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Machines:
laser
2.5 axis router ( maslowcnc.com )
limited access to 4 axis HAAS
type of work, mostly 2d and signs
hobbies
prefer onshape, but many hobbiests I work with teach using fusion360 (I run linux, so that's not an option for me)
like Chris, I can't justify a paid license of onshape for my limited use, but the club does pool our money and buys paid licenses for software to run the machines
- What types of CNC machines do you use? Tormach, Roland
ShopSabre, Shopbot, and Axiom- What kinds of machining do you do? 2.5 axis? Mill Turn? etc..... 2.5 Axis
2D, 2.5, and 3D carves- Volume of work, is this for occasional prototyping? Or do you have machines running 24/7? Prototyping and short run production
Instructional (Education and Vocational)- Who typically uses CAM in your company? Do you have a dedicated machinist? etc...Just me
This is an educational suite open as a Maker Space, and instructional classroom.- Do you use an existing CAM solution?
Aspire, +Machine Specific apps***************
I'm a robotics and engineering teacher working a private school... would love to keep using Onshape but its harder to do as we move more and more to the CNC / CAM side of things with our upper level courses. Would love to know more about Onshape's solutions and partnership to make this happen.
Thanks! Les Williams
- What types of CNC machines do you use?
Wood machines. Therefore we would have to export the data in the .btl-file (https://www.design2machine.com/btl/index.html)we are right now at choosing how to go on CAM-related. We bought a used 3-axis hurco, and want to use onshape cam of course.
Is there a time scale for a wider BETA oder official version of cloud milling?
- What types of CNC machines do you use?
Hurco VMX24 with Ultimax 4 (I know, old)- What kinds of machining do you do? 2.5 axis? Mill Turn? etc.....
2.5 axis, more to see- Volume of work, is this for occasional prototyping? Or do you have machines running 24/7?
Both, prototype stuff but 8 hours per day serial parts will be done too- Who typically uses CAM in your company? Do you have a dedicated machinist? etc...
We have a dedicated machinist, but me as the head of engineering (small ;-)) want to be with it too- Do you use an existing CAM solution?
No, so it is fascinating for us to be in the loop to decide where to goThe industry standard for CAM output format is gcode. For now, that this is the focus of CAM Studio. I would suggest looking at how/if your equipment can support gcode?
Short answer, the current Auto Layout is already the small stepping stone for nesting in Onshape until a native solution is present.
Binary bin packing is bounded runtime and deterministic, so even though it approximates parts as rectangles, it's much more suited to running in FeatureScript. A more sophisticated algorithm would want to be tied in as an Onshape cloud app so that it doesn't bog down part studio regeneration. Deepnest in particular is a genetic algorithm, so it really need more compute resources than FeatureScript allows, and wants the UI and compute to be in different threads so you can a) "stop" as soon as the solution looks good enough to you, and b) pick the best variation of the GA population for your needs.
PhD, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
@joe_dunne can confirm if I'm off here, but I believe alpha testing starts approximately within the next two months? The hands down best nesting I've seen is "Alphacam" vero algorithm and "Nestfab" which I believe uses the same or similar algorithm both in speed and yield. Alphacam takes the edge with dynamic kerf based of individual part machining.
I've compared with SVG/Deepnest, Microvellum, Mastercam, Fusion 360 and Sigmanest. Yet to try Magi-CAM/Cut-Right, Ezynest, Woodwork For inventor. All of them use algorithms they call "true shape nesting" or something worse.
I do hope to see native nesting in the far future of the same calibre as Alphacam. In the mean time plain old Alphacam is looking like the best solution for woodworkers in the industry. It also uses the parasolid kernal which is nice, and based in the UK so metric and English!
We use Fusion360 as well as HSMworks (with Solidworks).
The lack of integrated CAM is a major issue that is driving us to potentially move away from Onshape. This was now announced almost a year ago now and we haven't seen it yet. We still have to export parts into SolidWorks or Fusion as part of our CAM workflow.
On that note @joe_dunne and update of any sort would be appreciated.
We are working very hard to reach the Early Visibility stage. We are close. We have some remaining projects that have to be finished in order for the product to be ready for this stage..
I have talked to many of you already. If you are interested in helping participate in our Early Visibility Program. Feel free to reach out to me at jdunne@ptc.com. We can discuss what will be involved and set proper expectations.
