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Machining Software choice:

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Message 1 of 15
Anonymous
448 Views, 14 Replies
‎03-12-2003 08:30 AM
‎03-12-2003 08:30 AM

Machining Software choice:

I work for a manufacturing plant that converted to IV about 2 years ago. We're now looking at purchasing software for our machining department. I've looked at EdgeCam & MasterCam. Both will accept IV files without any translators (thats very important to us). As I am not a machinist, I feel extremely uneducated & naive in trying to make a decision with what software to look at and what software to stay away from.

Can any of you give us some advice ?
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Message 2 of 15
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-12-2003 07:57 PM
‎03-12-2003 07:57 PM

Jeff,

It would be good to include the machining
department in this search since the decision should be theirs.

Jim


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
I
work for a manufacturing plant that converted to IV about 2 years ago. We're
now looking at purchasing software for our machining department. I've looked
at EdgeCam & MasterCam. Both will accept IV files without any translators
(thats very important to us). As I am not a machinist, I feel extremely
uneducated & naive in trying to make a decision with what software to look
at and what software to stay away from.

Can any of you give us some advice ?

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Message 3 of 15
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-13-2003 12:24 AM
‎03-13-2003 12:24 AM

The machining Dept. is definitely involved... I was hoping to generate some discussion about which software other companys are using (and happy with). Possibly giving me some advise about which software was easier to learn and use.
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Message 4 of 15
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-13-2003 12:41 AM
‎03-13-2003 12:41 AM

Also depends on what type of machines are you
trying to program. Are you strictly programming mills and lathes, or is it
turret punch presses and laser/plasma/water jets systems?


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
The
machining Dept. is definitely involved... I was hoping to generate some
discussion about which software other companys are using (and happy with).
Possibly giving me some advise about which software was easier to learn and
use.
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Message 5 of 15
cadteach
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-13-2003 01:43 AM
‎03-13-2003 01:43 AM

Jeff,

We just went through this. We ended up Esprit. So far things are going well. Two weeks into our Milling, and just a couple of days in the Wire EDM. (Had a problem on the Wire EDM with the post). Prior to purchase, I sent some pretty nasty models from my racecar for translation into Esprit and they came in fine, and generated good code.

Ed O'Halloran
Automation Tool & Die
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Message 6 of 15
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-13-2003 03:22 AM
‎03-13-2003 03:22 AM

Thanks...

That's the type of response I was hoping to generate.
I'll research more on Esprit to see if its a good match for us.

Jeff
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Message 7 of 15
jrcrane
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-13-2003 05:10 AM
‎03-13-2003 05:10 AM

Jeff,
You can contact Randy @ CIM Integraters on ESPRIT CAM. They are the best. http://www.cimtulsa.com/
JRC
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Message 8 of 15
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-13-2003 11:05 AM
‎03-13-2003 11:05 AM

We just got Esprit for conventional, C and Y-Axis
turning.  Our use will not be very conventional in that we are running
families of parts with lots of members.  The whole operation will tie in
with VBA and Microsoft Access to manipulate the code.  We are in the
early stages of development but it looks promising.  I will be taking the
training soon but have made a lot of progress on my own.

 

One downside is that it's supposed to install as a menu
item in IV but the version for IV6 is not out yet and we have long since moved
on from 5.3.  SAT files work fine in the development stages but will be
extra work as we move ahead.
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Message 9 of 15
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-13-2003 11:17 AM
‎03-13-2003 11:17 AM

Jeff, our company just purchased Gibbscam. We are
not very far into using it, but have been very pleased with the customer service
we have gotten. It does some really neat things. You can actually draw form
tools and they will be shown in the verifcation process. They have a couple of
other nice features. There is something called an airwall. Instead of drawing a
line to represent the edge of an outside pocket, you can make an airwall that
the software will recognize to only go past half the distance of the
cutter.  Also, if you are using the solidsurface module for Inventor (it
also works with the "other" cad packages) and you put a tool path on the part in
Gibbs, and then update the model, the toolpaths will update as well. The initial
set up of the cam package is a little work, but once you get your foundation
set, the rest follows very easily. It is Inventor 5 and 6 certified as well. I
am impressed so far.

 

If you have any questions for me, fell free to send
me an email.

 

Kevin

 

 


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
I
work for a manufacturing plant that converted to IV about 2 years ago. We're
now looking at purchasing software for our machining department. I've looked
at EdgeCam & MasterCam. Both will accept IV files without any translators
(thats very important to us). As I am not a machinist, I feel extremely
uneducated & naive in trying to make a decision with what software to look
at and what software to stay away from.

Can any of you give us some advice ?

Report
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Message 10 of 15
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-13-2003 01:57 PM
‎03-13-2003 01:57 PM

The menu issue when switching from R5.x to R6 isn't too difficult to do but
a bit more difficult to find.  If they need help, have them post a question
into the Inventor Customization newsgroup.  Several of us have already done
it.  The odds are pretty good that the menu is the only item which will have
problems.



Roger Harvey wrote:


cite="mid40F0F426D2929B25BE44ED025CA1558C@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb">
We just got Esprit for conventional, C and Y-Axis
turning.  Our use will not be very conventional in that we are running families
of parts with lots of members.  The whole operation will tie in with VBA
and Microsoft Access to manipulate the code.  We are in the early stages
of development but it looks promising.  I will be taking the training soon
but have made a lot of progress on my own.


 


One downside is that it's supposed to install as
a menu item in IV but the version for IV6 is not out yet and we have long
since moved on from 5.3.  SAT files work fine in the development stages
but will be extra work as we move ahead.



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Message 11 of 15
autocadder
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-13-2003 07:26 PM
‎03-13-2003 07:26 PM

I have heard good things about MasterCam. I use Esprit/W strictly for wire EDM programming. This is an older version, and we have not updated it because it works. After going thru the horrendous learning curve on that version of Esprit, I would not be too anxious to try another of their products, although there seems to be many here who are using it with great success.
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Message 12 of 15
fuccicl
Participant
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-13-2003 09:26 PM
‎03-13-2003 09:26 PM

I would suggets FeatureCAM from Engineering Geometry Systems. With its API programming capabilities you can open it up from inside of Inventor if you like or you can drag and drop into inventor no translations. Featurecam.com
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Message 13 of 15
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-17-2003 11:07 PM
‎03-17-2003 11:07 PM

"jrcrane" wrote in message
news:f14dc00.5@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Jeff,
> You can contact Randy @ CIM Integraters on ESPRIT CAM. They are the best.
http://www.cimtulsa.com/
> JRC

You're right about that!

Steve
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Message 14 of 15
DaveyC
in reply to: Anonymous
‎03-31-2003 10:30 PM
‎03-31-2003 10:30 PM

Kevin

We have started using GibbsCam but are having trouble with it. IGES files from Inventor are problematic. You referred to a solidsurface module. Is that an add-on?

Any info you can give would be greatly appreciated. I can be e-mailed at dcaithness@kditriangle.com

Dave Caithness
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Message 15 of 15
aewrmc
Advocate
in reply to: Anonymous
‎04-02-2003 07:18 AM
‎04-02-2003 07:18 AM

I have been using Hypermill from Open Mind with MDT for a few years now. We have changed over to Inventor and are investigating which CAM package to use. Delcam's Powermill looks very good but I'm waiting for Hypermill in Inventor to see if it has the same functionality as it does in MDT which is very good. Edgecam was not an option as it didn't have appropriate 5 Axis strategies.
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