This has been bugging me for a while now. At the facility where I do my machining (which will go unnamed) I am surrounded by people who have pirated MasterCAM and are happily busy getting complex parts made, while I am toiling around writing g code by hand, or hand-patching the output of various other half-assed CAM programs together.
My problem is that I don't think there are any good CAM programs for under $1K or so. Where by good, I mean that it knows how to do proper 3D features like pocket and islands, without resorting to retarded tool paths like rasterizing. Perhaps I have been spoiled by the 30 day demo of SprutCAM, but I really think that is the level of program that is sophisticated enough to handle most features without pissing me off. I guess you could say I am a toolpath connoisseur.
The other thing is that when I ask those other people about it, they are totally carefree or shameless about getting it for free. Either they don't care, or they have an excuse like "MasterCAM is for industrial shops, and I'm not doing industrial work. Maybe someday after I make 100K from machining, I will buy their software for 10K." Apparently, their version don't have viruses or malware built in either. Just normal cracked software.
This really annoys me because I am trying to be good and legal about the whole thing, but all this means is that I can't make complicated parts, or I waste huge amounts of time coding by hand. I'm not seeing any benefits of holding the moral high ground here. This isn't a thread about "what's the best CAM software for..." anymore, it's a question about ethics.
My problem is that I don't think there are any good CAM programs for under $1K or so. Where by good, I mean that it knows how to do proper 3D features like pocket and islands, without resorting to retarded tool paths like rasterizing. Perhaps I have been spoiled by the 30 day demo of SprutCAM, but I really think that is the level of program that is sophisticated enough to handle most features without pissing me off. I guess you could say I am a toolpath connoisseur.
The other thing is that when I ask those other people about it, they are totally carefree or shameless about getting it for free. Either they don't care, or they have an excuse like "MasterCAM is for industrial shops, and I'm not doing industrial work. Maybe someday after I make 100K from machining, I will buy their software for 10K." Apparently, their version don't have viruses or malware built in either. Just normal cracked software.
This really annoys me because I am trying to be good and legal about the whole thing, but all this means is that I can't make complicated parts, or I waste huge amounts of time coding by hand. I'm not seeing any benefits of holding the moral high ground here. This isn't a thread about "what's the best CAM software for..." anymore, it's a question about ethics.
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