Mastercam - Varco Reports

[neurosis]

Anyone know what this is about? 

[JParis]

I guess....they want to push this option, as theirs out of the box sucks....

I tend to agree...

The active reports IS WAY more customizable that the older .set sheets....that also is difficult for the most average users to really configure. Then of course CNC sees the X+ sheet being used and getting $$ for it...so they are, probably rightly, assuming there is a market for it.

[kccadcam]

I've run Varco Reports for years, Jim Varco has taken Active Reports and re-written it.
Fully customizable and not very expensive at all.
I worked with Jim to add an option to output a tool library as .XML to push all the tool info into our Haimer presetter.

Thumbs up from me. 

[TSmcam]

Wow, setup sheets, generated right from the CAM file?

Swish, very swish.

[Brian]

Wow, setup sheets, generated right from the CAM file?

Swish, very swish.

Now now-play nice, Mike!

[TSmcam]

Now now-play nice, Mike!

Nope, not going to happen LOL

[gcode]

Now now-play nice, Mike!

Mick is a Topsolid snob, he just can't help himself.

[Brian]

Help me out here folks (I'm not a MC user)...does MC not have some sort of setup sheet functionality out-of-the-box, or is it just clumsy/difficult to customize, or...?

[neurosis]

Help me out here folks (I'm not a MC user)...does MC not have some sort of setup sheet functionality out-of-the-box, or is it just clumsy/difficult to customize, or...?

They do, and it's not that complicated.  It's somewhat limited although if you can script, it has some added capability.  Basically, if you pay someone who knows what they're doing you can have a pretty decent setup sheet.

TopSolid was similar in my experience.  It had a lot of potential but it was by no means, simple to use.

Varco took this to a different level in Mastercam.  Our shop was going to purchase it several years back but then covid hit and the purse strings tightened.  The boss also didn't like the idea of paying maintenance on a setup sheet. 

[Brian]

Thanks for the explanation, Neuro!

I've got my (relatively simple) setup sheets *mostly* to my liking in TS, but yeah....I wish it was better documented. We did maintenance/upgraded to the latest release recently, and I'm hoping to tie down a few loose ends with setup sheets as time permits-stay tuned.

Can I ask how much the Varco setup sheets cost to purchase & maintain? Was it that much $? What do you do for setup sheets now? Just use the stock ones?

[neurosis]

Can I ask how much the Varco setup sheets cost to purchase & maintain? Was it that much $? What do you do for setup sheets now? Just use the stock ones?

I can't remember exactly so I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that it was around $500.  Well worth it for what it's capable of.


Yea, I'd had my TopSolid setup sheets working decently. I had to fumble a lot to get it to do what I wanted.  I'd tried to add more dimensions to the tool setups and Bill was pretty tight lipped with how to do that unless we were "willing" to get some training on it.  That was the answer for most things.

There were some things that I did like better about TS setups sheets.  You could add everything as a drawing with tons of annotation very easily and it save to the project.  You can't do that with Mastercam setup sheets unless I'm missing something. I thought that Varco dealt with that but it's been long enough that I don't remember the details. Saving the current sheet and being able to make edits inside of the project is very convenient.

Just use the stock ones?

Yes. I use a heavily modified version of one of the stock setup sheets and it works pretty well for us.  I do have to use a pdf editor to modify them which can be a pain. 

[__]

I can't remember exactly so I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that it was around $500.  Well worth it for what it's capable of.


Yea, I'd had my TopSolid setup sheets working decently. I had to fumble a lot to get it to do what I wanted.  I'd tried to add more dimensions to the tool setups and Bill was pretty tight lipped with how to do that unless we were "willing" to get some training on it.  That was the answer for most things.

There were some things that I did like better about TS setups sheets.  You could add everything as a drawing with tons of annotation very easily and it save to the project.  You can't do that with Mastercam setup sheets unless I'm missing something. I thought that Varco dealt with that but it's been long enough that I don't remember the details. Saving the current sheet and being able to make edits inside of the project is very convenient.

Yes. I use a heavily modified version of one of the stock setup sheets and it works pretty well for us.  I do have to use a pdf editor to modify them which can be a pain. 

We've been doing our custom setup sheets in html format,
 our setup sheets are a bit more expensive than varco reports,
 but they are fully customized for the end user.
Also we don't have a maintenance cost attached, which can be a good selling point.

[TSmcam]

Mick is a Topsolid snob, he just can't help himself.

Now now G, play nice LOL

In reality, I should say to my lame dropkick reseller, and the Summers, for setting me on a path to TopSolid *cough* kinematics *cough* real Mill/Turn *cough* solid tools while others were wireframeing in 2d *cough* fully customisable setup sheets *cough*. Although, if it wasnt for Mastercam I probably wouldnt have met you fine bunch of manufacturers. Definitely a positive

Damn cough, gotta give up those cheap cigars LOL

[gcode]

We bought 5 seats  in Jan 2022

It was $400 for the first seat and $100 for each additional seat
Maintenace is $200/year for 5 seats

[TSmcam]

We bought 5 seats  in Jan 2022

It was $400 for the first seat and $100 for each additional seat
Maintenace is $200/year for 5 seats

For Varco Reports? That is good, realistic pricing.