Training Doc on MC posts

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

What I have is what I sent.

 

If you could track down the old instructor's computer form the Upstairs lab, that HDD should have everything.

 

We all workd so hard on putting together a quality curriculum...

 

Apparently it was in vain.

 

quote:

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Rob, James have they contacted you lately. I just got a check from them.

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Nope. And I have not moved, have not changed, phone numbers, etc...

[Code_Breaker]

quote:

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I just got a check from them.

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Payoff check to avoid a class action lawsuit by a part-time instructor who wanted to be paid OT ... I had no OT so it was a no-brainer for me to op out of the suit ... thus I got a check too.

 

quote:

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Apparently it was in vain.

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Nothing is in vain when you do it from your heart ...

 

Thanks for the files ... may be outdated, but most of the info is great and the format will do perfectly ... I will update the ppt to X4 and use your outline ...

 

Thanks again

[Ron Branch @ Verisurf]

Well guys I just pulled one of our students out of the advanced class. They were teaching wireframe over at the Santa Fe Springs into the 5th week for advanced Mastercam said it was a review. They had some kid who had never been in the shop teaching the class. Good kid just not real world experience. My hats off to the people that are teaching there. Shame they can not see where a CNC class that has 400 hours of Lab it in is lacking when 320 hours of it are spent on the conventional side and only 80 are spent on the CNC's.

 

Don keep up the good work you are a saint among Men!!!

[Code_Breaker]

thanks ...

[CNC-ERIC]

Hi,Code_Breaker,

 

could you please upload the files when collect them all? I thought there are lots guys like want to learn those advanced stuff.

 

thanks in advance

 

Eric

[Code_Breaker]

Eric, Good idea ... As soon as everyone sends me what they still have, I will reconstruct and update it to X4 ... test it out on the next session which starts 9/21/2009 ... ends in 2/20/2010 weeks ... Hope X5 isn't out by then ...

 

As for the post session, I ended up opening mpmaster.psr and showing them a few important sections, how variable, functions, and formulas operate ... naturally, they were overwhelmed with the information ... expected that ... I did tell them they are fully qualified to put "Post Editing" on their resume ... JK

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I'll be you lost them at switches.

 

When I taught POsts, I did my job, I scared the guys that have no business working on them bad enough to never want to touch them and intrugued the guys that can handle it. I'd say less than 5% of the guys that said "I want to learn Posts" will actually do it... SUCCESSFULLY

[Mic6]

I want to learn Posts!

[Code_Breaker]

quote:

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I'll be you lost them at switches.

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Actually, I lost them at "Good Morning, Class ... "

[Jayson Kramer]

Code, I will try tonight to get all the files I have from the NTMA and zip and send you an email with a link to download it all.you can just go thru everything I have, it's a few megs that I remember.

[Bwalker]

"Rule #1 ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR POST

Rule #2 Make 1 CHANGE AT A TIME

Rule #3 ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR POST

Rule #4 When in doubt ALWAYS refer to Rules #1, #2 and #3."

 

good idea to add a comment in the post at every line you modified, initial it, date it, and then add a reference in the top comments in the post.

 

ie #JBW AUG25 09 REMOVED ____ FROM ____

 

that way when you come back to you you can find (ctrl F) the exact changes you made by searching your initials.

 

 

"Many of you (CNC Apps Guy 1 and others) seem to be very well educated in the posting/programming language issues. I am only a begginer and tend to muddle through post editing. I do not fully understand how it works and it seems very complicated."

 

Posts work very similar to BASIC language, that would be a good starting point to learn some background information. Also, you will need an EXCELLENT understanding of Gcodes (or heidenhain code, or whatever code the machine uses). You have to know what you want to get, to figure out how to get it.

 

 

"There's many things I am determined to learn.

Multi-axis, mill-turn, etc...."

 

mill turning is pretty much just easier to hand program. i made a custom G code for my integrex 400st for mill turning. one line gcode call with arguements. done.

 

multiaxis is something that takes a lot of experimentation and some training, you dont usually just jump into it. easy to make things go boom. plus theres a lot of different considerations to take into account.

 

"How do I gain the knowledge that some of you have attained?"

