[JohnToner]

After a year of hand coding, I decided to take a look at the Sprutcam demo that came with my machine. Well, seems it expired already and I've never run it! I was curious because its rather expensive and from what I've read, there's more to it than just feeding it a CAD file and G-Code magically pops out. That's why I waited so long to look deper into it. I figured if I still have to tweek the code to make a part, I might just as well code it myself. As such, for less than $5.00, I've substituted a ruler, compass, and some quad paper for a CAD program. What am I missing? Also, any idea why my demo won't run?

More importantly, a very Merry Christmas to all and thanks for the invaluable help you've given me. I really appreciate it.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

John,

You can download a free time-limited demo (15 days?) directly from the SprutCAM website.

Regards,
Ray L.

[JohnToner]

Ray, thanks, I'll do that. I don't want to use it for an actual part, I just want to get a feel for the concept. Tormach gets $1.2K for it. So, I really need to see a significant benefit to justify the expenditure.

[mike sr1]

Check out this post John over on the Sprutcam forum.


http://www.cnczone.com/forums/sprutc...m_express.html

Your way ahead of me as I cant hand code! I know just enough to run the MDI.

I have been using Sprutcam since i bought the machine, took me a while to learn the basics though
and i still dont know that much but enough to get by for the things I do.

I personally would like to try Rhino cam as I use Rhino 4 for my drawings, I just dont want to go thru the learning process again.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[tbaker2500]

If you want to do regular 2.5d type work, there are packages much better and cheaper than Sprut. I use Vectric VCarve Pro for all standard 2.5d stuff, quick, simple, and reliable. If you want to do full 3D work (complex contours, non standard geometric shapes), Sprutcam is great value for the money. It is, however, very hard to learn and it crashes constantly. I often want to toss the computer out the window. It's still good value for the money.

[Mogal]

I'll second VCarve pro for the 2.5d work.
I hope to upgrade to Aspire one day

[JohnToner]

Mike, after you feed the CAD output into Sprutcam, what more must be done to get usable g-code to make your part? I'm guessing it will have to know which tools are to be used and when to change them, might have to have its own tool table, I don't know but I suspect there is a lot more tweaking required.

And a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you as well.

[tbaker2500]

The tutorials on youtube are a good way to get a feel for it. The first one is here: SprutCAM America - Beginning Tutorial #1 - Mouse Functions and the SprutCam Interface - YouTube

[SCzEngrgGroup]

John,

Most/all CAM programs have a learning curve. FWIW, I played with the SprutCAM demo for several days about 18 months ago, and found it to be more inscrutable than most. Many people have found the learning curve to be really daunting. SprutCAM pretty much forces it's rather unusual paradigm on you, and many features operate in ways that I found anything but intuitive. The best way to get a feel for how it operates is to watch the tutorial videos, many of which were done by Tormach. Unfortunately, I found many of the videos described and earlier version, and the version I was playing with operated quite differently in many areas. I never was able to get very far with it.

Nearly all the major CAM programs have demo versions that allow you to do pretty much everything but generate G-code. The trick is to find a program that is compatiible with the way you want to operate. Expect to spend several days, and lots of frustration, learning how to do even very basic things.

If all you're doing is simple 2.5D designs, there are several simpler, cheaper, ways to go. I've been using SheetCAM for years, and it has worked very well for me, though I've just "upgraded" to VisualMill.

Regards,
Ray L.

[mike sr1]

Mike, after you feed the CAD output into Sprutcam, what more must be done to get usable g-code to make your part? I'm guessing it will have to know which tools are to be used and when to change them, might have to have its own tool table, I don't know but I suspect there is a lot more tweaking required.

And a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you as well.

John,
the file has to be imported into Sprutcam, then the type of machining selected, this brings up the parameters with the tool table, and the settings etc.
I would watch the videos as has been suggested and download a demo and play with it as you watch the videos, they went too fast for me in the beginning.
It took a lot of time for me to learn what I needed which is only a small percentage of what the program will do, and I am still learning.

The Russians programming methods arent quite like what I am used to either. The program likes a good 64 bit computer, It wont hardly run on xp and a 32 bit machine. I use a Toshiba laptop I5 processor with windows 7 and it runs pretty well on it, but does crash occasionally.

I started with this program so I am not familiar with the others but there are much simpler and cheaper cam programs if you dont need 3D.

[JohnToner]

Ray, I just ran the first four Sprutcam videos (Thanks, T. Baker), and found them beyond my powers of comprehension. I may be wrong, but I think for 2.5 D, I maybe better of just coding manually. I'm not yet ready to give up. but I'm getting there.

[mike sr1]

Ray, I just ran the first four Sprutcam videos (Thanks, T. Baker), and found them beyond my powers of comprehension. I may be wrong, but I think for 2.5 D, I maybe better of just coding manually. I'm not yet ready to give up. but I'm getting there.

