Need Input-Over my dead body

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Paul Rollins
New Member
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu, Aug 02 2007, 8:04AM

Need Input-Over my dead body

Post by Paul Rollins »

will I be paying my current cabinet software company the @22k they are asking to connect up to a CNC based on the service and support I have received so far.


My cabinet shop was 8 employees until the market slowed us down to 3. Now i have more work and I am buying a machine instead of hiring more employees. I also have a temp employee that was working for another cabinet shop as a draftsman but was also let go during their slow down and would like to hire him for drafting, etc., and I can let him go through all of the training with me and shoulder the load of getting the new software(s)/machine up and running. He has cabinetware and autocad experience. We currently do midlevel to lower high end cabinetry and closet work. I know this transition will not be easy, so any input would be helpful, whether on the machine side or the software side. I am now going to switch to ecabinet for running the machine when it is installed and I would like any input from other users of ecab and thermwood machines regarding:

Anyone else switch from planit,kcdw, other to ecab for running the thermwood machine and what were the obstacles.
Anyone using any other additional software other than ecab such as artcam, mastercam, panelmetrix, with their machine and why.
Anyone use their previous software for customer drawings and pricing and use ecab only to batch and run the parts on the machine.

Thanks
jerry johnson
Junior Member
Posts: 90
Joined: Wed, Dec 26 2007, 7:52PM

Re: Need Input-Over my dead body

Post by jerry johnson »

Paul, I used another software for 20+ years until I bought a Thermwood CNC router about 10 months ago. The difference between what I was using and ecabinets is profound and the learning curve was pretty steep but I stuck with ecabinets and am glad I did. The cost was one factor but, also, I think it is wise to use the software that compliments the router. The Thermwood team is awsome and I think you will be very pleased with the service they provide. My advice is to use ecabinets only. It is very powerful and runs the Thermwood router almost flawlessly. Hope this helps. 8)
FredHirsch
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Posts: 167
Joined: Tue, Oct 03 2006, 6:51PM
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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Re: Need Input-Over my dead body

Post by FredHirsch »

Paul,
I guess I'll take a stab at it... We had a shop with an Andi router, CV and no longer have that shop. When looking for a new router a big point for us was where was the machine and software manufactured.... We have several foreign machines and sometimes parts and manuals are non-existent so US was a big deal for us. I can't tell you how happy we are with the service and support on the machine and software. Unfortunately, I had little to no involvement with CV at the previous shop, but still keep in contact with guys over there and they seem happy with CV. Both CV and eCabs have their strengths and weakness. Right now about 85% of our machine output is generated through AutoCAD and TurboCAD as that is how many of our drawings come to us, but we are slowly transitioning to as much as possible through eCabs. We also use Vectric and Artcam for the the carvings and "sign" type work (we do mostly store fixtures, but have some pretty odd projects come through). For us, eCabs is extremely useful in the more generic fixtures and is amazing at how quickly we can design and output at the control. As we get more comfortable with eCabs we are slowly getting more and more complex items into the eCab software.
Through the eCabs trainings I have met several people who are CV, MV and KCdW users transitioning and or supplementing with eCabs (hopefully some of them will chime in here). There is no doubt in my mind that THW has a very serious commitment to continually improving eCabs.
Often times I look at some of the equipment in the shop and wonder if we got the most for our dollar... I've never had that thought about the THM setup.
Fred
Fred Hirsch
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