An alternative to full-blown CAM

I’ve used a variety of software during the 30-plus years I’ve been involved with manufacturing. That includes standard products for creating documents, spreadsheets and databases, and, in order of appearance, packages for handling material requirements, manufacturing resources and enterprise resource planning. CAD/CAM software, however, tops my usage list.

The first CAM “package” I used was the APT programming language, which had no graphical interface. You wrote the program, sent the information via a slow modem, plotted the points on a multiple-pen plotter and then received the machine code. I never exceeded 3-axis programming. Programming capabilities have come a long way since then, including ones for 5-axis and multitask machining, Swiss-style turning and wire EDMing.

CAM software, these days, is often priced in the vicinity of a lower-end motorcycle or compact car—sometimes a luxury car! Last year, I needed to purchase a CAM package for our facility and contacted several well-known and reputable developers. Prices ranged from $12,000 to $16,000 for two seats of basic mill/turn software that did not include 5-axis contouring. Trust me though, if you do a lot of programming or mold and die work, the price is well worth it.

After researching how much programming we actually do at our facility, the cost wasn’t justifiable. The programs for our standard products have already been written. We may make 10 to 20 newly designed parts annually.

I decided to keep looking and found a few CAD/CAM packages online from $1,500 to $3,000 that would handle milling and turning. For wire EDM, I would have to wing it. Unfortunately, the customer support was terrible; I received no replies to my e-mails and phone calls. The downloadable product demos showed products with promise. But what good is it if I can’t speak to anyone?