new to surface machining

[beagle millman]

we are upgrading from mill 8.1 level 1 to mill 9.1 level 3. I will have to learn on the job until a class is available. have been looking at the demo cd and it seems overwhelming to me right now. will be doing toolpaths and machining on 3 axis vmc from customer data. there are a lot of boxes to check,uncheck or enter data into when creating a toolpath. which ones are the most important? just trying to minimize the amount of information I have to focus on while trying to learn and make good parts. any steps, rules, hints or procedures would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

thanks, beagle millman

[Thad]

Welcome to the board.

 

I'm not sure if anyone will be able to give you any general rules or tips. Every situation is different from the last one. Come here with your questions and read all you can and you'll learn a lot. I know I have. This is a great place to get your questions answered. Hope you stick around.

 

Where are you at in Michigan?

 

Thad

[Guest]

Go to the sample files provided by CNC. There is a section for 3d machining. Look at the titles of each, look at the part, and then look at the tool path. See how they have their settings. See how the have selected their geometry. You can learn much by looking at these files. Good luck.

[Brendan P]

And for God Sakes...

Don't ask fer a post!

 

welcome to the forum.

[mold100]

Use common sense that is a very important tool.Class can be useless without it.Good Luck, and welcome to the forum.

[Trevor Bailey]

2d & 3d are two different worlds. With that said, you will need to take a step back from the computer when you feel that your frustration level is going to blow your head off. That will be your best advice at this point. If you have pretty good common sense, 3d machining will not be that difficult. Use the on-line help. as you are going thru the different menu's. That will be a great aid.

 

Some people, as myself, find that 3d stuff is easier than 2d. It all depends on the nature of the person I guess.

 

The last thing, use the forum .

 

Good luck,

[PE @ IHS]

As a fellow newbie to 3D machining, I relied heavily on the tutorial books from In House Solutions (hint, hint) as well as the excellent work of Charles Davis in the form of the Mastercam Programming Handbook, volume 2.

 

This forum is also an invaluable resource.

[EZ3PUTT]

Beagle millman,

I felt the same way just a few months ago about surface machining. I picked up the Volume II handbook from San-Diego Cad-Cam. I read the book and the transition from 2D to 3D was not really as difficult as you are thinking it is right now. Have been making some pretty cool parts since learning surface toolpath's. Get you a copy, read, read, read and do it.

[beagle millman]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and replying so quickly

 

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[Dan_AKA_ROY]

I would suggest that you ask your employer for a design seat that you can take home and run. You can use the demo to run toolpaths. Design and save file. Open file in demo and toolpath away. Mastercam takes time to learn thoroughly. It's a fun program to run, I've found- which helps in the learning process.

[Chris Rizzo]

Volume II handbook? Is that a regular CNC Software book, or something new from San Diego CAD CAM?

[Trevor Bailey]

CMR,

 

You can read more about it on CNC's site or on the educational division's site.

[Chris Rizzo]

Hey thanks Trevor,

I'm going to call my dealer tomorrow. We used a different book in class here...written by two indepenent authors (DR. Lin and DR. Shui?) It had a bunch of errors in it, and was vague on some details....I'd trust something directly from CNC though.