Construction Software Review .com

• Estimating Reviews
• Job Cost/Accounting Reviews
• Project Management & Scheduling Reviews

3BAY CNC WIZARD SOFTWARE REVIEW

What began as an industrial software program custom-written for users of the Peddinghaus Drill and Coping machine at Steelfab Inc. is now a commercially available program designed for other users of the equipment.

For the past seven years, Steelfab has used 3Bay Software's CNC Wizard to support its steel design and fabrication business, said David Price, who has been doing CNC programming for a decade. Tasks that previously took several days now take mere minutes using the software, he said.

"We get a job that is identical to a previous job and are told we can re-use the CNC files from the previous job. It's a great timesaver but, still, the files must be edited since the files contain a reference to a job number that must be changed. We used to do this task with a text editor," said Price. "With CNC Wizard, I select the files, click the 'change job number' function, type in the old job number and the new job number and click a button. This entire process, which took several days using a text editor and manual steps, now is completed in a minute or two."

Steelfab receives adequate support via email from 3Bay Software, which also provides extensive documentation along with its industrial software, he said.

Price rated CNC Wizard a perfect 10 out of 10.

What kinds of construction projects do you mostly work on?
 
How long have you been using this tool?
 
Where did you obtain it?
 
How much did you pay?
 
How are you using this product?
 
Why did you pick this product?
 
Did you look at other tools on the market before picking this one? What was it you didn't like about them (or made    this product better)?
 
Comparing the way you work now with the way you worked before you bought this tool, what has changed?
 
Can you give us an example of a job where this tool really made a difference?
 
Can you estimate how much time or money you saved or other measurable benefits your firm realized using this    tool?
 
What are the best features (for your business) in this tool?
 
Do you think it's a fair value for the price you paid?
 
What would you change about the product if you could?
 
Are there features that you don't use? Why not?
 
Who would you recommend use this tool?
 
How much computer experience do you think someone needs to use this tool effectively?
 
Did it take much training (or studying) to learn to use this tool?
 
Have you ever called the company's support lines and asked for help? What was your experience like?
 
How would you rate the user documentation? Is it helpful?
 
When the next version of this software comes out, will you upgrade to it?
 
Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate this tool?

What kinds of construction projects do you mostly work on?
Steelfab is a steel design and fabrication business. We do large and small industrial buildings, commercial structures and multi-story office buildings.

I have been using it for seven years.

This industrial software was written in-house. When the programmer who wrote the software left Steelfab to form 3Bay Software, he signed a contract that said our company would not contest his right to sell the software in exchange for free updates to the program for as long as 3Bay continues to sell it. 3Bay Software provides steel fabricators and steel detailers with a line of software designed to make detailing and CNC data more productive, and less frustrating.

How much did you pay?
That is difficult to say since it was written in-house, but the current retail price is $799.

How are you using this product?
We use 3Bay Software's CNC Wizard daily. There's a hardly a job goes through our shop that doesn't get touched by CNC Wizard in some way or another. It is useful for CNC files created with computer-detailing programs such as Tekla Structures, as well as hand-programmed files.

To the best of my knowledge there is no other industrial software that does what this software does.

Again, I do not know of any other industrial software that does what CNC Wizard does.

Before CNC Wizard, there were many operations we performed on CNC files that might take one or two days -- or even more. These tedious, labor-intensive chores have been all but eliminated with CNC Wizard.

Here's a situation that happens every so often: We get a job that is identical to a previous job and are told we can re-use the CNC files from the previous job. It's a great timesaver but, still, the files must be edited since the files contain a reference to a job number that must be changed. We used to do this task with a text editor.

Next, the files had to have the hard stamp revised to contain the new job number. Previously, there was no way to automatically change a hard stamp so we had to manually delete the earlier hard stamp with a text editor. Then there was a line in the file that contained more information that needed to be edited. Next we had to rename all the files to contain the new job number in the file name before we finally loaded the files into the Peddinghaus software to add the new hard stamp with the correct job number. On a large job, this process could take days.

With CNC Wizard, I select the files, click the 'change job number' function, type in the old job number and the new job number and click a button. This entire process, which took several days using a text editor and manual steps, now is completed in a minute or two thanks to this industrial software.

Can you estimate how much time or money you saved or other measurable benefits your firm realized using this tool?
I'd say we routinely save 10% to 15% on our programming time. But there is also the time we save in the shop due to fewer errors. In addition, duplicate holes are reported.

What are the best features (for your business) in this tool?
There are too many to list.

Do you think it's a fair value for the price you paid?
The return on investment is realized with every three or four jobs, depending on the amount of CNC work.

I wouldn't change anything since it was custom-made for us, but enhancements are made very quickly.

Are there features that you don't use? Why not?
We have not used the 'reports' feature of this industrial software much. We never could figure out exactly how we could make it work for us, although we've recently started using it a little more.

Who would you recommend use this tool?
Any shop that often finds itself scrambling to get CNC files programmed and out to the machines, or a shop that has problems with computer-generated files that are not quite right, could really benefit. This program only works with Peddinghaus format CNC files.

How much computer experience do you think someone needs to use this tool effectively?
None is really necessary. As with any software, a little basic Windows knowledge will help but this isn't essential.

Did it take much training (or studying) to learn to use this tool?
We can take a hand programmer and have him using CNC Wizard within a couple of days. Of course, additional experience and some experimentation will increase productivity.

Have you ever called the company's support lines and asked for help? What was your experience like?
We almost always use the email support. We almost always receive some sort of response within a day.

Very complete documentation is included with this industrial software but, to be honest, I hardly ever use it.

When the next version of this software comes out, will you upgrade to it?
Absolutely! It will almost certainly contain improvements I have asked for.