As stated above, to let a guy with 1 years experience loose on a £1/4 million machining centre would prove difficult.
I posted this a few months back, in answer to a similar question.
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Many years ago a guy was setting up a Rock band, and was asked why he had picked a guy who couldn't play drums as a drummer.
He says 'it's easier to get a skinny guy and teach him drums than get a fat drummer to lose weight'.
Same with cnc programming.
Its easier to get a good machinist to program... than it is to teach a programmer how to machine.
As a programmer you need to visualise in your head what the machine will be doing.
To do this you need to know, for example, how to machine:
...what cutters to use,
....what feeds and speeds,
.....depth of cut,
......life of tools,
.......how to clamp a workpiece
....... can you single op or do you have to multi stage
.........how the part will move when the material is removed
then:
.. are the cutters available?
... how many cutters will you need?
.... can you do the short op's during the day, and long runs overnight?
..... what tool holding (collets) do you have available?
...... are there any known faults with the machine you have to work around
after that:
.. what are the critical tolerances and articles you have to adhere to
... what are the cost vs quality requirements for the part
.... do you have to negotiate with the manual millers and turners to get the blanks sorted
..... what effect, if any, will heat treatmant or welding have to your compt
...... do the parts need to be stopped mid manufacture for inspection and tweaking
....... if they need to be modified, is the prog man alterable, or will you have to re-write
........ can you use cycles in the machine, or is it all done offline
following this:
... you can begin to start programming.
.... can i reduce the air moves?
..... why wont the cutter go down the slot i have drawn?
..... how am i supposed to cut a cavity 4" deep and obtain a 0.3mm (12 thou) corner rad at the bottom of a vertical wall?
...... why does the model I am machining to have overlapping surfaces? And why won't they trim?
....... why whenever i post out the program with a drilling cycle, does it say 'broken connection, zero radius not supported'?
........ why, oh why, can't I get the thing just to raster instead of doing figure of eights everywhere.
........ yes, i know there are cutter marks in the top surface, but i didnt know the machine would grow .2mm (8 thou) if run at 18k revs. Did you?
The simulation looks fine, as you can take the whole depth and width of a cutter on the screen, which will last about 0.3 seconds when it hits the metal.
And you will need to think about 5 steps ahead of everyone else, otherwise you will back yourself into a corner.
And everyone will look to you for the answer to everything too, including the meaning of life and why there is only one Monopolies Commision.
As a good programmer you will use 100% of your brain for 100% of your day.
There is not normally any slack time.
Don't even think of going home early, as you will need to be on top of the programs for tomorrow too.
Its hard, but rewarding.
But to be a good programmer you need to be an excellent machinist.
If you are not excellent and manufacturing already, get that sorted first.
and how do I know all this?
Click the link, have a look.
Stuart Hadley - United Kingdom | LinkedIn
