I’m dipping my toes into the CNC world.
- Thread starter SKWERLZ
- Start date
It is a fascinating part of the machining world, and you will never stop learning. Good times ahead.
Paul
Paul
shortgrass
Silver $$ Contributor
G Code from 'scratch' can be mind numbing, That's why most use an engineering program that will generate g code. Load it on a disc or thumb drive and take it to the machine, Load it into the memory. I am finding "conversational programing" to be far superior for most 'one-offs'. Extra complicated may need a g code program, but the Centriod conversational is quit extensive. Fluting and octagon very easily doable. Our lathe requires hand written or engineering generated G code. Both machines have a USB port for a thumb drive. Surprisingly enough, the Centroid controlled mill has a larger memory than the Haas lathe.
Our lathe has tons of capacity for storing lots programs.
Most of our stuff is quite simple and we have base programs already for everything thankfully.
Biggest thing is just getting familiar with it and it’s operating procedure’s.
Sooooo many buttons!
Was getting familiar today with touching off tools and setting up the part on aluminum before going to titanium.
Also got the bar feeder going today.
Go slow. Dont get over confident, thats when things go bump.
Jonnyofalltrades
Silver $$ Contributor
When things go bump, then I have better job security! I have worked with/on CNC lathes and mills for, uh for, uh, a long time. Careless mid-program restarts cause about 40% of the crashes I see. About 50% are from running the first cycle too fast when proving out a setup.
I always tell operators that those two areas are like the parallel parking of CNC operation. You gotta pay attention, or something is getting bumped!
Have fun!
I always tell operators that those two areas are like the parallel parking of CNC operation. You gotta pay attention, or something is getting bumped!
Have fun!
I’ve broken enough stuff over the years to be a bit cautious now.
All my programs are proven by cutting air above the part. Mid program restarts can be exciting, as the machine reestablishes itself in all axis. This is where the "distance to go screen" can save your a$$. Careless people and a CNC lathe or mill will end with a loud noise shortly. Seen it happen many times. When in doubt, cut a little air, as it is still free!
Paul
We cut a lot of air yesterday before we cut aluminum then titanium.
I definitely watch distance to go like a hawk lol.
Tucker65
Gold $$ Contributor
I've seen it happen plenty of times, and have done it myself once. You load or write a program on the machine and go through the process to verify everything is good before you start actually making chips. You run the first part and decide you want to tweak something with the program so you edit it and then hit cycle start on the second part without going through and verifying again. Then you have a crash and wonder what happened. You find out you fat fingered the decimal point or transposed some numbers while you were editing. Most newer machines have barrier limits but those are only good if they're not disabled and all your tooling data is entered correctly. We had a guy who edited a program once. He wanted to cut .200 more in Z but he ended up entering 2.00. That little mistake ripped the jaws right off the chuck and sent one of them through the door. Luckily he didn't have his head in the way.
Jonnyofalltrades
Silver $$ Contributor
Yes, fat fingering a decimal point will get you too. I just got in the habit of ALWAYS double checking the numbers before I hit input. Saved the day more times than I care to admit.
Gun Smith
Gold $$ Contributor
Sounds familiar! Been there a few times. Edit something and just hit the go button without checking, and "kaboom''. Whoops there goes another snapped drill bit. Ouch!
ELR LVR
Silver $$ Contributor
I remember learning to write computer programs in "Basic" with a Radio Shack TRS-80
G-code to me was almost the same language
made for a Short learning curve
You should do fine,
Just make sure you have the manual
Which the size of will be very intimidating but, priceless to have for things like interpolation
G-code to me was almost the same language
made for a Short learning curve
You should do fine,
Just make sure you have the manual
Which the size of will be very intimidating but, priceless to have for things like interpolation
I’ve watched a few CNC crash videos
It’s amazing what an extra 0 or misplaced decimal can do
WSnyder
Silver $$ Contributor
Yessir! My buddy fat fingered a 1 instead of .1 into his HAAS lathe and crashed the turret right into the chuck hard. I spent a week or so working on it off and on to fix it. I can’t remember what all was broken but the turret had to come off and the gearbox had to be opened up. Once the mechanicals are fixed then you spend time running indexing and homing routines so it knows where everything zeros again.
He admitted he was tired and not thinking well and shouldn’t have been in the shop that afternoon or at least shouldn’t have been trying to program the machine.
Save yourself some agony and just don’t crash it
ELR LVR
Silver $$ Contributor
A CNC shop I used to work at the owner said he crashed the lathe a few times while he was learning the machine
He said because its so easy to have happen he told me to have him double check anything I changed
------------------
It's good to have someone double check your stuff even if you're the owner
(along with, telling me,
NEVER GO FROM MEMORY
DONT MEASURE WITH YOUR FINGERNAILS!
He said because its so easy to have happen he told me to have him double check anything I changed
------------------
It's good to have someone double check your stuff even if you're the owner
(along with, telling me,
NEVER GO FROM MEMORY
DONT MEASURE WITH YOUR FINGERNAILS!
DaveTooley
Gold $$ Contributor
Don't forget that evil minus symbol. Added a rapid move after an operation and had a brain fart. Had to rebuild my spider and reset the tool.
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