How did you guys get sooo good

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Be patient with yourself first and foremost. I mean it's good to have high expectations of yourself, but also, be realistic. Spend as much time as you can "playing" with the software. You kind of have to think like a kid in this respect, kids learn by playing. I found for myself that taking a couple (and I mean 2) courses at the local Community College, where there was relatively little pressure to perform, the only real pressure is to learn, allowed me to learn enough of the basics to get a decent handle on the rest. In that environment, you may find yourself a little more relaxed and able to take more information in. Or, take work home. I know the thought of that just does not sit well with everyone but I probably programmed several dozen parts at home before any of my programs ever cut a single chip. I used to sneak into the office and copy blueprints (nothing that was sensitive) then take them home for learning - I DO NOT RECCOMMEND OR ENDORSE THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOUR BTW. I did this probably for at least a year. That's combined with my schooling got me a good start. Well, that in addition to working with some really great folks over the years helped too.

 

I guess the moral of the story is don't get discouraged. Keep working, and if at all possible, do hire a consultant/trainer, or someone of that nature that can help your organization iron out some of the wrinkles.

 

JM2C

[gcode]

I took the company sim home for years to get more seat time and worked on company parts for free

to get seat time..

When I started contracting for other companies

I bought my own seat..

[NeilJ]

Working for a company that has no problem paying for software maintenance helps.

 

Making an effort to build a relationship with our VAR has helped me.

 

Mike Mattera's videos have helped me:

 

www.tipsformanufacturing.com

 

alt.machines.cnc has helped me in the past.

 

Some posters to this forum have helped me.

 

In House Solutions Mastercam books have helped.

 

Not expecting people to be perfect in the answers they give to my questions and knowing that they are trying their best helps.

 

Being willing to spend my own money and time have helped me.

 

Being honest with myself and with a products limitations helps.

 

Having used many CADCAM products helps... they all have issues. Some more than others.

 

Picking and choosing who I wish to learn from probably helps the most.

[iowajim62]

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One of these replies mentioned common tooling and I have heard others talk about that. I would like to get to understand that better. Do you use general purpose cutters that cut aluminum one day and 4140 the next? Do you always have let’s say a ½ rougher as tool #1?

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Common tools are more or less the same tools used to cut similar parts each time. Especially repeat jobs. Smaller machines use let's say 1/2" roughers for steel and 3/4" roughers for alum. That cuts cost since the shop doesn't have to stock or order tools all the time. Saves money buying more than 1 at a time also. Insert Cutters for roughing are an even better option. These could be left in the machine all the time as well.

Same for finish tools, alum cutters cut alum and steel cutters cut steel.

 

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We are a contract job shop and generally run quantities from 40 to 100 pcs. Most of these jobs repeat 4 times a year.

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Setups that run over and over should have fixtures or jaws cut and saved ready to setup.

These jobs need setup sheets and tool lists given to the Tool Crib before they run. This can be accomplished by scheduling repeat jobs on job boards at the crib as well as at the machines.

 

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We have 40 taper mills with 8000 rpms and 30 taper mills with up to 20000 rpms.

We tend to put parts in the next available machine but the cutter paths that work well on one machine are not optimal for the other. How do you guys handle this?

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Yeah this is tough, perfect world would be jobs scheduled ahead of time and accordingly ready to run beforehand. Setup Sheets/Toolists/In-Process Sheets already printed and ready to go for each machine. Definitely would separate the work for the little 30's from the 40 taper machines.

 

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I want to build a library of successful cutter paths for the different work centers but not sure where to begin.

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Start with Roughing Ops for different materials and then Finish Ops, then spot,drill,ream,and or tapping. Planning ahead for flip ops on vises or fixtures would separate ops to save as well.

 

Just a quick rundown but hope this gets you headed in the right direction. It isn't easy to be the top guy but with time you'll get there. Just try to work on one problem area at a time. Sounds like you wanna do better just by coming here and asking. good Luck

 

HTH

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

You definitely DO NOT want to listen to ANYONE who's name rhymes with Job Banquer, NeilJ, or anyone that's remotely like him for starters.

