I purchased my first CNC router machine in 2010 and for software bought a bundle of CamBam and Mach3. I used Eagle software to design schematics and PCB layouts, Illustrator to clean up and add to layouts, export as dxf files to import into CamBam for defining toolpaths. By the end of 2011 I was having relative success producing both prototype PC boards and aluminum chassis parts. By around 2013 I had to shut down because I had no shop, sold the rudimentary CNC machine and continued to work on designs for circuits using Eagle software.
In 2018 I bought a much better CNC machine and began working on chassis layouts again, this time using a trial version of Fusion 360, soon upgraded to a license based on Eagle being bought by AutoDesk and there being a bundle that included Fusion 360 for small businesses at a cost of $130 (Cdn) a year. I felt it was worth trying out at that point, even though my vintage tube audio designs didn't require anywhere close to the complexity of Fusion 360. That's the challenge for me, I have very low parts counts, yet am restricted to small board sizes under my "Standard" Eagle license, and, as fancy as the interface was/is in Fusion 360 for designing sheet metal projects and then kicking out gcode, the CAM portion didn't produce code that worked as well as CamBam did 10 years earlier.
After 3 years of using Fusion 360, all of a sudden the annual special disappeared, without notice - as well as without the payment processor or frontline Autodesk administration even knowing the subscription had disappeared - it took a full two months of just thinking it was a payment processing issue, before someone finally figured out the subscription had been unceremoniously removed for small businesses. Not the end of the world, because I still had my CamBam license and a Windows PC, and CB had been upgraded since I last used it. I ran some tests, noting very sluggish performance - can't recall what I did to fix that, but did get it working very peppy and I redefined my workflow. That was a little over a year ago and I've been too tied up with other production issues to get back to work on creating gcode for the CNC machine. Today, I booted up the PC again and checked out CamBam and it's back to working very sluggishly - takes up to about 10 seconds, sometimes more, to recognize that I'm trying to move something or just zoom the view in or out. I'll have to check that out, which is why I went to this forum today... only to find this thread talking about what sounds like a potential end to a software package that I figured fit my workflow very well. I too have recommended it to many who do similar work to mine, over the past decade. It would be very sad to see it reach "end of life".
Sorry for the long winded response, but I felt it was useful to show the path that I've taken with the software. I've been a beta tester for pretty much all of the software that was part of the 80s "desktop publishing" revolution with the Mac computer and Postscript printers, and spent about 10 years providing high end support and consulting to graphics and print companies moving into using electronic prepress, and then moved into art reproductions involving not only printing them, but capturing images with scanners and high end digital cameras. I've witnessed the beginnings and ends of every software package written for creative processes since 1985.
In conclusion, and response to "What can we do?", I say this. I was used to spending Cdn$130 a year for Fusion 360 with its implentation (or absorbtion) of Eagle software. I've gone back to an old version of Eagle, pre-AutoDesk, but need software like CamBam to do what I do. Without knowing what the challenges actually are with the seeming stalling of CamBam development and communication, it's hard to say what I could or would be willing to do. Most obvious is, if cashflow is the problem, I would offer that, as much as I hate mandated subscriptions, I have been supporting an open source audio program with monthy payments of Cdn$5 for the last decade - and I don't even use that software any more, but feel that it's good software and deserves to be supported. So, I would be perfectly fine with paying about $100Cdn a year to keep CamBam going, based on how much I need to use it. There are over 5000 members on this forum, but many may be hobbyists or very part time users. I know I paid what I felt was a fair price for my initial bundle in 2010, can't recall if there's been any other fee for upgrade since, but the software has good value to me, now. When is the last time someone communicated with Andy?
