Mastercam or Esprit for wire edm?

[cwelter]

We are currently evaluating Mastercam's wire package. We are running with Esprit right now for our Mits FX10. We use Mastercam mill8 as our primary cam system and only have Esprit for the wire, cause of a recomendation. I am interested in anybodys expierences or opinions on Mastercam's wire package.

Thanks

Cwelter

[patr]

We have been using mastercam for programming our sodick with the mark 25 controller for two years now. We also use mastercam version 8 for our primary software for programming lathe & mill 3d & 4 axis. We found,not only for economic reasons but also the user friendly enviroment that mastercam offered, it became our choice for an all around sofware. To best of our knowledge the major difference in esprit is that they add the wire cutting conditions to the header of the program, where we have to enter them at the controller on the machine>

[Glenn Bouman]

Patr, you need to talk to your dealer about adding that output to your post.

[JAMMAN]

I worked at a place that had a mits fx10 and 3 other mits wires. They programmed them all from a 486 dx2/50 with V3.2 mcam mill. They are making a lot of money and have V8 now for their Fadal's, but have found no need to upgrade for their wires.

BTW, I used the same computer while I was there to program 2 moore jig grinders with xxxxor controlls.

[JAMMAN]

May I add, I saw an esprit demo at the last IMTS in Chicago, and would not use it at any price.

The IMTS this year might be a good place for a few of us forum members to get together and say howdee- any takers?

[BernieT]

I used Esprit at another shop about 5 years ago. It worked OK, especially for 2D. I couldn't find a good enough reason to recommend a change to Mcam. But if buying new I would go with Mcam - much easier to learn, and much better at 3D. At the time my opinion was that Esprit was way too expensive for it's capabilities. (and unless you paid for support they wouldn't talk to you).

[robert campbell]

on a completely different subject does anyone out there still have a seat of the old SFCAM/SFC98win Wire EDM software mad by Burghoff Engineering. It was sort of popular back in the 80's and the software I used for 25 years. I would like to buy the software and key if anyone knows of someone that still has this that they do not use. My position as a extrusion plastics tooling designer was recently eliminated and I could really use a seat of this software to hopefully do some design work at home. Any help or leads would be greatly appreciated.

[jlw™]

 

 

I'm an esprit user. Esprit is powerful software. The company I work for is changing based on cost to what you get for the money. We needed more seats and mcam won based on product to cost analysis.

 

I have never used either for wire. In my opinion, Esprit wins in stock recognition because it's much easier and you create it once. Mcam wins big in part orientation because of the Gnomon. Mcam also wins in the 2d paths. I use peel mill A LOT now that I have it. 3d paths are practically the same. Esprit is easier to work directly from solids but mcam does the exact same thing but with twice as many clicks (You have to activate solids every single op).

 

I like how esprit has a tree for geometry. I like mcam's toolpath manager better.

 

and the list goes on. I've said this before and will say it again, if the two could have a baby, it'd be perfect.

[Del.]

Long time Mastercam Wire user here and company bought Esprit last year so I figured I may as well learn it. Esprit Wire is great for solid models. You simply select the faces.

Esprit is feature based in that when you select features it is recognized as a hole,die,punch,open left and right etc. You can add or remove tapers,die land and also do 4 axis no core machining. Esprit is easier to add stops also. When solid geometry is brought in and faces are not able to be wired because they are not part of the wirepath Esprit allows you to split the faces so that you wire only what can actually be done. Its easy to split a solid to get a section of your part. It has a great feature called shadow where a complicated part can have a shadow cast across it to create a simple wireframe.

 

The cad side of Esprit sucks compared to mastercam.

 

If you do mostly 2D I would choose Mastercam and if using solids I would go with Esprit.

 

Support for Esprit is excellent. You send request for support and someone is assigned to help you and they usually send a short video to help you with your problem with results usually less than 30 minutes.

 

Both systems will get the job done.

[gcode]

I ran an evalutaion of Esprit last year to see if it would be a good tool for programming our new Okuma 5axis Vertical mill turn

My findings

They have some amazing toolpaths and some rock solid posts

It's breathtakingly expensive

CAD and WCS manipulation are right out of the stone age

It is still an x32 apllication though they said the next release would be x64

Needless to say, I'm still using Mastercam

[Greg Williams]

ESPRIT does some nice stuff, but it is just way overpriced. Like Gcode said The CAD side is really only one step past typing APT.

[Mick]

I hear that Esprit is expensive all the time. Interestingly, the guy selling it locally must have some deal going, as the pricing was about the same as Mastercam.

 

For Mill/Turn it  is one of the leaders. without a doubt.

[Del.]

I hear that Esprit is expensive all the time. Interestingly, the guy selling it locally must have some deal going, as the pricing was about the same as Mastercam.

 

For Mill/Turn it  is one of the leaders. without a doubt.

The Mill Turn is the reason we bought it. We got the Wire edm package at a good price but all together it was high. I think I'm basically the only one using it.

[Mick]

The Mill Turn is the reason we bought it. We got the Wire edm package at a good price but all together it was high. I think I'm basically the only one using it.

 

Well, Okuma are using it (along with other apps), so it must work for them (for Mill/Turn that is).

 

I've never really had a close look at Esprit, but it sure looks to be capable. If they added decent CAD then it would be a good contender I guess.

[Del.]

Well, Okuma are using it (along with other apps), so it must work for them (for Mill/Turn that is).

 

I've never really had a close look at Esprit, but it sure looks to be capable. If they added decent CAD then it would be a good contender I guess.

I think we are using it some on the Mill/Turn but as with any software if you don't use it everyday you never really get good at it. I had them buy me a DVD tutorial that covers a lot of stuff.

[Elmer Fudd]

Mastercam all the way. (this is a Mastercam forum ya know.)

 

Now could you send me some swag? Maybe a mouse pad and a coffee mug.

[Greg Williams]

What makes it even more expensive is that fact that the CAD is so useless, you are forced to but a standalone CAD pakage as well

[jlw™]

What makes it even more expensive is that fact that the CAD is so useless, you are forced to but a standalone CAD pakage as well

Well, that's part of it but the fact that it's ridiculous expensive is the main part. The CAD is as capable as Mcam but harder to get the end result. For what we wanted/needed in one seat of Esprit... we got two full blown everything they offer seats of Mcam for exactly, to the dollar half of the Esprit quote. Simple choice really.

 

Esprit does a good bit of it better and easier but in my opinion (and I'm not the spender) it just isn't worth the price difference.

 

Not to mention Steve L. at CCS in Snellville is super.

 

Esprit boasts bad xxxx posts and they deliver. They do the posts in house. We use Mazak and the guy who did my post lives at the Mazak factory. His name is Derek and he is awesome too.

 

Esprit owns the Swiss market and in my opinion lead the millturn as well. They also have a guy at the Okuma factory, a guy at the Mori factory and a guy at the Haas factory.

 

I want shade my opinion because I use Mcam now. I like Mcam by the way. Esprit is good software and I like it. Is it worth twice the cost of Mcam? No. Is Mcam just as capable? After using it for a couple months, yes. It even does a good bit of the mundane repeat stuff much better.

 

Esprit is good software. If the wire side is as good as the 5 axis and millturn then it's great for wire.

 

You have to decide if your shop can do enough business to justify the additional cost.

 

Just my 2 cents. But, you still have to decide what's best for your shop.

 

Get a demo, go from there.