Quote Originally Posted by BurrMan View Post
You may want to stay standalone with both packages.

With integration, all cam data is stored in the solidworks file. Your solidworks will be tied up by the cam side. Your cam will be tied up with solidworks.

If you are ready to toolpath a part you had to clean up, you cant move on to a new model until all cam is done and code is ready. (drip feeding I guess could be seperate?)

You should get rid of your translation issues by having the native solidworks to get a working part into whatever cam system you want. There still may be the occasional solidworks versioning issue, but you should be able to get around those.

Also, with integration, there your are, stuck.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) I've been the only one here for 16 years that can even operate a computer, much less CAD/CAM. I'm not extremely concerned that I will have the CAD tied up by CAM or vice versa. But I am worried that I will be "stuck" as you put. If the CAM data is stored in the drawing, well, what does that mean? I really don't know. I don't want to be in a situation where I have to dig out an old file for a minor revision and find out I can't access the CAM data because of versioning. I had not considered that before.