Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Which is the best Cad-Cam Software?

stevenson_engineers wrote:

> >--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., Jon Elson <elson@p...> wrote:
> >
> > I have Bobcad/CAM V16.1 It works, it is clumsy in some things, and
> > not immediately intuitive. but, once you get used to the way it
> >works,
> > you can do stuff pretty well. And, it is pretty reliable. I have
> >managed
> > to make shapes it couldn't cut in 3-D, and have a 3-D surface that
> >it
> > couldn't follow properly when milling, but the 2-5D stuff is rock
> > solid. I've never had it make a G-code program that was not exactly
> > what was drawn on the screen.
> >
> Jon,
> Sorry but I can't agre with you on this one.
> I have had too many parts ruined because of spurious moves that do
> not show up on the screen. For this reason I bought CNCedit as a
> simulation sofware just to check the files.
> If you look on their current web site help page you will see that the
> current V18 still has problems with random Z moves.
> I will agree that for the majority of simple 2 1/2 D moves it's fine
> but get into large files with many short moves and the faults show
> up. Typical of these is transposing a short G02 arc into its longer
> G03 brother. A fault incidently still shared by the Bobcad based
> programs such as Vector, although to give Vector their due they do
> admit this and are working on it. Bobcad on the other hand blame the
> operator.

Hmm, very interesting. Well, I do most of the simple stuff with my
little programs for pockets, boring holes, etc. But, I have done some
more complicated things, nearly all 2.5D, with no problems ever showing
up. The two things I did with winskin that I had problems with both
clearly showed up on the screen tracing. One was small enough that
I made the part with the error, the other caused me to redesign the
part. It probably made a better part, anyway - at least a lot easier to
machine!

Yes, Bobcad support is pretty much a joke - "Don't call us, we'll call you
and ask you to buy the new version!"

Jon