What you’ll learn along the way will make it far easier when you decide to go for the higher end package to actually get it to work. The simpler package may not be the only package you’ll ever need, but it will carry you plenty far enough for longer than you’d think. Even if you can afford a very expensive “Pro” package to start, skip it until you’ve gone down the complete path to make a few parts with a simpler package. Usually, the more sophisticated the CAM package, the more questions it wants to ask.īecause of that, I encourage beginners to start with the simplest possible CAM package. Think of your CAM software as being a helpful assistant that has to ask you a lot of questions before it can get on with doing the job of producing your g-code. I have never seen a single CAM package that will do what the beginner expects, but some are easier than others. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth of how CAM software works. Part of the problem is that beginners have entirely the wrong expectation:Īfter working hard to learn CAD and having labored to produce a beautiful 3D model of the desired part, they want to just load that model into their CAM Software, push a button, and instantly get a g-code program out of it. Basically what I was hearing was the same story I had gone through. Recently, the subject of CAM for beginners came up again from several sources and I was reminded of my own original experience. Eventually I figured them out after watching lots of videos and doing lots of experimentation. It wasn’t just one CAM package, but three or four that did this.
The CAM program was constantly asking me mysterious questions I had no idea the answers to, or it would seem as though the CAM software didn’t understand my 3D model from the CAD package quite right, or sometimes it would just do absolutely nothing and I couldn’t figure out why. I got hold of some free trials and couldn’t believe how hard it all seemed. It was before I got my CNC mill up and running and a little while after I had gotten reasonably proficient with CAD.
I remember when I first started messing around with CAM. Do you find CAM as frustrating and mystifying as I once did?
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