[Hirudin]

The new machine is going to be fun! Congrats!

Picking a CAM program isn't going to be fun though. In my experience making an *informed* decision is difficult. I may have had a hard time because I had very little experience when I bought my first CAM program (RhinoCAM). I stopped using that for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that it was very buggy (in my opinion at least). I am now using SolidCAM. It's better than RhinoCAM (again, in my opinion) but it is also much more expensive. Unfortunately, it also has its fair share of bugs. The UI could also use an overhaul - incongruities abound between different types of operations.

There are SO many options in CAM and their prices range from free to extraordinarily expensive. If you are at the same place that I was, coming in without much experience, I would recommend either doing some hardcore research or to just buy something that you consider inexpensive enough to ditch if needed. An option would be to pick up the "basic" edition of a CAM package with the knowledge that you can upgrade later if needed. I believe HSMWorks offers this model, but there must be others out there.

What CAD software are you using?

[mklotz70]

The new machine is going to be fun! Congrats!

Picking a CAM program isn't going to be fun though. In my experience making an *informed* decision is difficult. I may have had a hard time because I had very little experience when I bought my first CAM program (RhinoCAM). I stopped using that for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that it was very buggy (in my opinion at least). I am now using SolidCAM. It's better than RhinoCAM (again, in my opinion) but it is also much more expensive. Unfortunately, it also has its fair share of bugs. The UI could also use an overhaul - incongruities abound between different types of operations.

There are SO many options in CAM and their prices range from free to extraordinarily expensive. If you are at the same place that I was, coming in without much experience, I would recommend either doing some hardcore research or to just buy something that you consider inexpensive enough to ditch if needed. An option would be to pick up the "basic" edition of a CAM package with the knowledge that you can upgrade later if needed. I believe HSMWorks offers this model, but there must be others out there.

What CAD software are you using?

Thanks!
I've spent many hours looking at CAM reviews and threads on them. Just getting concise information is a challenge. Typically, price is the second thing I check. In a lot of cases, that makes the decision right then. EdgeCAM looks great, until I looked at the price. BobCAD/CAM is a possibility, but it's a huge jump from the $500 2D to $2500+ if I want 3D. I could spring for the $2500, but I wouldn't consider that a "throw away" price. lol
I have zero CAM experience at this point. I think you're right about getting something I can grow with. I bought the 4th axis, but I know I'm not going to be firing it up anytime soon!
I use SolidEdge4 3D for my CAD. I'm still a novice at that too, but I can typically figure out how to draw what I need.