Cabinet Parts Pro questions

[BowenJ]

Hello all, new shopbotter here. I've been teaching myself how to use it over the past few weeks and I have a bunch of questions, mostly about the software.

I downloaded the Cabinet Parts Pro free version to try it out, and I really like it but I am running into some weird issues that I can't figure out. I've searched the forums but can't find answers to these questions

First Issue: When CPP creates the toolpatch for cutting shelf holes it tells the machine to go cut hole #1, then hole #1 again followed by hole #2, then holes #1, #2, and #3, then holes #1, #2, #3, #4, and etc... For the first cabinet I ran I just went in and found the last iteration of the loop and deleted everything else, so that it only cut each hole once, but that's a hassle to do, especially if I have a whole bunch of cabinets to make (like a kitchen).

Second Issue: I tried out the "cut pocket holes" feature and it worked beautifully... on one side of the panel. On the other side the pocket holes looked beautiful, but were sloped backwards (away from the edge of the panel, not towards it). I found some some mention of a similar issue to this back in an old CPP thread that died off several years ago, and Ryan (who I take is the creator) said it was fixed. Well... it's not fixed for me.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to fix these two issues?

And on a broader scale, is Cabinet Parts Pro even still a viable program to use? Are the creators still supporting it? It looks like most of the discussion for it died out years ago and the few posts I found for it over the past couple years have been of the "Where's Ryan? Does anybody have contact info for him" variety?

In short, is it worth spending $250 on? And if not, is there a comparable program at a reasonable price that people recommend?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Oh, a little about what I'm using, in case that makes a difference:

Shopbot: 2006 PRT Alpha
Software: ShopBot WorkShop Ver 3xx
Cabinet Parts Pro: v 8.7.7

[Keith Larrett]

And if not, is there a comparable program at a reasonable price that people recommend?

I can't answer your questions on CPP. I purchased the ShopBot Link for eCabinets. At $1200 it is more expensive than CPP, but still considerably cheaper than many other cabinet design programs out there.

The learnning curve for eCabinets is pretty steep, but once you get familair with it, you can do a wide variety of stuff with it.

You can download a free version of eCabinets and try it out. You just need to buy the dongle in order to be able to send your designs to the CNC,

[nat_wheatley]

If you're cutting in a production environment, I'd strongly consider switching to Ecabinets. Keith's advice to try before you buy is spot on. as there is a significant time investment to learning it.

[jamesburrus]

Nat is ecabinet Worth the time to invest in,it hard to use

[nat_wheatley]

Yes, I consider it well worth it if you're planning on using it a fair amount. I seems to me to be straight forward, once you've made it through the learning curve. I can only speak for the machining part of the software, as I don't use it for drawings.