BobCad w/ Mach ?

[TramAlot]

BobCad has a sale, how is this software? does the pp play well? which extras are worth it ?

thanks

[Hood]

Lots of disgruntled customers from what I have seen.
I downloaded the demo of the lathe and couldnt find any decent tutorials. Kept getting calls from them and I said if they could show me how to work it I might buy, they asked for a drawing and said they would make a short video to show me how, got an email back the next day with a screenshot of a toolpath and that was as much as I got. Still got pestered with calls for quite a while after that but just started putting the phone down on them.
Hood

[RICH]

Chip has a good grasp of the program and if he chimes in I am sure he will tell you the good, the bad and the ugly.

I tried version 17 a long time ago and didn't care for it..........just couldn't get the examples to work.....surely it has improved.

RICH

[TramAlot]

Thanks and I looked at their support forum.    still may call to find out how much but that in it self scares me

i'm at the point where i need to flip a coin and just start trying them. i've been trying to learn an old 14.x turbo cad but to no avail. freecad & heeks work for me but my ideas have out grow my non exsistant skills. who's got the best cheap training

thanks

[Chestermarine]

Last year I called to re-install a version ( I think v19) on my HP laptop. The lady on the phone was very polite, and after verifying my account, original purchase, etc., walked me though the codes to activate the program. A day or two later, I began to get calls from the sales department, trying to talk me into an upgrade which was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1500.00, and I declined, and said I did not do much machine work anymore, and what I had was just fine. The calls kept coming again, again, and finally I just hung up in their face! The phone call rang again immediately, and I hit the red button. The calls kept coming day, after day, after day.
After about a week, they stopped calling. I still get emails almost every week!

The learning curve is pretty steep! It does output good code, but today there are much better programs coming along, at very competitive cost.

[macona]

A friend of mine has it and for the price it is not bad. They will try to sell it to you initially at about $2000. But you wait them out and the price will drop all the way down to $250-$350. I think this was for a copy of v23 and v24 with bobart.

[dphens]

I purchased a version last year, but quickly found it not to my liking. Compared to other programs I've used/demo'ed, it took more steps to accomplish the same tasks. Unless they've improved it tremendously, it was not user friendly when I used it.

Also, the salesman used some very deceptive tactics on me. While discussing the software with him on the phone, I told him I had reseverations based on comments I'd read on the software. I asked him if I purchased the software and it "did not work out", could I get a refund. He said "no problem". However, his literal meaning was "if you buy it and it does not work, we'll get it working for you" - the fact that I was not happy/satisfied with it, did not concern them. They refused to give me a refund.

Based on my experience, I would strongly recommned you look at other options, even if it costs a little more. Should have followed my gut. If the retail price is $2000 and then they offer you a deal at $500 with this and that, something's not right.

Good luck whatever you choose. 

[polaraligned]

I have used it for a year+.
It has it's share of problems, but it gets the job done for my
2-1/2 D toolpaths.  You need to hand edit the code a bit.
Not the easiest software to learn as the seem to do things
a bit weird.  But it does work.

[M250cnc]

Strange all the negative comments above when it is in the download section of Artsofts recommended Cam

The Quote

BobCAD/CAM
The world leader in powerful and affordable CAD-CAM software.

One tip i have heard is give a false phone number to avoid the relentless sales phone calls

[ger21]

After years of reading BobCad horror stories at CNC Zone, I'd never even mention it to anyone looking for a CAD program.

I've seen numerous people that buy it, and then buy something else that works better. Or just plain works.

Someone above mentioned he has to hand edit his g-code. You shouldn't have to hand edit your code from a $25 CAM program, let alone a $2000 one. Or is it a $300 program?

By far the easiest to use CAM programs are the ones from Vectric. And they work. And they are quite powerful. Do yourself a favor and try their demos.