surfcam

[Michael Reynolds]

I just downloaded and played with surfcam's 2d and solid demo from thier web site.

 

Now I know why Mcam is #1. I've used UGcam, MCam, and now surfcam, and I can say one thing.... Surfcam SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Respectfully,

Mike R.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I have to agree. I spent about 2 years using MC side by side with SmurfSCAM and I gotta say that the quality of their surfacing algorithms was definitely not the quality of MasterCAM's. My suspicions were confirmed time and time again by CMM. See I worked in a Wind Tunnel Model Shop for a while and the wing surfaces were extremely critical. They take that 1/16 scale model and extraploate the data to arrive at decisions about drag co-efficients, etc... so, with that said, surface quality is paramount. No matter how tight I cranked the tolerances in Surfcam I just cound not get it to produce an accurate surfaced part(within .0001). I believe the fault is in their meshing algorithim. I think they only slice it in X and y instead of X,Y and Z(just a hunch).

 

On that note, I believe Surfcam in in despiration mode at this point. Their market share has been steadily decreasing over the last few years. They pretty much canned most of their VAR network and this has hurt their cred. Their "New Patent-Pending Technology" is nothing more than buzzwords and hype. A last ditch, feeble effort to regain what was lost so long ago(a decent product). Giving away software...... what is that???? Granted, it is stripped down Mill Entry it has so many limitations it's not really worth using, just another ploy to prolong the inevitable.

 

JM2C

[Trevor Bailey]

The only thing I like about THAT softare is, they have a much better "parallel" toolpath. You can tell the cut what ever angle you want to cut at like MC, but you can also parallel cut with a constant scallop. That is awesome!!! MC's new flowline toolpath works pretty good for most things, but intergrating SC's style would be soooo much better. Besides that, yeah, they suck.

[Greg Williams]

Well I have to agree you guys we have surfcam99 and the only good thing that I can say about it is the SEDIT editor, it has one handy feature a default caps lock, so any text you type in is automatically converted to capitals, it makes no difference if the caps lock is on or not. pretty handy feature.

[Jerry Bichsel]

I worked for a thermoforming company for about eight months of 2000 and 2001. When I started, they were using Surfcam 99. When I left they were using Mastercam v8. They had Mastercam v6 for the mold shop work on the Fadal's but used Surfcam for the 5-axis stuff. Once I showed them what MC 8 was about, they had no problem upgrading.

 

I will say that the Surfcam 5-axis post for the Motionmasters was MUCH easier to work with than Mastercam's, but the bugs got worked out.

 

[Webmaster - Comments related to a reseller were removed to the keep message in-line with Forum Guidelines. 5-Axis Mastercam post was obtained through MLC MLC CAD Systems in Texas.]

 

[ 05-15-2002, 03:55 PM: Message edited by: Webmaster ]

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

[Webmaster - Edited out comments in defense of the reseller.]

 

I would agree about SEDIT. I does do some really cool things.

 

[ 05-15-2002, 03:57 PM: Message edited by: Webmaster ]

[Webby]

From the Forum Guidelines:

 

Issues with your reseller should be resolved directly with your reseller and/or CNC Software. Airing out your issues using the forum will not be tolerated.

--

 

I've edited this thread down to remove some comments directed at a reseller. Although some resellers invite the opportunity to hear (read) what their clients have to say on a public forum, others prefer that you contact them directly. Since it would be too difficult to moderate the forum based on the wishes of your local reseller, we choose not to entertain comments related to your reseller. This is a small price to ensure the continued message reply contributions from Mastercam's reseller channel.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Doh, Sorry Webby, I forgot about that.