 

experience, experimentation, etc. As for me, i had priviliged knowledge from working for cadcam and machine tool companies as well as in machine shops across the country. But the main thing is to prove what you can do within your job, wow the right people, and eventually they will give you more room, and you can use that room to learn more and show them what you can really do!

 

I also learned from some people who were very good in their fields. One of my college professors wrote several texts, and i HIGHLY recommend them, especially for beginners, but they are good for people of all skill levels

 

Author: Peter Smid

 

Titles:

CNC Programming Handbook

CNC Programming Techniques

Fanuc CNC Custom Macros

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Oh, ps. in terms of posts and reading parameters (and NCI i think, but i cant remember if its in there..) look at the Mastercam Post Parameter Reference Guide, NCI parameter guide, etc in the mastercam-documentation folder on the start menu list . also, not sure how current some of the info is, but i also found the Mastercam V9 post parameter reference guide to be of great help.

 

hope this helps...

[Code_Breaker]

bwalker, welcome to the forum and the ride of your life ...

 

this is certainly an E-ticket ride ...

 

enjoy

[Code_Breaker]

BTW ... Greyman graduates this Saturaday from my class ...

 

Excellant student ...

 

Congrats Greyman

[Ron Branch @ Verisurf]

Not sure who Bwalker is, but this person is no stranger to the forum.

 

Welcome bwalker very insightful and well put points.

[Bwalker]

Thanks guys,

 

You are correct, I am no stranger to the forum, I havent been posting on here for quite some time. As I've sort of mentioned previously, my previous experience includes working for a mastercam reseller, as well as a Mazak dealer, and I am currently the lead programmer of a newly expanded 50,000 sq ft machine shop, and also the main mazak go to guy here(i have recently trained a replacement to take over for me on our Integrex 400ST, though I usually still deal with process optimization and the complex multitasking, and I help out with machine issues and troubleshooting with the Cybertech Turn 4500Ms as well.

 

I enjoy helping people out and I like to lurk around the forums when I can to throw in some advice. Thoughout my career, I have trained programmers and operators, and have had the privilige to learn from some very experienced and well educated people, and I personally like to try and extend that knowledge to everyone that I can. Some people try to hold their knowledge to themselves (maybe as job security), but i prefer the opposite, the better experience everyone has, the better the working environment for everybody, and you in turn end up with a very good quality manufacturing operation.

 

I am by no means a master of all things, but I like to share what i know so that people can try new things or think of stuff they might not have thought of otherwise.

[Ron Branch @ Verisurf]

quote:

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I am by no means a master of all things, but I like to share what i know so that people can try new things or think of stuff they might not have thought of otherwise.

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Knew I already liked you for some reason. Thanks and appreciate you sharing your knowledge. I have been some what of the Integrex guy so nice for someone else to take that role.

[Rob @ Target Machine]

No curriculum here, but, I don't see this topic talked about often, so here's an example of string manipulation for the pile.

 

I'm using it to enter the program name, rev level, and operation # into my program header.

 

Let's say program # is 500 and nc filename is CC33042 REV 2 OP 1 (space separated fields).

 

The post will split the string CC33042...into three strings discarding the rev, op, and spaces.

 

Then ask for program name, rev, and op#, showing them in the question dialog box.

 

If all went well you should only have to verify that the info is correct, and press enter.

 

The header output looks like this:

 

%

O500 (CC33042.500..MP)

(REV 2)

(OP 1)

(MC-510VF MATSUURA)

(AUG-27-09)

.

Tool table and so on..

.

.

.

 

If you're interested. Here's how I did it:

code:

---

#Header Questions

sprog_ext : 0

s_progname : ""

s_rev : ""

s_op : ""

srev : "REV"

sop : "OP"

result_1 : 0

result_2 : 0

result_3 : 0

sdiscard_1 : ""

sdiscard_2 : ""

sdiscard_3 : ""

sdiscard_4 :

s_space : " "

st_str_ix$ : 0

end_str_ix$ : 0

 

 

 

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Question format statements

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

fq 5 s_progname "Enter part number //s_progname//"

fq 6 s_rev "Enter rev number - letter //s_rev//"

fq 7 s_op "Enter op number -//s_op//"

