[Ansoknives]

Greetings!

I am looking into buying a Haas TM-1P toolroom mill to assist me in my knifemaking and am trying to figure out what CAM/CAD program I should get. I am a trained Industrial designer and have years of experience in using Rhino 3D so it would be natural for me to buy this program and get the right plug-in to run the CNC.....anyone have experience in the different CAM plug-ins?

I will be running simple 2-D stuff at first but I want to be able to make make more complex 3-D milling as soon as I can.

Thanks in advance for any advise

Jens Anso
www.ansoknives.com

[awerby]

It has good 2.5D functionality, and the base version will also do 3-axis 3d. If you have a 4th axis, you can upgrade it with a 4th-axis module, and there's a Pro version available that has a wide range of remachining strategies for producing good surfaces in tricky areas. It plugs into the Rhino workspace, so it's easy to make changes on the fly, without having to switch programs. And it has a wide range of postprocessors that work with just about every machine, including the Haas.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com
Authorized Mecsoft Distributor

[robertk925]

I am really enjoying using MadCAM, which is another plug-in for Rhino. I have never used a CAM program before (but have many, many years using CAD and Rhino), and it is really easy to get started making good toolpaths. It integrates nicely with Rhino, and it includes a machining simulator, which is really convenient to help visualize what the final part will look like. It is a little bit cheaper than RhinoCAM (which I have never used.)

[Ansoknives]

thanks for the suggestions......a friend also suggested the RhinoCam...will look into that...! Anyone had any problems running through Rhino?......I heard that splines could cause problems (frankly I just draw in it and have no idea)