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Author Topic: CHALLENGE - PRESENTED FOR DISCUSION  (Read 9268 times)

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Offline RICH

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CHALLENGE - PRESENTED FOR DISCUSION
« on: July 25, 2009, 11:36:37 AM »
A challenge was recently made in a post. Certainly could provide for some interesting discussion.

QOUTE
It is my personal opinion that you should purchase a license for LazyCam. Here is why:

"I have not found, as of this writing, a basic CAM program for the mill and LATHE which has a good manual, excellent knowledgeable support, and provides the level of CAM capability directly into MACH for the cost of the license."

Hmm........... let the discussion begin.  ;)

RICH



Re: CHALLENGE - PRESENTED FOR DISCUSION
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2009, 11:50:40 AM »
A challenge was recently made in a post. Certainly could provide for some interesting discussion.

QOUTE
It is my personal opinion that you should purchase a license for LazyCam. Here is why:

"I have not found, as of this writing, a basic CAM program for the mill and LATHE which has a good manual, excellent knowledgeable support, and provides the level of CAM capability directly into MACH for the cost of the license."

Hmm........... let the discussion begin.  ;)

RICH





I'd say whoever said that didn't look very hard.  SheetCAM is excellent - good functionality, good price, best support in the business.  There is a lot to be said for Cut2D as well.  I've tried LazyCAM, and hated it.  I've read few positive comments about it - it's quirky, buggy, and has limited functionality.  And, AFAIK, it is basically not supported, so if you do find a bug, too bad - it ain't likely to get fixed.

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.

Offline RICH

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Re: CHALLENGE - PRESENTED FOR DISCUSION
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2009, 12:10:27 PM »
Don't Sheetcam and Cut2d  cost more and Sheetcam dosn't provide for the lathe and you need two programs.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2009, 12:27:41 PM by RICH »

Offline ger21

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Re: CHALLENGE - PRESENTED FOR DISCUSION
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2009, 01:04:46 PM »
Don't Sheetcam and Cut2d  cost more and Sheetcam doesn't provide for the lathe and you need two programs.

Isn't Art working on LazyTurn because turning in LazyCAM doesn't work all that good? Please correct me if I'm wrong. :)

Now, I don't have a lathe, but I do read a lot of forum posts. :) From what I gather, there's very little turning CAM software available to hobbiests, if any at all. Dolphin has a package, but I believe it's $400-$500 for hobbiests? Not 100% sure on the price.


Quote
"I have not found, as of this writing, a basic CAM program for the mill and LATHE which has a good manual, excellent knowledgeable support, and provides the level of CAM capability directly into MACH for the cost of the license."

Now, if you leave lathe out, as Ray said, Cut2D and SheetCAM blow LazyCAM out of the water. And you won't find anything easier to use than Cut2D.

But, if you need to buy an additional Lathe package in addition to one of those two, then cost becomes a huge factor.

My Bottom line, is this. If LazyCAM does what you want, consistently, without problems, then , by all means pay for it. If you can't work with it, or you need additional functionality, then buy something else.

At CNC Zone, people always ask "What CAM software should they buy?". My answer is always to try all the demos, learn how to use them, and buy what works for them.

Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html

Offline RICH

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Re: CHALLENGE - PRESENTED FOR DISCUSION
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2009, 02:30:04 PM »
Dolphin ( hobby version ) is a +$400 prorgam just for the lathe and include the mill and it's over $900.
I don't think most hobbiest can't even begin to rationalise out that kind of money
and they are not "bug" free either. 

Don't think there is anything out there for the lathe which has a manual, support, and allows you to go directly into into MACH. In fact, you can go in and out in a non automated way while doing machining. LC mill, well i also hated it,
until i started writing the manual for LC. Hopefully the anology in the manual  (section 5 - just added in rev "D" ) will
make LC easy to grasp and use.

Should be interesting to see reponses to this  thread.

Think Brain or Art will chime in?

RICH







Offline ger21

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Re: CHALLENGE - PRESENTED FOR DISCUSION
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2009, 02:58:27 PM »
Dolphin offers some "flexible" hobby pricing. I had access to a copy for a short time, and didn't really care for it though. Just pointing out that I think you can get both packages for around $500.

And  I agree about there being no other Lathe packages for hobbiests.
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html

vmax549

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Re: CHALLENGE - PRESENTED FOR DISCUSION
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2009, 03:37:07 PM »
RIch the main problem IS Lcam is an orphan that is no longer supported . NO updates no bug fixes. Hard to justify BUYING something that is not supported.

NOW if someone were to take Lcam and do the bug fixes and add a couple of uipdates AND produce a porper user manual. THEN it has value as a PAID FOR Cam package.

Then the paid subscriptions could PAY for a programmer to put time and effort into it. AS it is NO programmer will invest the 100s of hrs it will take to clean it up and support it FOR FREE.

(;-)TP

Offline RICH

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Re: CHALLENGE - PRESENTED FOR DISCUSION
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2009, 04:20:27 PM »
Big difference between $75 and $500.

Suppose someone is starting at the beginning?
Got to admit, with doumentation available today on LC and LT, and if you don't get too complex,
you have a lot of powerfull code generation available for use for both the lathe and the mill.
Yep, probably will graduate to specialized software for some particular interest, but for the price and
and exprienced gained, you can't go wrong, even it never gets  updated.


RICH


 

vmax549

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Re: CHALLENGE - PRESENTED FOR DISCUSION
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2009, 01:35:05 PM »
There are a LOT of quirks in LCAM that will drive a beginner MAD.

Beginners NEED full documentation and a FUlly debugged and functional enviroment.

An experienced operator already knows HOW it should work and can usally figure out a solution.

The beginner does NOT have those options.


FIX LCAM and fully Document it AND they will come(;-)

(;-) TP
« Last Edit: July 26, 2009, 02:15:00 PM by vmax549 »

Offline budman68

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Re: CHALLENGE - PRESENTED FOR DISCUSION
« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2009, 03:40:36 PM »
I think Terry hits the mark, as I was/am very much a newb and started with LCam. I tried very hard to put up with the "issues" that plagued the program and got by with the help of all the generous folks here that gave their time to get me up and running (where were your manuals then, Rich!! :D ). I have to admit that I did feel "slighted" as I had no idea that LCam was "done" as a program and I thought "Beta" meant that it was going to get better in the future and that's why I thought it might be a good idea to purchase it thinking there was a future in it. There really should be a better description on the download page for this program rather than the excuse of it being a "beta" software and that it's really what it is and that's all.

As for the lathe part of LCam, I just don't have a clue........LTurn on the other hand, I'm now to the point where I'm salivating for a finish operation  :P (C'mon Art, you're killing me! lol!! )

I have now moved on to Vectric products for my CAM work and it was like a godsend in comparison (for me). The software is just too easy to use and you would have to be crazy not to try it. As for the money, hobby or not, save your pennies and buy a software that says what it does and does it flawlessly and not have to spend half the time figuring out how to get through bugs and work-a-rounds.

Dave
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