Home built universal grinder

[Saltfever]

There is more below the surface than just looking at the purdy pictures. Most track your history as you are creating features and moving along toward a complete model. However, how you manipulate the history varies among competitors. Fusion 360 has a nice time-line along the bottom of the screen that allows you to click on it at any point in time. You can edit a feature or function in the past and everything in the future will change parametrically. Almost all CAD apps do a poor job (or none at all) of importing a competitors history. The 3D model may come in fine but often it is difficult to modify. Sometimes it is even easier to just look at the picture and start over from zero in your own CAD system. Some functions like hidden lines, wire frame, etc may not import completely (or not at all). And some formats, i.e., IGES, DXF, are so universal that an imperfect model may be imported. STL results in huge files because of the triangulation used for 3D printing slicing technology. FEA analysis is usually impossible on an imported model and material properties are usually not imported. Since Fusion 360 has now made moving from CAD to CAM incredibly easy you have to create speeds, feeds, tool paths, and tool selection all within the F-360 environment. None of that comes with an imported model.