Thread: What CAM software should I use?

I think all the talk about security is mostly a red herring and irrelevant to the discussion.

I think the real issue is what do you want to do with your CAM software? Fusion is not comparable to MasterCAM in terms of what it can do - in other words - it can't do everything MasterCAM can do. It's not like everyone buying MasterCAM are just idiots who like spending money. Having said that, NX and Powermill will do things MasterCAM won't do.

All of these softwares have a learning curve and once you get comfortable with one, it will be much harder to switch later rather than starting out with something you can grow into.

It really depends on what parts you want to make and how much time/money you can devote to learning vs how quick you need to be up and running.

I used MasterCAM every day and have for years. I know it inside and out. It's good, but has some huge annoyances. It does the job and is good mid-range CAM software. It's not high end. It's not NX or Powermill, but it's far ahead of Fusion. All depends if you need the extra capability or not.

I used Espirit and liked it but then forced to move on to Mastercam and instantly hated it (used the old Espirit 90% till that computer died ), got more used to it and with newer versions it got better but still 14years later it couldn't do what the old Espirit did (haven't seen the new versions though). Bought Fusion for at home and like what it can do , especially for the price. New day job has me learning GibbsCam , which I wouldn't recommend it to my competition out of fear of retaliation, horrible and 1/8th the options/toolpaths of MC, Espirit or Fusion even . Only had limited HSM time and it seemed ok but it had bad crashing tendencies , but quit that place before knowing all the causes.

Originally Posted by DieselMater86

If you want to keep it easy and have less license to deal with Solid Works CAM since you already have Solid Works. Next to that would be Fusion only becuase Inventor you have to buy a Product Development package that you won't need. SW Cam will save you the time of figuring out something you don't already know. If I was the boss I would want you to hit the ground making chips as fast as possible.

I agree with the first part of what is said here but not the second. Why not if you like SW CAM then you can upgrade to SW CAM professional, which is what I have and am pretty satisfied with. Past that if you like that product but need more you can upgrade to CAMworks which (which SW CAM and SW CAM pro are light versions more or less of).

Since I got SW CAM pro I have not thought about Fusion at all and don't intend to give autodesk another dime this side of the grave. Mixing SW and Autodesk products does not sound like a good idea.

Originally Posted by Pete Deal

I agree with the first part of what is said here but not the second. Why not if you like SW CAM then you can upgrade to SW CAM professional, which is what I have and am pretty satisfied with. Past that if you like that product but need more you can upgrade to CAMworks which (which SW CAM and SW CAM pro are light versions more or less of).

Since I got SW CAM pro I have not thought about Fusion at all and don't intend to give autodesk another dime this side of the grave. Mixing SW and Autodesk products does not sound like a good idea.

That is why I suggested SW make it easier and less hassle. Yet far as mixing the two they do fine together. The engineer I work with obviously has SW and I use Inventor been doing this for 3 years with no issues. Now I understand not wanting to use Autodesk that is a personal preference. If I was the owner and could afford SW I would completely stick with just SW hands down best thing on the market.

Originally Posted by keethan

Right now i will just be learning the basics so it will be simple parts. But moving on it will become complex. Any reason why u suggest moving to a cam not tied with solidworks?

If you're doing simple parts then I'd go with some of the suggestions so far. At the moment it appears you don't need an upper tier software until you get into manufacturing with more than 3-axis, non-prismatic/free-form/complex part modeling, advanced assemblies and drafting; perhaps some CAE too. Another thing to consider is the ability to access software functionality at a C/vb level but really, that's more of an automation consideration if you need a lot of cam programming throughput. If you look at oem's in automotive, aerospace and defense, none of them use anything but top tier software and I reiterate if you are doing relatively simple, 3-axis parts then look at some of the recommendations so far. You'll be very capable and happy with them, not to mention will be able to operate on a relatively small budget.