Hey Tweakie,
HMM.........But Gerry can still afford to go out and buy router bits and you can't because you spent your yearly allowance on software.
Be carefull now,  rumor has it that your better half monitors this site.     
RICH

But Gerry can still afford to go out and buy router bit

I have to buy the $5 ones on Ebay, though. Saving for a bigger, faster router.

Spot on Guys, right on all counts, money's all gone, be lucky if I can affort the wood to make another tiger anyway    

I think Hood summed it up when he said that the software depends on the type of parts you wish to produce. I think VCarve is great for a router making wood or plastic parts but I don't think it would be my first choice for a milling machine making metal parts. It is perhaps all a matter of personal choice and making the best from what you have.

Tweakie.

Tweakie,
Vectric makes:

CUT2D-2d machining
VCARVE PRO-2d machining / provides CAD/ carving/engraving but not 3d machining
ASPIRE- has it all
CUT3D-3d machining
PHOTOVCARVE-doing machining from photos

As shown above you just can't win the game unless you buy separate packages or Aspire. You may want to comment as i assume you tried
them all. I kow i looked at CUT3D and found MeshCam to be better but that's just my opinion.

RICH

Thanks Rich.

If CNC was the only thing I had to spend money on it would be great but my responsibilities have increased with age and my family now takes priority. So, somewhile ago, I set a limit on my annual software expenditure (just managed to squeeze in Art's Gearotic Motion last year - really glad I did that) but Vectric Aspire at $2000 is just too steep for me at the moment.
Not sure if Cut3D is any better than DeskProto (which I already have) or Meshcam, perhaps Gerry has tried a comparison on this one.
PhotoVCarve has many rivals and once you get the hang of it Art's Mach1filter makes a pretty good job for free.
I may just buy Cut2D as this seems useful and easy to use and at a price I can afford. I tried the SheetCam trial version and the jury is still out on this one at the moment.

Incidentally, a buddy of mine has more money than he can count and he said to me the other day "don't you ever get bored" ? he was genuinly supprised when I said "no, don't haye the time to get bored". Perhaps the moral here is to have almost just enough money but never too much.

Tweakie.

I've never even installed Cut3D. I've used the DeskProto demo a few years ago, and it's really good. But it's hard to beat the simplicity of MeshCAM. But it's not without it's faults. I'd like some things added or changed. A lot of my requests usually find there way into the program, but sometimes they take a while to get in there.

I'm very fortunate in that I'm a beta tester for Aspire.

And I was one of the very first MeshCAM users, and had a lot of input in the early development of it, and the author won't take my money.

As for CAD, my day job is using AutoCAD.

If not for the above, I wouldn't be able to afford anything either, as my wife has been a full time student for the last few years.

I may just buy Cut2D as this seems useful and easy to use and at a price I can afford. I tried the SheetCam trial version and the jury is still out on this one at the moment.

Tweakie.

Being you already have VCP, C2D might be best for you as the  interface of the two is so similar. But, if the choice was solely between C2D and SheetCam, that's an easy one imo.
penny for penny, SheetCam is hands down the better choice.

Quote from: Tweakie.CNC on February 21, 2011, 07:39:32 AM

I may just buy Cut2D as this seems useful and easy to use and at a price I can afford. I tried the SheetCam trial version and the jury is still out on this one at the moment.

Tweakie.

Quote from: Overloaded on February 21, 2011, 08:44:03 AM

Quote from: Tweakie.CNC on February 21, 2011, 07:39:32 AM

I may just buy Cut2D as this seems useful and easy to use and at a price I can afford. I tried the SheetCam trial version and the jury is still out on this one at the moment.

Tweakie.

Being you already have VCP, C2D might be best for you as the  interface of the two is so similar. But, if the choice was solely between C2D and SheetCam, that's an easy one imo.
penny for penny, SheetCam is hands down the better choice.

Being you already have VCP, C2D might be best for you as the  interface of the two is so similar. But, if the choice was solely between C2D and SheetCam, that's an easy one imo.
penny for penny, SheetCam is hands down the better choice.

Cut2D doesn't do lead in/out.  That was a deal breaker for me. 

Being you already have VCP, C2D might be best for you as the  interface of the two is so similar. But, if the choice was solely between C2D and SheetCam, that's an easy one imo.
penny for penny, SheetCam is hands down the better choice.

Did you mis-type that? V Carve Pro does everything that Cut2D does, plus a LOT more.

Hi Gerry, I assumed Tweak hadVCP from reply #1.
Why he mentione buying C2d in #24, I'm not sure.
I was just comparing C2D to SC, thats all.

Lead in/out is one like rrc mentioned.
Only 1 tool allowed per file generation is another (work arounds possible here tho)
50% max. stepover is another

Russ