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I work at a Thermomold Plastics company where we have a Dual Table 5 Axsis CNC router/mill machine.   They are old machines that use Fagor 8055 controllers. 99.9% of all the programs have been written in the Fagor CAM software where you generate code based on editing profiles and calling up and defining canned operations. Then we basically use the G code to  and a Bunch of Offsets to correct the tool paths to compensate for part variances in the mold making process.  The parts are molded, loaded on fixtures and we cut the parts into the final shapes, make holes, cut grooves, ect ect... 

So we have a seat of Mastercam 2020 and I need to learn how to create tool paths and to be able to manipulate the paths easily and quickly when cutting out the parts from the molded shapes.   Also I would like to find a way to convert the old Fagor Gcode files into mastercam and generate tool paths  that I can also easily manipulate.

I have worked with many different software packages, All of the Adobe Suite, Photoshop, Illustrator, ect... I have also worked with several 3D Motion graphics software packages, like C4D, Blender , Maya so I am familiar with solid geometric modeling and vector graphics. I know these softwares dont compare to  Mastercam as they dont generate Gcode and dont interact with tooling or machines. I have also built several 3D printers and a couple of Open Source CNC 3 Axis CNC machines (OX CNC) which is a scaled down version of the Motion Master, Fagor controlled machines I run at work,  In the open source CNC world I used Stuff Like Tinker CAD to create the geometry, Simplify 3D slice and generate Gcode for 3D Printing, JS Cut for Generating Gcode for the CNC router/mill, and a web browser based control software called Chilipepper to run the Tiny G  motion controller for the CNC router/mills that I have built.

 

With that long and painful story explained, I know now I am in the big leagues. I told the man that Hired me a week ago that I can run any machine, and learn any software package if he gives me 6 months. So, here I am asking for guidance on where to begin.  I dont need to worry about creating geometry at the moment. I just need to take the models that the customers provide, make selections of there I want the tool paths to be, and I need to be able to plot Points like a 3D vector graphic. I want to be able to click and drag the points along the paths to modify their positions at will. Then generate G Code and post it to the machines for testing and tweaking, IN MASTERCAM, not via Offsets at the machine console (granted I understand offsets are helpful for corrections  based on manufacturing variances). I also understand that Mastercam does a ton of different and amazing things in the CNC world, for now I need to just focus on creating and manipulating tool paths based on 3D models, and generating the Gcode


I am a very driven individual, and I have a ton to learn.  Where do I start? Is the best place Mastercam university? I was hoping to find a bunch of Mastercam free TUTS on YouTube, but there aren't many step by step  open source education programs available for Professional CNC/CAM softwares like MasterCam.

Thanks for your time and wish me luck on Crash Course learning  of Mastercam 2020 and commercial CNC machines.     

PS I have peeked at a part supposedly programmed in Mastercam, he said, "I used Chains", but he has no idea of how to add points, move points, or minulate the tool paths in any way. I messed with his program for a little while hoping there was a way to select a point on a tool path, and to drag it around like I can in many other 3D mesh or vector based drawing packages. But no luck. I did see he edit toolpath dialogue pop up menu/box, but this only allowed me to add a point or delete a point. I was looking for more of a Visual way to work with the tool paths. Maybe right click add/delete point, some sort of snapping functions that will snap to a line, a face, an edge, ect.. Ill ask this again, where to begin?   

 

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I will share this in 1993 I took a job at a shop and told the owner about the same thing you did. I said give me time to learn and I will learn everything I can to be good at my job on the machine. Within one month I was given the lead CNC Mill Machinist position. I started making my own soft jaws and other things to speed up production. I moved to 3rd shift and when I left production for the whole shop dropped by 80% and that is when they figured out day shift and 2nd shirt were taking credit for my work being done on 3rd shift. One person out working 5 was what I was doing. Not saying that to brag that was the reality. The owner begged me to come back and I told him once I am done with a company I am done. He was a friend for many years after that until his passing. I always had that drive and went in early at one company to learn wire EDM without pay and stayed late. After 3 months I was made the lead of the EDM department.

My best piece of advise is be willing to make mistakes and learn from them. Need to be willing to eat humble pie, but if you right and know your right then need to be willing to walk if that is the choice you are forced into. I have been forced into that position about 10 times in my professional life. I learned I am not a good employee per say because I am willing to say no. I am willing to fight for what I think it the best way and I am willing to make mistakes and own them. World is filled with yes people and it really hard to find no, but willing to explain why. No doesn't mean I will not do it the way you have told me you want it done. It just means I am not blindly going off in the direction I disagree with. People pay us all to do our best and give our best. If we are willing to not do it to earn a paycheck then we not doing our best.

I came up through in a time when I was teaching half of the apprenticeship classes because I knew the computers and math better than the people trying to teach the classes. Funny teaching the teacher in the fundamentals of CNC Programming in the early 90's. I had been doing it about 7 years at that point and he thought he could just pick up the book and teach the class never having done it. He lasted about 2 weeks and realized he was in over his head. That was when I realized that program was a joke and I was better off forging my own path.

I just threw out my old hand written notebooks from that time. No need for them anymore as everything is online now. Back then you made up notebooks of important information. I still have about 20 of them. I have some the early 1900 books on Steam Generation and repair. Those have not made it online and not sure they ever will. Read, Read and Try and Try and fail and fail and pick yourself back up and fail some more and try again and again. This is what those of us who are what others call good at what we do do. Those who think they are good and don't know how to really do it are all talk. They love to talk about what they can do, but ask them to get on a machine and show you. I can setup and run every single machine I have ever programmed. I might take some time familiarizing myself with the machine, but I am not scared to setup, operate and run any machine I program. Guess what floor needs to be sweep, moped or machines cleaned I got no problem doing that either.

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Fantastic response!  There is another fellow that has been a button pusher at my place of employment for 6 months and he is clueless. In 1 week I have all but taken over the CNC area. He is always comming over and asking me to read the prints and verify his measurements. He is always struggling to determine which direction to make a move in the offsets as he doesn’t realize exactly how these machines work.  I asked the boss to take home the Fagor manuals and have already read all them. I ha e a firm grasp of what what adjustments to make in order to make the machine move and correct what I want it to do. However I need to learn to program it as the way they run are just wrong. They tooL paths are off and I just need to learn the MasterCam software package I order to fix the existing programs, as well as program future projects.

I was hoping mastercam was like many of the other vector programs I have used in the past. I was hoping for a Pen tool what creates splines with the ability to add points and remove points and used as a tool path. I was hoping one could freely drag the points around in 3D space in relation to faces of a 3D models geometry.  I bet Mastercam can do this, but I am afraid I’ll just ha e to start at the beginning and make silly blocks with holes and chamfers.  With thermoplastic parts, it’s not like traditional millinG where you remove material in order to make a part.  The part is there, you just need to locate faces and cut radius, holes and lines to remove the part from molded shell.   It’s more like 3D routing than it is actually milling anything. the machine is a 5 axis mill/router made by motion master

 

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