Cabinet Pro

[g_hinton]

Just had a demo of Cabinet Pro cnc edition anybody using it any pros/cons and is it worth the price?

[harryball]

Gary,

Use the google search at the top of the main ShopBot Forum page and search for "Cabinet Pro" include the quotes to narrow your search results. You'll find a good bit of information. I've never used the software. At one point... I didn't think Cabinet Pro supported shopbot, maybe that's changed.

/RB

[gene]

I tried Cabinet pro a few years back and did not like it at all. what are you going to use the software for? Cabinets, or what? Also i too have read that they Will NOT support shopbot . BE real careful.

[g_hinton]

yes, I was gonna use it for building cabinets. The first thing he said is that it supported shopbot coarse he could of been lying to get a sale. I also had a demo of cabinet solutions but it doesn't support cnc. I am also getting a demo of auto cabinets. I have cabinet parts pro but it doesnt let you see more than 1 cabinet at a time unless I'm missing something.

[gene]

Gary,
I use cabinets solution and have for years, What you will find is that after you get the cabinet part list there are alot of parts that can be cut on a slide saw quicker than on a cnc. i use my bot for cutting and drilling cabinet ends and things like arch top valances . We are in the middle of a room addition on a house that was built in the 60'S with alot of dentil mold on the outside. well far as i know there is nowhere to buy the stuff so i made 80' in about 30 minutes and it matched perfectly. In the shop there is alot of dedicated equipment to perform certain task, you don't cut board with a drill press and its the same with the bot . It is great for alot of things , there are things done easier with other tools so the beauty of things is when the bot is cutting its work i am cutting other parts so i can try to get the job out quicker with a higher degree of quality. I have cabinets parts pro and use it occasionaly . i know in cabinets solution you can draw arch tops for in bookcases and cabinets and have sold a many job with their program . The support is good and i think you can rent the program for 6 mo to try with all money going toward the purchase if you like the program. How long have you had your bot ? Hope some of this helps

[g_hinton]

Gene
I have had my bot since Jan of this year so I am still a new-be learning the bot. I am really looking for a program for show and tell before the product is made and also to improve effeciency. All help and advise is greatly appreciated.

[thewoodcrafter]

Well good luck Gary.
The cheapest software that will do it all is KCDW, $12,000.

[wberminio]

Kcdw will do it.Drawings-Part List-3d presentation
-Cnc -Yes expensive,Yes it works-You can rent it.

I've had it for many years.Email or call me for more
info.

Erminio

[gene]

What is he cost to rent KCDW ? Does it export directly to the bot ? Can you pick the parts to cut on the bot or does it send all of it to the bot? To Me its kind of silly to cut shelves on the bot when they are regular square parts. Cab tops and bottoms if they are not dadoed or pocket holed can also be cut on a slide saw quicker . last account cab SOLUTIONS cost about 1/4 of kcdw . If you have unlimited money then go for the top.
Me my idea is to make money not be upside down in any venture i go on , Thats just the way i see it.

[thewoodcrafter]

I called KCDW about a week ago.
I was told I could rent the program for the pretty pictures and lists BUT had to buy the CNC part.
They said that was $5000. I didn't ask what the rent was after I heard $5000. It will only export a DXF file for each part. I can't imagine importing 100's of files into something else to nest and tool path.

Cabinet Solutions at 1/4 the price of KCDW would NOT include CNC output. That is extra $$$$$.

If all that was needed was pretty pictures and lists, E-Cabinets would be prefect. Free, good graphics, free, lots of lists, cutting and nesting, free, but we all need CNC output. Directly to ShopBot would be great but most of these high dollar packages will not do that. Some will output DXF files that you need to import into another program part by part to nest and tool path. Cumbersome and more steps but better than drawing every single part. I use V-Carve Pro to generate my parts and tool path. And if I can't draw it in V-Carve easy enough I use AutoCad and save as a DXF.

[gene]

When you get right down to it there are only a few parts that are needed to be cut on the bot. Cabinet ends for standard kit cabinets with and without toe kicks , 3 drawer base units, 4 drawer base units , upper end panels,in different lengths, vanity end panels different for configurations , pantry side panels and so on. what i did was to draw the parts in partwizzard and save the files . when i need them i have them and if i design a cabinet thats not ordinary i save the files for that also. I do the presentation for the client in Cabinet solutions that does a good picture and i print each wall elevation and go over each wall with the buyer. i make notes to the layout on the pages and do a second meeting after all corrections have been made Then i get them to sign off on each wall and the job as a whole and get a deposit and get started building the job. Square parts are cut too fast on a slide saw for me to be waiting on the bot to do it. My slider gives me a better cut ready to edgeband so i keep the job moving..Of coarse thats just how i do it, everyone has there own way to do things, but so far it works for me...

