RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Maxnc - don't buy it!

In spite of the opinion that many people have that EMC is too hard for a
mere mortal to install it is well worth looking at. If you don't want to
learn to install it yourself following the instructions given explicitly,
there are a number of people that are well versed in setting it up and would
probably be willing to setup a system you supplied for far less that the
$250.00 you have spent on a half baked package.

I know there are people that talk highly of Flashcut, but I have a hard time
justifying the price. You can put together one of Dan's 5 amp controllers,
user EMC or purchase CNCpro, and buy a copy of Vector and still have plenty
of change left over from the cost of Flashcut. This way you get a good solid
CAD/CAM package which is much better than the DXF conversion you get in
Flashcut.

Tim
[Denver, CO]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Rainone [mailto:mrain1@...]
> Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2000 4:30 PM
> To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com
> Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Maxnc - don't buy it!
>
>
> Thanks, Jon.
>
> There is no excuse for that kind of negligence. Maybe that is why
> Dan took the link from Maxnc off of his website, or at least I
> didn't see it the last time I looked. The TIMESET function works
> find on two axis', though it did not drive the third. The so-called
> instruction manual says something about the Z axis requiring an
> alternative parallel port address. How that works is beyond me,
> especially when the the pin out diagram indicates pins 6 & 7 are
> for Z step and direction. So I don't know what I have to do to get
> it to work.
>
> Anyway, I think that the lesson is clear, buy Maxnc at you own
> risk, in fact, don't buy it at all. What little I know of them is
> that they are just another machine shop outfit that solved a
> problem for themselves and are foisting the solution, half-baked as it
> is, on the rest of us. I don't care how well the program works
> for them, if an outside user can't use it, or has such bad
> documentation such that an outside user can't figure it out, it
> shouldn't be sold. That is the definition of fraud in my books.
> Sorry for the vitriol, but I am really pissed! I don't intend to
> ask for a refund, but will do my damnedest to keep other people
> from buying it, at least until they get off of there dead arses
> and have some decent documentation written for it. So, every time
> the question comes up about controller software you will see the
> "Maxnc - don't buy it" subject line appear.
>
> Problem is, what is the alternative? Yeager, Kellyware - I need
> true 3D. Any suggestion?
>
> Mike