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I've been a CNC programmer in NJ for about 3 months (manual machinist beforehand) and the company I work for now uses paper copies of code for each program. They have been working to get rid of this because it's such a waste of paper but aren't sure how. The programmer here before me tried to use a tablet, but ran into a couple issues. The main issue is operator error. The operators aren't the best at technology and some don't care to learn. The other issue is money. Buying a tablet for each machine and loading up software to view PDF's and text files isn't exactly cheap. 

 

Do you guys have readouts at the machine, or do you just read the code from the control panel?

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What is the purpose of having a copy of the program in hand?

What you could do, is grab an old crappy computer, centrally locate it between your machines, load up Notepad and connect it to a read only network folder that holds your programs.

This way anyone that needs to look at the program can. One computer for all. Unless you have 100 operators.

As for how we do it, our guys just look at the program that is on the machine. No need for a hand held copy, especially since our programs would take up hundreds if not thousands of pages.

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Jeff,

We have a decent amount of operators so one computer wouldn't work. I'd like to get management on board with allowing a handful of operators to have their own computers with mastercam so they can create programs and edit at their machine. That would get rid of the need for the readout all together. We don't have machinists vs. operators here. I write the programs and make edits, and the 'operators' do the setups and proof it out. Being that I'm new here I haven't pushed for change, but I feel this causes problems. It would make more sense for me to to do the setups and prove my own programs before someone else tries running it.

 

The reason they 'need' a handheld copy is so that they can read through the code and make notes without changing the screen on the controller or stopping the program (for the older machines). This gives them a chance to review the code ahead of what's currently running. We also have pretty lengthy programs so the print outs are like books. 

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No readouts at all....

Programs are WAY too big, we'd kill  a tree per program...

I would at one place 15 years ago, we did away with paper copies because guys would sit on the floor and read the program..it was nothing but HUGE waste of time.

Good setup documentation is ALL that's required, "IF" the programmer is doing their job

Edit: I currently program for nearly 40 machines, lathes, Mill-Turns, VMC, HMC and 5 axis...

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40 minutes ago, JParis said:

I would at one place 15 years ago, we did away with paper copies because guys would sit on the floor and read the program..it was nothing but HUGE waste of time.

Our operators do this now. In their defense, I'm new here and programs were not created in Mastercam before I started. They sort of were but not really. So I'm starting from scratch on the CAM side of things. So having the readout helps them catch minor errors before running it. The more I get the posts setup and machine components added into assemblies for verifying and collision detection the frequency of errors is decreasing. 

 

47 minutes ago, JParis said:

Good setup documentation is ALL that's required, "IF" the programmer is doing their job

I completely agree.

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Anything you can do on paper you can do on a computer.  You could get ten or fifteen year old scrap computers for $10 each off Craigslist (or free) and they'd work fine.  Many of my programs are in the 30,000 to 100,000 line range; lots of dynamic milling.  You're going to want to program like that if you want to increase efficiency, and your operator is not going to read and understand it.  The only thing the operator might pay attention to is the first half dozen lines of each tool; is it the right tool, suitable feed and speed, coolant, right offsets called?  Then let'er buck!

 

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30 minutes ago, Matthew Hajicek™ - Conventus said:

Anything you can do on paper you can do on a computer.  You could get ten or fifteen year old scrap computers for $10 each off Craigslist (or free) and they'd work fine.  Many of my programs are in the 30,000 to 100,000 line range; lots of dynamic milling.  You're going to want to program like that if you want to increase efficiency, and your operator is not going to read and understand it.  The only thing the operator might pay attention to is the first half dozen lines of each tool; is it the right tool, suitable feed and speed, coolant, right offsets called?  Then let'er buck!

 

That's a really good idea! that'd be much cheaper than tablets, wouldn't need wifi, and can get dirty. Thank you for the reply!

 

I try to use dynamic toolpaths as much as possible, but we do most of our work from castings so there's not much material removal. On top of that, I get 'corrected' when I change standard routines here. The standard here is manual machining with large CNC's. I'm making progress though.

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At my old job most of the jobs that were castings became parts made from solid with modern toolpaths and multiaxis.

Now there is still a place for castings. However, by using newer methods alot of parts that needed to be castings 10- 20 years ago, can now be 100 percent machined for much cheaper.

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