[Teyber12]

what about:

vectric 2d for really cheap (play with the trial- its silly easy)

and has anyone tried the new alibre cam xpress?

[cjdavis618]

The thing about TC is they do update the program, I started with 12 it was buggy. I liked my 11 trial version better. I do like how easy Alibre is to use, but my pocket book doesnt like them as its just a hobby. And I dont like "big brother" looking over your shoulder as Alibre is net based some what.

TC has gotten better each year, not perfect but better, and pro is NOT the same as deluxe. If they would work a bit on the Cam program I would probably be just fine Cad and Cam wise

If they dont I'm heading to Dolphin for sure. Email them I think you will be shocked at the reduced price they have for the $999 pro version right now for the hobby user either that or the guy just felt really sorry for me! Ha -Ha

Don, I have to disagree with you about Alibre. It seems that you have an issue with them that is several years old and undoubtedly a problem you had with a specific employee. I don't think it is fair to be spreading trash about them without hearing thier side of the story. If you didn't like the product, then fine, but come on. Why spread the Alibre is Great Message, then turn around and say "big Brother" is watching. :tired: If you only knew how much others knew about your activities with your PC, you would be surprised to. Alibre has the ability to lock a license if you don'y pay, or whatever. Many companies do this, this is nothing new.

If it was a legitimate power abuse issue with Alibre Sales, then I would expect you to call that persons superior. If you didn't, then you didn't do anything to solve the problem and it isn't right to be spreading that drivel about them.



Alibre is a great program and like you said, easy to use. If the price it to much to swallow at once, contact them about a payment plan. They will spread the total out over a 12 Month period with a small down payment on the software. That made it easy for me to get the Expert Cad and Cam package. Yet it didn't cost me anything more than if I had paid outright. On top of which, I still got some pretty good discounts on the software, maintenance and even the Training Disks. It is worth a look.

[DonF]

I don't think it is fair to be spreading trash about them without hearing thier side of the story. If you didn't like the product, then fine, but come on. Why spread the Alibre is Great Message, then turn around and say "big Brother" is watching. :tired: If you only knew how much others knew about your activities with your PC, you would be surprised to. Alibre has the ability to lock a license if you don'y pay, or whatever. Many companies do this, this is nothing new.

If it was a legitimate power abuse issue with Alibre Sales, then I would expect you to call that persons superior. If you didn't, then you didn't do anything to solve the problem and it isn't right to be spreading that drivel about them.

Uhh You are way off base! I did not spread TRASH and if you EXPECT me to do any thing - your out of line I'm forty and can and do take care on myself very well thank you!
I shared my experience which was not all that great even if it was a few years ago. Others have mentioned their pushy sales too. That post is several weeks old no one else took issue with it. Probably because they were smart enough to know that every one has their opinions.
Glad you had good luck Alibre, but we don't have to all agree on software now do we???
:devious:

[DonF]

what about:

vectric 2d for really cheap (play with the trial- its silly easy)

and has anyone tried the new alibre cam xpress?

http://www.mecsoft.com/Mec/Products/FreeMill.shtml

[cjdavis618]

"When I had my full version in 05 the sales rep locked my program because he was talking to me about an upgrade but I didnt answer ( still looking at options at the time) thats what made me not upgrade. I flipped out on him and he said it was temporary to get me to call him but still..."

This doesn't seem very strange to anyone else? I don't know of any software company that would do something like that, especially to sell you an upgrade.
I know they don't do transfers any more for the software, but something is missing here.

Don, Do you remember the salesmans name?





I think you are referring to Bobcad about pushy sales.

I don't spend all my time on message boards so I didn't see your posts until today. I do think it is great that everyone has an opinion, and I'm glad your forty. I am only 4 years behind you, but the issue is what Cad,Cam to get.

I've read alot of posts about how buggy Alibre was, I've also read alot of posts on how bad the salesman were of Bobcad. I bought a new copy of TurboCad and it was attrocious and I continued to look for good software. I thenused Alibre and it actually made sense to use it and the more I used it the more I liked it. There are bugs with any software, and more often then not, they are procedure issues.

My point, go ahead and waste your money on the cheap crap. Then when you are done trying to figure out complex ways in software to do simple tasks, you have 2 choices. Pay the money and get software that can do it or go back to being a manual machinist. Personally, I second the CAM for Visual Mill. It is a very robust application and is independant of the CAD. I have Alibre Expert in Cad and Cam but prefer to use visual Mill for my 3 Axis work.

[DonF]

This doesn't seem very strange to anyone else? I don't know of any software company that would do something like that, especially to sell you an upgrade.
I know they don't do transfers any more for the software. But something is missing here.

Don, Do you remember the salesmans name?





I think you are referring to Bobcad about pushy sales.

I don't spend all my time on message boards so I didn't see your posts until today. I think it is great that everyone has an opinion. And I'm glad your forty, I am only 4 years behind you. But the issue is what Cad,Cam to get.

I've read alot of posts about how buggy Alibre was, I've read alot of posts on how bad the salesman were of Bobcad. I also bought a copy of TurboCad and it was attrocious. I used Alibre and it actually made sense to use it. There are bugs with any software, and more often then not, they are procedure issues.

My point, go ahead and waste your money on the cheap crap. Then when you are done trying to figure out complex ways in software to do simple tasks, you have 2 choices. Pay the money and get software that can do it or go back to being a manual machinist.

