Unigraphics Vs. Surf-Cam? 1

[1wise]

I curently use unigraphics for lathes & milling programming, I'm starting to get into more complex 5-axis milling. I was told Surfcam is a better/easier to use software for complex milling prog. can anyone relate?

 

[hudson888]

Wise,

I can tell you what I'm told about Surfcam as demo'ed to us some time back, it seemed wery capable and automatic in terms of having a number of canned routines that it could do well. The Unigraphics or NX machining is somewhat less automatic but makes up for that to some extent by the use of templates. I have not before or since been show anything as specifically powerful as sequential milling in UG, and they have more recently added sequential surface functions. I too used it some time back to do Aerospace work and found that once I was fully trained up in UG that my awareness grew that the cheaper alternatives I was shown one after the other fell over precisely because they lacked the ability to handle complex specific moves that we needed. Sure NX has often been poorer at the simple stuff, you have to do some work to set things up etc, but all said and done you may pick-up on the overall ability not to get stumped by more difficult tasks.

My advice for 5 axis work is to get the training from UGS as I did and while I was always predominantly self taught on most parts of the system, I really felt that it was of enormous benefit when embarking upon using the 5th axis. It sure is worth being sure that you know what you're about when tackling it for the first time, since the things that can go wrong are reasonably daunting to start out with.

Best Regards

Hudson

 

[derekkarp]

Surfcam may be easier to learn, but is not better, IMHO. UG CAM is probably the most powerful CAM software available. You have total control over the tool, and is highly customizable for your site. It all comes down to what kind of work you do. Big selling points of UG are associativity (your model changes, but you don't have to reprogram everything, just regen your tool paths), customiziblity, and total control over your tool path. I'd suggest if you have any questions about UG CAM, to visit the BBS at

http://bbsnotes.ugs.com/

You will need to have a webkey account, but its free to get one if you pay maintanence on UG. There are alot of knowledgeble people there who can answer any question you have.
-Derek