CAM and CAD/CAE: GatorCAM and Alibre. Two Apps That Care About Their Users!

[@TheRainHarvester]

3:02 I'm glad you noticed the parameters that are simplified...i didn't want to hide them (bit diameter/angle, feed speed, fast travel, retract speed, pocket tolerance, depth start, depth steps, tab height) in various menus, scattered everywhere. Every cut operation gets its parameters listed and are modifiable. I like the tabs too: you can click where you want tabs to be placed. Click each again to delete. But the best part, i like, is being able to quickly select multiple objects at once and applying a tooling operation to all of them at once: instead of clicking each hole, GatorCAM can do that for you. You don't even need to set up something like "select all holes smaller than X" etc. (Just click a few times on the same spot until it highlites what you want). That alone saved me 10 minutes on some parts!

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

Comment pinned!

[@johndameron9167]

Patrick, as always, you're such a decent guy. I've dealt with you a few times and you practice what you preach. You genuinely care about your users and other people in general. In these high price times, it's nice to get a lead on something that does the trick and is truly a bargain. May God bless you. JD

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

Thank you JD, that means a lot!

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

I forgot to put the links for the various programs, including CAMotics, but they are all there now.

[@TheRainHarvester]

Thank you for telling everyone about GatorCAM!

[@UDoIt2]

first time hearing about this - watching now

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

Yeah, let me know what you think!

[@kieranproven4874]

I have Alibre Atom and Expert. The hobby licence has 99% of the features the professional. Excellent support and KZbin channel.

[@zh3mh]

That is not true, atom doesn't even have boolean. Is a lot cheaper but also is quite limited compared with the pro version.

[@Nordic_Mechanic]

im gonna look those up , thanks

[@ricardosantana5424]

Thanks Patrick…

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

You're welcome!!

[@old-gamer-01]

Keep publishing good content ;) P.S. you got also a like ;)

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

Haha. What the hell!! Thanks for coming by and taking a look.

[@old-gamer-01]

@@PatrickHoodDaniel I TAKE THE KNOWLEDGE YOU PUBLISH FOR FREE ;). THANK YOU DUDE ;)

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

@@old-gamer-01 You are welcome!

[@adammontgomery7980]

There are two videos here on YT by Freya Holmer about splines, somewhat related to vector graphics. After learning CAM and some gcode, I'm convinced that CNC machines ought to just interpret splines.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

Interesting concept. I can't speak to that as I don't have enough experience, but I will go do a Freya Holmer rabbit hole and check it out. What I do know about splines is that the motion is very smooth, and that would make for some great CNC cutting motions.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

Ok, I just watched some of that video, and it is an explanation of splines, but I think I know where you are going with this. CNC machining operations do a lot of motions, even step downs for depth of cut, or lead ins, which, if splines were the singular path for the motion, you would achieve the most efficient and smoothest cutting. I don't think that is far fetched at all. Splines would be a great way to express most machining operations. This is especially true if you want as much constant velocity as possible. With all of that said, there still are moments that require inside corners, but other than that, splines would be great.

[@GeekRedux]

GatorCAM link refuses access.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

Just worked for me. I will add a link to theRainHarvester's youtube channel.

[@GeekRedux]

@@PatrickHoodDaniel I get "We are sorry, but you do not have access to Sites. Some reasons why you may not have access: Your account is managed by an organization that has this service turned off for its users. Your account may be temporarily disabled by your organization’s admin. Your Google Workspace subscription may no longer be active. To access this Google service, you may want to try signing in with a different account. If you still need support, contact your organization's admin."

[@TheRainHarvester]

Dropbox makes it seem like you need an account to download, but you don't need an account. Was this the problem? You can download without purchasing (see link on my videos).

[@GeekRedux]

@@TheRainHarvester It doesn't seem to like my flavor of Google account login. The link works when I try it with no login in incognito mode. Also... I wonder if you might think about changing the name of your software? There is a fiber optic camera system called GatorCAM that--at least for my searches--dominates search results on "GatorCAM".

