RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: VectorCad opinions

|Why buy two programs and have the cut and paste hassle when one will
|do all the work seamlessly?

Familiarity
Customer Support
Price

And, perhaps, it isn't as much of a hassle as it might originally seem. I do
a lot of woodworking with a ShopSmith. I've heard all of the comments about
how difficult and time consuming it is to change from one mode to another.
However, I've never heard those comments from any of us who own and actually
use the machine because it's not a hassle.

I've yet to see a program that has NO shortcomings. One that I've noted with
all of the CAD programs that I've used is the expectation that the user
knows all of the diameters or radii of the holes to be drawn, which is not
necessarily true when it comes to numbered drills or taps. This is true of
Vector. So, I wrote a Windows based auxiliary program (DrillTap - Fred's
included it on his distribution CD) that allows the user to select a drill
by number, fraction, or letter or a screw tap or clearance and directs
Vector to place the hole automatically.

As far as cutting a thread, a CAD/CAM program's ability to generate the G33
is meaningless if the controller doesn't interpret it. And, as previous
messages have indicated, those in the hobbyest's price range that do are
limited. Taking the approach of generating the individual primitives in
G-Code helps assure that more controllers might be able to use the code
that's generated.

I've not really done much with the lathe (my Sherline's still manual), but I
doubt that it'd be that difficult to automate the functions used for the
lathe in the same manner.

-- Carol & Jerry Jankura
Strongsville, Ohio
So many toys, so little time....