what is a reasonable amount of time to learn 5 axis

[Colin Gilchrist]

If you are new to the world of 5X machining, then I would highly recommend taking a course in 5 Axis programming. I teach several online classes in 5 Axis machining. You can check the link in my signature for more information...

[Newbeeee™]

^^^shameless plug LOL

[The_kid]

Agreed guys!  lol without posting an exhaustive list of my experiences.  I can attest that I have gone through a lot more manual processes than most people my age.  in addition to operating a manual mill I can rip apart a Bridgeport head clean it and have it rebuilt in it"s entirely in about 10 hrs.  I've done manual lathe and grinding work (surface od and am currently looking to learn tool and cutter grinder operation). CNC stuff I have been an operator and set up guy for a lot of things.  Including horizontals and 7th axis lathes.  The shear fact of the matter is I want it bad enough to put in the effort if the opportunity exists.     

[crazy^millman]

In Florida so I have not had time to chime in. Everyone pretty much said everything I would say. I got into 5 Axis work by happenstance. I had done the pencil and paper CAM for about a decade when I got a job in a compostites shop. I dove in around Version 7 not X7 and then over to Version 9. I got the generic 5 Axis post and was told here figure it out. I have pretty much been doing it that way for many years. Passion to do this work makes you good, ability to think in multi axis, creatvitiy, good math skills, hard headness, pride in what you do, help from others and just an overall willingness to try. Not easy and still make my share of mistakes. I have many tell me I have a good grasp of all of this I thank them for that, but I think i can always do better and push myself harder than anyone ever has. Great rewards come from great efforts. Make the effort and you will reap the benefits of that. Listen to people tell you are not good enough and you can't and you never will. When I left Florida to work in Calforina owner of the company I was working for asked me this question, "Why are you going out to Calforina? I was out there for many years and they are some very smart aerospace people out there and what makes you think you can compete against them?" I just replied I will do my best and if that is good enough then great if not I gave it my best.

 

Do your best learn from your mistakes and it will all be just fine.

[Aaron Eberhard]

I'll let you know how long it took when I get to a good place

 

Seriously, the biggest thing to learn for multiaxis programming is learning to think "how do I position this?" and then, "From Where?" and "To Where?"  (or  "Relative to what?", whichever you prefer). 

Start with 3+2.  You know what WCSs do, right?  They set a part zero on the machine (G54, 55, etc)..   So, if you can get into the habit of thinking "hmmm, to machine this feature, I'd have to rotate the part to A90 B0 in WCS G54.."  you just figured out the way that WCSes and Planes interact in Mastercam.  The WCS gives you the Base (machine zeros), answers the question, "From Where?"  and then the plane answers the question, "How do I position this?"  

 

In this example, you'd want to set your Planes page to say WCS: Top, CPlane: Front, TPlane: Front.

 

Now, the beauty of starting by doing 3+2, is that the toolpath you choose is already answering one critical question for you, what "pattern" do I want to take over the part?

 

When you go to simultaneous 5 axis, it's just more involved of the same, really, except that the controls are all built in under one toolpath roof..  You have to start by asking "what cut pattern?" then move on to "How should I orient/control the tool?"  Only then you can move on to the Collision Controls (what happens when you hit something?) and finally the linking, which clears up how to move around the part safely. 

[MrFish]

3+2 is relatively simple to learn in Mastercam if you are conversant with using the WCS and tool planes. A good verification package like Vericut is great to learn about retracts and repositioning moves too as a lot of these aren't controlled by Mastercam - only the post.

As for simultaneous work that's a whole different story. I have had jobs that literally took me days to program due to the silliest little things making a tool path function or not - i.e. change the step over from 0.2mm to 0.21mm and that's the difference between it processing or staying dirty !! Couldn't find anything about this in the help file - LOL

[Thee Awbade™]

Took me about 5 months of watching someone program and asking questions about it, to start writing 3+2 axis programs. 

 

That was 2 years ago, I still have quite a bit to learn mainly on the gcode/post-processor side (luckily our machine has a rock solid post-processor that I don't have to mess with.) 

 

So about 6 months from absolutely 0 knowledge of what a CNC machine even was to programming/running our 5 axis gantry router on 3+2 programs. 6 months of doing that later, I got a job with a full 5 Axis Machine and I've been doing that for exactly 1 year this month with little-to-no problems running aerospace parts with +/-.005" tolerances. Don't get me wrong, I've got a LOT to learn, and I only use a pretty niche set of toolpaths for my work, however I've got a good grasp on what toolpaths others would use, and the basic idea of how they work. 

 

(80% of my work is done in 5 axis curve or swarf.) 

 

Varys from person to person, but as far as taking the simple stuff off of your load, should be able to train a guy fairly quickly if they're quick learners. 

[Tyler Robotson]

Start with learning to calibrate your table. Especially if it's already running true.

[Colin Gilchrist]

I've got an online class coming up next Monday and Tuesday that covers the Advanced 5 Axis toolpaths from ModuleWorks. This would be a great option for anyone that is only used to using Curve and Swarf.

[Newbeeee™]

Colin - I tried to PM you.

Please email me.

Thanks

[Pitka_Guru]

Colin, I emailed you through e apprentice but never heard back about this course. Unfortunately I'll be flying back to Australia on the Monday and can't attend but I want to take this course. Is there any way it can be taken after the fact? Will it be online somewhere that I could watch on my owe time?

 

Please let me know as I'm very interested in this class.

 

Thanks!

[Colin Gilchrist]

Hey guys,

 

Sorry for anyone that I missed. I cleared out some room in my PM box. I tend to get a high volume of email, so if I missed your question earlier, please accept my apologies. You can reach me at 'colin'at'eapprentice'dot'net. (Remove the ' marks, and replace 'at' with @, and 'dot' with '.')

 

If you are a board member, please include your Emastercam screen name. Sometimes I have trouble figuring out who people are if they don't include this info.

 

Thanks and best regards,

 

Colin Gilchrist