WHICH CAM SOFTWARE IS THE BEST FOR 5-AXIS MACHINING

[MARK MA]

HI,

 

MY COMPANY IS LOOKING FOR THE CAM SOFTWARE FOR 5-AXIS MACHINING. WHICH ONE IS THE BEST? POWERMILL, EDGECAM, GIBBS, MASTERCAM, SOLIDWORK OR SOMETHING ELSE?

 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

 

MARK

[ReDEyZZ]

mastercam of course

 

From an un-biased opinion

[Colin Gilchrist]

Mastercam by far...

 

Just another un-biased opinion...

[gaijin_2007]

Well that's a strange question to ask on the MasterCAM forum that's for sure.

 

Depends on what you mean by 5-axis really?

5-axis positional (3+2) or 5-axis simulataneous?

 

What application?

Die and mold? Aerospace? Impellers?

 

AFAIK EdgeCAM, Gibbs and MasterCAM all use simultaneous 5-axis libraries from ModuleWorks so they're reasonably similar, offering some good functionality.

 

SolidWORKS is a CAD package so no machining functionality, unless you mean software like SolidCAM or CAMWorks (which again both use ModuleWorks libraries).

 

My personal choice would be PowerMILL for any high-end multi-axis work.

But that's just my opinion, I'm sure there's others here that feel differently.

[YoDoug®]

Mastercam has a great set of multi-axis toolpaths, but each CAD/CAM package has its strong points and its weak points. If you tell us what type of five axis machining and what type of parts you typically do we can tell you how Mastercam handles those.

 

There is a difference between a 5 axis table/table to a nutating head/table to a B head mill turn. likewise 3+2 machining to impeller type parts to large aerospace profiling type parts. If you give us some more details we can give you more information on how Mastercam can program your 5 axis machines.

[Keith @ Solid Code Solutions]

hyperMILL

[YoDoug®]

A minute too late

[Hardmill]

Hyper-mill is great 5 axis software.

 

 

PEACE

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

There's not much that can;t be done with Mastercam on the programming side. With the exception of a Graphical Toolpath Editor ( inside joke ), Mastercam does not lack much. Easy on the wallet, gentle on the learning curve.

 

If you get a little mor edescriptive than "5-Axis" we'd be more than happy to give you some plusses and minuses of different softwares.

 

HTH

[Thee Starry™]

I'm with James. Mastercam is great but for the lack of Graphical Toolpath Editing. It really falls short there

 

But seriously, tell us more about what you are going to be doing, we can guide you in the right direction.

[Thee Starry™]

BTW, welcome aboard, and, umm, stop yelling. We can hear you just fine here. We aren't on the north 40.

[Teh Bear without Brains kinda idiot]

I use Mastercam for everything I do including 5 ax

[Darren Long SPE]

Some OT reading .....

 

http://www.tool-moldmaking.com/nw.php?1570

[DavidB]

quote:

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Well that's a strange question to ask on the MasterCAM forum that's for sure.

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+1

[MARK MA]

Thank you all:

 

My company makes aerospace parts. We have an OKK table/table 5-axis machine, two OKK head/head 5-axis machines, a Haas head/table 5-axis machine and a Matruura table/table 5-axis machine. We need both 5-axis positional (3+2) and 5-axis simultaneous machining

 

The company uses GibbsCAM for about 15 years, but it not very good for 5-axis simultaneous machining. I have worked here for only three weeks. I have used MasterCAM for years. One person here used PowerMill before. Now we want to choice between MasterCAM and PowerMill. We don’t know about Hyper-mill.

 

Thank you again

 

Mark

[kunfuzed]

I've never done any 5-axis programming. But just based on the fact the there's experiance in the shop with two of those softwares, that kind of narrows it down. I'd suggest haveing a demo set up with both softwares on some parts in your company, and see which works more efficiently. Good luck.

[silky_johnson]

Don't disregard the lesser known systems, they are quite powerfull, even if they don't have mass market appeal.

 

Hypermill is quite strong in 5x positional, 5x simultaneous and machine intergration, and is worth checking into. They are located just over the river in Livonia.

 

http://www.openmind-tech.com

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Any company that wants a fair sized labor pool of good programers, good support, libraries of Post Processors, etc... should only be considering something in the top 5.

[silky_johnson]

Do you have to hire people who already know your CAM software? Most people who know one system can easily learn another with good training and support.

 

Speaking of support, does more seats mean better support? Maybe....maybe not. Support can become quite personal and would you rather call a company and be put into a que and then talk to someone you've never met before. Or call someone directly on their cell phone who was also the guy who trained you and knows your shop and you personally?

 

As post are concerned.....Mastercam is pretty large, why do they rely on In-house so heavily for post????

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

They don'y rely, CNC just does not advertise Post Development. They do it all the time though - generally speaking, it's the high end machines. In-House has decided there is a good market for good posts and they have some really sharp cats that know how to do it and do it well. CNC does rely on their VAR's to handle Tech Support, but, with that said, they NEVER turn away a tech support call from a customer. I've called a few times when my reseller was not open (like 5:30am Pacific Time). It's great knowing I can call CNC - who is on the east coast then. So all told, I have 12-12.5 hours I can talk to either my reseller or CNC in a business day. The rest of the time I have this forum. Who else has a forum like this? NOBODY!

 

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Support can become quite personal and would you rather call a company and be put into a que and then talk to someone you've never met before.

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Well, considering my reseller is one of the largest on the planet and they have 12 employees I believe, not likely you're going to not be known in some way shape or form. Most resellers have FAR less staff than that so the liklihood you'll not be known is practically nil.

 

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...Most people who know one system can easily learn another with good training and support...

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While that is totally true, be honest..., how often do employers send their people out for training? I've actually worked in roughly 15 companies in my years in the industry. Exactly 2 thought highly enough of training to send employees out for it(either office staff or shop staff) and 1 thought highly enough of it to do it in-house. So your basic premise, while accurate, is not practical because rare is the company that takes training seriously enough to dedicate it's staff to doing it correctly so that they can exact the most benefit from it.

 

JM2C

[YoDoug®]

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Exactly 2 thought highly enough of training to send employees out for it(either office staff or shop staff) and 1 thought highly enough of it to do it in-house.

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I've seen good programmers take a job at a new shop with a software that they have no experience with only to find themselves unemployed in a few weeks. Yes a good programmer can work with any software, but there is always going to be a learning curve. A smart company realizes this a plans on proper training for their employees to run their software. I used Mastercam for 1.5 years before I had any training with it. When I went to training I learned many faster and improved ways to do things I had to figure out on my own in the first 1.5 years without training.

[gaijin_2007]

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I'd suggest haveing a demo set up with both softwares on some parts in your company, and see which works more efficiently.

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+1

 

I see from their website that Delcam have an office in Toronto, get them and In-House in and see which suits you best.