Does mastercam for solidworks have an advantage

[gary adams]

I have Mastercam and solidworks, so does the mastercam add in within solidworks hold any advantages?

Gary

[Don M]

Design it in solidworks, and cut in Mastercam is what I think.

[Dan@clover]

we do exactly what Don said, design in solid works and cut in mastercam. the advantages for us have been cleaner 3d files.

[mayday]

no

[Leigh @ Kodiak]

I have never even had a chance to use Mastercam For Solidworks, but I have to disagree with Mayday. Depending on what sort of work you do, I'm sure the associativity of the tool paths would be a huge advantage.

[mold100]

I actually would love to give it a try ..... if i never have to leave solidworks, could suppress holes and such for cavity machining and keep going in the same enviroment I could def benefit from it ....... I see it being good for mold shop type work I think. my .02

[Dave.L]

Just wondering if that would use up both the mastercam license and solidworks license at the same time?

 

That would be a disadvantage..

[mold100]

the mastercam for solidworks is completly seperate entity as I am told, the software requirement is Solidworks not Mastercam.

[Dave.L]

quote:

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the mastercam for solidworks is completly seperate entity as I am told, the software requirement is Solidworks not Mastercam.

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I don't understand this. Are you saying that you need to buy a Solidworks w/ MasterCAM license?

 

What if you own a seat of Solidworks and a seat of MasterCAM?

[Scott Lundin Shopware Inc.]

You will need a seat of Solidworks (from a solidworks re-seller), and a seat of "Mastercam for Solidworks" (from your Mastercam re-seller). A standard seat of Mastercam mill level 3 or mill level 1 will NOT work inside of Solidworks. Check with your Mastercam re-seller for pricing.

[Chris Rizzo]

Last I heard only the 3d hst toolpaths are avail. I'm not sure if that is still true or not?

[Dave.L]

quote:

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You will need a seat of Solidworks (from a solidworks re-seller), and a seat of "Mastercam for Solidworks" (from your Mastercam re-seller). A standard seat of Mastercam mill level 3 or mill level 1 will NOT work inside of Solidworks. Check with your Mastercam re-seller for pricing.

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Sounds like the better option would be a CAM system that is linked to the model so when you update the model, the operations update as well.

 

I would also be a bit nervous about this when Solidworks 2010 is out (already installed here) and MC does not support it yet.

 

What would one do if they had MC inside Solidworks

[gcode]

The initial release of MC-n-SW had only 3d high speed toolpaths.

The X4 release contains legacy 2d and 2d high speed as well as the 3d high speed toolpaths.

Multiaxis is not supported-- yet

It runs inside SolidWorks adn adds its own tool

bar to the SolidWorks OP manager.

You can turn it off and on through the SW add-in menu.

The price is quite reasonable if you already own a seat of Mastercam Level 3... or you can buy it standalone if you don't.

Anyone who is interested should give thier dealer a call.. they'd be happy to set up up with a trial license.

[mold100]

My question I guess would be can you use existing Mcam posts and tool libs?

[gcode]

quote:

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My question I guess would be can you use existing Mcam posts and tool libs?

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Yes...you use the same machine def's, posts,

operational defaults and tool libraires you're using now.

All the toolpaths are saved inside the Solidworks file..If you import the SolidWorks file into Mastercam, the toolpaths come with it.

You can also import regular mastercam toolpaths

into MC-n-Sw sessions.

The biggest issue I have with the X4 version

of MC-n-SW is it's tool plane/WCS creation.

Its pretty weak. You would expect it to leaverage

the power of SW coordinate systems, but it doesn't. Its perfectly adequte for VMC work..

but weak if you're doing 4X or 3+2 5axis work.

The X4 WCS setup is outstanding and what they've put in MC-n-Sw is a poor second.

My second issue is 64bit support.

It will not install into x64 SolidWorks.

x32 SolidWorks will not install on my x64 OS

so if I want to run MC-n-SW..

I must downgrade my OS to x32.

[mold100]

So G ...... Picture this .... Strictly 3 Axis VMC, Job / Mold Shop with inadequate outdated Cam system but has 2010 Solidworks, and a pile of libraries and posts collected over the years from V8 through X2...... A good thing? 32 bit XP ... 2D and alot of 3D electrode Manufacturing.

