# Anyone else have problems with Dolphin Partmaster



## JohnsonFabrication (Oct 17, 2014)

I did some research and most places said Dolphin Partmaster was a good program to use, so i bought it, and have had nothing but problems with the CAM portion of it, nothing will function correctly. Errors continually pop up and nothing functions the way it is suppose to.  The CAD portion works ok, but it's useless to me without the CAM. Was wondering if anyone else had similar problems.


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## countryguy (Oct 17, 2014)

Hmmmm I'll try to help. I have Partmaster V12.  Just bought over the summer.  I'll say that I really feel it is powerful.  There are glitches and I often do a SAVE off my part and then Close and reopen both the CAD and the CAM packages. So yes, I have it hiccup, but nothing too crazy like you seem to have?  
     I run this on Windows 7.  It is a very clean Win7.  Plenty of memory.  Good graphics card.  I use the Simulator all the time and LOVE it!  Never seem to have issues there either?  
I'll try to help as I'm in IT and work on a lot of software.    Can you tell me what OS you have, How old the PC is?  Any details you can think of?    Feel free to hit me w/ a PM if you like.   Let's get you going.


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## JohnsonFabrication (Oct 18, 2014)

Appreciate the help. I'm running Windows 7, older (2006) quad core processor. Radeon 3850 graphics, lots of memory. I've tried the save, then restart, i've saved geometry changes in every format that the software offers to save in, nothing will import. I can use the tool bar buttons, but none of the canned routines function, i continually get dll won't load errors, or errors where it says it can't find an exe file. Dcad seems to work ok, but the Dcam the way it is right now is horrid. and it does this on two different systems, i have it installed on an Asus laptop that is only a year old running Windows 8 (not my favorite os, but it is what it is), and i'm getting the exact same errors on that. The install on the laptop has the full activation, on my desktop is the trial version. 
I don't work in IT, but I do have a Bachelors in it, so i know i'm not crazy  :think1:


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## countryguy (Oct 20, 2014)

Wow... Two different systems?   Hmmm  It must be something odd w/ their Load possibly?   OK,  - Would you or have you tried booting to "safe mode" of windows just to exclude some of the drivers possibly?    Also,  Andre of the UK does monitor their OEM forum on CNCZone.   They own it and run it.  
I have posted there w/ some spotty results.    If you want, I would be willing to do an output of my DLL  listing from the install dir.  I honestly cannot recall how I got the software?  I assume I downloaded it, but I do not recall if I saved a large ZIP source or not?     
On my Help About, my sfw lists out as "V12,2, 1013, 0 ".    Some other thoughts include-  Do you run any common AV of anytime on both?  or anything common to both of those PCs?  
I know I hit ya w/ a lot of stuff on this thread.  PM me if you wish and I can send you my email account.  I've been really busy w/ work so have not hit HM as much as I want!  (or need  
Jeff.


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## JohnsonFabrication (Oct 20, 2014)

i put a post on cnc zone, but no one answered it. I do not run the same av on both systems, and on one, it's disabled because it intereferes with my gaming, i just scan it for viruses often. I've tried it on more than 2 systems, and they all act the same. Dcad works fine, Dcam comes up but that's about it, error after error, or it won't do anything at all. Nothing works the way it is supposed to. I am strongly feeling they have a corrupt download of some kind going on.

the first system is a desktop with windows 7 ultimate, the other is a year old Asus laptop with Windows 8. nothing really common to both units at all.


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## WVJIM (Nov 30, 2014)

JohnsonFabrication said:


> I did some research and most places said Dolphin Partmaster was a good program to use, so i bought it, and have had nothing but problems with the CAM portion of it, nothing will function correctly. Errors continually pop up and nothing functions the way it is suppose to.  The CAD portion works ok, but it's useless to me without the CAM. Was wondering if anyone else had similar problems.



I have exactly the same problems. CAM side bombs out endlessly. Support at Dolphin says it is my computer, lack of memory, graphics, yada yada, but it seems to run everything else flawlessly. Also my system reports 2 GB of memory free while running Partmaster so I don't think that's it. I later found Vcarve Pro after purchasing Partmaster and love it. Runs great, quick, does a good job for CAM. Just need to use another CAD program. I'm also looking at Cut3d by Vectric which is more of a "machining" application. You might want to check these out. Vcarve does have simple 2d design capabilities as long as you can think in 3d. Below is the simulator output for a small flywheel I designed in Vcarve.


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## JohnsonFabrication (Dec 2, 2014)

That flywheel looks nice. The Dolphin people say they have fixed it, but i'm skeptical. They claimed they had sent me the fix a week earlier, but i didn't get anything from them, until i once again asked for a refund, which they promptly ignored, then sent me a download link to what they say is a "fix". I'll install it this weekend and see how it does. Looks like i'm going to be out the money i paid for this program that does not work correctly. I am going to see about the Fusion 360 cloud deal that Autodesk has going on, costs less than Dolphin and should work with the Autocad drawings i already have.


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## WVJIM (Dec 6, 2014)

JohnsonFabrication said:


> That flywheel looks nice. The Dolphin people say they have fixed it, but i'm skeptical. They claimed they had sent me the fix a week earlier, but i didn't get anything from them, until i once again asked for a refund, which they promptly ignored, then sent me a download link to what they say is a "fix". I'll install it this weekend and see how it does. Looks like i'm going to be out the money i paid for this program that does not work correctly. I am going to see about the Fusion 360 cloud deal that Autodesk has going on, costs less than Dolphin and should work with the Autocad drawings i already have.



Sad to say but Dolphin will not do any refunds. Been there, did that, out of the money also. Bad that so many people are being ripped off. Never heard of Fusion 360. I'll have to check it out.....


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