Cam only? Was: re: BobCAD/CAM v.s. Dolphin CAD/CAM

I've been following the discussion on which programs to use, but i've seen
most of them and personally the all have terrible modelers. I'm use to
Rhino, Catia, Unigraphics, Autocadd, ect.. I would like to know which
programs can only do CAM really well, and NURBS support! All that i've seen
so far are pathetic dxf and stl polygon CAM routers. Are there no advaced
CAM only routing programs? I am familiar with Stlworks, but this seems like
it was written for windows 3.1 and i'm on XP. I am guessing that aren't
available because they are for high end machines only and hence VERY
expensive or custom designed.

----- Original Message -----
From: "follicely_challenged" <dave_pearson@...>
To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2002 2:13 PM
Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] 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
>
>
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