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CodyMartin

Plastic
Joined
May 29, 2018
Hey guys! I’ve been machining for around 5 years now and just got the opportunity to begin programming. I will be using mastercam/solidworks package. Although I know how to navigate both, pull dimensions and post out programs, i still need to learn the actual programming process. Any advise on improving the learning process of it would be appreciated.
 
If your just starting out, watch all the youtube video's you can. Look at jobs that are already done and look at settings and toolpath chains and geometry used to generate the toolpaths. Get on EMastercam.com and read as much as you can in the forums, and don't be afraid to ask questions either here or on emastercam. If your employer will pay for training then that would be the fastest way to learn. Also find out who your reseller is and if your up to date on your maintenance, then help is just a phone call away.
 
Thanks for the reply!
I will be getting training from our programmer now and he is very knowledgeable. But I still want to make sure he doesn’t fly by something that I really need to pay attention too. Just trying to find ways to optimize my learning experience.
 
Yup,
LEARN basic G code and don't let anyone tell you that it is a waste of time. Then when you have that sorted and your mind is still buzzing because it wants to learn more, I hope most programmers brains work like this, buy a Macro programming book and feel really stupid in the beginning... Then once you have the basics of that feel loads better.

Process wise in a CAM package is pretty straightforward I guess. If importing the part pick up a few points to make sure that the scaling is correct to the part to be made. Decide which machine is going to be used. Decide what the order of operation on the machining by thinking about different features and how the part is going to be held for different operations so that you don't land up with a last operation that is a pain to clamp/reference. Figure out what type of tooling the machine uses and if it is all available. Decide whether special tooling has to be bought to get it done. Then think if using the same tool for 3/4 operations is worth it or if you need roughers/finishers/boring tools etc etc to get the tolerances with what you have. I suppose there are loads after that but it's a good start.

I hope that the guy that is helping you out is patient and is willing to take loads of questions from you. If so, stick at it. I hope that you have a passion for this, I LOVE what I do for a living. It's the people that I have to deal with that screw the experience up.
 
Thanks for the reply!
I will be getting training from our programmer now and he is very knowledgeable. But I still want to make sure he doesn’t fly by something that I really need to pay attention too. Just trying to find ways to optimize my learning experience.

While I also recommend YouTube, if you have zero experience with Mastercam, most of the stuff you watch on YouTube and other video tutorials will probably not stick in your mind because you have no frame of reference.
I would suggest holding off on YouTube videos until you have the basics down or after a week of learning from your programmer, then you will remember stuff easier.
 
If your employer allows it, do as many "government jobs" (personal projects) after hours or in idle time as you can. This will also teach you design for manufacturing.
 
If your employer is current on Solidworks maintenance, I believe you will have a free credit to do the certified Solidworks associate exam as well as the training courses leading up to it. If you have even basic familiarity with the Solidworks interface it will be a fairly quick course that will get you up to speed with entry-level CAD techniques. Plus you will get a certificate at the end which may or may not impress your employer and future employers.

It sounds like you are using the Mastercam for Solidworks addon? One of the major advantages of using Mastercam integrated into powerful CAD like Solidworks is the ability to do stuff like quickly model fixtures, create reference geometry (i.e. geometry that doesn't exist in the physical part) to drive machining, and to be able to tweak your design and have toolpaths/fixtures update on the fly. So don't neglect improving your CAD skills at the same time you learn Mastercam and G-Code!
 
Iv been using Mastercam for over 10 years. The 2 biggest things to learn in my opinion is choosing what toolpath to use for a certain operation and second learning different chaining techniques. less important is to customize the user interface to what you personally prefer and whats easiest for you. Put things you use the most in the right click menu
 
mastercam has a ton of resources for learning out there. I had to make the switch to cimitron about a year ago and about to learn esprit for turning, and there is not nearly as much good information available out there for free.
 
Hey guys! I’ve been machining for around 5 years now and just got the opportunity to begin programming. I will be using mastercam/solidworks package. Although I know how to navigate both, pull dimensions and post out programs, i still need to learn the actual programming process. Any advise on improving the learning process of it would be appreciated.
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been my experience
1) observe how others did a program when you operate or run the program. hard to describe but

2) how part held and what is normal maximum machining forces you can use and have part not move. some materials deform or squeeze a lot more than other materials

3)knowing how much part distorts when held extra tight in a vise or fixture. and when you need to rechuck at lighter clamping forces to meet tolerances

4) knowing vibrational or chatter limits on particular tools in tool holders

5) knowing vibration limits on heavy machining of particular parts
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if you run programs done by others you can observe what works. some programers program so 100% feeds and speeds safely works 99.999% of the time and others program so you need to run 90 or 80% cause when they program 100% is max limits where stuff often breaks to them 100% is maximum and they never plan to ever run at 100% normally. big difference to observe different programming styles
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if head programmer dont like your programming style doesnt matter if program works ok. often its best to program to the style the head programmer expects. hard to describe but i have seen it many times before. that usually is in no book.
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for example do you rapid down to 2" or even 0.1" above part then transition to a slower feed move or do you rapid all the way down ?? now some say if you transition to F100. or F50. at 1" or 2" above part operator might catch and stop a crash from happening. if you rapid all the way down it happens way too fast. now if you program to NOT use the rapids all the way down to maybe not have a crash some programmers might absolutely hate this as a time waster. even if the vise has a few to many crash marks on the vise jaws. hard to describe head programmers preferences
 
mastercam has a ton of resources for learning out there. I had to make the switch to cimitron about a year ago and about to learn esprit for turning, and there is not nearly as much good information available out there for free.

Peter (Edge Precision) just posted a video on youtube where he programmed a simple lathe part in esprit.
In the beginning he says: "you guys that find the programming boring can skip to X:XX for the machining content".
I was like: thanks Peter, I know when the video will get boring, LOL. I was glued to my seat for the programming.
 








 
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