Re: The saga of my software quest...

Tom..I would welcome such a review as i just started looking for
software and have never run a CNC before. Your experance would be
valuable in the review.

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com, "Tom Caudle" <tom@t...> wrote:
> Well, I just burned up about 30 hours downloading and running evals
> on a bunch of CNC/CAM software. I got programs from all over the
WEB
> including one from India and another from Switzerland! I was
> determined to find a program or programs that ran and satisfied my
> preverse desire to run my CNC stuff in Windows. I did not rule out
> DOS based programs but my desire was to stay 100% "GUIE" if
> possible. Price was a consideration but as long as the total was
> below a kilobuck I kept it in the hat for eval. I did not spend
any
> time on the EMC software...a lot of you guys are already doing that
> and I can just sit back and read your stories. Some of the
available
> programs have no eval available so didn't get considered. Some of
> the higher priced offerings were the most disappointing. I made
> notes about each one. I wanted a package that did not require me
to
> spend a lot of time slogging around in g-code editors. I have
better
> things to do with my time than g0 back and start programming in NC
> code! (like waste 30 hours doing evals).
>
> My interest was in 3 axis (2 1/2 in some views) milling type
programs
> I could use on my yet to be completed Plasma machine. I did not
eval
> any lathe programs.
>
> For those of you that are starting out in the CNC world and would
> like my decidedly biased views on the best software, then I am
> considering writing a "tell all" report and making it available for
> download. I'm sure it will start some heated threads. If enough of
> you say "do it" then I WILL! Maybe it will prompt some of the
really
> lame programs to take a look at what they offer. I've spent the
last
> 4 years of my life having people tell me what was wrong or missing
in
> my programs...now I get to do it to someone else.