[@777smitty4]

I been trying (a year) to setup for cnc plasma finding budget friendly is a challenge but for cnc type stuff looks like freecad would work great it’s complicated but loaded with features

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

FreeCAD is pretty good for the very limited time I used it. The UI could use some working on, but it is good. I probably should do a video of all the free stuff out there and maybe do a zero to hero series on each. With regard to plasma cutting, that "should" be cheaper because the geometry is 2d and very simple. Maybe there is a inexpensive option for plasma, but lost in the weeds.

[@JohnDoe-qg6hm]

Hi, Recently discovered your channel and subscribed. Watched this video today and found it very interesting. I am a hobbyist CAD/Machinist that might have a go at CNC in the future.Ive operated many CNC Machines in my time as a Machinist. I was trained as a CAD Draughtperson way way back using Autocad R12 ! Currently for my hobbyist needs I use Sketchup but find it a little lacking but i do enjoy its interface and ease of use. I would like Inventor 3D but for my needs its unaffordable. I also need a capable 2D package and Have LibreCAD on my Linux Build. I am also 'occasionally' messing with learning Free CAD. I like doing projects,3D Printing so Sketch Up is very useful but I would also like to maybe build a CNC Router or even a proper CNC Mill. Im aware of Mach 3D and have played with it some. I have quickly looked at Alibre after watching your Video and it seems similar to Inventor and perhaps more feature rich than SketchUp ? I'm curious about the 'Resolution' it can model too. I find Sketchup problematic when I'm trying to model smaller parts where some dimensions are fractions of an inch or even fractions of a mm. Sketchup cant seem to handle this very well. I am really writing to ask if you find Alibre is good for modelling precise tolerance parts and assemblies ! An office chair for the most part is an imprecise 'object' but the Ram,the seals, the recess are high precision parts or operations and need software that can accurately scale. Sketchup, as far as i know, struggles and requires work around's. Further recommendations, with in depth analysis for semi Professional software are welcome ! Free or Cheep ! :)

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

You and I have a very similar past as it relates to software. Yeah, I remember the AutoCAD 1.2 which is the same time I created my own 3D CAD Program. There was no way I could afford that, but I had more interest in programming anyway. In my Architect days, I fell in love with SketchUp. You can actually find SketchUp to CAM tutorials in my videos. Alibre is a professional CAE program and it will do anything you need in terms of tolerance, dimensioning and scale. I am saying this and I don't make a penny. It looks like I work for them with the way I talk about it. If you ask the same question on one of their latest video, they will respond with much better information that I could give. It also works with the 3D Space Mouse. The top right Cube to show information on the axes is a little big or my taste, but everything else is awesome. Here is a good example of someone using Alibre and expressing GD&T (I taught that subject at ITT).

[@-BlackBird7]

You cant beat free 99. I think Alibre is pretty good. I had to help a friend a little while back that was using this in conjunction with a cam program (I dont remember which one) for a setup class they where taking and I picked it up in the time I finished a MtDew. Sorry Pat, another like here too lol. Cheers!

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

G$# D^%$# IT!!

[@-BlackBird7]

@@PatrickHoodDaniel 🤣

[@HipNerd]

I've been a Fusion 360 user, but have been thinking about getting out. Alibre looked really good, but Windows only. Bummer for this Mac user.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

@@HipNerd a new computer would be cheaper than the subscription. You can also Windows on a VM. It sounds like I work for Alibre!! Haha.

[@atakahashi5660]

you look like tom cruise, no cap, just older, handsome aF

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

@@atakahashi5660 yeah, no. CAP!!

[@atakahashi5660]

@@PatrickHoodDaniel by the way i love your channel, good stuff, could to review altair inspire, i need some opinions on it.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

@@atakahashi5660 Thank you so much. I love the people that watch my content and comment on the video. People I don't like? Well, you know... Haha!!

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

@@atakahashi5660 I will check it out. From the website, I can't find if they use the subscription model or not. The software looks super, though! I will dig in a little deeper, but let me know what you know about the pricing structure.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

@@atakahashi5660 At first glance, their website is very professional, and the number of titles is overwhelming. My red flag is that The price, or pricing model is not specified, and there is a sales channel. That's not all bad, there's just unknowns. The software itself is very nice. Great UI, the generative structure, analysis, and everything else I don't know about it, because if that stuff is in it, it's going to have a lot more features.