Fusion 360 CAM VS MasterCAM 1

[paulcook]

Apologies if this has been asked. With Fusion in active development, I can't find a recent opinion.

We're at a crossroads where we need to decide if we expand our MasterCAM license to include 3D 3-Axis Milling or switch to Fusion.

I floated Fusion as the cost for 7 years of the basic CAM package would be cheaper than just the upgrade on our MC license.

We do exclusively 3-Axis milling. We don't have the volume or finish requirements to require extremely dialed in programs.

How do the CAM packages compare? I've used Fusion CAM with good results, but I'm not a machinist, and all my work is prototype-level.

My concern with my Fusion suggestion is that I find Solidworks CAD VASTLY superior to Fusion 360s CAD. Is the difference in the CAM packages between Fusion and MC as significant as the difference between SW CAD and Fusion CAD? I don't want to hamstring our team to save a few bucks.

 

[looslib]

If you are using SolidWorks for your designs, do you want to switch to Fusion for that task?
SolidWorks and MasterCAM use the Parasolid modeling kernel while Fusion uses an AutoDesk modified version of ASICS.
If your machinists or whomever does your CNC programming now, are familiar with MasterCAM, do you want to take the hit on productivity by switching?
How much of your company's work is design versus manufacturing/prototype building?


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli

 

[mfgenggear]

Yep what he said

 

[paulcook]

No, we can't change to Fusion for modelling. Thousands of existing SW parts aside, the software is just too cumbersome / buggy IMO. Partly due to engineers being used to SW, but also I believe SW is fundamentally much better.

We do in-house production. Thousands of units of the same parts.

We have a new machinist who is just out of school and has experience with MasterCAM.

Traditionally, all of our parts were programmed conversationally through the control.

So we have a situation where we have a new machinist eager to program in CAM, with some but not deep MasterCAM experience.

I'm not super concerned with file types. STEP models are fine. We don't update parts a ton once they're in production.

My question is really how much better is MasterCAM's CAM vs Fusion's CAM? Does MC outpace Fusion in CAM as much as SW outpaces Fusion in CAD?

 

[mfgenggear]

I vote for Master cam, because not a wanta be cam program

 

[tygerdawg]

For more insight you could post this question on the Practical Machinist site or the CNCZone site. But beware: the folks there and their opinions on this subject can be very strong and they may rip the meat off your bones. I've seen it discussed in the same forum that MasterCam is fabulously functional and feature-rich anyone would be a moron to consider anything else, but at the same time blasted about being a bloated old-school legacy package that is well past its prime and offensively overpriced and under-supported (and anyone would be moron NOT to consider anything else). So you just have to sort through the noise to drill down to the truth I suppose.

If you are locked into SolidWorks, maybe you would consider SolidCAM.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Manufacturing Engineering Consulting

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[RobWard]

We started out in CAM with BobCAM.
For what we did it was fine.
It gets sneered at online and we keep considering SolidCAM, but the workflow looks very different to that which we are used to.
(I guess it's much the same as how people say the CAD package you learn first is the one you tend to prefer).
Moving to the BobCAD plug in for Solidworks made a big difference as we now do all the work within Solidworks and that makes things so much easier and faster.
BobCAM has evolved a lot over the last few years and we use it to produce some very complicated parts with good success.
I'm told that other programs are better if you are in a production environment making lots of parts where saving a few seconds makes a big difference, but we only make ones and twos so speed isn't that important to us.
(We also only use 3 axis, so I can't say how it stacks up against other programs when additional axes are used.)


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