You really do take the cake... I did not leave out anything in my story, and thats exactly why I left.
Glad you like Alibre - So any other choice and you better off going back to a "manual machinist"???
TC does take more work to do some operations but it works, cant say the same about Tc cam though.
If you would like to discuss this further then please act like an adult and hit the PM button. This is thread is about choices and isnt a buy Alibre or your stupid thread ok

[cjdavis618]

You really do take the cake... I did not leave out anything in my story, and thats exactly why I left.
Glad you like Alibre - So any other choice and you better off going back to a "manual machinist"???
TC does take more work to do some operations but it works, cant say the same about Tc cam though.
If you would like to discuss this further then please act like an adult and hit the PM button. This is thread is about choices and isnt a buy Alibre or your stupid thread ok

I don't care what you use, but regardless, you are going to pay for good software to do this stuff. Dolphin, Rhino MasterCam, Solidworks, OneCNC, Etc etc. are all good packages. But you dont get those with pocket change. Having free cam for a CNC mill is like having a 12" spare tire for a monster truck. Some things just don't work well together. The Free cam is basically a teaser to get you up to the next level.

If you really had that occur with Alibre then I am sorry. I also understand why you would feel that way about them but the "Big Brother" paranoia is a bit much.

[SSN Vet]

Whatever you buy.... make sure you haggle, as there are likely promos out there that they might not tell you about if you contact them (vs. they sniff you out and pester you).

I green light the engineering software programs for use at my company and I'm getting at least half a doze promo. e-mails a week.

Software sales must REALLY be hurting.....

[harley4ever]

CJdavis just to let you know, Dolphin is basically pocket change compared to mastercam, solidworks, onecnc, etc.

[MrWild]

Very true about the affordability of DolphinCAM. Dollar for dollar, it is an excellent choice without the headaches of BobCAD.

[MotoGems]

So far i've liked the Dolphin cad / cam over Bobcad/cam...

The instructional videos were good. But they were not exactly the same as the demo version that i downloaded.
In May there is the national manufacturing week here in Melb, there is usually a few cad /cam people there... might find something else...

It's going to take a few months to save the dollars up for the conversion kit so i've got plenty of time to check out the demos....

I'll check out that free software also.. who knows, might be good enough..

[escott76]

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/enginee...s_package.html

I haven't gone through the links, as I own a license to the software, but it appears as if Solidworks is allowing folks to download it's software. As usual read all the fine print, but it's at least a peek at some of the good stuff.
I've been using SW since 2001, and it definitely has a learning curve. But I haven't found the stuff it won't do yet.
Autocad looks to be running a similar program http://www.canadianmanufacturing.com...06_134416_5992
Personally I prefer Solidworks, but I have a lot invested in it.
Neither of these are CAM, but they are great CAD.

[DonF]

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/enginee...s_package.html

I haven't gone through the links, as I own a license to the software, but it appears as if Solidworks is allowing folks to download it's software. As usual read all the fine print, but it's at least a peek at some of the good stuff.
I've been using SW since 2001, and it definitely has a learning curve. But I haven't found the stuff it won't do yet.
Neither of these are CAM, but they are great CAD.

Fine print = Solidworks Stops working after 90 days and supposedly will not export to other programs. Looks like a great learning tool though while your saving up for the real thing!
The Autocad one looks to last for a year!?

[SSN Vet]

After 10 years of building up AutoCAD skills to the point where the interface is programed into muscle memory, learning SolidWorks was hard, even after taking the one week basics class.

Our company bought a seat of SW because we follow our customers lead, and SW is a VERY popular package. Having SW has greatly improved the interface with our customers, as we can open the universal .stp and .igs files. I often comment that SW opens .dwg files better than AutoCAD does.

If I want to solid model a part, I can do it in either suite, but with SW it's much easier to go back and make changes. There is more design logic built into SW models. Rather than just model a member and make it 12" long, you model the member and "constrain it".... so it's length is determined by it's relationship to the other design features or components, and is not just arbitrary. When the key design features with a definate size are edited down the road, the rest of the model updates automatically.

If I'm making a complicated mechanical drawing for use on our shop floor, I would MUCH rather use AutoCAD, as imho it is a far superior drafting package.

I personally have never used Inventor, but I have a draftsman working for me who has extensive training with it. He says it basically takes the best of AutoCAD and the best of SW and puts them into one package.

My biggest gripe with SW is that you can not down save a model. That is to say, if you create the model in SW 2009 and want to share it with a customer who is running SW 2008, you cant. You could cook up an eDrawing, but that's not a file they can edit, so it's value for collaboration purposes is limited. If you're going to use SW for business purposes and you need to exchange files with customers and vendors alike, you pretty much have to subscribe to the support package, which gives you tech. support and annual updates. But this runs ~$1,200/year.

As noted earlier, neither one is a CAM package, though there are 3rd party CAM add ons for both.

[escott76]

My solidworks cost 30 bucks bootleg

Hey that's cool.... oh wait no it isn't. If it isn't worth what it actually costs find another solution. Or perhaps you could just take up stealing property directly, and use the profits from that to buy the software.
Either contribute positively to the discussion or go elsewhere, discussing illegal software isn't a good idea.

[Teyber12]

I love solidworks student discount, yet the "fine print" = stops working after 2 years. I wish there was cheaper version available to students like me. That said, it seems that individual cad programs and individual cam programs (i.e. autocad, soldworks and mastercam, et cetera) are MUCH more expensive then packages that include both(bobscam, dolphin). I understand the high prices of cad and cam software but IMO i think the price should be lowered a lot for customers who don't plan on making money off it.
I just bought dolphin partmaster pro, Seems like nice folks over there. hopefully i can lean how to use it

Cheers

[SSN Vet]

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