Looking for CAM software

hman

hman

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H-M Lifetime Diamond Member
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I bought a DynaMyte DM2400 CNC mill about a year ago and have been exploring CNC. The mill came fully set up with Centroid and has been working well. I've settled on Alibre for the CAD work. My favorite CAD software, CREO Elements Direct (formerly Solid Designer) is ungodly expensive for a home shop, but I found a free version - which is unfortunately severely limited in available output formats.

I did try Fusion 360, and was able to make some 3D parts, using the native CAM capability. But Fusion seems to have started playing games with its users - strong hints that it's about to get expensive.

At the moment I'm using CamBam to convert Alibre .DXF output to Gcode. But CamBam is pretty primitive (very few features and viewing capability, weird, poorly documented parameter lists, etc) and I'm looking for something a bit better.

Got a sales call today from Alibre, soliciting me to buy one of their super-duper upgrades. While on the phone with the salesman, I asked about CAM. He told me to go to their website and look at EZ CAM, Spurt CAM, or Mecsoft Alibre CAM-Mill. (PS - the Alibre upgrades are pretty spendy, so I'll stick with what I have.)

Does anybody have experience with any of the aforementioned programs ... and are they worth the cost?

EZ CAM is $1K for Express, $2500 for an un-named medium version, and $4K for Pro.

Ezcam Cad Cam Software CNC Simplified CNC Mill,CNC Turn,EDM

Ezcam Cad Cam Software CNC Simplified, CNC Milling Software,CNC Turning Software, CNC Wire EDM Software, Best CNC Software, Best Price CNC Software, CNC Cad/Cam
ezcam.com

Mecsoft's Alibre CAM-Mill Express is $600; other versions go up as high as $10K.

AlibreCAM - MILL | MecSoft Corporation

With the power and functionality of Alibre Design's parametric design capabilities with the robust and powerful milling capabilities of MecSoft's standalone CAM software, AlibreCAM delivers outstanding ease of use, associativity to design, power, speed and affordability.
mecsoft.com mecsoft.com

Spurt CAM is apparently a Russian company They don't list prices anywhere on the website, so it's probably ungodly expensive.
www.sprutcam.com

SPRUT Technology

Developers CAM/CAD system for CNC machines and industrial robots
www.sprutcam.com www.sprutcam.com

Other than these, does anybody have any decent CAM software to suggest that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

PS - Looked at jumps4's sticky thread, which lauded d2cnc. Though the software looks capable, it's apparently fully devoted to Mach3, not Centroid. One thing I learned early on was that the correct post processor is vitally important to the success of any Gcode output. Durn!
 
I use BobCad. It had done all that I need. It is not very intuitive and you have to put up with some very aggressive sales people. I don't have a problem with the sales people and they will negotiate on price (significantly). Tell them you are hobbyist and use it for non-commercial purposes (assuming that is true) and then play hard to get. You will likely get a price that is hugely discounted. My first purchase, took several weeks before they offered a price that I could afford. They have many incremental up-charges that you will need to be aware of as well. After using it for a few years, I have made peace with the non-intuitive interface and one of the recent upgrades made some good progress on improving the interface.

I am sad to hear that Fusion360 may start to charge for home users. I hope it is just a rumor.
 
If you've never used Inventor, I'd at least take a look at a few video tutorials to see what it can do. The HSM module is pretty good. It's nice to complete a project start to finish with the same software. There are plenty of tutorials and it took a few weeks to get really comfortable, with it (I'm by no means a power user) but its not too bad.
I can also directly output my machining/cut files for the CNC mill, CNC router and 3d printer STL files.
Not sure of your status, but if you (or someone in your family) is a student, just go online a sign up for a free educational software and get the latest versions of Inventor and HSM and free license files. It's a fairly simple process online. They also provide free trials.
 
Fusion360 is still a good option. Yes, they recently changed their subscription agreement but it is still free to non-commercial subscibers. I renewed a few weeks ago, at no cost, with little more than pushing a button.

I also use CamBam. As you said it's limited on the 3D side but I find it easy to use for 2D and 2.5D operations. And I find their support forum to be one of the best. Several members are commercial users and freely share their experiences and plugins. The CAD side is a bit cumbersome but once I got used to using it I can draw a simple model and generate code in a matter of minutes.