Joe
I run our Millport CNC conversion running Mach 3, but we also have a Multicam router we use for large parts running Mach 4 that I have yet to learn.
We do 2.5 axis machining, but as I get more farmiliar with the machines and CAM programs I hope to start doing full 3 axis.
From January to April the Millport is running 5-10 hours a week and programing another 4-7. From May to December I usualy end up running it 1-2 hours a week and programing 2-3 hours, but that includes training new people. Our Multicam we use for plywood and polycarb Im guessing runs at most 1.5 hours a week, but im not sure.
There were 2 people who ran the Machines, me and our lead mentor. I tend to run the millport in our shop and the mentor runs the multicam in our practice field, although I am hoping to learn it soon. I am also training another person to run our Millport.
We currently use Mastercam, but I have dabbled in F360 which I was hoping to switch to until I heard about this.
Edit: Formating
Joe
Twitter: @BryanLAGdesign
remember that fusion 360 free accounts do have CAM
Thank you for this detail. I have been bouncing back and forth between Fusion 360 and OnShape to determine which software best meets my needs, but the fact that I can get basic CAM for 1/5th the price going with Fusion 360 makes it an easy decision.
jdunne@ptc.com
What about education users?
@derek_ward076, I believe EDU users are part of enterprises, so they will have access to this. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this.
Learn more about the Gospel of Christ ( Here )
CADSharp - We make custom features and integrated Onshape apps! Learn How to FeatureScript Here 🔴
https://www.onshape.com/en/features/cam-studio
Any news in here?
I teach Engineering Design, Tech, and Programming at a NJ High School. Having a more integrated CAM solution would be very cool and make the use of equipment much more streamlined for students!
What types of CNC machines do you use?
We have 4 Stinger CNC Routers.
We use Vectric cut 2d and cut3d to create the .TAP files for winCNC, which controls the machine.
We do 2.5 axis typically. Fixturing parts and setting up cut paths for full 3D. Manually flipping the work over.
Low volume.
5 teachers in the district.
Vectric products, creating our .TAP files.
I have two needs for this. In my day job I'm a team developing industrial inspection robots and I do some CNC machine of parts as needed. Most of our big jobs are outsourced, so when we need a quick turnaround, I'll do the machining. Maybe only one job a month level of work. All of it is 3 Axis aluminum work. We also have a small CNC router for 2.5 axis milling ops.
I'm also the Metal Shop Steward for our local Nova Labs Maker Space, and we have many CNC machines in the makerspace that I would be happy to test Onshape with.
I use 3 Axis Mills mostly. For work, we use a Tormach 1100M at another maker space.
At Nova Labs, we have a 3-axis Matsuura Tiger MC-510V (1985 machine), a 3 axis Haas VF-0E (1995 machine), and a small 3 axes CNC-JR machine running a Mach 4 Controller.
We also have a 4'x4' ShopSabre CNC Router running a WinCNC controller. And a 4'x8' CNC Plasma Table (Chinese) but that is a simple 2D machine but it needs g-code, not DXF files, so we use Fusion for that.
For all these machines, I use Fusion 360 for CAM. I moved to Onshape for work and didn't want to use Fusion for CAM anymore. The ONShape user interface and workflow experience is so much better on Onshape. However, I must move to Fusion for CAM -- which creates real problems when the design needs to change since it breaks all the CAD when a new CAM model is loaded.. Obnshape is just such a better interface and work experience but for now, I'm stuck moving back to Fusion for CAM. So please, help me escape Fusion as soon as possible!
I would love to be teaching our maker space members ONshape for CAD and CAM instead of asking them to learn Fusion.
Currently, I have never done any turning CAM. It's all 2.5 and 3 axis milling.
We have multiple people in our startup who know how to do CAM, but for the 3-axis work, I've been doing all of it lately (what we don't outsource).
For our older machines at the Makerspace like the Matsuura I had to modify the post processor to support the differences in our machine. I'll be happy to check and modify any post processors or machine definitions you have for our machines. But since they are old machines, they won't represent a big need for your customer base.
Although I do machining and mechanical engineering work mostly at the current company, my true background is software development for over 20 years.
So if you have a beta program or a pre-release you would like test and give you feed back on features and bugs or whatever you need tested.
The sooner I can leave Fusion and move everything to ONShape the better!
Curt Welch
703 855-4152
curt@appliedimpactrobotics.com
curt@kcwc.com
Curt.Welch@nova-labs.org