Esprit Mill/Turn CAM sofware Sticker shock, How much does it really cost?

I just got a quote for one seat of Esprit to program Mazak Integrex and 2 other four axis Mazak machines. I was really blown away at the up front investment. With training and first year maintenance just south of $59K. We have been using FeatureCam for about 16 years and it really sucks for Mill/turn and surfacing. What kind of cost are you guys paying for Esprit? Are we just getting gouged? Wow

mcbassin said:

I just got a quote for one seat of Esprit to program Mazak Integrex and 2 other four axis Mazak machines. I was really blown away at the up front investment. With training and first year maintenance just south of $59K. We have been using FeatureCam for about 16 years and it really sucks for Mill/turn and surfacing. What kind of cost are you guys paying for Esprit? Are we just getting gouged? Wow

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sounds right inline with mastercam and others for multi axis package with several post processors. and yes, it sucks

Esprit and Partmaker are the best of the best for Mill-turn and yep, $60k is right inline. Whats going on with Featurecam that you don't like? Ive had it for 20 years and pretty much always performed flawless for me whether it be a regular milling or mill-turn.

g-coder05 said:

Esprit and Partmaker are the best of the best for Mill-turn and yep, $60k is right inline. Whats going on with Featurecam that you don't like? Ive had it for 20 years and pretty much always performed flawless for me whether it be a regular milling or mill-turn.

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I have been using Featurecam since 2003 so I know a lot about it too. There are two major issues with Featurecam, 1.)they now require an annual payment for the software to continue working (basically a rental) 2.) Their surfacing sucks. It always has. I was using better surface milling in the 90s. It will not work on our Integrex either. The post has issues and since we didn't pay maintenance I'm dead in the water.

I have been using Featurecam since 2003 so I know a lot about it too. There are two major issues with Featurecam, 1.)they now require an annual payment for the software to continue working (basically a rental) 2.) Their surfacing sucks. It always has. I was using better surface milling in the 90s. It will not work on our Integrex either. The post has issues and since we didn't pay maintenance I'm dead in the water.

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I agree that the surfacing is lacking in a lot of places but having FBR/FBM kinda offsets the pain a bit. And yes, I hate the new subscription since Autodesk had to screw it up. We have 39 seats of Powershape, Powermill, Mold Flow, then several other seats of Featurecam, Partmaker, and Power Inspect that we paid for. Well over $1m in software EULA purchases only to be told we have to pay the yearly to keep it going. I just signed off on just under $200k for this years maintenance and licensing. It will be the last....

You will be hard pressed to find much more software that works seamlessly with intergrex than Esprit so make em give you a temp seat. The learning curve is steep, kinda like NX or Catia but once you get it you will be pleased. It's definitely expensive though. I bought a Mori NMV5000DCG with Esprit on the MAPPS IV control and it was $30K for a stand alone seat dedicated to one machine. It Is what it is and high end software has a High end price.

Hello I have a seat of esprit and like it. I do wish I bought NX though as then I'd also have good cad. Have you looked into the cost of that package. Esprit support is great

plutoniumsalmon said:

Hello I have a seat of esprit and like it. I do wish I bought NX though as then I'd also have good cad. Have you looked into the cost of that package. Esprit support is great

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A node locked seat of NX with CAD + 5 axis + Turning will probably come in at just over $30k. Not as strong as Esprit in mill/turn, but a smidge stronger in 5 axis, with full-blown CAD throw in for free.

The big variable is post processor costs, I assume that is where the Esprit package is getting super expensive, to the point where I might look at CAMPlete to see what they have for Mazak. Their parent company (Miltera) has a Mazak on the shop floor, so one assumes they have packages for those controls set to go.

Where I work we have 3 seats capable of mill/turn 5 axis freeform, they are certainly not cheap! IIRC millturn freeform 5axis is 30-40k and your integrex post will probably be around 10k. So with the other posts, training and maintenance that doesn't sound too far off to me.

The big variable is post processor costs, I assume that is where the Esprit package is getting super expensive, to the point where I might look at CAMPlete to see what they have for Mazak. Their parent company (Miltera) has a Mazak on the shop floor, so one assumes they have packages for those controls set to go.

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Nobody in the CAM world does a better job for Integrex posting than Esprit. They put the time in and can support all the weird stuff you might want to do. I know the guys at Esprit that support Mazak fulltime very well, they are top notch.

IMHO it's a pay now or pay later situation. If you want to hit the ground running with minimal fuss, pay the little extra for Esprit.

CNC Hacker said:

Nobody in the CAM world does a better job for Integrex posting than Esprit. They put the time in and can support all the weird stuff you might want to do. I know the guys at Esprit that support Mazak fulltime very well, they are top notch.

IMHO it's a pay now or pay later situation. If you want to hit the ground running with minimal fuss, pay the little extra for Esprit.

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Ditto. Our company tried to use Mastercam to program the mill-turn and it was a complete disaster. Esprit and its post was basically turn-key.

plutoniumsalmon said:

Hello I have a seat of esprit and like it. I do wish I bought NX though as then I'd also have good cad. Have you looked into the cost of that package. Esprit support is great

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I have not looked into NX. From my research in the last 10+ years, Esprit has always been the Mazak mill turn software to use. For CAD design I use Solidworks. I'm very happy with it.

Esprit is the go to for turn mill and Swiss. Used it for a Tsugami Swiss for a few years. IIRC the initial post processor required little modification.