[mayday]

your going to spend a lot of money on the hopes each works together throuout time. sounds to me you need to look at powermill/powershape. NX,Pro-e or the likes if you want true design/mfg links. Solid works is a great software,but you want to rely on MC to work with it? IMHO they dont compare, nice ides but (one) of them always lags behind the other

[Dave.L]

quote:

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your going to spend a lot of money on the hopes each works together throuout time. sounds to me you need to look at powermill/powershape. NX,Pro-e or the likes if you want true design/mfg links. Solid works is a great software,but you want to rely on MC to work with it? IMHO they dont compare, nice ides but (one) of them always lags behind the other

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I cannot agree more. I feel Solidworks and MasterCAM are light years apart in design and I would not try to mix them. I would rather find a package that is designed to handle models better.

 

And unless only one person ever uses the software, using 2 licenses at once does not sound like a good deal to me.

[gcode]

quote:

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Strictly 3 Axis VMC, Job / Mold Shop with inadequate outdated Cam system but has 2010 Solidworks, and a pile of libraries and posts collected over the years from V8 through X2......

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If you're not happy with Mastercam, you won't be happy with MC-n-SW. It’s the same toolpaths running inside SolidWorks.

I will say X4 deserves a second look..

The highspeed toolpaths that were new in X2 are

mature and quite robust in X4.. Toolpaths crunch

much faster in X4 than they did in X2.. and despite troubles some users have had, X4 is a very stable package. High speed rest rough using

STL files as stock does a remarkable job for me.

With the right work, MC-n-SW could be a powerful tool.

I build a ton of fixtures.. deigned in SW toolpathed in SW.. MC-n-SW is a perfect tool

for that application.

If you cut your molds in Mastercam, there is no reason you couldn't do it in MC-n-SW.

If you design your molds in SW, MC-n-SW could save a lot of work.. especially if you make edits after programming. All the toolpaths you use now are there.

If you know Mastercam and know SolidWorks

you already 95% up to speed with MC-n-SW.

There are downsides.

When you run add-on software, you have to wait for both vendors to get on the same page before

you can upgrade.

This is true of Mastercam guys running Moldplus

or Cimco HighSpeed... or a shop running MC-n-SW.

Right now you're stuck at SW2009. I don't know when they plan on supporting SW2010.. it might not be till X5..sure hope not, but I really don't know.

As stated earlier, MC-n-SW is reasonaly priced

if you already own MX level 3..for someone

buying stand-alone MC-n-SW its kind of pricey.

If I was looking to drop that much coin, I'd take a hard look at HSM Works before I wrote a check.

[Fred @ Slate Industries]

Mayday Telling it like it is...

[mold100]

G ... Thats just it, I would be greatly happy getting into a seat of mill level 3 X4 but to buy a new seat is double what the MC add in is for solidworks. I just switched employers and in need of Mcam but the cost and mait isa lil out there at the moment .... things keep going and we will be able to justify it hopefully one step at a time, I was just able to update my Sworks after not paying mait for 2 years.

 

Are you using HSM works?

 

[ 11-30-2009, 07:51 AM: Message edited by: mold100 ]

[gcode]

quote:

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Are you using HSM works?

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No.. I had got a 60 day evaluation license

when it was first released (2006 or 7 ???)

and it was impressive even as a baby.

A look at thier support pages shows an ongoing and agressive upgrade campaign..

I'd buy it in a heartbeat IF I wasn't working

12 hour shifts at my day job and my contract customers weren't all going broke..

 

As things satnd.. Mastercam fills my needs

quite well.. but HSMWorks sure looks sweet

 

mold100 check your mail

[Dave.L]

Mayday mentioned Powermill above and I had no idea that was Delcam. I looked at there website and they have a video about tool database improvements. It looks really slick, just how it should. You can ID your tools (in MC you cannot to my knowledge) and then marry them with any holder (in the tool manager, not the ops manager).

 

I also watched a video about how they handle workplanes, it does not get any easier. After banging my head with MC WCS it's nice to know someone has an esier method, too bad it's not MC

[Pete Rimkus from CNC Software Inc.]

The ability for Mastercam (standalone) to handle a newer version of SolidWorks is a different issue from the ability of the Mastercam for SolidWorks (MCforSW) addin to run inside a newer version of SolidWorks.

 

Mastercam (standalone) has to wait until after the SW update is released and then we need to integrate their SWDocumentMgr API into our File/Open processing - and then of course it has to wait until we release our update with that integration.

 

The MCforSW X4 product that's out there now will run with SW2010. And if they came out with SW2011 tomorrow it'd run inside of that too.

 

And to answer Mold100...the MCforSW X4 product uses the same tool libraries and posts as standard Mastercam X4.

[Dave.L]

Pete,

 

If CNC software is working as a partner to Solidworks, why is a patch not ready now for SW 2010?

 

Also, can you provide a date it will be ready? I think this is a fair question.

 

Thank you.