360 hands down. I use both professionally for 5 axis programming. For the price of a Mastercam license you can pay for 15 years of Fusion subscriptions. Mastercam is a terrible modeling program and the cnc programming interface is just a mess. AND mastercam will force you to buy a very expensive post processor when autodesk gives them away.

 

[Matt_W]

Fusion 360 hands down. I use both professionally for 5 axis programming. For the price of a Mastercam license you can pay for 15 years of Fusion subscriptions. Mastercam is a terrible modeling program and the cnc programming interface is just a mess. AND mastercam will force you to buy a very expensive post processor when autodesk gives them away.

Last time I looked, Fusion only had a couple 5x tool paths, swarf and mutli-axis contour. Am I missing something? Obviously I can do 3+2 but wondering if I have over looked something?

 

[nmachine]

Last time I looked, Fusion only had a couple 5x tool paths, swarf and mutli-axis contour. Am I missing something? Obviously I can do 3+2 but wondering if I have over looked something?

5axis in most all there 3d paths has been added. Holder collision avoidance anyway.

 

[empower]

Last time I looked, Fusion only had a couple 5x tool paths, swarf and mutli-axis contour. Am I missing something? Obviously I can do 3+2 but wondering if I have over looked something?

steep and shallow is pretty dang powerful 5 axis as well

 

[Paull1979]

Truthfully gentlemen it doesnt much matter anymore. I was head over heels going into this as i thought I found a career that i could actually see myself doing for the rest of my life. That is until recent events came to light as my soon to be xboss became the biggest douchebag known to man. I came to realize now that alot of the things that I was told when hired was just to get me in the door to fill a spot thinking i wouldnt buck back towards the bullshit. but when your boss has his daughter working for him and expects everyone to pick up her slack it just puts a bad taste in my mouth about this whole line of work altogether. I will more then likely be going back to the plastic manufacturing field and leaving this behind.

 

[gkoenig]

Last time I looked, Fusion only had a couple 5x tool paths, swarf and mutli-axis contour. Am I missing something? Obviously I can do 3+2 but wondering if I have over looked something?

To be fair, there are very few folks running 5 axis machines who are cash crunched enough that Fusion is really the only viable option. Do I know lots of people who do it? Yes... but they are also in a position that if they run into Fusion's simultaneous 5 axis limitations, they can fire up more sophisticated software they already own, or it won't be a huge deal to acquire it. They use Fusion because it is super efficient in many respects, easy to share stuff with coworkers, and you can run it anywhere.

 

[empower]

To be fair, there are very few folks running 5 axis machines who are cash crunched enough that Fusion is really the only viable option. Do I know lots of people who do it? Yes... but they are also in a position that if they run into Fusion's simultaneous 5 axis limitations, they can fire up more sophisticated software they already own, or it won't be a huge deal to acquire it. They use Fusion because it is super efficient in many respects, easy to share stuff with coworkers, and you can run it anywhere.

i know a few shops that have 5+million in machining equipment and they use fusion. well, some of their guys use fusion because thats what they prefer.

 

[gkoenig]

i know a few shops that have 5+million in machining equipment and they use fusion. well, some of their guys use fusion because thats what they prefer.

Sure sure, but of those $5+Million equipped shops (I assume in some cases, you and I are talking of our same acquaintances), most of them have NX and/or Hypermill sitting around for those times Fusion just can't do what they need on the sophisticated equipment they have.

The interesting question I have is - how often do they pull that ripcord? I have Fusion and I keep current with it, but I use NX for everything because I spend more time in CAD than CAM, and NX CAD is just amazingballs. I suspect if I was more machining oriented, or less production volume/process testing oriented it would be a couple more years of painful maintenance payments before I just moved to Fusion.

Though, there are rumors that NX is about to become way way more accessible, if you are willing to put up with the sort of subscription/online limitations that are similar to Fusion. It is always going to be 3x the price of Fusion, but the world becomes interesting when 10 years of NX doesn't cost 106x the price of 10 years of Fusion (which is where it is currently at).

 

[empower]

Sure sure, but of those $5+Million equipped shops (I assume in some cases, you and I are talking of our same acquaintances), most of them have NX and/or Hypermill sitting around for those times Fusion just can't do what they need on the sophisticated equipment they have.

The interesting question I have is - how often do they pull that ripcord? I have Fusion and I keep current with it, but I use NX for everything because I spend more time in CAD than CAM, and NX CAD is just amazingballs. I suspect if I was more machining oriented, or less production volume/process testing oriented it would be a couple more years of painful maintenance payments before I just moved to Fusion.

Though, there are rumors that NX is about to become way way more accessible, if you are willing to put up with the sort of subscription/online limitations that are similar to Fusion. It is always going to be 3x the price of Fusion, but the world becomes interesting when 10 years of NX doesn't cost 106x the price of 10 years of Fusion (which is where it is currently at).

no doubt, you're right.
can you expand on the rumor?

 

[gkoenig]

no doubt, you're right.
can you expand on the rumor?

They've been talking about it, but the rumors are about pricing of a new product called NX X. Basically NX in the cloud, with subscription pricing that is supposed to be dramatically "more accessible" than regular NX.

 

[empower]

They've been talking about it, but the rumors are about pricing of a new product called NX X. Basically NX in the cloud, with subscription pricing that is supposed to be dramatically "more accessible" than regular NX.

well sign me the fuck up!