Gunsmithing "Affordable" Software solutions for CAD/CAM

[GasLight]

Just briefly looked at BobCAD/CAM, and wondering if this is a good solution for the money, or if there is something else out there worth looking at? Bang for the buck, and startup budget need to be considered.

Thanks!!

 

[ken226]

I would start with Autodesk Fusion 360. Free for hobby level users.

For the price, its surprisingly good and has a ton of tutorials available on youtube.

https://www.autodesk.com/products/f...J-fZ1Nmk7TlV9cZPMj0GrHBqIq-LZLrRoCzykQAvD_BwE

 

[ken226]

Heres the version to start with:

https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/fusion-360-for-hobbyists

 

[Tiger_Shilone]

You will be forever hounded by BOBCAD if you buy from them, their telephone sales force is the most aggressive and tenacious I've ever encountered. At least emails can be spammed into trash automatically.

IMO their best software was version 21 or 22 when it still included the "geometry from NC" for free instead of an upgrade and was still hobbyist friendly.

I am struggling greatly with V27 at work, it is more powerful but way more unintuitive with a lot of roadblocks in the way.

I agree with KEn226, go play with the autodesk as it is free for hobbyist and will actually do quite a bit .

 

[adamjma]

Fusion 360. I tried a few other free ones, which were all annoying in some or many ways. Based on a the recommendations of a bunch of cheap engineers I know Fusion 360 was the clear winner.

 

[AIAW]

Just briefly looked at BobCAD/CAM, and wondering if this is a good solution for the money, or if there is something else out there worth looking at? Bang for the buck, and startup budget need to be considered.

Thanks!!

For business or for personal use? Good reasoning behind asking from a legal standpoint

 

[ken226]

Fusion 360 is also free for businesses that bring in less than 100,000 per year. No licensing or legal issues.

They want to get u hooked, so when you make it big, all you know is Autodesk. Then they charge the big bucks for Inventor Pro and HSM.

They have genius marketing. Free to hobbyists, businesses under a hundred grand, and especially free and heavily marketed to students, teachers and colleges. They want everyone who graduates to be in love with Autodesk.

They got their hooks into me with Autocad, inventor and HSM in college.

 

[GasLight]

For business or for personal use? Good reasoning behind asking from a legal standpoint

Business

 

[AIAW]

Ahhh, gotcha. I that case I digress!

I have to agree with everyone above though too. Nothing more standard in the industry than anything that Autodesk makes. Good Haas integration if that's what you'll be using.

 

[ken226]

Ahhh, gotcha. I that case I digress!

I have to agree with everyone above though too. Nothing more standard in the industry than anything that Autodesk makes. Good Haas integration if that's what you'll be using.

I use Inventor Pro and HSM, and their post-processor lets you choose from a list, and formats the g-code programs specifically for about a hundred different brands and types of machine controllers. Pretty much every brand ive ever heard of and many i havn't.

If youll be using Artsofts Mach 3, Fusion can post process Mach3 programs perfectly.

Fusion 360 is very similar to Inventor and Solidworks. Anyone familiar with Inventor or Solidworks will feel right at home with Fusion 360.

 

[GasLight]

Ahhh, gotcha. I that case I digress!

I have to agree with everyone above though too. Nothing more standard in the industry than anything that Autodesk makes. Good Haas integration if that's what you'll be using.

I will look at Haas and Sharp likely, definitely have a ton to learn before I could consider any real business ?

 

[Rubicon Precision]

You will be forever hounded by BOBCAD if you buy from them, their telephone sales force is the most aggressive and tenacious I've ever encountered. At least emails can be spammed into trash automatically.

Seriously, no joke. It was probably over ten years ago that downloaded a trial version of BOBCAD and never even used it. To this day, I'll get a random call from them.