Post Questions

[oneyankfan1]

I have been after my reseller to offer a post processor class for about a year now. I recently went to a dynamic seminar and during that we discussed it yet again. I told them my goal is not only to edit a simple post to my liking, but also to be able to write posts from scratch, and make complex posts for mill turns, and crazy 5 axis horizontals like Makino T2's, or 6 axis gantry style machines like a Zimmerman. They origonaly told me that it shouldnt be a problem and they would try to get more people together to justify them putting a class on, or I could pay an individual fee to have this done one on one, which I have been trying to avoid. Rather than continue to wait I said I would now be willing to pay tuition for a individual class. They then began to tell me that they do mainly post editing and that when they have a real nasty post that they contract that out to another company, that they dont have that skill level in house. 

 

My questions are these:

 

Where can I go to get REAL post training, where they contract work out to? To be able to know not just how to edit posts, but to know the complete ins and outs of the post.

 

Is what I want even an available?

 

Where do I need to go to get this class?

 

If it isnt available how did any of you get to the point of working with posts that you are at now?

 

[Guest]

I have been after my reseller to offer a post processor class for about a year now. I recently went to a dynamic seminar and during that we discussed it yet again. I told them my goal is not only to edit a simple post to my liking, but also to be able to write posts from scratch, and make complex posts for mill turns, and crazy 5 axis horizontals like Makino T2's, or 6 axis gantry style machines like a Zimmerman. They origonaly told me that it shouldnt be a problem and they would try to get more people together to justify them putting a class on, or I could pay an individual fee to have this done one on one, which I have been trying to avoid. Rather than continue to wait I said I would now be willing to pay tuition for a individual class. They then began to tell me that they do mainly post editing and that when they have a real nasty post that they contract that out to another company, that they dont have that skill level in house. 

 

My questions are these:

 

Where can I go to get REAL post training, where they contract work out to? To be able to know not just how to edit posts, but to know the complete ins and outs of the post.

 

Is what I want even an available?

 

Where do I need to go to get this class?

 

If it isnt available how did any of you get to the point of working with posts that you are at now?

 

Post training really covers variable definition, how to interact with and manipulate variables, formatting of statements and variables...

 

The logic that goes into many things is trial & error.

 

it's not dissimilar from writing actual computer code in that it functions in much the same way but it is more restricted in application because of the specificity of use..

[oneyankfan1]

Is there any way to learn how to become a post developer?

[Guest]

Is there any way to learn how to become a post developer?

 

A computer programming course would be extremely helpful.

 

Once an understanding of a higher programming language is understood the next leap is easy however, the logic still will always be some trial and error.

 

I used to program in BASIC and did some playing around in C.....so defining and manipulating variables and logic creation were already understood...

 

I don't mean to sound like you have to be a computer programmer but some programming language experience cannot hurt.

 

Most of the "good" developers, at least the ones I know, all have degrees in some kind of computer language based programming.

 

The rest of us, most are hacker and slashers that figured it out

[Colin Gilchrist]

As far as I know, I'm basically the only person that has offered anything beyond the "basics" in post development courses.

 

There are really only a handful of 3rd Party Post Development companies on the planet. All of them will do a decent job in writing a custom post for you.

 

None of them really want to teach you the in's and out's of Post Development. They want you to purchase a post from them.

 

CNC Software does offer classes in Post Development as well, but they really only have one "basic post editing" class. All of the other "post classes" are really put together for an individual customer, based on their needs/wants. However, it is difficult just to get attendance at the Basic class. Unless you have several people that all want the same training, its hard to justify putting on a class for a single customer. The cost of CNC Software's class is $500 per person, per day. (This is advertised on their website. Mods: feel free to edit if discussing pricing is verboten) So the Basic Post Course would run you $1,500 for a 3 day class.

