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How to Become a Post Developer


mayu
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Hello EM,

How does someone become a full-time post developer?

What is the typical trajectory for obtaining such a position?

Is there a formal curriculum of courses and training for this type of work?

Do you have to be a reseller or own a Mastercam license?

Thank you

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  • 8 months later...

I noticed you didn't get an answer. I've been trying to self educate myself on post-processor work AND DO MY JOB for over a year. I don't get paid to learn how to edit posts. I get in trouble IF I don't learn it quick enough!!! I work for a very large company that has a large variety of machines. I can't continue to ask for more $ because I can't edit a post!  It's very difficult. It's ridiculous to spend so much money on software then not be able to modify it to your machine without paying more for someone else to do it. There is not much help. The Mastercam post-class is barely worth watching. Some of the members here have good videos and can help. Some resellers are not educated or do not have time to train you. It is very frustrating!!! Good Luck!!!

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16 hours ago, denkizz said:

I noticed you didn't get an answer. I've been trying to self educate myself on post-processor work AND DO MY JOB for over a year. I don't get paid to learn how to edit posts. I get in trouble IF I don't learn it quick enough!!! I work for a very large company that has a large variety of machines. I can't continue to ask for more $ because I can't edit a post!  It's very difficult. It's ridiculous to spend so much money on software then not be able to modify it to your machine without paying more for someone else to do it. There is not much help. The Mastercam post-class is barely worth watching. Some of the members here have good videos and can help. Some resellers are not educated or do not have time to train you. It is very frustrating!!! Good Luck!!!

I taught myself to edit my current horizontal post at home using the Mastercam learning software and a free Emastercam post. It would only post the first three lines of toolpath code but I was more interested in making routers and subprograms than toolpath code. It took about nine months of training and writing to do what I was looking for. That was some very good experience. I don't know if you can do what I did on today's learning software.

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On 5/26/2021 at 5:25 PM, denkizz said:

It's ridiculous to spend so much money on software then not be able to modify it to your machine without paying more for someone else to do it.

Get your boss to price out NX or Catia V5 (is V6 out?). With special attention  to what they charge for maintenance and posts. 

He probably won't think MC is so expensive after all.

Or you could go with the  Esprit model where you have no personal control of the post at all. (To be fair our programmer who is handling the lathes uses it and likes their post support).

Plenty of alternatives....

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I think if you queried the "real" post developers that are employed by CNC and other external companies, you would find that most, have some kind of computer science degrees...a post is just logic to process information and output in a given format.

For the rest of us hackers and slashers, most of us learned on our own time with the provided information in the post guides, some help here and trial and error.

I can handle almost all of the post edits that I require at this point but when I was still learning 15+ years ago I came here with snippets of code and asked for direction.

To this day, if we put a new machine on the floor and I don't have the time to modify a post, I still purchase them as necessary.

The company I work for understands that a machine needs to be making parts and has no issue spending what we need to get making parts as fast as we can.

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15 minutes ago, nickbe10 said:

Get your boss to price out NX or Catia V5 (is V6 out?). With special attention  to what they charge for maintenance and posts. 

He probably won't think MC is so expensive after all.

Or you could go with the  Esprit model where you have no personal control of the post at all. (To be fair our programmer who is handling the lathes uses it and likes their post support).

Plenty of alternatives....

Well there are those free ones out there that so there is that. :phone:

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On 9/25/2020 at 5:41 PM, mayu said:

Hello EM,

How does someone become a full-time post developer?

What is the typical trajectory for obtaining such a position?

Is there a formal curriculum of courses and training for this type of work?

Do you have to be a reseller or own a Mastercam license?

Thank you

 

CNC Software publishes full documentation which is available through your Mastercam Reseller. CNC Software also teaches a 3-Day Basic Post Processing Class at their campus in Tolland. It is not cheap, but the training is excellent.

Keep in mind that their is value in developing Posts, so most of that Development work is done by the Resellers, on a for-profit basis. The same for-profit basis your company uses to make money.

I have taught online classes previously on the Mastercam Post Processor for both Mills, Lathes, and 5-Axis as well.

I've made that content available, for free, on YouTube. You're welcome. How much time have you invested on your own, outside of work, on growing your own skills? I put up about 60 hours of content on how to do the basics and advanced stuff as well. 

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On 9/25/2020 at 5:41 PM, mayu said:

Hello EM,

How does someone become a full-time post developer?

What is the typical trajectory for obtaining such a position?

Is there a formal curriculum of courses and training for this type of work?

Do you have to be a reseller or own a Mastercam license?

Thank you

 

On 5/26/2021 at 8:25 PM, denkizz said:

I noticed you didn't get an answer. I've been trying to self educate myself on post-processor work AND DO MY JOB for over a year. I don't get paid to learn how to edit posts. I get in trouble IF I don't learn it quick enough!!! I work for a very large company that has a large variety of machines. I can't continue to ask for more $ because I can't edit a post!  It's very difficult. It's ridiculous to spend so much money on software then not be able to modify it to your machine without paying more for someone else to do it. There is not much help. The Mastercam post-class is barely worth watching. Some of the members here have good videos and can help. Some resellers are not educated or do not have time to train you. It is very frustrating!!! Good Luck!!!

