What CAM/ NC software do you use mainly with Solidworks ?

[RSth]

Hi

What CAM/ NC software do you use mainly with Solidworks ?

TIA!




Best Regards,
RSth

 

[SWscience]

Two integrated CAM softwares exist
SolidCam and Camwork.
But I don't know which is better , Does anyone know ?
I need a CAM software for 2d and 3d toolpaths full integrated in solidworks 2004.
Does anyone used both of them to compare their abilities ?

Best regard.

 

[Boosie]

While not integrated GibbsCam works very well with SW. I have the GibbsCam transfer addin. This makes it real easy to use your solid models in Gibbs. Click one button and Gibbs opens and the part is inserted into a new file. If you are revising a part you are prompted to deal with the new file in the appropriate manner.

Works well for me.

One nice thing about Gibbs is that it read native SW.

Boosie On the Loose

 

[Heckler]

We have both MasterCAM and GibbsCam......but MasterCAM is considered a better software package amoung the Manufacturing Engineers. I like the thought of having an integrated CAM software but if the people that do the NC coding are not doing the designing it's somewhat pointless. CAMWorks is written by Teksoft which is another high end CAM software company. I can tell you 3D Milling is really the bomb in MasterCAM.

Best Regards,

Heckler

"Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups" John Kenneth Galbraith

 

[SWscience]

I know mastercam , but it hasn't a good interface for use.
I was useing it before , but because I want just 2d machining now , I prefer to use another.
Mastercam 10 , has very very better interface , but it has some bugs which I dont risk to use that.
Did you use solidcam ?
What about that ?

 

[aamoroso]

I used to use Surfcam, it worked well with SolidWorks, there was a translator for going in either direction. I am not sure if Surfcam is even still around though, it has been a while. Surfcam was awesome for molds, it was originally developed by a mold shop by some of the same people that developed MasterCam, the layouts and tools were almost identical but Surfcam would allow you to do anything you want to a part, including scrapping the part, so you need to understand your intentions before machining with it.

 

[tstanley]

We still use Surfcam (4 axis) and it is getting even better at working with Solidworks. Although it has had this ability for a while I just recently found out that you can attach surfaces to your model specifically for use with machining that come through to Surfcam. This helps a lot when you have various configurations of similar parts.

 

[aamoroso]

yeah, I remember using Surfcam and how nice it was to not fight with the Cam system to get what you want. It is also awesome at cutting in multiaxis machining too. We actually had to have them write a special portion of the software to create complex geometry that Solidworks, ProE, Catia and several others could not. It cost us about $10,000 to do it but they were willing to work with us when no one else was interested. They flew a developer down and he spent several days with us writing the software which created a special type of file and created over 4,000 complex angles around a helix while maintaining a normal relationship to a 4th and 5 axis. It was quite an amazing experience to be involved in the project.