Mastercam Software: Looking for users and references. 2

[sanibel]

We are currently using AutoCAD 2000 and a CAM software, which has become obsolete, for generating our CNC programs for our machining centers. We are considering Mastercam software as a replacement CAM program. What experience has anyone had with this software, i.e. issues to look out for, importing AutoCAD conversions, etc.?

 

[knobhead]

We use MasterCAM here, (manufacturing gas turbine components) and we love it. It's very easy to use, (I basically taught myself to use it), and we now use it for all our 3D modelling.
Its one of these 'tick the box' type CAM packages, where you choose the area you want to machine, and then choose from a huge series of options to machine the part the way you want. You can also get third party plugins (C-hooks) to give you extra functionalitly, or write your own.
It works fine with Acad, though the converter is an additional extra. We havn't lost any data in the conversion yet.
It has a rather basic verification program, which isn't a patch on something like Vericut, but it is quite handy and fast. Customer support is great...we've run into a few minor bugs, (doing what we do, we tend to push CAM programs to the wall) and they've been dealt with quickly. They are also open to suggestions for the program to be improved.
We looked at about 25 CAM packages for our work, and this is the one we chose.

 

[ehigdon]

Have had excellent experience with Mastercam. Very easy transfer of .dxf data files and we use it universally for CNC milling. The part documentation then always matches the graphic data file in manufacturing. Our only problem being cost of upgrades as we are a small manufacturer selling to overseas(very competitive) markets. We use Autocad 14 or 2000 and Mastercam together to develop interlocked data sets on single parts and assemblies. When production is complete we return the graphic data from matercam to autocad for update revision by placing it in a locked layer (but identified) in the Autocad master file. Originally two of us learned Matercam over a period of 2 weeks( we were running parts on day two ). I have found we can teach the basics and get good results in two to five days but superior competency still requires a long term committment.
Error rates in CNC coding are extremely low to the point of neglible and the Mastercam program is very stable. We have written and coded more than 3000 programs with with up to 5 meg without problems for the last four years.
As we are not using the newest Mastercam version I cannot comment effectivly on every use you may have. When transferring graphics (.dwg) we are very careful to purge excess blocks, layers and linetypes. We found IGIS files to be be very cumbersome since so much history data would appear from previous part versions. If we had a very strict internal drawing system we could have avoided this but we have used autocad since 1987 and everything is a compromise seemingly.