KCdW Users ?

[wardsa]

Next week I'm going to pick up my used PRT Alpha. This is my first experience with CNC. I am very nervous and excited!! I have been reading the Support Forum for a couple months and it was the main reason I went with Shopbot. I have a million questions, but will try to start with just one. I primarily build custom cabinets ( no 2 alike), I have KCdW Designer that I have been using for about 5 years and like it. Any input on KCdW CNC users? Is it worth the money? I did save alot by going with a used machine, but hate the thought of shelling out another $4000.00!!! I want to make this transition as smooth as posible, as I'm already freaking out as it is. Please help calm my nerves!
Thanks,
Terry

[dray]

Im in the same boat. But I refuse to pay Kcdw extortion.

For now I'm using Cabinet parts pro. It is buggy and an incomplete piece of software but what I do is I use it to make the main boxes, all the shelves and drawers etc then simply use parts wizard to create all the custom parts I need for the rest of the cab.

I made a small library of dxf "parts" to import into parts wizard, adj shelf holes, dados, fluted pilasters ets etc.

I'm stubborn, I'll do anything I can to avoid paying them. Besides transferring the dxf's from cpp into parts wizard gives me a second chance to look them over before cutting.

[richards]

We buy tools to enable us. Given enough time, a skilled craftsman could make wonderful cabinets using nothing but a sharp stone as a cutter and a handful of sand for polishing, but, if he valued his labor at all, the product would cost more than anyone could afford.

Most of us bought a Shopbot to enable us to work more efficiently even though most of us had sufficient tools to make cabinets without using a Shopbot. In fact, most of my tools are stored in a storage unit gathering dust and rust, but the Shopbot is used everyday. However, the sad fact is that the Shopbot can cut in five minutes what took four hours to design. That's great if you have a customer that needs hundreds or thousands of copies of that part, but if you're like me, and have customers that want something 'just a little different', the design time is the largest expense.

Although I do not use Kcdw, nor do I expect to ever own it, it is a tool that will make us more efficient. If using that tool is cost effective, then it is a good tool.

Good software, whether self-written or purchased, is at the very heart of efficient CNC operation. After all, CNC means Computer Numerically Controlled. Learning to write a cabinet program - that works - is very hard. I often use Ryan's Cabinet Parts Pro. Many times I use my own software and many times I resort to drawing things out with AutoCAD LT and PartWizard 2.

The goal is to keep the Shopbot cutting all day long. If the Shopbot isn't cutting, I'm not producing parts and if I don't produce parts, the business suffers.

Maybe there's a museum somewhere that could sell tickets to show how things were done in the 'old days' before specialized programs were developed. I would make an excellent exhibit, since I'm an old white haired man that types slowly at the keyboard and drags a mouse around even more slowly. They could put me and my exhibit in the Luddite section with a plaque saying: "The last of his kind - made extinct by the invention of efficient software."