 

 

pheader$ #Call before start of file

hour = int(time$)

min = int((time$ - hour)* 100)

if hour > 12, hour = hour - 12

if hour = 0, hour = 12

year$ = year$ + 2000

pgetprogname

"%", e$

spaces$=0

sprog_ext = progno$

*progno$, " ", scomm_str, s_progname, sprog_ext, "..MP", scomm_end, e$

scomm_str, "REV ", s_rev, scomm_end, e$

scomm_str, "OP ", s_op, scomm_end, e$

spathnc$ = ucase(spathnc$)

smcname$ = ucase(smcname$)

comment$ # File descriptor

spaces$=0

 

 

 

 

pgetprogname

s_progname = ucase(sprogname$)

parse_progname

q5

q6

q7

s_rev = ucase(s_rev)

s_op = ucase(s_op)

 

parse_progname

#-------------------------------------------------------

#Split s_progname into three strings

#

#Nc program name should be formatted as space separated fields

#

#Ex: CC33042 REV 2 OP 1

#

#-------------------------------------------------------

s_progname = ucase(sprogname$)

 

result_1 = strstr(srev,s_progname) #Find REV

 

s_rev = brksps(result_1,s_progname) #Split string at REV

 

result_2 = strstr(sop,s_rev) #Find OP

 

s_op = brksps(result_2,s_rev) #Split string at OP

result_1 = 0

result_2 = 0

 

result_1 = strstr(s_space,s_progname) #Find " "

 

sdiscard_3 = brksps(result_1,s_progname) #Split string at " "

result_1 = 0

 

#-------------------------------------------------------

#Strip off REV

#-------------------------------------------------------

 

result_1 = strstr(srev,s_rev) #Find REV

 

sdiscard_1 = brksps(end_str_ix$+1,s_rev) #Split string at REV

s_rev = sdiscard_1

result_1 = 0

 

result_2 = strstr(s_space,s_rev) #Find " "

 

sdiscard_4 = brksps(result_2,s_rev) #Split string at " "

result_2 = 0

#-------------------------------------------------------

#Strip off OP

#-------------------------------------------------------

 

result_2 = strstr(sop,s_op) #Find OP

 

sdiscard_2 = brksps(end_str_ix$+1,s_op) #Split string at OP

s_op = sdiscard_2

result_2 = 0

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I can email you a copy of the post if you want.

 

I hope your class is brighter than James' was.

[Code_Breaker]

Yes ... please do ... thanks

 

I did this in v9 and have not had the time to do it is X thru X4 ... but this is a great example of good post editing ...

[Rob @ Target Machine]

You have mail.

 

Maybe a little advanced for some, but good reference.

 

BTW - The post started as an X4 mpmaster.

 

If you compare it to a virgin copy of the X4 mpmaster, you will see all my mods.

[Code_Breaker]

got it ... advance, maybe, ... but still good example ...

 

anyone else have something they did to their post that you consider unique?

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

quote:

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I hope your class is brighter than James' was.

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I don't think it has anything to do with brightness really. Post work can be very technical in nature. If you have it in your mind that you want to be a programmer because "they 'get' to sit in the A/C" or any other reason other than it's the next logical progression in your career, post stuff can be overwhelming.

[Rob @ Target Machine]

Yeah - I'm just referring to "Lost them at Good Morning"...LOL

 

If you want something bad enough, you will make the time, and spend it as well, to learn it.

 

I agree. I don't think A/C is any reason to want to be a programmer, your heart has to be in it.

 

A lousy programmer can bring a shop down to it's knees quickly.

 

Some of us are willing to eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff to get to where we are.

 

[ 08-27-2009, 04:11 PM: Message edited by: Mastercam Guru ]

[Bwalker]

router posts were the worst for me. I hated them, especially block drilling.

[NOTW Programmer]

Graduating today 8/29/09 Great Class, Happy to have met Mr. Code Breaker.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

quote:

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Some of us are willing to eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff to get to where we are.

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Amen brudduh! Yes some of us are.

 

Was helping a colleague just now. It's midnight and he's at a friend of his' shop helping him out. We're all just helping out wherever and however we can.