Alibre CAM question. Don't laugh.

[Bruce Caulley]

Ahoy!

 

I am looking at Alibre CAD for my home business and since I no longer have access to MC was thinking that Alibre CAM might also be a good idea given the cost.

 

Anyone here ever used it?

 

Bruce

[gcode]

I've heard of Alibre design software.

I used to have a set of free codes they handed out years ago during thier initial rollout.

As I own SolidWorlds I never tried it.

I didn't know they had added a CAM package.

The web page looks pretty good and the prices are very reasonable.

They've got a free trial so you can give it a workout. There's a forum too... and best of all

graphical toolpath editing

 

One thing I didn't see was Lathe

[gcode]

You might want to research

MecSoft Products

 

That's what AlibreCam really is..

(Mecsoft embedded in Alibre Design)

 

The is a lot of good info on the Alibre Forum

 

a quick read through seems to say.. AlibreCam

is one release behind the latest MecSoft cam product

[Bruce Caulley]

Thanks G,

I have the demo loaded now and am having a play around.

 

Bruce

[Rob @ Target Machine]

Bruce - Alibre is a powerful solid modeling suite for short money. It has Push-Pull too.

 

They were giving away design basic for $99.00 the last few months. I think it's too late for that deal though.

 

Alibre professional is what was used for all of the solids on the Vortec site. Check out the gallery.

 

Vortec Design

 

So far I have zero import problems pulling solids into Mc from Alibre. Mc can open native Alibre files, but to stay safe with other softwares I would use step files. Seems to be more compatible across the board.

 

I haven't heard much about the cam package, but I'd be interested to hear what you think of it.

 

Let us know how it goes.

[Alvaro Gil - Cimquest-inc.com]

Also think about what support is worth to you. What you also get with solidworks and mastercam is the awesome reseller network, and its endless resources. Like this board.... You just dont get this kind of knowledge and support with cheap software.

[MotorCityMinion]

I think Delcam offers up a free CAD package as well. I tried it once to do some rendering and it worked fine although it took some serious PC resources to do it.

[George Hardwick]

Bruce.

It always makes me chuckle when people think just because they are spending top dollar they are getting best value.

I was looking at SW for design and assemble,but, instead took up an offer on Alibre. This included,for less than $1000.00 Alibre part design sketch driven para solids,assembly ( I have built assemblies with over 500 components and still stable.)Fempro single part FEA, Motion control all axis movment,parts libarary,Bill of mats,Drawings with auto update,Sheet metal fold unfold dimple punch Etc.1 years maint had 1 version update with usefull improvments.Forum and support.

Solid works its not.But you get one hell of a piece of software for your money.They also included 1st level CAM but, having MCX4 have not downloaded. For home use, as you requested cant be bad...However does make you wonder about other software prices.

BTW I am not defending or promoting it just stating facts.

George.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

My boss uses it all the time. I do frequently have to translate files for him with my Solidworks though.