Mastercam and powermill, one for 2D and the other for 3D?
I've met an engineer who is the top supplier of CNC machines in my country, and he gave me an opinion I didn't understand; I asked which CAM software he'd recommend I learn because I only do CAD and wanted to get into CAM.
He said I should use Mastercam for 2D countours and cuts and facing and these kind of operations, and use Powermill for 3D surfaces, he said that Mastercam is better in 2D shapes and Powermill is better and faster (and even more productive in it's output) in 3D shapes. Can anyone please tell me if there's any real reason for this? because he couldn't.
Thank you
1 Answer
The best thing you can do before making any purchase is to do your own research. Most salespersons want to make a sale not all of them have the customer's requirements as a big part of selling you a software product. First, if you are new to CNC machining you need to learn some basics, learn about 3 axis machines, 5 axis machines, learn as much about the CNC world as you can for yourself so that you have more understanding of how the software works. I have worked for many companies where a slick salesperson has sold expensive software that was not the best choice for the task it was purchased for.
Get onto google and see what is out there. Often you can download demo versions to see what each product offers. You can even download from here http://linuxcnc.org/ a live Linux ISO that can be put onto a DVD disk or flash drive and run on any PC. If you like it you can load it permanently onto an older machine you may have lying about. You can download a good introduction to CNC document from the cnclinux.org website here http://linuxcnc.org/docs/2.7/pdf/LinuxCNC_Documentation_es.pdf
There may also be software that will interface easily with your existing CAD. Make the effort do do your own research, it may save you quite a bit of money and you have a better chance of purchasing a product that will do what you need to do. The best is often not the most expensive.
