Re: BobCAD/CAM v.s. Dolphin CAD/CAM

Ken,
I'll admit I'm biased towards Dolphin, thats because I started on the
path you are just beginning a long time ago, tried the demo's,
Bobcad, Vector, Choice CadCam etc. etc.
I produce CNC programs for a living, both for my own use, and for my
customers, I produce 90% of programs using Dolphin, 5% using Solidcam
2000 (complex 3D molds etc) and about 5% manually.
Why Dolphin? Mainly because when I produce a program, I can
confidently send it to the machine, press go, and it works, or send
it to my customer without me having to double check everything.
The Cad is simple and intuitive, you don't have to think
about 'chaining' (machining direction) while you are drawing, or
drawing offset contours to compensate for the cutter, just select the
parts of the drawing you require for machining, and export these to
the seperate Cam module.
The Cam is both simple and uncluttered, yet very powerful. Lots of
choices in how you machine something, on other systems I have tried
you generally have to re-draw (go back to Cad and re-chain) to
achieve this.
A very important feature is the support, both e-mail and telephone. I
have found in the past that some features were missing, or difficult
to use, after discussing these with the guys at Dolphin, a lot of
these features are now included/modified, this is how the system has
been developed, by us, the end-users.
On the down side of Dolphin, their 'on-line' manuals are not always
up-to-date, probably due to the constant development of the software,
I have complained about this, and they say they are 'giving it a
higher priority'.
One absolutely brilliant feature I found recently is that if you
mirror a 'go round' machining strategy across a single axis (X or Y),
the cut direction (climb/conventional) is maintained!
I believe that Dolphin has just appointed an agent in the US, who is
offereing discounts to 'hobby' members of this list, I don't have the
details to hand, but it was posted here around about Christmas time
so a quick search should find it.
IMHO, no other choice.

Dave Pearson

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., "mszollar" <mszollar@g...> wrote:
> I'm just getting started in the CAD/CAM world and have begin to
> review the different options for CAD/CAM software. I'm looking for
> reasonable price (this is only for a hobby), easy to use and full
> featured (in that order; see hobby note). I've been playing around
> with Dolphin (and like it) and have just downloaded BobCAD and will
> play with that as well. I've looked at a few others but most
others
> have been confusing (IMO) likely because I don't have a backround
in
> CAD/CAM or they where CAD only, requiring me to use a separate CAM
> package (IMO CAD/CAM in 1 package is a plus).
>
> Has anyone else done any eval of the various (lower cost) CAD/CAM
> systems? I'd be curious to hear from you if you have; it may save
me
> (and others on the list) time and $$).
>
> Please; this email is not intended to begin a war; I'm just curous
> about the good/bad of the various packages.
>
> Thanks,
> Ken