Re: What's the best program CAD-CAM ?

Scott wrote:
> "John R. Carroll" <jcarroll@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:bUD5f.17596$6e1.1323@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Scott wrote:
>>> "John R. Carroll" <jcarroll@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>> news:4XC5f.5228$7h7.2348@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>
>>>>> But I see from their website that it seems capable of doing some
>>>>> trick stuff.
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.tebis.com/
>>>>
>>>> It's absolutely great. You find it in the automotive shops in
>>>> Detroit, including mold and die shops, and all over western Europe.
>>>

> We are tired of the MCAM dick in our ass as far as multiaxis is
> concerned, and it aint cheap as is, regardless of porting.

I haven't seen the ModuleWorks integration for MC in the US. I am sure
somebody has it but when you really get serious these days you don't look at
MasterCam except as a "me too" buyer. Just because everybody has it doesn't
make it a best in class solution. You obviously know that much.


>
> We will be looking into Tebis; but already stinging from the MCAM
> sales pitch, they are going to have to earn and prove it.

Oh, they can - and they will. What you will have to avoid is saying things
like "well, in MC we always did it like this". LOL - who cares.
Stupider words were never uttered but I hear it all the time. What you want
to find out is how to do it with a product that does a good job not one that
can't. Keep an open mind. I use every product discussed here, at least the
ones I mentioned earlier, on an ongoing basis. Some of them I own, others I
resell and in some instances I use customer software on site. I started with
MC at version 2. That product hasn't changed all that much since V6, for the
better at any rate. They do have a large installed base though.
X looks like a dissapointment but I think you have to get your head into it
to know for sure and I don't have it myself, and have only used it for a
couple of jobs on site. It still has goofyisms from V5 that manifest
themselves.


>
> MCAM X is like learning a new GUI all together.

An industry wide curse. CAM interfaces have been for shit since day one.
There are exceptions but that's the rule.
If you ever have the chance, go watch someone run DUCT sometime. Powerful
stuff but you had to be a rocket scientist to use it.
I got a headache just typing that sentence and I started with DUCT in 1994.

>
> We get all our guys up to speed with 5 seats of MCAM, and they dump
> it all and go to a whole foreign GUI.

You should be able to get a take out offer. Use the seats you have as
leverage. I would think you could get a properly configured seat of UG for
$15K with some training included. That's a pretty good price. NCL is about
the same. No need to pay list and it isn't generally expected.
If you want guidance let me know, I'll give you a couple of tricks to use
that will drive the price all the way to the floor for whatever product you
choose. I'm a dealer remember, and prices have come down significantly in
the last 5 years. I don't do much discounting these days and the period of
time when I did gave me the poorest results. I am sure, however, that we can
find you a proper whore. There are plenty of them.

>
> And, as the cherry on the sundae, it isn't backward compatible.

Nor should it be. The database in the later product will have fields that do
not exist in the older one.
This is how you get added functionality and performance increases. The old
product doesn't know what to do with the new fields and that makes sense
when you think about it.


--
John R. Carroll
Machining Solution Software, Inc.
Los Angeles San Francisco
www.machiningsolution.com


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