intro

[SledGeek]

Hi to all!

Been " lurking " for quite awhile, and finally my brain has stopped swelling and my sides don't hurt as much from laughing, so I decided it was time to post something. You guys make my head spin!(in a good way)

Have been in this trade (manually) for just over 18 years and am fairly new to MC and programming in general.About two years experience on CNC Mill and wire.

Feel fairly comfortable doing 2&3-d work , but feel like i'm computer and programming illiterate. Fishing for suggestions on possible training and literature on this subject.

Still taking classes at my MC dealer but need to better understand the rest of it. Seem to be more mechanical minded than book smart so just trying to pick up on some of this stuff is providing me with very little results.

ANY replies are greatly appreciated !

 

Thanx

[Thad]

Midnite,

 

Charles Davis (here at the board) wrote some handbooks for MC. From the descriptions, they sound pretty darn good. I plan to purchase handbook 2 in the very near future. Working through the lessons in there could be very helpful. Taking classes, as you are, is an excellent idea.

 

Don't underestimate the power of the help menu. I have installed the V9 demo on my computer right by my machine. I scroll through the help topics and read as much as I can. Similarly, do a search here at the board on a topic that you struggle with. There is so much info here.

 

Are there any topics in particular that you need help with?

 

Where is Attica, MI?

 

Welcome to the board!

 

Thad

 

[ 09-02-2003, 10:07 PM: Message edited by: Thad ]

[SledGeek]

Thanx Thad !

 

My struggles seem to be more with the non-mastercam related subjects , more with the g-code and applications. Was introduced to programming and MC at the same time so I have never had to write a program manually.

 

Attica is right between Imlay City and Lapeer .

[crazy^millman]

Well Midnite_Oil have to say sit down and do just that. Take a simple 2 axis part lie a sqaure and use cutter comp understand how and why it works. Then drill some holes and then do it in such a way where you have a step effect. You can also create a circle and maybe a rectangle with corner radius and see how it goes from there.

 

This little example is something I use to give as a test to see what people could do. It tests your ability to effectly use cutter comp. It also test your ability to use g98 and g99 in the drilling cycle for the correct retract and clerance plane call. The cicle test your ability to wrtie a hole program using g2 or g3 and how you would start and exit says alot about someones ability. The same with the rectangle testing a person ability to make a the shape using liner and raduis moves together. If you can do all of that basic stuff using g & M code then I think you could then do it in mastercma to get an idea what what work with what and how they go together from there. I give you a tip I live by. I have made books on every machine i have ran, To this point I have about 10 different book on machines and also have about 1000 page book on Mastercam got about 20 pages worth of stuff off of here. I have gone back through alot of the pages and cutting and pasting ideas out of here into Word.

 

Tip on how to do that just in case you dont know. Take your mouse left click drag over the text you want then right click it will give you a menu. There you have the option to copy click that. Then open word then save the doc as Mastercam help or whatever you want to call it and then you can right click on the open doc and it will bring up the menu again and the click paste there you go and copy and paste away.

 

Crazy Millman

 

[ 09-02-2003, 11:38 PM: Message edited by: Millman^crazy ]

[crazy^millman]

Oh yeah forgot Midnite_Oil welcome to the forum.

 

Crazy Millman

 

[ 09-02-2003, 11:34 PM: Message edited by: Millman^crazy ]

[Rekd™]

+1 about the handbooks by Charles. And +1 to Millman; do lots of playing, reading and asking.

 

Hope you enjoy the 'other' side, with 18 years experience, you'll pick up stuff quickly once it all 'clicks' in your head..

 

'Rekd

[Greg Williams]

Midnight Oil,

 

That sounds like a good name for a Band!

 

Welcome Aboard

[Marty A]

midnight oil

 

i worked on the floor for many years. just started master cam about 9 months back. i knew how to program on the floor so when i came upstairs it was still like wow this is unreal. but any question you have this is the place to get answers. so welcome aboard.

 

 

marty

[Fig sign]

To raise your MC level .

Read all the help you can get,books and etc. , and work , a lot of work .

Just go over the menu and try to know how all the functions work ,all the buttons ,boxes and what every parameter in every toolpath means .

And a lot of playing every day every spare minute,making surfaces,solids,toolpathes ,checking all the options and trying every toolpath!

In two monthes you will be able to say that you are strong user !

And don`t be shy to ask questions.

I am a self-taught user of mastercam and that was my way ,the hardway ,but I had no other options ,cause I wanted to work with MC.

 

[ 09-03-2003, 06:53 AM: Message edited by: plasttav ]

[SledGeek]

Thanx to all for the suggestions and greetings ! Will start tonite on manually writing some programs and have found local college with some cnc programs available during the day (work afternoons).

Once again , I will be burnin' the midnite oil !

 

Millman, Thanx for the tip, been printing out and keeping in a folder for quite awhile and running out of room !! Will start with this thread.

 

Bill

[SledGeek]

By the way, how do we purchase Charles' book(s) ?

[Trevor Bailey]

Contact your reseller or go to the educational site. Another thing, get one of the g-code cards that MC gives away and start looking at your posted code compared to the card definition to see what the code is doing. Believe it or not, if you have pretty good common sense, you will pick it up in no time.