Do I actually need CAM for a VF4SS+TRT210?

As much as I dislike it, as others have said +1 on Confusion360, it will definitely hold you over for many of your needs and its user friendly. Its not all that bad, just their updates drive me nuts.

I have the same equipment as you! Idraw up my 4 axis parts in Solidworks and program them in OneCNC, which does a really great job, and is easy to use? You basically "unwrap" the part to flat and program it as such after telling OneCNC that is your intent. The simulation runs in 3d, really nice. Of course if you're doing 4th axis positioning work, OneCNC will do that easily as well. Get a demo, I think you'll be impressed. I don't know where you're located, but our OneCNC guy is Patrick at OneCNC West, a great guy. Terrific support and very helpful!

As much as I love to argue, I am actually quite sympathetic with the Anti-Fusion 360 arguments about lock-in, cloud-only, and Autodesk in general.

Having said that; you are getting into this without really knowing what you need. Fusion 360 is a very cheap way to figure that out. It is exceptionally easy to learn - if for no other reason than Google will reveal forums and YouTube videos that detail literally *every* aspect of the software with resulting tutorials. No other CAD/CAM system in the world has that kind of accessible knowledge.

gkoenig said:

No other CAD/CAM system in the world has that kind of accessible knowledge.

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Mastercam.

mhajicek said:

Mastercam.

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not even close.

empower said:

not even close.

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Anything you might want to know about Mastercam, just go to eMastercam.com. If you don't find it in a search, start a thread and ask. There are folks there who've been using it for thirty years.

mhajicek said:

Anything you might want to know about Mastercam, just go to eMastercam.com. If you don't find it in a search, start a thread and ask. There are folks there who've been using it for thirty years.

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i'm well aware. fusion community is still WAY bigger, and there's WAY more content out there for fusion than MC.

Honestly, Fusion 360 is a great place to start. I would recommend talking to DSI about it. They're an Autodesk reseller, but they're the original creators of Powermill & Featurecam. Their support is top-notch compared to Autodesk corporate.

I'm not a CAD expert, but I use many CAD features for complex programs. So if you want to jump up to a user-friendly CAD system with a powerful CAM plug-in, take a look at Solidcam. I use solidcam w/ inventor and it's perfect for me. It's much cheaper than I expected and they financed it in-house with no application. Great folks, and you'll get that post processor for free.

Either way, make sure whatever you buy has online reference materials. I can google any operation I have issues with in solidcam and find an hour long webinar with step-by-step explanations specifically for that operation. Fusion is okay about this, but it's not always perfect.

JSL_MFG said:

... hour long webinar with step-by-step explanations specifically for that operation. Fusion is okay about this, but it's not always perfect.

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They'd have to make a complete new library of videos every week after they release a "new and improved" update

GiroDyno said:

They'd have to make a complete new library of videos every week after they release a "new and improved" update

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Yeah, they love releasing those half-baked updates. Nothing like coming in to start your day only to find out that fusion updated and now it barely works correctly. One of the many reasons I stopped using it and never looked back.