Moving on from Mastercam 2021 to either 2022 or 2023

[BubbasDaddy]

Hello fellow metal heads,

So we are looking to finally move on from MC 2021 to either 2022 or 2023. It would be great to get some feedback on the enhancements and new features from actual users of the software and not salesmen. Sales will tell whatever you want to hear, lol. Our sales team (Prototek) just informed me that after 3 years it is a major headache to upgrade. We want to stay current with the times but we also don't want to take steps backwards and become beta testers for 2024. Everyone knows what I mean when I say that. Regardless we are moving on to either 2022 or 2023 so any and all feedback between those 2 is greatly appreciated.

[gcode]

I would go straight to 2024

Upgrading is a PIA ... if you are going to do it, go to the current version and save yourself from doing it 

once on and again later on.

We are not supposed to dis our Mastercam dealers, but your dealer's attitude dumbfounds me.

He wants to sell you maintenance, but discourages you from upgrading???  WTF 

 

[Jobnt]

6 minutes ago, gcode said:

your dealer's attitude dumbfounds me.

The way I read it the dealer was encouraging them to upgrade because it gets harder and harder with each release. 

And I agree with OP, I don't want to be a beta tester for 2024 and would wait at LEAST until release 3. I may bite the bullet and have it installed along with 2020 so I can try it out.

[gcode]

The dealer is right.

The Migration Wizard only goes 3 rev's back.

So

If you are at MC2021 you can migrate to 2024 in one jump

If you are at 2021 and want to migrate to 2025 you'll need to update your posts to 2024 and then again to 2025

I had an old dormant X9 post I needed to use in 2023 last year and that was a real PIA

[MrFish]

2023 has been very stable and some nice features. Just started using 2024 in anger and have found and reported a number of bugs already, plus the handling of fixtures for verify/simulation is very cumbersome for our work flow. So if its a time critical or intensive programming part its still done in MC2023 at the moment.

[Mick]

29 minutes ago, MrFish said:

2023 has been very stable and some nice features. Just started using 2024 in anger and have found and reported a number of bugs already, plus the handling of fixtures for verify/simulation is very cumbersome for our work flow. So if its a time critical or intensive programming part its still done in MC2023 at the moment.

It must be horrible having cumbersome handling of fixtures and workholding in verify/simulation. Or toolpathing for that matter. *cough*

Sorry, couldn't resist

[JoshC]

for the original poster i would just say in most cases is extremely easy to upgrade to a new version, i would suggest you install mastercam 2023 first then run migration wizard, then install mastercam 2024 and upgrade all your mastercam 2023 to mastercam 2024, so simply run 2 migration wizard processes instead of one. If you don't upgrade to mastercam 2024 then you really should run all of the updates for 2023 and by the time you do all of that you may as well have just installed 2024, its worth it in my opinion and 2024 is in general better than 2023 especially if you use 2023 without all the update patches. 

just be aware if your posts are outside default "shared" folder locations then those need updated and re-linked, which is typically best to have your reseller assist with, but if posts, tool libraries, etc. are kept in default locations then a basic migration does a really incredible job and the new version should receive all your settings, etc. 

[MWearne]

I would suggest 2022 or 2024. Either jump into a better implementation of the new MGS or don't touch it at all.

[sharles]

I am NOT one of the guys who automatically moves up. We completely skipped 2020 and 2021 because of some bugs that completely broke some of the stuff we constantly used, but of 2022, 2023 and 2024, so far I'm happiest with 2024. So, if I were you, I wouldn't waste time on any of the other versions.

[BubbasDaddy]

On 8/22/2023 at 8:03 AM, Jobnt said:

The way I read it the dealer was encouraging them to upgrade because it gets harder and harder with each release. 

And I agree with OP, I don't want to be a beta tester for 2024 and would wait at LEAST until release 3. I may bite the bullet and have it installed along with 2020 so I can try it out.

Thanks for the reply!!

 

Yes, you read it correctly. Sometimes I don't articulate myself that welly, lol. We are on 2023 and encountered our first bug..

On 8/22/2023 at 6:15 PM, JoshC said:

for the original poster i would just say in most cases is extremely easy to upgrade to a new version, i would suggest you install mastercam 2023 first then run migration wizard, then install mastercam 2024 and upgrade all your mastercam 2023 to mastercam 2024, so simply run 2 migration wizard processes instead of one. If you don't upgrade to mastercam 2024 then you really should run all of the updates for 2023 and by the time you do all of that you may as well have just installed 2024, its worth it in my opinion and 2024 is in general better than 2023 especially if you use 2023 without all the update patches. 

just be aware if your posts are outside default "shared" folder locations then those need updated and re-linked, which is typically best to have your reseller assist with, but if posts, tool libraries, etc. are kept in default locations then a basic migration does a really incredible job and the new version should receive all your settings, etc. 

Thanks my guy. I wanted 2024 but we wanted to avoid bugs/glitches. We are encountering our 1st bug as we speak. Getting the attached when attempting to merge a parasolid..

[BubbasDaddy]

On 8/22/2023 at 7:55 AM, gcode said:

I would go straight to 2024

Upgrading is a PIA ... if you are going to do it, go to the current version and save yourself from doing it 

once on and again later on.

We are not supposed to dis our Mastercam dealers, but your dealer's attitude dumbfounds me.

He wants to sell you maintenance, but discourages you from upgrading???  WTF 

 

Perhaps that came off wrong. The dealer was encouraging 2024, but the powers that be (my boss) did not want to become beta testers. The upgrade commenced because our dealer had mentioned that Migration wizard only goes back 3 years, that and I want to be current with the times. We went to 2023 and I've encountered our 1st issue, see attached. Happens while attempting to merge a parasolid file. One parasolid will merge and one will not. Most likely a solid problem. Our tech support is on it as we speak.

[cruzila]

I see a LOT of little edges there. Not surprised there's issues

[Aaron Eberhard]

Yeah, I don't think that's a 2023 thing... I'm guessing the model has corruption.    I'd be happy to try to open it in 2024 for ya, though.. [email protected] if you want to send it over.