I felt exactly the same way John.......videos were much too fast, had no idea what they were talking about etc.

I bought Alibre cad with the machine too and I never got past a 2d drawing with it, I switched to Rhino and it was much easier for me plus the fact one of my close friends knew it very well, that really helped with the learning curve.

If you decide to get sprut I would be more than happy to help you with what little I know..........

[tbaker2500]

Ray, I just ran the first four Sprutcam videos (Thanks, T. Baker), and found them beyond my powers of comprehension. I may be wrong, but I think for 2.5 D, I maybe better of just coding manually. I'm not yet ready to give up. but I'm getting there.

If it looks beyond what you can deal with, don't buy it. It's just going to get worse.
My Tormach sat mostly unused for a few years because I thought "I own Sprutcam, I need to use it." I finally but Cut2d, then upgraded to VCarve Pro (Same basic program), and life became SOOOO much happier.

Here's a video on VCarve:
VCarve Pro tutorial - YouTube
(I haven't watched it fully, it looks like it covers the basics)

[David Bord]

I have a few friends that use cambam for 2.5d and they like t very much. From what I've seen its easy to use and cheap similar to sheetcam mentioned by Ray.

David

[jrmach]

Ray, I just ran the first four Sprutcam videos (Thanks, T. Baker), and found them beyond my powers of comprehension. I may be wrong, but I think for 2.5 D, I maybe better of just coding manually. I'm not yet ready to give up. but I'm getting there.

You code by hand faster than Computer,ha.Nope,,all cad/cam will be better than hand coding,,demo a few and ask for a webinaire with the software vendor.If they can't do that,keep looking.Not a salesman,but for the $ BoBCAD has been excellent for me .BoBCAD will let you demo and will answer your questions.They have lots of free videos on you tube and they sell video series.They also offer training.

[sperman]

I bought Sprutcam when I bought my Tormach, and for me, it was a huge waste of money. Simple things, like importing the part and positioning it relative to the stock, were too complicated to be productive. Trying to generate usable code was a real challenge for me.

[mountaindew]

I have new tormach machine and I'm currently reviewing cam packages.
Didn't think the cam software would be so complex for some reason "silly me, how would it know what tools I have and how I use them "
Drawing on paper, drawing on computer, 2d, 3d, whatever I can sling rectangles and extrude with the best.
Moving that drawing or information over to the cam software and then to machine is a little more difficult then I expected.
Looks like long term the hard part will be picking 1 cam package and learning a not well documented, extremely complex program. And then slowly learning to trust what you input and what it generates.
I never used software in a way that my inputs if incorrect would damage a very expensive tool.
Lane

[Don Clement]

For me SprurtCam worked well given the steep learning curve. SprutCAM easily imports directly from within Solidworks. Not the easiest software to learn but very powerful 3D. SprutCAM is as capable as MasterCam for 1/10 the cost. Works for me. YMMV

Don

[SCzEngrgGroup]

FWIW - I bought Alibre, now GeoMagic Design about 6 months ago, and just bought AlibreCAM, which is MecSoft VisualMill adapted to run as a plug-in to GeoMagic Design. Of all the many CAD and CAM systems I've tried, I've found this to be the easiest to learn, and most powerful, due to its parametric capabilities. GeoMagic design allows you to not only create 3D models of all the parts of a complex design, but you can actually assemble those parts into a full 3D model of the entire design. AlibreCAM is nicely integrated, so you do the CAD design and CAM, including machining simulation, within the same UI, and CAD design changes are automatically passed to the CAM. There is still a learning curve, but I didn't find it too daunting, and being able to assemble complex systems and verify fit and function before actually cutting metal is, I think, extremely valuable.

Regards,
Ray L.

[MichaelHenry]

I've had my share of problems with SprutCam starting with SC4, and then on to SC2007, SC 7, and now SC8 but have always managed to get my parts made and am now up to around 400 G-code files that have been generated with SprutCam. The help from Dave (the UK rep) and Eric (at Tormach) have been invaluable, but if I had it to do over I'd have taken one of the classes that Tormach offers for SprutCAM. I think that would have saved me a great deal of time, and more importantly frustration as I would have probably better learned how the program "thinks".

I've had Alibre Expert for years and there is a basic version of Visual Mill (AlibreCAD) that comes with it, but the functionality was (is?) quite limited compared to what comes with SprutCAM. One issue that drove me absolutely bonkers was that my version of VM/AC had no way to re-orient the part with the X/Y/Z axes* and my CAD parts were often created with Z pointing in the wrong direction, which made it difficult to machine the part without a lot of difficulty. It is trivial to transpose the part in SprutCAM.

Another advantage of SprutCAM is that it comes with a lathe module, something I hope to take advantage of as soon as Tormach releases their slant bed lathe.

* A more advanced level of AC/VM could do this but listed for $4k or more.