When I first got into CNC I bought D2NC. It was cheap and got me going. I wouldn't consider it to be a serious contender once you want to move on from basic profiling and pocketing.

My 2 cents.
 
Thanks to all! I now have some new options to try out.
 
I have used Alibre for a very long time. I am retired and make some parts for the company that I retired from in my home shop. I have retrofitted a Bridgeport Series 1 CNC with modern controls and bought a copy of Alibre Atom to do my CAD work with. So far Alibre Atom has done everything that I have asked it to do, I am very happy with it. On the CAM side of things, I also used CamBam, it was very limited and somewhat clumsy, but it did allow my to earn enough money to buy MecSoft for Alibre at $600. (I really wish that I would have put the money For CamBam towards the Mecsoft software)

I find the combination to be very easy to use and as I said before "it does everything that I ask of it." There is a bit of a learning curve but as with anything, the more you use it, the easier it is to use. I am very happy with this setup.

Also, Mecsoft comes with a lot of post processors so you should have no problem finding one that will work with your controller. ( I am using Mach 4)

Richard
 
Find this post timely as I've been struggling with the new Fusion 360 licensing terms. While I still qualify for their free startup license terms, I have been unable to renew (since early November). The Fusion 360 forums contain numerous posts where the conclusion is that unless your startup is sexy and highly visible, you can no longer get a commercial free startup license. Can't talk to the free individual hobbiest license, except I now notice that the software functionality is now reduced, unlike the case a couple of years ago when all the licenses had access to the same software.
 
UPDATE:

I've been pretty busy with a number of other projects since I first posted this, but I'm finally getting ready for some serious looking and doing. Toward that end, I've sent some inquiries to Solidworks (which apparently has a CAM add-on) and taken a second look at several options for Alibre add-ons.

The first was sprutCAM (mentioned in my original posting. I went to their website again, and tried to ask about pricing on two different message pages. Both of them returned errors. And the only phone number anywhere on the website appears to be one in Russia. They do list a US office in Wisconsin, but no phone # ... Something smells mighty fishy here!

My second effort was look at MecSoft. I'd originlly mentioned that their software is $600 and up. But now they're mentioning a free (though limited) version called "Freemill" for Alibre Design. I've sent an inquiry to find out if it also works with Atom.

Thirdly, I've taken Boswell's suggestion and made contct with BobCAD/CAM, just to see if I can get some kind of discount.

I'll post additional information as I receive it. Thanks again to all who responded to my original question.
 
Hi
I use D2NC to do 99% of my work . I don't use it's drawing part only the cam for 2d and 4th axis.
It's $79 and uses DXF files I Draw with Emachineshop that is free and easy to use.
See D2Nc here http://d2nc.com/index.html
If you search Youtube for jumps42009 I have videos on how I use the 2 softwares. ( they are not great quality in the first ones but get better )
Steve
 
Last edited:
hman said:
UPDATE:

I've been pretty busy with a number of other projects since I first posted this, but I'm finally getting ready for some serious looking and doing. Toward that end, I've sent some inquiries to Solidworks (which apparently has a CAM add-on) and taken a second look at several options for Alibre add-ons.

The first was sprutCAM (mentioned in my original posting. I went to their website again, and tried to ask about pricing on two different message pages. Both of them returned errors. And the only phone number anywhere on the website appears to be one in Russia. They do list a US office in Wisconsin, but no phone # ... Something smells mighty fishy here!

My second effort was look at MecSoft. I'd originlly mentioned that their software is $600 and up. But now they're mentioning a free (though limited) version called "Freemill" for Alibre Design. I've sent an inquiry to find out if it also works with Atom.

Thirdly, I've taken Boswell's suggestion and made contct with BobCAD/CAM, just to see if I can get some kind of discount.

I'll post additional information as I receive it. Thanks again to all who responded to my original question.
Click to expand...
Hi John,

SprutCam is the one pushed by Tormach. That's probably where the Wisconsin number came from. Tormach has at least 3 SprutCAM packages ranging from $800 - $1800. There's also consulting available for $185 per hour. Not a bad gig if you've got the knowledge. . . .

Bruce
 
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