We have finally made the plunge on a CNC for our door shop, I have never run a CNC or software. Been many years since Autocad class... The most CNC based machinery I have figured out how to run were a few different models of Beam saws. I have yet to decide whether to run Fusion 360 or break the bank with mastercam.
What advice do ya'll have to get started on training myself on both cad/cam and the actual CNC? Mastercam comes with 4 days of training, haven't looked into Fusion 360 training yet. CNC has Syntec controller and comes with a 360 degree horizontal spindle for doing edge work on suite entry doors. (instead of using aggregates) Pretty basic stuff as far as CNC is concerned, hinge pockets, face drilling and edge mortises for lockset and door sweeps.

I wouldnt waste your time investing in Fusion unless your looking to get the rug yanked out from under you once they set the hook. Mastercam is a beast financially but if you really have the need it is what it is.

Look for some software specific to doors, the only one I have heard of is Biesse, there must be more.

What machine did you or are you planning on buying?

What are you going to do with the machine?

Bill,

We will be doing machining on suite Entry Doors to start. Mortise locks on the edges, hinge pockets, face drilling, end mortises for door sweeps. V grooving faces of doors and panels.

The below machine is what we have coming, I have worked with this company for 15 years now for many of my machines, basic and custom builds.

https://castaly-cncmachine.com/cnc-router/66-327-artisan-cnc-router-lin
ear-auto-tool-change#/35-size-5x10/104-option-standard

Congratulations on making the move,it will change your life.Just don't expect to become productive immediately as it will take a week or two to get comfortable with the new world of possibilities.Mastercam is great,but for what it costs it needs to be.There are other solutions and I suggest you seek out a few demo downloads and see which feels most comfortable and then just hope it comes packaged with a post processor for a Syntec controller.One further thing;run your first few programs in fresh air before cutting any wood.

You need to start doing a lot of research into the software end. Mastercam and the likes are great, but keep in mind they are geared for steel milling. We use Camworks (now solidworks CAM) and out of the box the standard tool paths were useless for wood. We ended up deleting them all and starting from scratch. They had thousands of useless tools in the cribs as well. It easy to make these changes once you are familiar with the software, but it takes time to figure it out. Mastercam has a larger percentage of the market, so maybe they have some better setups for woodworkers out of the box. It has been 5years since we added Camworks.

I would look closely at how well the software deals with fixtures. Being able to see the fixtures while simulating the toolpaths is incredibly useful since your machine is pretty much a dumb bucket of bolts that follows orders exactly.

Not unlike your CNC, the software is case where you get what you pay for. I would not go down the fusion path for a shop of your scale, but I am sure many have.

Good luck.

BradS,

Thank you for your input,
Are you saying not to go down the Fusion path because of the subscription base future unknowns?

No, the subscription is pretty much a fact of life for software other than some of the entry level options. For many packages you either pay a subscription, license fee, or maintenance fee. You can skip paying maintenance fees, but when you finally want to upgrade you usually end up paying for that.

This is a important decision and you need to demo the software and have the providers give you a web demo showing the steps to create the CAD model of your typical parts, and the steps to create the machine code. They all do that. You will need make sure they can make the revisions to the post processor if you need that for your machine.

I found a video of what I think is close to your machine milling a part that has some similarities to what you have described. You need to be explain the boring head to the software providers in detail so they can demonstrate how they will deal with that. Personally, I would want to look closely at how it simulates the milling steps. Re-building the spindle or boring head is very expensive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAQ0pfBHrlY

I really should not say anything against Fusion given my lack of experience with it. My main issue is Autodesk. I know many use it, but I expect the vast majority are driven to it because of cost. I pasted a link to a CAM survey. I suggest you look at that. Only a small percentage of those surveyed were router users, and I expect a lot are hobbyists. It might give you some other names to look at.

https://www.cnccookbook.com/cnccookbook-2020-cam-survey-whats-the-most-popu
lar-cam/

You might want to look into Alphacam.

Interesting comments so far. As one who is using Fusion360 on a daily basis for several years now in both a commercial as well as a side business environment I am kind of surprised by the negative comments for it. I have used Mastercam and Solidworks professionally for quite a few years in the past and while there is little doubt they are very capable both in design as well as toolpath creation they both come at a very high cost. I have also used several of the cabinet only softwares most recently Mozaik as well as others. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I have built many complex models inside fusion360 over the last few years and as with most other softwares it has its strengths and weaknesses. As a whole it just plain works and the CAM makes good toolpaths that I can rely on. We program here for three different CNC machines and even work with SLA models in a 3D printer and it has performed for us in all avenues both wood and metal. In my home shop I run two CNC machines including a CNC metal Vertical Machining center and a CNC lathe and an FDM printer or two and it does everything I need there as well. It is cloud based which some do not like but honestly that has saved me from losing work due to power outages and other issues on several occasions. It is quite reasonably priced for what it gets you and even with their recent push to move away from the freebee realm it is still a great value. I do not work for autodesk just use their software on a regular basis for many years now. For this particular application of using aggregate heads and 90 degree machining operations on door edges while It apparently will work for that it might be something more applicable to Mastercam I am not sure as my experience with aggregate heads is limited. We are about to start using them here however on our 5x12 Onsrud CNC router to machine our custom entryway door hardware so I will see how that goes soon. Again this is just one users opinion. Your mileage can and probably will vary.

Have you taken a look at any software in the Vectric range?They have a selection of packages and are open about the cost of upgrades-you just pay the difference between your current package and the one you want to move up to.Router focused rather than milling and they provide a good range of post processors.It used to be the case that Mastercam had a bias toward milling,but now they offer router specific software,but not at the bargain end of the market.

I understand you have reasons for choosing the machine you did but the software is more important than the machine.

Biesse, Busellato and Stiles sell machines that have software built in that can do the type of machining you are describing, easily.

When I bought my first machine I held back on the cost of the machine not understanding the power and capability the machine would bring. In my experience the cost of the machine is not significant if you have the work. The money it saves is so significant it is hard to understand until you have it. I think ours paid for itself in 6 months.

Good luck!

What is the Optional CAD/CAM system they offer? You would want dxf import, you can get hinges and lock-sets in dxf or 3d models that you can make into dxf.

You want a system that will let you parametrically add and drop hinges, default spacing and ability to adjust on the fly.

At the very least you want to be able to build blocks or routines for standard hardware.

You may want to look at Cadcode, you can create your own parametrics and they can link to cad.

A-