CAM Software OTHER than Millbox

[Ordinary Tech]

So lately we have been getting non-answers or bad answers from Millbox to the point where I am now looking for a different CAM software.

Examples of the answers we are getting:

1. The pucks are not saving already nested area's and when I asked our reseller, they said the Millbox's answer was that I had too many millbox windows open and I'm trying to nest too many projects at once. This is an accusation that I am not doing, I learned a LONG time ago to let the software finish calculating the current job its on otherwise it does really weird things so being accused of trying to nest more than one project at a time is them not even trying to find out what's wrong and just putting the blame back on the user so that they don't have to spend the time to find out why their software is acting weird.

2. Had PMMA projects destroy burrs. My lab typically does a lot of screw retained restorations, on custom abutments or temp cylinders or using implant libraries, and this one time a nested project, a 6 unit PMMA bridge over 3 temporary cylinders, it kept on breaking the 1mm polycarbide burr. I checked the simulation and I found out that the 3rd implant site was not nested properly, the 2mm burr never went in there to clear out the way for the 1mm burr so when it got to the 1mm burr which was expecting an empty slot to do its job, the 1mm burr broke so when our reseller sent the issue to Millbox? The answer was "well since you're not using implant library we can't help to help you, use the library."

3. Another PMMA mill issue - mill lines kept on showing up and some that are so bad we would waste time remilling. Millbox's answer? Spend $2k to upgrade the software. Really? Can't fix the problem YOUR softare is causing and you want me to spend more money? Ok, fine so we did and guess what? The mill lines keep on appearing.

My conclusion is that since they're one of the few major milling software's in the US and without any major competitors, they can act with impunity and not really give a damn about us end users SO if the community here knows of another CAM software I can use, I would really appreciate it. We use DWX-52d's and 3shape and Exocad for the CAD.

Thanks in advance!

 

[TheLabGuy]

Hyperdent, cam2cam (sp?) Are a couple

 

[Ordinary Tech]

Hyperdent, cam2cam (sp?) Are a couple

Thanks for the reply.

So when I typed in cam2cam on google I found a lot of stuff not related to dentistry at all *cough cough* is it the ESPIRIT?

 

[CoolHandLuke]

Hyperdent, cam2cam (sp?) Are a couple

Go2Cam

its somewhat similar in theme, but very different in practice and they may not have a post for every machine out there yet.

but at least hyperdent will, and its much easier to consistently get good results.

 

[tuyere]

Not to say that Millbox isn't very uneven/causes issues, but have you ruled out other causes for, say, 2 and 3? Can you duplicate the issues on a different mill if you run the job file again? I ask because we've had the same problems and it turned out to primarily be a hardware issue (our mills had too much backlash from worn gears in the axis assemblies),even though we initially focused on Millbox as the problem. It actually was responsible for one particular issue (jobs occasionally running only the roughing steps and declaring a 1/3 milled part as finished),but for the stuff it wasn't, we were chasing our tails on those issues for longer than I'd have preferred.

 

[tehnik]

3. Another PMMA mill issue - mill lines kept on showing up and some that are so bad we would waste time remilling. Millbox's answer? Spend $2k to upgrade the software. Really? Can't fix the problem YOUR softare is causing and you want me to spend more money? Ok, fine so we did and guess what? The mill lines keep on appearing.

Knowing Roland mills, that is definitely not Millbox's fault. After I sold 3 of my 52DC(i) mills and replaced them with Coritec 350s, I have had 0 problems with lines or anything else milling outcome related.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

hyperdent

 

[tuyere]

FWIW a veeeery slight endmill-diameter groove along the parting line seems unavoidable with Millbox, but any calibration or backlash issues with your mill can exaggerate them significantly.

 

[Ordinary Tech]

Not to say that Millbox isn't very uneven/causes issues, but have you ruled out other causes for, say, 2 and 3? Can you duplicate the issues on a different mill if you run the job file again? I ask because we've had the same problems and it turned out to primarily be a hardware issue (our mills had too much backlash from worn gears in the axis assemblies),even though we initially focused on Millbox as the problem. It actually was responsible for one particular issue (jobs occasionally running only the roughing steps and declaring a 1/3 milled part as finished),but for the stuff it wasn't, we were chasing our tails on those issues for longer than I'd have preferred.

Well my actual problem isn't the issues that arise with the software or the milling machines, my problem is how they treat us. I've been using this software for 4 years now so I know things happen, sometimes its the STL file that the problem sometimes its the software sometimes its the mill machines but that is not why I am asking around for new software, its Millbox and their "We don't care about you, fix this yourself" answer that I keep on getting from them. It's their technical support that is abhorrent and is making me search for a new company to work with.

 

[TheLabGuy]

Knowing Roland mills, that is definitely not Millbox's fault. After I sold 3 of my 52DC(i) mills and replaced them with Coritec 350s, I have had 0 problems with lines or anything else milling outcome related.

You running millbox with those 350's?

 

[GMoneyHomie]

Hyperdent, cam2cam (sp?) Are a couple

I use hyperdent, its a bit more in depth in comparison to millbox but gives you a lot more options

 

[tehnik]

You running millbox with those 350's?

Yes