By the way, I'll be doing a YouTube Live session this weekend on how to edit the Custom Drill Cycles, to add support for Renishaw Probing, to the MPMaster Post. This will be an opportunity to learn and ask other Post Questions as well. Try searching "MP 101" or "MP 301" on YouTube, and subscribe to my channel so you can get notifications. 

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I got caught up with exploring a new feature in Mastercam; the ability to add Custom Bitmap Graphics to a Drill Cycle. So I ended up building Graphics for Protected Positioning P9810, XYZ Single Point O9811, Web/Pocket O9812, Bore/Boss O9814, B-Axis Align O9817/O9818, and Stock Allowance O9820.

I'll do the Live session this coming weekend, to give people a chance to prepare. I'll post the Date/Time soon.

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1 minute ago, Colin Gilchrist said:

I got caught up with exploring a new feature in Mastercam; the ability to add Custom Bitmap Graphics to a Drill Cycle. So I ended up building Graphics for Protected Positioning P9810, XYZ Single Point O9811, Web/Pocket O9812, Bore/Boss O9814, B-Axis Align O9817/O9818, and Stock Allowance O9820.

I'll do the Live session this coming weekend, to give people a chance to prepare. I'll post the Date/Time soon.

Awesome! I thought I had missed it.

Thank you so very much for these sessions! I don't always get to watch them live, but I always watch them and I always learn something new.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok yall. I figured it out...well enough to make myself addicted!!! This is really fun when you kinda understand it. Hours of playing to get it perfect enough. I have simple stuff 3axis it's not too difficult. On to long lines of variables and formulas! I'm so excited.

Thanks for all the help. 

I'm addicted ;) 

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35 minutes ago, denkizz said:

Ok yall. I figured it out...well enough to make myself addicted!!! This is really fun when you kinda understand it. Hours of playing to get it perfect enough. I have simple stuff 3axis it's not too difficult. On to long lines of variables and formulas! I'm so excited.

Thanks for all the help. 

I'm addicted ;) 

👍 Welcome to the club...

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On 5/28/2021 at 9:30 AM, JParis said:

To this day, if we put a new machine on the floor and I don't have the time to modify a post, I still purchase them as necessary.

The company I work for understands that a machine needs to be making parts and has no issue spending what we need to get making parts as fast as we can.

In some ways it is really not much different from buying tools for a CNC.  You wouldn't keep using high speed steel tooling because that it what it came with.  You couldn't be productive.  

And then there is the:  "Sorry boss, I forgot to edit the final program for the umpteenth time and the spindle was turning the wrong direction when it ran into the chuck and I didn't change a G0 to a G1"

For years I have encouraged anyone who will listen to get good post or modify it so that there are no hand edits.  

 

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On 5/28/2021 at 12:22 PM, nickbe10 said:

Or you could go with the  Esprit model where you have no personal control of the post at all. (To be fair our programmer who is handling the lathes uses it and likes their post support).

In the spirit of fairness, I never had a reason to modify an Esprit post from DPT.  As long as you had the official post for your machine, they were flawless.  And you CAN build custom posts.  But the official posts from Esprit are encrypted.  I believe posts from guys like postability are also locked?

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14 hours ago, JB7280 said:

In the spirit of fairness, I never had a reason to modify an Esprit post from DPT.  As long as you had the official post for your machine, they were flawless.  And you CAN build custom posts.  But the official posts from Esprit are encrypted.  I believe posts from guys like postability are also locked?

I pretty much said that, our lathe guy is very happy with their set up. His main gripe is that the interface is somewhat old, but I understand they are soon (have already started?) upgrading that.

My point was that there are many options out there, if Mastercam doesn't suit you, or more importantly the type of work you do, try something else.

If I had my druthers I would run NCL, but I would never suggest to anyone they should install that system.

It's tough to beat the market penetration, price point and flexibility of Mastercam for all its foibles, which no system is without,

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3 hours ago, nickbe10 said:

I pretty much said that, our lathe guy is very happy with their set up. His main gripe is that the interface is somewhat old, but I understand they are soon (have already started?) upgrading that.

My point was that there are many options out there, if Mastercam doesn't suit you, or more importantly the type of work you do, try something else.

If I had my druthers I would run NCL, but I would never suggest to anyone they should install that system.

It's tough to beat the market penetration, price point and flexibility of Mastercam for all its foibles, which no system is without,

My employer is very much rooted in Mastercam at this point, so I'm "stuck" with it.  I don't hate it.  It just isn't my favorite.  I can do what I need to with it, so I can't complain too much.  Our reseller doesn't tend to be much help, so the fault is probably my own, for not doing a good job of self teaching.