 

I'm not currently offering any "live" post development classes. All of the classes I've done are available as "pre-recorded" video content however. That is going to be your best/cheapest option for getting post processor training. Start by watching the "Basic Mill" post class videos. (There is 12+ hours of video content. Probably closer to 20 hours with the "Office Hours" recordings thrown in.)
 After you go through the "Basic Mill" course, we have a "Lathe Post course". This covers 2X and 4X lathe processing, and the main subject is understanding and editing the "Generic Fanuc 4X MT_Lathe Post". And last, but not least, I taught a "5X Post Class", that covers how to edit the Generic Fanuc 5X Mill Post, and configure it for a Trunnion machine, a Gantry machine, and Horizontal/Vertical.

 

For the price, you would be very hard pressed to get as much content as we offer for the money. I don't really want to talk pricing, out of respect for In-House Solutions (they are one of the 3rd Party Post Developers), but you get access to an incredible amount of video for the price.

 

Now, the real question is; what kind of "learner" are you. Many people can watch the videos, and be able to follow along, and learn how to apply what they are learning to their particular issues and problems. They can think "abstractly", and learn how to "follow and apply the rules", to fit their own development needs. That's the type of learner that this content would be good for. If you aren't good at "figuring out" problems on your own, and you need someone to hold your hand every step of the way, and to go over every keystroke, multiple times, then my training videos probably wouldn't be a good fit.

 

And finally, once you get the basics under your belt, I also offer one-on-one post training.

[crazy^millman]

For me what I was is just what I needed to get the job done. I have the Calculus background along with Basic and little bit of C##. I have dabbled in VB and other computer language over the years, but MP(Mastercam Post) language is something all into itself. There is a lot of smoke and mirrors going on as the MP.DLL is doing undocumented things. 3rd Party people have a way to make money and they do an excellent job with it. I was a re-seller for ICAM and went through their training. They offer a great product, but you are not going to get a peak of the source code. A good post developer has created their own source code so to speak for posts and that is what allows them to make money. They didn't have a class to go to they either like Colin went and worked at CNC Software to learn or spent many years honing their craft. Either way it allowed them to have that knowledge. Post are only as good as the communication the post person is given.

 

The MP Documentation i well over 70000 pages and unless you only eat, breathe and live posts then you will only be as good as the time you put into it. I have done a lot of neat things with posts over the years and if I stopped everything else and just focused on posts then in maybe a year or two I think I could be pretty decent at posts. Question is why? I am good at machining parts and making CNC Code. The post is a very small part of what we do day in and day out and even though our group has been around 50 different machines with HAAS, 530i, OSP-100, OSP-200, OSP-300, PC-Fusion, Matrix, 840D, FA G or, Oi, 15M, 16M, 18M, 30M and 31i controls in the last year it still has not meant we need to go outside of the process we have and go about doing it ourselves. We pay the professionals to make the post and we do what we do. That is the other side of the equation how many different machines and controls are you going to learn and support as a post writer? How many of those manuals you going to read and know like the back of your hand? How many different companies have you been in the last year? How many different controls and machines? What about the kinematics of the machines? RAH? Dual Turrets? Triple Turrets? Quad Turrets? Probing? All of that has to be under the post writers belt so to speak.

 

3 people can keep a secret if 2 are dead!!!

 

Sorry, but this on your business cards isn't going to get you very far.

[oneyankfan1]

Thanks for the input guys.

 

 

 

FYI, that is a quote from Benjamin Franklin

[oneyankfan1]

After talking with an individual at CNC Software I have a game plan. This is a very attainable goal. There are many that are not interested in becoming a post developer and question becoming one, but there are guys that just love it and make a great living at it. In the end its about drive and career goals.

[crazy^millman]

After talking with an individual at CNC Software I have a game plan. This is a very attainable goal. There are many that are not interested in becoming a post developer and question becoming one, but there are guys that just love it and make a great living at it. In the end its about drive and career goals.

 

Agreed and hopefully you can get all you need and achieve the goal you are after.