 

 

Funny as heck if it's true... about Jon Banquer's "expereince" with SolidWorks

[Hardmill]

quote:

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Picking and choosing who I wish to learn from probably helps the most.

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Some just choose not to help "Imbeciles"

You dont get to pick or choose.

 

 

Sorry for the rant Dead Money, couldnt help mehself.

 

 

 

 

PEACE

[NeilJ]

Without a doubt who you wish to learn from is a choice and in my opinion it's the most important choice one can make.

[iowajim62]

Dead Money change your screen name

 

NeilJ is a screen name for a guy named Jon Banquer who has quite a bad attitude and a bad reputation here. He has badmouthed some Very Good Top/Senior Programmers on his blog and at alt.machines.cnc he also regularly slams all CAD/CAM softwares. he's trying to be nice now but it's too late.

 

The guys you do wanna listen to are Crazy Millman,gcode,Jay Kramer,John Paris,Colin Gilchrist,Rick Hendrickson and several others too numerous to mention,you know who you are (sorry guys didn't wanna make the post 3 pages long and oh yeah you can trust these guys 2, CNC Apps Guy and Hardmill (couldn't resist James,Steve ) both very knowledgeable Top Level Programmers. And I can give a couple good ideas once in awhile, learned alot of tricks here from these guys. They are the Best.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Hey Jimmy,

 

You land somewhere yet? I know Andrew had his ear to the ground for ya.

[NeilJ]

In my opinion there are no Mastercam experts.

 

The people I feel know the most about Mastercam don't consider themselves to be experts and acknowledge they know perhaps 70 percent of the product.

[BernieT]

your opinion is worthless ........

 

 

.

 

DeadMoney, welcome to the forum!!

 

Listen to all except neilj.

[RobertELee]

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The people I feel know the most about Mastercam don't consider themselves to be experts and acknowledge they know perhaps 70 percent of the product.

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Thats great!! Maybe you should go to those people for advice next time if you think they know more than the folks here.

 

Welcome to the forum Dead Money!! Did you ever have that annoying mosquito that just won't leave you alone - keeps flying from ear to ear, looking for another victim to suck blood from? That's NielJ/Jon Banquer, we keep trying to swat him away but he keeps coming back for more. One of these days a rolled up newspaper is going to come sailing his way and :smack: him. That will be a fun day!

 

Great question BTW! I too wish I could be as knowledgable about MCAM as many of the members here, but just don't have the time to actually sit down and exlore everything it has to offer. Stick around, I'm sure you'll learn alot.

[NeilJ]

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your opinion is worthless

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Cliques who can't back up their opinions with facts and have to resort to personal attacks are worthless.

[TR Mfg.]

I jokingly tell people 15 hours a day for 15 years and you can be just like me and I’m no where near as knowledgeable as most on this forum.

It sounds like you have a number of small issues that need to be addressed one at a time. Take the time to really identify the problems and find real solutions for them that people will actually do. If set ups are taking to long figure out why, I would bet it has little to do with the Gcode but more to do with better communication of what the set up is suppose to be. You may find that set ups are taking so long because the set up guy is spending all his time looking for T nuts. My points is identify your problem areas and work on one thing at a time. As for Mastercam knowledge it comes from doing. I was lucky, early on I got to work with some really good people and have just built on that good base.

[OTOMMYO]

Make like Mike Jackson and "Beat it" NeilJ

[Josh T™]

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Cliques who can't back up their opinions with facts and have to resort to personal attacks are worthless.

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Popping Popcorn....

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Oooooooo, Banquer is breaking out the "clique" word again.

 

He always pulls that card out when he's exposed for the fraud he is. He can't decide if he's been a :cough: programmer for 10, 12, or 15 years... And about 5 seconds of however long it has been with mastercam. Doubt his :cough: impeccable "credentials" and he'll label you one of his favorite unsavory terms. Just check out the alt.machines.cnc News Group to check out his credentials to have an opinion of what makes one a successful/knowledgeable programmer. In that news group he is routinely blasted for his nonsensical tirades. Then as if that were not enough, he LOVES to use buzzwords and routinely quotes others as if he coined the terms, phrases and ideas.

 

So just be careful of this guy. If you help him out you WILL be one of his targets.

