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PRO NC V.S. THE OTHER GUYS

mnelson
1-Newbie

PRO NC V.S. THE OTHER GUYS

I just wanted to start a discussion to keep the forum talking. But anyway I have been using pro nc for a couple of years now I think it was wildfire 3 when I started. I used to use mastercam before my company switched to pro e. I was just wondering what some of the other users that have used other software thought pro nc matched up to them. I have been to some tool shows and talked to other cam vendors when they ask you what your running and I tell them pro nc there like I am sorry to here that. But I have watched some demo's from competitors and it all seems sugar coated. I will ask them if I can try and run the software and they will not let you.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
JoseCoronado
14-Alexandrite
(To:mnelson)

I would like to suggest you try Creo 2. There's a huge difference in usability and new functionality. Some useful links:

NC Mfg Demos (WF5): http://www.ptc.com/products/tutorials/production.htm

The "what’s new" descriptions and videos are on:

http://www.ptc.com/appserver/wcms/relnotes/index.jsp?show=y&product=403&module=338&version=&functional=&process=

filter it for Creo1 and Creo 2.

In other hand, machine simulation is a topic more and more important, we are looking on different ways to improve it on future releases.


View solution in original post

15 REPLIES 15
NickMihelich
6-Contributor
(To:mnelson)

Hey Matt

I have been using Proman for 3-4 years to program 3 axis mills and we use Esprit to program our wire edms. About 6 months ago I started using Topsolid 7 (for free) so far I prefer TS7 for its automatic stock management, multi threaded toolpath calculation, and integrated cutting simulation (sick of vericut).

SteveLucas
13-Aquamarine
(To:mnelson)

Matt,

I have been using Proman since rev18. (around 1998 I think). so It's been a few years. Before that I used Smart Cam. I think for the money Proman is about the best out there as far as capability vs. cost. you are correct when you get a canned software demo they usually have it polished and practiced. The company I worked for had been using Pro Engineer for a while. They had a applications engineer from PTC come in and demo Proman for me and he started giving me the canned demo stuff I stopped him and asked him to use one of my parts that I had already programmed in Smart Cam. He said no problem and programmed it in about half the time that it took me using SmartCam. I was impressed and sold and have been using it ever since.

There are many downsides to ProMan Like the learning curve. But once you have most of the basics down it becomes kind of fun to experiment and learn to use. That also becomes a frustration when you are under the gun and can't get something to perform as expected. I think that will happen with any of the cam systems where you will say "I used to be able to that a lot easier in my other cam software"'.

Most of the cam systems all do the same stuff. It all just get implemented differently with different packages.

Thanks for answers guys I like talking about stuff like this I know sometimes it can be a real diverse subject. Does anyone think the development people from PTC read these forums and get tips or ideas for improving the software? I know one thing I liked a lot other software's had was the ease of machine simulation. I did this in pro a while back and it seemed a little difficult to do and you could only simulate one tool at a time. I know for simple jobs it sometimes is not necessary you do machine sim but for 4 and 5 axis work with fixtures it would seem useful. Has anyone had experience with this in pro nc or other software?

SteveLucas
13-Aquamarine
(To:mnelson)

Matt,

I think that is where using vericut for simulation is lacking... The training on how to use it. It's like PTC and Vericut are pointing fingers at each other and saying you train the users. You get the vericut manuals buried in the software that you have to dig out and try and read to figure out how to cut more than just cutting one operationat a time. I am sure there is a way to cut one side of a part save the cut models and cut the otherside of the part using the existing models but I haven't figured out how to do it yet and like I said before I have been using the software for a long time. I don't get a lot of free time to play with the software to figure it out. Pretty basic stuff that training material should be available for but it's not.

JavierGarcia
6-Contributor
(To:mnelson)

Hi Matt,

We have just started using NCSIMUL for NC code verification. We have Vericut (not the full version) and we run it only for 3 axis simulation. For 5 axis simulation we found NCSIMUL very powerful and much easier to work with. There is also a interface for Pro/NC. We knew about machine simulation capabilities of Pro/E Wildfire but we prefer to check postprocessed code instead CL.

Hey Javier,

Thanks for the input the NCSIMUL looks like a cool package. I like the fact of simulating g gode instead of the cl file. How hard is that package to set-up and get running? Did NCSIMUL give you guys any machines already modeled and set up with parameters to use or did you have to go to training and do it yourself?

JavierGarcia
6-Contributor
(To:mnelson)

Yes, NCSIMUL supports many machine builders and controls. You can tell me your machine/s so i could check if they have already built, which has been the case for our DMG 5 axis with Siemens 840D.

We have started with 2 days of training. It could be enough for the start. We have one spare day and some hours of online support, to use after some time working with the software/machine.

JoseCoronado
14-Alexandrite
(To:mnelson)

I would like to suggest you try Creo 2. There's a huge difference in usability and new functionality. Some useful links:

NC Mfg Demos (WF5): http://www.ptc.com/products/tutorials/production.htm

The "what’s new" descriptions and videos are on:

http://www.ptc.com/appserver/wcms/relnotes/index.jsp?show=y&product=403&module=338&version=&functional=&process=

filter it for Creo1 and Creo 2.

In other hand, machine simulation is a topic more and more important, we are looking on different ways to improve it on future releases.


"Does anyone think the development people from PTC read these forums and get tips or ideas for improving the software? " there is your answer... The big guy (Jose) posted to your thread that is awesome! Creo 2 is a big imporvement with many updates and changes must have been alot of work. I hope development keeps the pace up and adds more features. Also if you join http://portal.ptcuser.org/ and participate in the technical commities you can help guide that development.

Thanks for the reply we are currently running creo 1.0 and the improvements are great keep it up. I was watching one of the demo videos that Jose posted the link for and they have a demo of probing cycles on the machine does anyone have a tutorial on how to set this up?

SteveLucas
13-Aquamarine
(To:mnelson)

Matt,

You have to have the high end manufacturing package( I don't recall the names right now) but the CMM package was another 5K on top of what we were running. I know because I got all excited about it a while back when we went from WF4 to WF5 and it was there was a demo so I asked our Var and they said you have to upgrade to the very top manufacturing package to get it.

I think we have the complete machining package and the production machining package. I will try to look into it to see if we have the capability it looked cool from the demo. Thanks for the input Steve.

SteveLucas
13-Aquamarine
(To:mnelson)

Matt,

I think the complete machining package has you should be good to go.

Gentlemen, for those interested in knowing more about Creo NC, please attend to the following webinar:


Creo 2.0. What's new for NC?


Join us for a Webinar on July 18






In this session we would like to present an overview of the enhancements related with NC, included in Creo 2.0

Title:

Creo 2.0. What's new for NC?

Date:

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Time:

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/118298882

Hello José

I have seen the webinar.

I undestand that you concentrate and production and swiss type machine.

In Richemont group, we have experience in driving Citizen and Tsugami machine with Creo making some complexe milling/turning up to 3 turret simultaneously.

I am looking forward in sharing experience and participating to this enhancemnt

Regards

Olivier COUPAT

Business Consultant CAD / CAM

Richemont International SA
1 Chemin de la papeterie,
CH-1290 VERSOIX
Tel direct:…………+41 (0)22 775 3989
Tel réception:…….+41 (0)22 775 3800
Fax réception:……+41 (0)22 775 3801
Natel:………….…..+41 (0)79.741.54.47
E-mail:………….….olivier.coupat@richemont.com

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