RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] WHICH CAD AND CAM SOFTWARE PRODUCT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR MY APPLICATION & WHY?

I will put in my traditional plug for Vector and IMS. Vector does use a
very different philosophy for drawing than the AutoCad clones and it has
taken me quite a while to get over my expectation that I can draw in it
like I did in DesignCad. While I had found Vector to be very powerfull
and useful previously and more than worth the money the new manual that
was introduced a few months ago really revolutionized my ability to use
Vector. I now am finding it much easier to work with than DesignCad and
of course the CAM ability is as stellar as ever. There is a new 32 bit
version of Vector that Fred is promising in 1 month (and he is the type
of guy that honors his promises) that will add long file name support
(one of my few complaints with Vector) along with a few other
capabilities to the already impressive list. The upgrade is listed as
being free to anyone that purchases Vector at this point and looking on
Fred's special CAD_CAM list discount sheet he is offering some great
deals particularly on cross-grades.

Why would I recommend Vector?
1 - It is a solid product that give a LOT of bang for the buck.
2 - It is under continuious development and upgrades with features to
make it even more useful and powerfull are being added rapidly. Last
update added multi-level pockets and swept curve pockets among other
thing.
3 - The support from Fred is excellent. He not only supports Vector at a
level that is hard to believe, but he has supported this list with
extensive sharing of his experience in both machining and CAD/CAM
software.
4 - As CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO list members we get great deals on Vector.
5 - Fred is working hard to cater to the hobby machinist. He has done
custom output files for many of the controller packages we are likely to
use including EMC and CNC Pro and is willing to do others if there is
demand for them.

Enough said.

Tim
[Denver, CO]

> -----Original Message-----
>
> Hi Eric:
> If you have lots of money to spend, get Featurecam by
> Engineering Geometry systems. It is an excellent package for
> beginners, and is powerful enough for most general machine
> shop users. A better, but slightly more arcane product is
> Mastercam. This is the one that I am using now. A lot of CAD
> CAM EDM DRO list members are using VectorCAD from IMS
> Services. The buzz appears to be that it is adequately
> powerful, but a bit "unusual" to learn. It is WAY cheaper
> than the others I have mentioned. The general consensus
> appears to be that Bobcad is crummy, and that the support is
> dreadful. I can't speak from personal experience on either
> Vector or Bobcad, but I know from his posts that Fred at IMS
> (Vector) is very knowledgeable and very helpful, not just to
> his customers but to list members who have asked questions
> unrelated to his product. I think that this speaks volumes
> for the service you can expect from IMS, and in your
> position, this is probably the way I would go as a hobbyist. Cheers
>
> Marcus
> Addresses:
> FAQ: http://www.ktmarketing.com/faq.html
> FILES: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO/files/