A "Starter" 3 axis CAM software that isn't F360? (Machining molds on CNC router)
By way of introduction, I have been working on designing a product for nearly 2 years. (I'm designing a knee pad that has a carbon fiber shell.) I started out carving foam and bondo, which was fine at first. But then I decided I needed to switch to a digital process. Fast forward 10 months and I'm drawing CAD models in Rhino and machining them on a shiny new CNC router.
The router came with the VCarve Pro program. Technically it does work, but it is a huge bottleneck and an increasing source of frustration. For the record I have successfully made a series of molds with it. But parallel finishing is the only 3D machining strategy it has. And it's just silly to finish a 16"x20" mold entirely with a 1/8" ballnose. At a .005" stepover and 300ipm, it takes hours. Many, many hours!
Introduction out of the way, I gotta find something better.
(I asked about CAM software on a CNC router forum, but most people there have diy machines and use freeware and F360.)
What is a good program that sits inbetween "hobbyist" and "industrial"? If you were in my situation, what programs would you consider? And how much should I expect to spend? I'm not afraid to pay for the right program, but at the same time I have a list of future expenses I have to consider.
(At this point I expect people to suggest F360, but I'm just not into that! I did try it--I had to pay for 1 month just to find out what CAM features it has, and at that exact moment the server was down...I never found out what capabilities it has. I hadn't realized it is 100% cloud based before then. No thanks.)
Right now I have a demo of RhinoCam, since I have been designing in Rhino. The standard version is $1,500. The main thing I would gain over VCarve pro is horizontal finishing. Plus I would completely avoid .stl file issues. The "Pro" version is enticing, but I really don't want to spend $5,000 on software right now.
So yeah, what is a short list of programs I should be looking at? I probably haven't even heard of many of them yet! I have run across BobCam and have seen they have a new Rhino plugin...but I hear different things about BobCAM. And I don't know the cost of most of the programs I have come across....it's exhausting to think about dealing with a separate salesmen for every program, just to find out which ones are even a possibility.
By way of introduction, I have been working on designing a product for nearly 2 years. (I'm designing a knee pad that has a carbon fiber shell.) I started out carving foam and bondo, which was fine at first. But then I decided I needed to switch to a digital process. Fast forward 10 months and I'm drawing CAD models in Rhino and machining them on a shiny new CNC router.
The router came with the VCarve Pro program. Technically it does work, but it is a huge bottleneck and an increasing source of frustration. For the record I have successfully made a series of molds with it. But parallel finishing is the only 3D machining strategy it has. And it's just silly to finish a 16"x20" mold entirely with a 1/8" ballnose. At a .005" stepover and 300ipm, it takes hours. Many, many hours!
Introduction out of the way, I gotta find something better.
(I asked about CAM software on a CNC router forum, but most people there have diy machines and use freeware and F360.)
What is a good program that sits inbetween "hobbyist" and "industrial"? If you were in my situation, what programs would you consider? And how much should I expect to spend? I'm not afraid to pay for the right program, but at the same time I have a list of future expenses I have to consider.
(At this point I expect people to suggest F360, but I'm just not into that! I did try it--I had to pay for 1 month just to find out what CAM features it has, and at that exact moment the server was down...I never found out what capabilities it has. I hadn't realized it is 100% cloud based before then. No thanks.)
Right now I have a demo of RhinoCam, since I have been designing in Rhino. The standard version is $1,500. The main thing I would gain over VCarve pro is horizontal finishing. Plus I would completely avoid .stl file issues. The "Pro" version is enticing, but I really don't want to spend $5,000 on software right now.
So yeah, what is a short list of programs I should be looking at? I probably haven't even heard of many of them yet! I have run across BobCam and have seen they have a new Rhino plugin...but I hear different things about BobCAM. And I don't know the cost of most of the programs I have come across....it's exhausting to think about dealing with a separate salesmen for every program, just to find out which ones are even a possibility.