Surfcam users

radracer · Jan 21, 2007

Hello,

Who uses surfcam regularly? What applications or material?

thanks

Mike K · Jan 22, 2007

I do. And my blood pressure goes up every time I do.

We do milling and turning of several materials. I have 3 axis plus, but most of the work could be done with 2.5 axis.

The lathe part of it is horrible IMO.

I can't say I like the mill portion either. When I use the Haas post for instance, I often have to edit manually or the Haas alarms out.

I've been thinking about changing to a different program, but I chicken out when I think about the possibility that it could be just as bad or even worse.

VMC_Jeff · Jan 22, 2007

I do,
2 1/2 & 3D milling almost every day.
Never tried the lathe section.
On Aluminum - Tool Steel. Prototypes to full production.

moldcore · Jan 22, 2007

We use it daily without any trouble. The program is extremely powerful in the hands of experience users (after 10 years, we like to think that we are). We use it to cut mold cavities in 99% aluminum, no lathe work. The program is definitely out dated and needs a major rewrite to bring it up to 2007 standards IMHO. We almost went with FeatureCam last year but pulled out of the deal at the last moment because of time constraints. Maybe this year if no changes are made to Surfcam and the price is right we’ll seriously look into moving on. Last year, we quickly realized that it’s almost impossible to compare one program to another without actually using them for a long period of time. Those 30 day trial periods are unrealistic if you have product to ship and deadlines to meet. We are good for another year with our maintenance so Surfware still has time to get its act together before we start looking around again. I hate to see any decent product fail for lack of R&D but it looks like that is the way Surfcam is or has been headed. When we first looked into a CAM package 10 years ago, Surfcam was superior to Mastercam in many ways, now I‘m not so sure if they are superior to anyone. For $12,000 one would expect a state of the art program, are they getting their moneys worth?

ChampionP · Jan 24, 2007

I use it for tool and die, prototypes. 2d and 3d. I cut mostly tool steel, with occasional aluminum, plastics, and stainless.

I use it to program vmc's, turning center and wire edm. I prefer the haas programming at the control for the turning center. The lathe part of it has just as many options to click through as the milling and it can get confusing sometimes. Same with the milling toolpaths, but I have spent enough time on it to know what to do usually.

You can write some sick toolpaths with it once you learn your way around the software.

Richus · Feb 1, 2007

I have used SC for 8 years now. My company has 3 seats, I have a 5ax Velocuty seat and I love it. It has some probs with 5 axis milling but in general it works like a champ in my opinion. Also, you should never have a post problem, you can write, modify, do almost anything with Mpost. I created my own probe routine calls for my Okuma and Haas. It is extremely powerful IMO.
The lathe part does need work, these guys are right. We do mill turn with it but I think other programs have better offerings in that specific case.

tnmgcarbide · Feb 11, 2007

i agree, you shouldn't have post probs w/ a thing
like surfcam...you can edit your posts like you want to....the generic haas post should be 'haas'

featurecam, yes. unless you've "features"similar
to the pockets, contours,splines , offered...
featurecam's useless. the posts are limited, as they only offer someone else's ideal post, not a factory standard,or compromise.

Tom Lg · Mar 7, 2007

I use it for 3 and 4 axis milling. Stainless steels, Titanium, Aluminum, a variety of plastics.

rfjohn13 · May 26, 2007

Hello, my name is bob, i'm new to this forum(first post).
I supervise a manufactures machine shop. I do the programming for one cnc, a Deckel fp4nc dialog4.
We have Surfcam ver 7, I do not use it to machine, just upload my manual programs and that is why I am here. We do not have the right parameters for Surfcam to download our programs to the computer from the Dialog 4 control. Does anybody have suggestions?
bob

cam · May 26, 2007

Hi Bob
If you are looking for info for the Rs232 post to the Deckel forum. I do not think you can drip feed with that control unless there was a upgrade done to the control. But you can upload a program.
How do you like the Deckel?

rfjohn13 · May 26, 2007

Hi Cam, I don't know if there was an upgrade done.
I don't know what you mean by "drip feed".
I can download from the computer to the Deckel controller but not upload from the controller to the computer.
"How do I like the Deckel"? It is easy to program, has some bugs, the Z axis clutch just needed some adjustment, fixed it. The splash guards got scrunched, fixed them. The g84(tapping) sometimes gets locked down and won't reverse, not fixed. I like it overall.
bob

smallshop · May 27, 2007

Radracer,

I did (for 6 yrs)but hated it. Bought RhinoCam pro....love it. I would have bought Mastercam but couldn't afford it.As of 3 yrs ago(when I stopped using it) I felt SC was overpriced.MC has way more methods of getting a tool on and off the part for 2.5d. Rhinocam seems to have as many options as SC on 2.5 and seems much quicker to me on programming 3d stuff(at a third the price...). I do all prototype work with a lot of 3D surfacing.

