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Recommendations for a Fusion post developer?

Dan B

Hot Rolled
Joined
Feb 18, 2006
Location
Ontario, Canada
We leased Fusion 360 to program our Okuma Multus B300, but have yet to get a useable post. Has anyone experienced a good 3rd party post developer that they could recommend?

Thanks,

Dan
 
I've worked with NexGenCam; they are local to me. I actually just fixed my Okuma post with my cousin over the weekend - he debugs javascript for a living. The stock post seemed pretty sloppy with a lot of stuff broken right out of the gate. We had to break a few other things to get everything I wanted working...
 
I've worked with NexGenCam; they are local to me. I actually just fixed my Okuma post with my cousin over the weekend - he debugs javascript for a living. The stock post seemed pretty sloppy with a lot of stuff broken right out of the gate. We had to break a few other things to get everything I wanted working...

Yep right there in Port Washington, I was born there at the hospital but lived in Cedarburg until I moved outta state for work. I worked with them before they were in WI, they were just an HSMWorks dealer before Autodesk bought it (HSMWorks). I still use the custom HAAS post they made for my old VF0.
 
I don't think I need to pursue this. I arranged for the Autodesk post developer to work directly with the operators/programmers on the shop floor. Basically, I walked away as the "middleman". Since I don't have a turning background it was more of a hinderance than a help to have me in the middle.

Thanks for the replies,

Dan
 
I actually reached out to Silverhawk Solutions but got no response. I messaged them on their facebook page and asked if they were still in business. Still no response. I'm not sure they are still around.
 
I've worked with NexGenCam; they are local to me. I actually just fixed my Okuma post with my cousin over the weekend - he debugs javascript for a living. The stock post seemed pretty sloppy with a lot of stuff broken right out of the gate. We had to break a few other things to get everything I wanted working...

the guys at nexgencam have been really good! definitely recommend.
 
I don't think I need to pursue this. I arranged for the Autodesk post developer to work directly with the operators/programmers on the shop floor. Basically, I walked away as the "middleman". Since I don't have a turning background it was more of a hinderance than a help to have me in the middle.

Thanks for the replies,

Dan

How did you get Autodesk to do that? I can't get them to do ANYTHING post related....
 
I left about 4 million dollars in spindles running on Fusion 360 at my last shop and they have another few million in spindles on the floor since then, still running Fusion. They use Powermill for really complex stuff and some of the 5-axis, and they use Esprit for some of the turning, but 90%+ comes out of Fusion with box-stock post processors, or ones I modified myself slightly.

I get some of you really don't like Autodesk, but the bottom line is Fusion 360 is a very good software with fantastic support for an order of magnitude less cost than anything that is comparably powerful.

It is what it is. Someday maybe the market will support something better and cheaper, but I can spend another $20-30k on a machine over the amortization period using Fusion instead of other software *as long as it will do what I need it to*. That is a lot more machine or a lot more options just by saving in CAD/CAM when you're buying in the $70-$150k range.
 
I get some of you really don't like Autodesk, but the bottom line is Fusion 360 is a very good software with fantastic support for an order of magnitude less cost than anything that is comparably powerful.

I would disagree and modify your statement. You have said, yourself, in several of your posts, that you are very intelligent, very quick to learn new things, and are a better machinist/programmer than most. Unless I am mixing you up with someone else?

Fantastic support.... where do you get this? How much do I have to pay for that added feature? I have to pull teeth, call multiple people, send multiple emails, just to get a peep from Autodesk? Usually it is 3-5 days to get a response, and rarely does that response answer the question, it is just to rehash what the question is. Their forums are a joke, unless you are willing to post your part. I have several threads asking questions that no one responded to, or no one responded with anything actually answering the question. I would have to look through my emails, but I have easily a dozen un-responded to emails to autodesk employees. One from the forum had me do something with a part so that he could access it, he never did fix the problem, and now I can't access my part. The last autodesk employee that looked at it finally said, and I quote, "I don't know, I'd recommend remaking the part." Literally HOURS probably 10-15, lost...

I have numerous parts that have issues. My favorite one, I was trying to drill a hole. No matter what I did Fusion said it couldn't drill the hole. I've had... I think 3 Autodesk employees look at it over the course of the last year, all 3 have said, try remaking the part. I have well over 40 hours in the parts, fixturing, and programming.

The most common response I get from Autodesk employees "Uh..... I don't know"

I know natecox is a big fan of Fusion and he claims to take minutes programming complex parts. I suppose if you are of above average intelligence or have hours to tweak in a part then you could consider it good... but very good? No... I don't think so.
 
I get some of you really don't like Autodesk, but the bottom line is Fusion 360 is a very good software with fantastic support for an order of magnitude less cost than anything that is comparably powerful.

I agree for the money it's good for small shops and general work, but an Okuma Multus and Fusion? That's like buying a Ferrari and filling up with regular unleaded. It works, But kills the performance.

Yes most of the gripe on here is AD killing off our Cams we paid for years ago but the big concern is Fusion violates most basic NDA's and has admitted they have no intention of addressing it. And, The fact they are hiding from their customers that the software may violate NDA and DOES violate ITAR??? That's a pretty shitty thing to do. Some non contract savvy shop owner gets drug into court and loses his business for an NDA violation because AD hid it in the fine print.
 
Why?

I can see if you're running a $50k machine,but a Multus? :willy_nilly:

I looked at 9 or 10 different products, and did demos on all of them. Fusion was my second choice, but at $645 for the year, it seemed like it was worth a shot. The logic is that if it doesn't work out for us, we move on to my expensive first choice at the end of the year. We've made excellent progress this week and it's going well. By the way, we are just using it to make pins for fixtures. Nothing fancy here.
 
Fantastic support.... where do you get this?

Our support has been very good. I can't complain. Like I said way earlier, our biggest hurdle was everyone expecting me to be the middleman, when I don't have a turning background. Once I got out of the way, and let the guys on the floor deal directly, it started coming together. We also leased through a reseller, so they've got our back too. It's been a good experience I would say. Sorry to hear yours wasn't so good.
 








 
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