new user of mastercam

[kellow_eng]

y shouldnt i buy surfcam instead of mastecam

 

any insights????

[cadcam]

Please tell me why you should buy surfcam over mastercam.

 

Let's ask this what type of work do you do?

 

How many Axis's 3,4 or 5?

 

Do you want true sold base to work from?

 

thanks

[Fig sign]

Go buy!

 

Anyway we`ll meet after 6-12 monthes .

 

I don`t like an idea of bashing other programs .

I `ll prefere to talk about MC strong sides , you want the different......

[kellow_eng]

we predominantly do 3 axis

eg. rotary table

 

stuff that mill level 1 and 2 can handle

 

could yu tell me some disadvantages of surfcam?????

[kellow_eng]

wot abt the strong side of mastercam?????

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

quote:

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...y shouldnt i buy surfcam ...

---

Because they are not very strong financially and more than likely will disappear in less than 5 years. Their reseller network is weak at best , their support is heinous at best and you have to pay maintenance for the privilage of paying for updates.

 

All the Surfcam users I've been hearing from are complaining big time about the lack of service/support.

 

This forum alone is reason enough to buy Mastercam IMHO.

 

 

JM2C

[crazy^millman]

Mastercam is a user friendly program that has incorprated Vb in it latest Releases. We do very complex mulitsurface parts to simple 2 axis toolpaths to 4th Axis rotary toolpaths. If you have not had both people come in and do you a Demo I would recommned it. I did the same about 2 years ago and was very happy with the support, service, and overall prodcut and was why I made the decision to go with it. I am also not a trained computer programmer and been able to figure out twaek in the post that I want. I use Pro-E files and Solidworks Files and bring them into mastercam with no trouble. I also create some really cool things in Mastercam solids and like the contraol i have with Operations, Tool, and other thing that you can really twaek to your liking. I tell you to go on the Surfcam Forum and ask them the same Question.

 

I will say this for Tech help and really important thing Mastercam is the place this is just a bunch of users who help each other out nothing more nothing less than that.

 

Good Luck in your search and hope you do the best for you and your company.

 

Crazy Millman

 

[ 09-23-2003, 11:25 PM: Message edited by: Millman^Crazy ]

[J Coulston]

Why not

 

Off of SurfCams site I am assuming this is where their forum would be.

quote:

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SURFCAM Secure Support Site

The Secure Support Site contains information for SURFCAM customers and distributors. To access this material, you must be a registered SURFCAM end-user with a current maintenance agreement.

---

This is exactly why you are asking this question here, most CAM systems have a closed forums, no complaints to read, everything is just fine I am sure.

 

This forum is an invaluable selling point for MC. The amount of information that passes thru this forum and the very talented helpful people that use it is really quite remarkable. I don’t every remember seeing a question posted MC related or not that hasn’t been responded to in a few minutes or at the most a few hours. Everytime I have been up against a wall, usually after 5:00, the questions that I have posted to the forum have always been answered promptly and accurately. Bailing me out on more than one occasion. After one recent question I posted, my VAR called me the following day to make sure that everything was working properly and if I had any more question. I didn’t call them, they saw my post and were just following up. Thanks Prism Engineering.

 

Follow the forum for a while and you will see one additional benefit to owning MasterCAM.

 

My advice

Don’t be fooled by pretty pictures.

 

Get a demo on your parts, don’t give them out ahead a time.

 

Get a demo version of the packages you are looking at and go thru the tutorials.

 

If they have a user forum demand that you are given access, one package I demoed before I bought MC it was like pulling teeth to get access, after I got access it was no wonder they didn’t want to share.

 

Ask any specific questions you have about the capabilities of MasterCam, I am sure you will get a good answer.

 

Good luck,

 

John

[john316]

Ditto: you won't get much bashing of Surfcam on this forum, but I can tell you that in my years of experience, the reason so many people are using Mcam is because of the ease of use and the support behind it. The support is driven by the demand and there are a lot of Mcam users out there. Researching cad/cam packages is a good idea to find out who can best meet your needs, but for what you get for your money, I'd be willing to bet you end up back here.

 

John

[Fig sign]

quote:

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wot abt the strong side of mastercam?????

---

That`s the right ,legitimate question .

 

The answer is there are many :

1.The short learning curve. I am self -taught Mastercam user did my first job with it after

one day of playing with it (rather complex 3-axes work ).

2. Simple ,intuitive interface .

3. Very flexible ,configurable program wich can be setted to satisfy your job`s specific needs.

4. Very mighty set of toolpathes ,can do practically anything

5. has applications for design, milling,lathing,wire-edm and routing for woodcutting , so it can cover any field of production.

6.has a lot of applications from other different software makers ,running inside Mastercam ,like engraving ,raster -to -vector conventing,HSM and more

7 . It is the 1st place in the world in numer of users , it is a mainframe and production de-facto standart, you will have no problem with finding people ,knowing it .

8. it is fast developing program with a huge improvements from version to version.

9. It has this independent forum with a large knowledge and a lot of helping hands here.

The fact that you are here getting a lot of answers practically immediate proves this .

10 .I have more good points to mention ,but I will spare your time .

The fact that I here ,in Israel ,were we have 2 good software development firms with good Cad-Cam packages work with Mastercam will also proves my words.

I am the truthful Mastercam addict has an acquaintance of the Surfcam but you will not hear even one bad word about it .

And I will not try to push you toward Mastercam.

If you ,as CEO ,likely not a programmer,give a demo version of Mastercam to your programmer and let him try it for a day or two .

If he will have questions ,we will help him .

 

 

Iskander s!z Mastercam RoCkS aLl OvEr TeH WoRlD !

[lou]

I have used both and I prefer Mastercam over surfcam any day.

 

Thats my 2 cents.

 

Have a good day!

[MACHINEMASTERG]

74,286 seats installed ..enough said!!

[Randy Walker]

I used Surfcam for about 4 years before changing jobs. It was a decent application, but Mastercam is much more advanced.

[Marty A]

well i can only say without this mc forum and all the people who give there free time and advice i would be in deep dog dodo.

 

marty

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Oh, yes, I also used Surfcam for about 2 years side by side with Mastercam back in the V5/V6 days. Mastercam made good surface toolpaths, Surfcam did not. My Surfcam part was scrap my Mastercam part was good.