[NeilJ]

Facts:

 

I make my living programming and machining with Mastercam.

 

The company I work for is based in San Diego, CA and is the largest and most successful of its kind.

[Jack Neelands™]

Welcome to the forum DeadMoney

 

I have to concur with the majority here, as they are the ppl that taught me heaps as well as tinkering and accepting that fact that Im no expert and never will be.

Like the others I strive to make myself more efficient and better educated with the tools the boss gives me and ask for help when its beyond my scope of practice.

This forum and its ppl work hard to give you answers when you are in a pinch and help out those that are just starting into Mastercam or even other softwares.

...

 

 

... or it could be that they are just bored out of their skulls at work and have nothing else to do

[crazy^millman]

FACTS PEOPLE ON THIS FORUM HAVE HELPED YOU AND YOU HAVE BASHED THEM!!!!!!

 

JUST BECAUSE YOU MAKE A LIVING DOING SOMETHING DOES NOT MAKE YOU AN EXPERT AT DOING SOMETHING. I COULD MAKE A LIVING AT CUTTING GRASS AND NOT KNOW THING ABOUT IT, BUT THINK I DO!!!!!!!!!

 

YES I AM YELLING!!!!!!!!

 

I WORKED FOR A 12 BILLION DOLLAR A YEAR COMPANY THAT AND 2 DOLLARS MEANS I GOT 2 DOLLARS.

 

Sorry to go off topic Deadmoney, I have been told by this person I should acknowledge the fact I have helped him and thank him for telling others I have helped him. I never help or helped others to get a thanks out of it if I did then I would be the ego manic I feel some are that are so full of themselves they just can see it.

[BrianP.]

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I get the feeling management thinks if I do my job right they can get anyone off the streets to setup and run these machines.

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Sooooo true. That is why at least around here the average age of the machinists in most shops is over 40.

I have been promised by a few companies that they would send me to programming school. Got sick of the empty promises and bought a training manual and started to teach myself. You can get a lot out of the books and a curious mind. Play time with even a demo is a great teacher. You may take a little longer to learn something but when you finally figure it out you tend to remember it. If you can program manually then the trick is to just learn how to make Mastercam do what you want. The drawing part was harder than the toolpaths part for me.

[#Rekd™]

Hi Deadmoney,

 

This is the place to get the correct information.

Regardless of what NeilJ or what ever his name is spews, he is the one doing personal attacks on the senior members of this forum.

 

If you need help just ask and somebody will help you but if you treat them like NeilJ you are on your own.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

John

[Kevangel]

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Or, take work home. I know the thought of that just does not sit well with everyone but I probably programmed several dozen parts at home before any of my programs ever cut a single chip. I used to sneak into the office and copy blueprints (nothing that was sensitive) then take them home for learning - I DO NOT RECCOMMEND OR ENDORSE THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOUR BTW. I did this probably for at least a year. T

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You would be suprised at the young toolmakers taking prints home to plan the job at night so the next day they could come in and hit the ground running....guess what... they got up to "top pay" quickly and owning their own shop at a young age...."ATTITUDE" son attitude.

[NeilJ]

Probably the best part of were I work is we all help each other because the boss fosters this attitude and approach. I would not describe this as typical or common in the machining industry. I started in this trade in 1992 and have never worked in a better environment than where I'm at now. It took six months for me to get hired here. The boss even read my blog and posts to Usenet before deciding I was what he was looking for.

[Zoober]

Welcome Deadmoney!

Choosing who to ignore cough: jb cough: is much more important than choosing who to listen to cough: everybody else cough:

This is a great group (minus one moldy a$$ apple) that will be more than willing to help.

Some are great at everything, while others are more specialists in lathe, probing, 5ax, etc...

 

Glean, money, glean.

Also, try to see things from the setup guys view. Not the best guy's, but the most inexperienced.

Typical example, in our shop, we have to include "indicate reamer in within .____)" in out setup sheets. While most consider that a given, it has caused pains for our less experienced guys on the floor. And its not getting any better.

While you may think something is a no-brainer, it may be greek to them.

 

Oh, and ignore Neilandbob....

He's a rookie!

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I started in this trade in 1992

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