Re: Surfcam 2002 Free

Surfcam use to have a logo on their CD case that said "50 years of
machining experience on one disk". That always irritated the shit out
of me. They soon did away with that tho. You can't program skill. I
do a lot of preaching on that subject. I'm a firm believer that in
order to be successful at CNC machining and programming, you have to
be somewhat skilled in the machining part and the skill doesn't come
in a text book or on a disk. Skill is the product of making
mistakes....hands on, "oh shit" mistakes.

Free is good, but you get what you pay for. 1000 lines of code is
only a good start. Most of the programs I do average 350,000 lines or
more. Thats a lot of cutting and pasting. But that's the main
difference between the 2D world and the 3D.....the amount of number
crunching and the size of your files.

Happy toolpaths!

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., "Doug Harrison" <prototype@c...> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: yethdear0 <yethdear0@y...>
>
> > The last time I was involved with the purchase of Surfcam, was for
> > version 2000. The current pricing then was as follows:
> >
> > 2.5 axis version...around $10K
> > 3axis Plus.........around $15K
> > 5axis..............around $25K
> >
> > That all comes with 1 year tech support. You got your check book
> > ready?
>
> Tech support is about $950 a year after that. And don't forget
$1,100 a day
> for training, $150/hour for writing posts, etc. Admittedly, the
tech
> support is quite good though.
>
> Surfcam, like Mastercam, now "prefers" to do the post development
for you.
> This is another way of saying that they will not give or even sell
you the
> documentation needed to develop or customize them yourself.
>
> These programs are definitely not for shops on a budget. The
regional
> Mastercam rep once told me that most of his customers didn't have
people
> capable of using the software they purchase. They buy the most
expensive
> package thinking it will eliminate the need for talented people in
the shop.
>
> Doug