Bobcad - History

History

BobCAD-CAM was created by Bob Twaalfhoven, who was an engineer graduate of MIT in 1978. He created the software as a means to bring the technology of CAD/CAM to the personal computer. Before then, CAD/CAM software was not accessible to many.

Bob originally sold his BobCAD-CAM software from the trunk of his car to manufacturing shops that wanted to automation their programming process but couldn't afford the massive price tag that accompanied CAD/CAM Software in the mid-80's. Coming forward, Bob opened his first office in San Jose, California to service the local manufacturing markets in his home region. In the early 90's he expanded his operation by opening a second office in Clearwater, Florida. The two offices divided North America in half to better service their customers that were in different time zones. Meanwhile, Bob continued to develop the software throughout the 90's adding 2.5 axis milling toolpath features, 3 Axis Planar machine toolpath capabilities for solid models and cnc lathe programming capabilities. This proved to be a wise development move as the CAD/CAM world was now a full go on the ability to machine STL models. In early 2002 he made the most significant developments to his software by adding Design Surface & Solid Modeling technology, releasing his first Artistic CNC software add-on as well as introducing the first ever training video products for customers that wanted better ways to learn CAD/CAM from the comfort of their office. At the same time, Bob decided to close down his San Jose location as the Florida office had expanded to the point of being able to service the global markets easily. In 2007 with the organizational structure of BobCAD-CAM in excellent shape Bob began primarily focusing on the development of his CAD/CAM software and rebuilding the product from the ground up. This led to the release of the Version 22 CAD/CAM software, the addition of Lathe, Nesting & Sheet Optimizing and a joint venture with Predator software to offer high level editing and simulation to his customers. Between 2007 and 2013 BobCAD-CAM software technology has taken the largest strides in its company history in the development and implementation of cnc machining technology. The company became a SolidWorks Gold Partner with the release of the BobCAM for SolidWorks CAM add-on for SolidWorks users to be able to program their parts right inside of their design product, saving them time and increasing the workflow efficiency for SolidWorks customers. Recently releasing CAD/CAM software programming technology for 4 and full 5 Axis cnc milling hosting the first ever High Speed Adaptive Roughing strategy for multiaxis cnc milling ever.