[dray]

I would buy the KCDW trial for design purposes Ithink its $65 you can screen print photos for your customers. Then easily recreate in cabinet parts pro.

Yes im cheap, but I mostly do custom entertainment centers/libraries and misc ,rarely kitchens. So transferring to Cabinet parts pro usually only takes 30 mins or so.

I just feel $12k is waaay over the top.
It seems to me if someone would make a low cost but good quality cabinet-cnc software they would corner the market.

[thewoodcrafter]

Some one is working on it.
Long slow process.

http://www.icabinetshop.com/Website/startpage.aspx

[dray]

Im still kinda gunshy on any new cabinet software..

I didnt get stung, but quite a few others on this forum and some other cnc forums were stung by faux cabinet software packages. Happened twice that Im aware of in the last 2 years.

Just be careful out there!
you can count 100% on http://www.cabinetpartspro.com/

I suggest giving it a shot at a couple hundred bucks you cant go wrong. I use it all the time, it doesnt have all the bells and whistles of a high end 3d visual aid like Kcdw does but it WILL do everything kcdw does (almost).

[thewoodcrafter]

Don't worry Ray I'm one that got stung so I'm the beta tester on this one.
Won't be ready till at least this fall.

[davidp]

I am late to chime in here but I have started using TurboCad and Furniture maker. A fairly steep learning curve or maybe I am just slow but it produces brilliant 3D renderings of your entire layout be it a kitchen or dinning table and chairs or an office or whatever. You can add to or adjust any cabinet or item in your library and then using the furniture maker add on you can produce optimised cut layouts including all of the hardware holes etc etc. export the layouts and then import into whatever toolpathing software you like and you have perfect cabinets every time.

I am still learning but it has been great so far. It even allows for the edgebanding when it produces your cabinet.

My 2 bobs worth
David

[myxpykalix]

David,
Could you give more info on "Furniture Maker"? Is that some type of add on to turbo cad? Who makes it?

[scottcox]

David,

Ditto on the request for more info on Furniture Maker. I've seen it and even asked IMSI about joinery techniques used in the software, but received a response in broken English that didn't even answer my questions. I have to assume it's written off-shore.

Jack, here's the link...

http://turbocad.com/TurboCAD/Plugins/FurnitureMakerv5/tabid/634/Default.aspx

[davidp]

Jack and Scott,

Furniture Maker is an add on to TurboCad and available for version 14 and 15 I think it may also be available for V12 not sure.

The developers of Furniture maker are Slovakian so there is a communication difficulty. The "manual" if one can call it that is perfunctory so I have been using the old suck it and seen method. My results so far have been amazing. It is very quick and depending upon your skill with TurboCad it can produce picture perfect 3D Renderings.

The cheapest way to buy it is to pick up an earlier version of TC and then upgrade.

In my mind it is definitely worth a look and it is one hell of a lot cheaper than KCDW.

Regards,

[myxpykalix]

based on what i read, i'm still a bit confused. It sounded to me like it is a rendering engine to create 3d furniture that you place within a scene (to show a client a kitchen) and not a program to create a cabinet that then gives you a cutlist and part deminsions am I wrong?

[davidp]

Yes it does that and as I said earlier if you are good enough you can get picture perfect renderings right down to the water spill on the floor or the flowers in the vase.

To produce that rendering you "generate" each cabinet which specifies the size of the material ie sheet size, thickness etc, the grain direction, colour, the edgebanding etc, hinges, door type, shelf type, shelf holes and all of the other details about the cabinet.

Once you have shown the pretty picture to your client and they are happy, you then produce a cut list and or an optimised sheet layout for just the one cabinet or the entire kitchen or office or table or whatever you have drawn.

In version 15 it will also produce a full Bill of Materials and cost the job as well. You then save the sheet layout as either dxf or eps or any other format available to turbocad and then open the file in ArtCam or VCarve Pro, toolpath the drawing and your done. The hardest thing is keeping track of which part belongs to which cabinet.

As I said at the very begining it is a relatively steep learning curve especially when the "manual" and other documentation is so unclear. Luckily it comes with a large range of predrawn cabinets and furniture that are all parametric and modifiable. You can then save them as your own symbols and reuse them in other drawings. This is easier and quicker than creating your own symbols from scratch.

Jack I have spent the past two weeks "playing" with furniture maker I am in no way an expert on using it, in fact I am probably doing most things A about T, but I watched a demo of KCDW at a trade show last year and this is as powerful and 1/12th the price.

Just my two bobs worth.

Regards,

David.