03-14-2012, 03:47 PM
I'd guess the CAM part is where the money is anyway. If you have a shop, and are commercial, then you should be making money with your CNC machines and can afford to spend the bucks on a full blown CADCAM system. I wouldn't be at all surprised though if there were an open source Linux based CADCAM package. Of course, unless you were already Unix/Linux familiar, it would be a double learning experience. I can tell you that learning a CADCAM package isn't easy, in any case. I have an older copy of MasterCam version 9 I believe), and although I don't have any CNC machinery at this point, I may someday. I've had a little OJT with a couple of really sharp programmers, but it would still be a challenge to pull it off. And I say that after being around CNC since about 1987. I haven't spent a great deal of time running them, but I can, and I have. I have also written a handful of programs. Again, it would be tough for me to jump in and make good parts at a profit. If I were a hobbyist, and had the time and no profit margin to maintain, it would be different. It would probably even be fun then.