 

Yes, Esprit's interface is a bit long in the tooth at this point.  They've been talking about, and developing the new version TNG, I think since 2016.  It will be outdated by the time it's released!!!  lol

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hi to all.

Are there any spanish courses or books?. My english is really bad and I am interested in learn about how pst works. I make some minor changes in my posts, I make questions, I use variables for my changes, but some parts I dont understand how works.

Thanks for your supports.

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  • 4 months later...
On 5/28/2021 at 11:41 AM, Colin Gilchrist said:

 

CNC Software publishes full documentation which is available through your Mastercam Reseller. CNC Software also teaches a 3-Day Basic Post Processing Class at their campus in Tolland. It is not cheap, but the training is excellent.

Keep in mind that their is value in developing Posts, so most of that Development work is done by the Resellers, on a for-profit basis. The same for-profit basis your company uses to make money.

I have taught online classes previously on the Mastercam Post Processor for both Mills, Lathes, and 5-Axis as well.

I've made that content available, for free, on YouTube. You're welcome. How much time have you invested on your own, outside of work, on growing your own skills? I put up about 60 hours of content on how to do the basics and advanced stuff as well. 

60 hrs.???? of content, Quite a Investment of time.. def going to watch those videos..  I've begun to dabble with the switches at the beginning of the post file and now I'm working on deciphering the rest...

Thanks Colin :respect:

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2 hours ago, jean said:

60 hrs.???? of content, Quite a Investment of time.. def going to watch those videos..  I've begun to dabble with the switches at the beginning of the post file and now I'm working on deciphering the rest...

Thanks Colin :respect:

Yes I have dipped my  feet in the Post Edit water with Colin's videos and they are very good and super helpful. Also getting MPost documentation is helfpul

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  • 3 months later...
On 5/28/2021 at 9:41 AM, Colin Gilchrist said:

 

CNC Software publishes full documentation which is available through your Mastercam Reseller. CNC Software also teaches a 3-Day Basic Post Processing Class at their campus in Tolland. It is not cheap, but the training is excellent.

Keep in mind that their is value in developing Posts, so most of that Development work is done by the Resellers, on a for-profit basis. The same for-profit basis your company uses to make money.

I have taught online classes previously on the Mastercam Post Processor for both Mills, Lathes, and 5-Axis as well.

I've made that content available, for free, on YouTube. You're welcome. How much time have you invested on your own, outside of work, on growing your own skills? I put up about 60 hours of content on how to do the basics and advanced stuff as well. 

 

I have learned ONE ON ONE thru Colin, around 30 executive days (every Saturday, 3-4 hours a day).  It's a bit of expensive but worth it.  Now, I can mostly write any 3/4 Axis post, including lathe and mill turn.    If you guys thinking to get learned about post thoroughly then learn from this man.

 

Timing  and money a bit of tough but if you are patient enough, you'll get all of his head into yours. It's just matter of time and willingness. 

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This is where is gets really weird for me Steven, because I respect you, but we had maybe 10-12 sessions together at the most. I have no doubt that you spent 30 weekends in-a-row working on your Post, but not all of that time was spent with me.

Like I mentioned: you should view my MP 101 Videos & MP 301 Videos on YouTube. There is a bunch of content up there which I still believe would be really beneficial to you...

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On 2/11/2022 at 4:32 PM, PcRobotic said:

 

I have learned ONE ON ONE thru Colin, around 30 executive days (every Saturday, 3-4 hours a day).  It's a bit of expensive but worth it.  Now, I can mostly write any 3/4 Axis post, including lathe and mill turn.    If you guys thinking to get learned about post thoroughly then learn from this man.

 

Timing  and money a bit of tough but if you are patient enough, you'll get all of his head into yours. It's just matter of time and willingness. 

Write a post? Sorry no disrespect meant, but you modify posts not write them. Writing a post from scratch for Mastercam is something only a handful of people in the world can do. I know I am a hack when it comes to posts, but you still refuse to use MMD, LMD, RMD and MCD with different machines with your modified post. Trust me the process you fight against would be much easier if you unlearned some bad habits and full embraced MP. 

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8 minutes ago, crazy^millman said:

Write a post? Sorry no disrespect meant, but you modify posts not write them.

I am sure if he continues to learn he will get to that level. Besides, it is normal to have standard code you draw on when creating a program.

I don't create all the code I use in my program, Cnc Software makes most of the functions i use then I apply them, however, I wouldn't say I don't write my code.

10 minutes ago, crazy^millman said:

I know I am a hack when it comes to posts, but you still refuse to use MMD, LMD, RMD and MCD with different machines with your modified post.

When I started to learn c++ I dislike the concepts oop suchs as namespaces classes and inheritance, today i use all of these feautures and more to make my code more maintainable and readable..

 

Sometimes being told something is the right way is less powerful than learning the hard way why it is right, or wrong.

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