I came to the company I work for after using mastercam for 2 yrs and felt cheated with SC. Surfcam is a good tool but it didn't click with me the way masterCam or Rhinocam did. It always seemed to me that I had to work too hard to keep from having a ton of tool retractions on any complex 3d shape. And planar cut gets old....

I do understand that cam systems are like cars. Some guys like chevy's and some guys....etc. So you Surfcam lovers...enjoy!...but I'm done with that ride.

scojen · May 29, 2007

Got it, hate it, use it for 2 1/2, 3, and 5 axis work. The 5 axis portion is undoubtly the worst I have ever used. When the money comes available will get Esprit software looked closely at it at IMTS very nice 5 axis module, user friendly even.

Scott

radracer · Sep 26, 2008

Still using surfcam and hate it. Can someone expain to to me how to post in lathe correctly? Let's say I use tool 3 to rough an OD, then I make another section using T3 to rougn OD deeper. When I go to post I want the tool to come out go home, change the insert and then go back to cutting.

When I do this as 1 setup the and insert post command (go home) and (machine stop) T3 goes home stops, but then when it goes back to the part it is in incremental. I have tried to insert in the post command absolute command, but it wont.

Instead I have to make each tool path a seperate setup, which then when I post I end up with a seperate program for each tool path. I then have to manually paste everything together and edit out all the M30 to M00. Is this is as good as it gets or am I missing something?

Bought the imfamous Dr. Dave Zamora Surfcam book and it sucks. It only shows how to mill a pocket. $90 and worthless.

j-squared · Sep 26, 2008

scojen said:
Got it, hate it, use it for 2 1/2, 3, and 5 axis work. The 5 axis portion is undoubtly the worst I have ever used. When the money comes available will get Esprit software looked closely at it at IMTS very nice 5 axis module, user friendly even.

Scott

5-Axis to cut what? Simultaneous or Positional?
Not that I'm knocking Esprit, but I can say that there are a lot of milling machine companies in bed with Esprit (mori seiki for one) - but you never see them using it for 5-axis at their open houses or at shows like IMTS.

CPT Crunch · Sep 27, 2008

Radracer,

There should be an easier way to do what you want. Can you post or PM me your postform.m file. Or if you're just using a standard post tell us which one.

Jason S · Sep 29, 2008

radracer said:
Still using surfcam and hate it. Can someone expain to to me how to post in lathe correctly? Let's say I use tool 3 to rough an OD, then I make another section using T3 to rougn OD deeper. When I go to post I want the tool to come out go home, change the insert and then go back to cutting.

When I do this as 1 setup the and insert post command (go home) and (machine stop) T3 goes home stops, but then when it goes back to the part it is in incremental. I have tried to insert in the post command absolute command, but it wont.

Instead I have to make each tool path a seperate setup, which then when I post I end up with a seperate program for each tool path. I then have to manually paste everything together and edit out all the M30 to M00. Is this is as good as it gets or am I missing something?

Bought the imfamous Dr. Dave Zamora Surfcam book and it sucks. It only shows how to mill a pocket. $90 and worthless.

Been using SC 3-1/2 Axis plus w/Lathe for 12 yrs. Sounds like a simple post fix and a procedure adjustment on your part. PM me and I can help you out.

scojen · Sep 29, 2008

J-squared,
About Espirit you need only to ask I took files with me to IMTS, one trim path and a cranial in solid and polylines. I specified how I wanted to see each of the files cut. It took them less time to give me the run down and generate cut files than I could ever do it in Surfcrap and the methods used was so easy that little or no training would be needed for most programmers. Plus the vector manipulation for the trim line was as good or better than Camand. Try manipulating vectors in Surfcrap to me it is a real pain, plus you cannot modify a string of vectors all at once in surfcrap. Everything was cut simultaneous fully interpolated real poetry in motion.

Scott

moldcore · Sep 30, 2008

I’m confused about what you mean by a “string of vectors”. Do you mean surface flow arrows?

scojen · Oct 1, 2008

Moldcore,

Vectors are typically used for cutting a trim line where you want to orient the spindle to stay perpendicular to the surface you are cutting. The surface flow arrows are probably the same thing its just that different programs call them by a slightly different name.

Scott

Surfcam users

Plastic

Cast Iron

Aluminum

Hot Rolled

Cast Iron

Plastic

Diamond

Cast Iron

Plastic

Aluminum

Plastic

Diamond

Stainless

Plastic

Aluminum

Cast Iron

Aluminum

Stainless

Hot Rolled

Stainless

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