OTBox
Aluminum
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2005
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
Folks, I need help:
I am a small shop doing industrial automation. Right now I use Alibre, Surfcam 2 axis (2009 was last update), and Autocad LT 2021 in my design tool chain. Maintaining changes and updating drawings is just a nightmare at this point. Something's gotta give.
Most of what I do is 2 axis stuff - no 3D surfaces. Lots of drilling, reaming, etc on my two older Haas VF machines. Really looking forward to thread milling and chamfering to reduce secondary work.
Taking 3D models into Surfcam 2009 is just a nightmare. Its all wire frame and its pretty easy to screw up drawings by popping the top off of something I think should be a solid - and I did this on a Surfcam 2018 version. While I love the latest Autocad LT, I only use it to supply drawings to Surfcam.
About 30% of my customers are ITAR folks so clound based systems... frankly I dont have the expertise to sufficiently judge if they are secure or not. If I can yank the ethernet cable from the PC and do my work, I regard it as secure!
The choices:
OneCNC - tried a goofy part and the folks at OneCNC talked me through it. I am looking at 2 axis express mill. It will have a learning curve but everything will. My test part was able to be run through with help from an excellent support person. But if there is associativity with Alibre, I am not aware of it. Would another version be better?
Mastercam mill - I think this does have associativity with solidworks but not alibre. I would need to pick up a seat of solidworks and now the cost would spiral through the roof. I was also a little bothered by the process to collect pluge versus depth versus clearance height data. I kind of felt it was too easy to screw up and bury the spindle!
SolidCAM - the folks at SolidCAM can provide a Solidworks package with SolidCAM. The Solidworks Parts and Assemblies version plus Solidcam 2.5Axis could do most of what I need. If I were to add iMachining that strains things as far as cost goes. Again the sample parts and the folks who walked me through things were good people.
For me this is a crazy huge investment and I know I need to make it. Given my kind of work, does anybody have input on how usable the SolidCAM 2.5 axis package is? With all the iMachining hype I feel like 2.5 might be the crazy uncle under the stairs. Lots of folks seem to like OneCNC but I am so sick and tired of updating three sets of drawings.
I am a small shop doing industrial automation. Right now I use Alibre, Surfcam 2 axis (2009 was last update), and Autocad LT 2021 in my design tool chain. Maintaining changes and updating drawings is just a nightmare at this point. Something's gotta give.
Most of what I do is 2 axis stuff - no 3D surfaces. Lots of drilling, reaming, etc on my two older Haas VF machines. Really looking forward to thread milling and chamfering to reduce secondary work.
Taking 3D models into Surfcam 2009 is just a nightmare. Its all wire frame and its pretty easy to screw up drawings by popping the top off of something I think should be a solid - and I did this on a Surfcam 2018 version. While I love the latest Autocad LT, I only use it to supply drawings to Surfcam.
About 30% of my customers are ITAR folks so clound based systems... frankly I dont have the expertise to sufficiently judge if they are secure or not. If I can yank the ethernet cable from the PC and do my work, I regard it as secure!
The choices:
OneCNC - tried a goofy part and the folks at OneCNC talked me through it. I am looking at 2 axis express mill. It will have a learning curve but everything will. My test part was able to be run through with help from an excellent support person. But if there is associativity with Alibre, I am not aware of it. Would another version be better?
Mastercam mill - I think this does have associativity with solidworks but not alibre. I would need to pick up a seat of solidworks and now the cost would spiral through the roof. I was also a little bothered by the process to collect pluge versus depth versus clearance height data. I kind of felt it was too easy to screw up and bury the spindle!
SolidCAM - the folks at SolidCAM can provide a Solidworks package with SolidCAM. The Solidworks Parts and Assemblies version plus Solidcam 2.5Axis could do most of what I need. If I were to add iMachining that strains things as far as cost goes. Again the sample parts and the folks who walked me through things were good people.
For me this is a crazy huge investment and I know I need to make it. Given my kind of work, does anybody have input on how usable the SolidCAM 2.5 axis package is? With all the iMachining hype I feel like 2.5 might be the crazy uncle under the stairs. Lots of folks seem to like OneCNC but I am so sick and tired of updating three sets of drawings.