I received an email from Alibre last week about a free trial period for their Atom3D (CAD) and MeshCAM. They were also offering 25% discount on the one-time purchase price of the CAD software. The 3 factors that attracted me to their offer were the one-time purchase (I would own that version forever), local storage (no more storing my designs on someone else’s cloud) and the discount helps (a little).
After working with Atom3D for a few days, I have decided that I could alter my design workflow to use it. It has some limitations that Alibre support says their Design Pro version would eliminate. Design Pro is quite a bit more money than Atom3D, but it’s a one-time purchase so I am not deterred by that. They do offer an annual maintenance program for updates, but they are not required for continued use of the CAD software.
That being said, my experience with their MeshCAM software was terrible. I exported my design as an STL file, which I then loaded into MeshCAM. Setting up a job and creating toolpaths was simple enough (at least on the screen). I designed a disk at 6" and 3/4" deep with a 1/4" through hole in the center, a through hole at 1" in from the edge, a pocket 1 1/2" in diameter and 1/4" deep and a slot 1/4" wide and 3/8" deep connecting the pocket and outer through hole. I used a pocket toolpath for all of the internal milling and a contour toolpath for the outside diameter. The toolpaths look correct on the screen, but the generated G-code pockets EVERYTHING through the stock while the contour path milled along the INSIDE of the design’s contour. Since I was using a 1/4" end mill, the milled part has a 5 1/2" diameter instead of 6".
That’s the first I have heart about it. Most of us use Estlcam for generating toolpaths, the design part differs vastly. 
Q. WHAT do people use for their design work? I have been happy with Vectric VcarvePro, but they want me to pay almost full price to upgrade my Shopbot version (8.5). So I am looking for other software for my cnc woodworking. Please reply with your favourite CAD package for woodworking software.
Hey Steve, we have got a really in-depth discussion of it here:
Thanks, Philipp. The last post was in May, and that is 133 posts with a lot of fluff. Is there a summary somewhere? I did find one on Wikipedia, but what I am looking for is what CAD is actually good for WOODWORKING, not making complex mechanical parts & components out of metal for industry. Should I start a new topic?
I think you should start a new topic. I like AutoCAD, you are an educator after all, so you get it for free. Case closed, if you ask me.
Thanks, that is a valuable opinion. Yes, I can get .edu licenses for myself. I am quite familiar with Fusion (nee, 360). And every time I use it, I get very frustrated by all the crashes, errors, things I can’t do because of constraints it added, and poor/no explanations of what errors mean. Do you find that AutoCAD is a pleasant experience, or would I be facing more of that stuff since they are both from AutoDesk?
I have been using AutoCAD since I started (or basically after ditching FreeCAD after a month). There are some functions that I am missing that Autodesk has in their other software like Inventor, but overall it’s really solid. Haven’t had a single crash and the iPadOS App also works pretty well.
You have to be aware that you are mostly drawing in 2D then though.
I would like to give EstlCam a try, but can’t seem to find any instructions or user manual on their website. If you know of one, please post a link here. If you use it for carving 3D models, how do you like it?
I started with estlcam, but went to Vectric Aspire, i doubt will change. (Going to be testing SheetCAM soon)
Oh, you want it as CAM not as CAD. 
Never done a 3D carve in my life, sorry. 
I have used it to carve a few topographical maps that were quite large STL files. So far its been the only program I have found that can handle it. They came out quite well if you ask me. Little finicky at first. I closed and started over several times to get the hang of what everything does. But I will certainly continue to use it.