Cost

[ADAPT_Shop-Brady]

At first I was a little bummed about the cost of the software, Autodesk has gone to a subscription model for all their products now and Fusion 360 is $300/year which I think is worth it if you're going to use it, then I saw that it's also:
Free for students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and startups
*Startups are commercial ventures with revenue under $100k

So that opens the door up to most of us, free powerful CAD/CAM software, LOVE IT!!!

**Disclaimer: I work for Autodesk....... Just kidding, I just like Fusion 360! :)

[Riptide369]

I like that ShopBot gives owners a 1 year commercial license when you purchase a ShopBot. "ShopBot tool purchase you will receive a code to register and activate your Autodesk Fusion 360 FREE 1-year commercial account. After the 1 year free commercial subscription ends you will be prompted to identify yourself as a hobbyist/maker or a professional. For hobbyists the subscription will remain free. Professionals will need to pay for subscription (rates published by Autodesk) at the time the 1 year subscription is complete." - http://www.shopbottools.com/mProducts/software_fusion360.htm

[ADAPT_Shop-Brady]

Great point! Glad to see two companies I like teaming up.

[rgreever]

I recently began playing with Fusion 360, using the free 1 year subscription from ShopBot. It has its pluses and minuses, in my opinion. I like the fact that it's a CAD/CAM solution all in one. It's hard to wrap my head around having to go back and forth between 2D sketching and 3D modeling, but I'm getting better with it. I am currently going to compare toolpathing side by side between VCP and Fusion 360, and see what the differences are.

It had been mentioned in the other thread, but I'd like to know the difference between ShopBot ISO and ShopBot OpenSBP. I guess my next stop will be the CAM forums over at Autodesk.

I do most of my 3D design work in Rhino, and outputing 3D designs to VCP has been giving me all sorts of problems. I can't justify spending $3000+ for RhinoCAM or madCAM, but someone suggested checking out Fusion 360, so here I am.

[ByronConnDesign]

Fusion 360 is a great software! I am a big Rhino5 user and would never draw models in fusion but you can't beat free. Fusion is still in a form of Beta so they are constantly working on improvements. The university I teach at has some ties to AutoDesk so students are working with Fusion more frequently. I teach Fusion's CAM portion for our Shopbot Buddy and its comparable to the base packages of mainstream CAM software.

I originally learned CAM on Mastercam, so everything else seems simplified in comparison. I rely heavily on flowline and the more complex toolpath options, which also allows my cut time to be greatly reduced with better results. In the end the more sophisticated software will pay for itself if the work is there. For my business I use Rhino5 for mac and BobCam v28 4-axis pro

On a tangent I learned that most CAM programs purchase their toolpath generation modules from the same company, ModuleWorks, what your paying for is the interface of how they let you change and modify variables in the software. Here's a link of their "partners" http://www.moduleworks.com/company/partners/?lang=en

Cheers,
Byron

[willmorgan]

Byron,
I have BobCam V27, I really don't use it. How do you like it compared to Aspire and Fusion 360?

[James M]

Bryon,

Thanks for pointing out that a lot of companies get their toolpath generation modules from one main company.

James

[ByronConnDesign]

Will, I have very limited interaction with Aspire. It depends what package you have for BobCam. I find their standard 3D toolpaths too limited for the types of surfacing I do. Bobcams 2D and 3D paths don't give you much control over settings, but they generate pretty well for their simplified interface. The more comfortable I get with BobCam the more I find myself gravitating towards the more complicated toolpaths (in their multiaxis selection) for even basic things. BobCam will probably be able to do more for you right now over fusion and aspire, if you have the 4 axis pro package then it is definitely a better package. I could see Fusion expanding their CAM package but who knows how long it will be free for.

Fusion is still VERY fussy. I've given demos to my students with the same file using the same settings and had the generated toolpath come out different :eek: Fusion does provide a lot of control over the path, more so then most, however they still don't have all the options I'd like yet. Attached is an example of a flowline toolpath I could only do in Mastercam or Bobcam's Multiaxis path.
27720

[ADAPT_Shop-Brady]

Byron,
Don't know if it's based off the same principals but Fusion just added a new toolpath under their "multi-axis" paths (this works on 3 axis machines too) called "Flow".