Part Wizard and Vcarve Pro

[Brady Watson]

Robert,
PW v-carves 10 select fonts. It will not v-carve designs. Only the fonts that are highlighted in yellow. If you upgrade to Insignia or Pro, you can open up your PW files in either one. (They have the same exact interface with more tools...and no learning curve on what you already do in PW)

David,
I like the DelCAM stuff and think that their products are some of the best and easiest to use of the CAD/CAM packages. When I bought my tool they just switched over from Vector, which in my opinion (and many others) was just too difficult for the new guy to learn. It had more functionality than PW, but it left quite a bit to be desired on the interface/ease of use. So...ShopBot worked with DelCAM to come up with a CAD/CAM package that was easy to use that had a lot of functionality for a small price...so getting into CNC got a LOT easier than it used to be, while keeping customer's out of pocket costs low. Many companies don't include ANY CAD/CAM software with the basic tool package.

The next program in the tier is Insignia. It offeres quite a bit more than PW, all of the 2D tools that Pro has in it, in addition to many, many more options on just about every screen. You get nesting, advanced toolpathing options, inlays, prismatic letters, 2D 'rest machining', engraving, export capabilities, raster to vector conversion...it goes on & on. I don't know the price off the top of my head, but I think that it is around $2500-3000 or so. It is not in the same class as VCW, and with all software packages, you get what you pay for...and only pay for what you think you need. If you are running a business, the new capabilites that it would add would pay for themselves very quickly. If you only need to do v-carving, then VCW is hard to beat.

-B

[jeff_guinn]

Brady,
I'm not aware of any other software, even at twice the price of VCPro, that is able to render designs as quickly & accurately in almost any material. They excel in both vcarving,beveling profiles & also provide rest machining in their vcarving strategies,etc., plus customer support on par with ShopBot.
Jeff

[mikejohn]

Robert
Before spending many thousands of dollars look at some of the recently upgraded CAD software, and see what you can get the previous version for. Someone recently posted (but I can not find it), a sub $100 for TurboCad. Also eBay is a great source for 'last version' software bargains, although beware the possibilities buying from eBay of no support,(no transferable licence) or worse,pirate software.

It comes down to what you are wanting to do. If you can be more specific in your needs, we can perhaps help more.
I use the full AutoCad program. Many don't need all the capabilities of this, although no program is going to be more accurate or have more CAD features.

.........Mike

[normand]

Jeff
At twice the price of vcpro you could get Visualmill ,it will vcarv any thing and fonts and also do 3d wich insigna wont do even at 2 or 3 thousand dollard . www. mecsoft.com

[Forum Admin]

"When I run the .sbp file through the .dxf creator the parts end up with rounded corners"

Post on this moved to Part Wizard topic

[jeff_guinn]

Normand,
Will it produce an exact rendering of the part in the material of your choice for customer approvals as easily & quickly as VCPro? Is it as intuitive & quick to learn by a novice? You are certainly correct about 3D capabilities,but I wonder how many people really use this in their day to day operations.There's also VA3D-Machinist which is free for those that only want to cut 3D designs.I'm not aware of any software that is the answer to all needs,but I sure wish that VCPro was available years ago when I started. I'm sure the guys at Vetric are quite aware of Insignia & Pro's capabilities & are catering to a niche market by eliminating some of its' seldom used tools & streamlining the most often used ones.If I just received my ShopBot,never used CAD-like software & wanted to immediately be productive cutting profiles & engraving,I would choose VCPro without a doubt.These programs plus an inexpensive CAD program should handle most situations that are not product specific,such as cabinet making,etc.. Like all opinions,this is my own.
Jeff

[lpcsales]

Robert, Here is an example of a job I recently did using VCpro. I designed the counter top entirely in CorelDraw X3 and exported as EPS. Imported the EPS file into VCpro and assigned the toolpaths. The job includes both V-Carving as well as profile cutting, including edge routing, tabbies and cutout. This was cut from a 4' x 4' piece of MDF, primed and painted it with white Gloss enamel paint and it looks fantastic!
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...CounterTop.jpg
This picture is the rendering from within VCpro, but looks just like the part turned out.
VCpro was highly recommended to me by Diane when I was at the ShopBot factory. ...and the ShopBot I purchased from them, btw, is one great machine.

Great bunch of folks at Shopbot!

[normand]

Jeff
Vmill basic will give you a good rendering. As fast as vcpro I dont know? Quick to learn by a novice probably not no wizzard or canned routine. As to how many people use 3d in day to day operation I dont care and I wonder why you should. You have to decide for yourself. Like you say no software will do it all better than anoher one. VCpro look very fast to learn maby because there is not that much to learn , excellent for new user. The cad in vmill is poor. Now why do I prefer vmill? expandability, add rhino to it and you have a powerfull cad cam all in one no import,export all under one roof. If later you get an indexer Vmillpro will do 4axes ,and even 5axes but who care for now... One software to learn, noting lost like all the time taken to learn pw and not been able to use the file for nothing else then delcam. I understand SBot is commited to delcam and now VcWizzard. And of course will highly recomend these products. Dont get me wrong I like my shopbot it was a eye opener to the cnc world, and I want my software and files to follow me if I outgrow this machine. It is of course a matter of opinion
Forum admin , this post may not be at the right place or wanted

[andre]

I bought Turbo cad for $99 and $75 for training cd. Of course, all of the nice functions that the training cd demos, my version doesn't have. The learning curve on cad programs in my opinion is very high especially if you are trying to learn it on your own. I am awaiting my new bot and have been practicing with PW and so far i have been able to design and create all my cabinet parts and other creative deigns I have floating in my head with relative ease. I love it! I am sure I will buy VCP. Its good to listen to evryones opinions about it. It sounds like I would use VCP for vcarving and other difficult tool pathing, tabbing, drilling and nesting.
Just my 2 cents